It is difficult for a devoted son to write a biography of his father without lurching into sycophancy, particularly if his father was touched by fame. Nevertheless the book will attempt to be objective. Charles Hudson’s decorations and other achievements, recorded at Appendix A, were extraordinary. Whatever else he was or was not, he was certainly a very brave man. This book will examine details of his courageous acts – not only in war. It will try to establish his motivation in the light of his experiences in youth, his times and the society in which he was brought up.
Further, against the background of Hudson’s life, the book will investigate the meaning of courage – that age-old virtue, almost universally accepted as such, but nevertheless full of ambiguities.
The mean point between cowardice and foolhardiness? (Aristotle) The absence or overcoming of fear?
A capital of willpower which is run down as it is used but is slow to build up again? (Lord Moran, Anatomy of Courage)
Fear of letting down comrades or of being seen to do so?
And so on. There are many facets to courage – physical and moral.
The book will look at Hudson’s poetry, a very vital part of the man exemplified not only in his own poems, which appear throughout, but also in his ‘Perfect Lines’ drawn from a wide range of poets and typed out in retirement on his own very old typewriter. These appear at Appendix B.
Then, Hudson the rebel, of which there are many examples: from deliberately failing his exam at Sandhurst, to constantly disobeying orders in war. His infuriating behaviour to his superiors in peacetime was probably a major factor, eventually, in him being relieved of his command of a division – as was his refusal to accept what he saw as wrong-headed authority.
Finally, to what extent did these aspects of his make-up – courageous soldier, poet, rebel – rely on each other in creating his character? Could one of them have existed without the other two? Where did his undoubted vast sense of humour come from? His lack of bitterness? And his all-pervading modesty?
Unless otherwise stated, all quotations in the book are taken from Hudson’s own journal.