Edward Hudson

Edward Burgess Hudson (1854–1936) was the founder of Country Life magazine in 1897. Early life Edward Hudson was born in November 1854 in London into a prosperous middle-class family. His father, John Francis Daniel Hudson, was head of the family business of Hudson & Kearns Ltd. He was raised in a large family in a mansion near Hyde Park where he continued to live, with his invalid brother Henry and two unmarried sisters, long after the death of his parents. Hudson did not attend either public school or university and was articled to a solicitor when he was just 15. Although he rose quickly through the ranks, becoming a chief conveyancing clerk, he disliked the profession. After a brief spell as a ‘printer’s traveller’ he took over the family’s printing business at the age of 21. Career and the birth of Country Life Edward Hudson turned out to be an astute businessman, embracing advances in the printing world which led to the growth of the company into publishing.