Robert Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson

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Robert Spear Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson CH PC (15 August 1886—2 February 1957) was a British Conservative politician who held a number of ministerial posts during the Second World War.

He was the eldest son of Robert William Hudson who had inherited the substantial family soap business and sold it, and Gerda Frances Marion Bushell. Hudson was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford. He entered the Diplomatic Service in 1911, becoming an attaché and first minister before entering politics.

Hudson was elected as Member of Parliament for Whitehaven in 1924 and served there until losing in 1929. In 1931 he was returned for Southport. He served in several ministerial posts, becoming a Privy Counsellor in 1938 and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1940, a post he would hold until the 1945 election. He had a particular interest in farming and was a member of the council of the Royal Agricultural Society.

Hudson was created Viscount Hudson in 1952.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Gavan Duffy	Member of Parliament for Whitehaven 1924–1929	Succeeded by Morgan Philips Price
Preceded by Godfrey Dalrymple-White	Member of Parliament for Southport 1931–1952	Succeeded by Roger Fleetwood Hesketh
Political offices
Preceded by George Tryon	Minister of Pensions 1935–1936	Succeeded by Herwald Ramsbotham
Preceded by Sir John Gilmour	Minister of Shipping 1940	Succeeded by Ronald Cross
Preceded by Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith	Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries 1940–1945	Succeeded by Tom Williams
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Creation	Viscount Hudson 1952–1957	Succeeded by Robert William Hudson