Robert William Hudson (1856–1937) was born in West Bromwich, the eldest son of Robert Spear Hudson who had founded a soap-flake manufacturing business. Hudson managed his father's company until it was taken over by Lever Brothers Ltd in 1908. He built a house called 'Bidston Court' on

Bidston Hill Bidston Hill is of heathland and woodland containing historic buildings and ancient rock carvings, on the Wirral Peninsula, near the Birkenhead suburb of Bidston, in Merseyside, England. With a peak of , Bidston Hill is one of the highest poin ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

in 1891 in Birkenhead. It was designed by

Edward Ould Edward Augustus Lyle Ould (1852–1909) was an English architect. Ould was a son of the rector of Tattenhall, Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseysid ...

, who also designed some of the houses in

Port Sunlight Port Sunlight is a model village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in ...

Village, it was inspired by 16th-century

Little Moreton Hall Little Moreton Hall, also known as Old Moreton Hall, is a moated timber framing, half-timbered manor house south-west of Congleton in Cheshire, England. The earliest parts of the house were built for the prosperous Cheshire landowner William ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. Germany's Crown Prinz Wilhelm was so impressed with the house that in 1913 he built a similar house, the

Cecilienhof Cecilienhof Palace () is a palace in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany, built from 1914 to 1917 in the layout of an English Tudor manor house. Cecilienhof was the last palace built by the House of Hohenzollern that ruled the Kingdom of Prussia and t ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. The house was sold in 1921 to Sir Ernest Royden and in 1928 it was moved to its present site at

Royden Park Royden Park is a park in Frankby, Wirral, England, managed by Wirral Council. The grounds of the park were originally part of an estate owned by Ernest Royden which comprised the park, Hill Bark house and Thurstaston Common. Upon his death th ...

, brick by brick, finally being completed in 1931. There it was renamed Hill Bark. The original site of the house on Vyner Road South was given to Birkenhead Corporation and became a public park in 1969. In 1899 he commissioned the architects

W. H. Romaine-Walker William Henry Romaine-Walker (27 January 1854 – 10 May 1940) was an English architect and interior decorator. Life Romaine-Walker was born in Bury, Lancashire, the son of Rev. John Walker and Caroline Spencer Walker.''1911 England Census'Man ...

and Francis Besant to build him a house at 46 Park Lane, London. 'As it was especially desired by the owner that the Gothic style should be adopted, the period selected was the late fourteenth-century, with flamboyant feeling in the tracery and mouldings.''Famous Houses in London, ''Nottingham Evening Post'', 4 August 1903). One of the most striking buildings on

Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park to ...

, the building was originally called Stanhope House and it survives with its exterior largely unchanged. Today the ground floor houses a branch of IBV International Vaults. Hudson moved to

Danesfield House Danesfield House in Medmenham, near Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills is a former country house now used as a hotel and spa. The house stands on a plateau which shelves steeply down to the River Thames to the south. Histor ...

in Buckinghamshire, where he became High Sheriff in 1903. His first marriage was to Gerda Frances Marion Bushell (died 1932). Among their offspring was Robert Spear Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson. He married Beatrice Sabina Gaudengio, daughter of Laurenzo Gaudengio, in 1932. Beatrice Sabina Hudson subsequently moved to live in Monaco at the Villa Paloma on the Bvd Des Jardins Exotiques. The Villa Paloma was subsequently sold to the Fissore family, a leading

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

Monegasque family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Robert William 1856 births 1937 deaths People from West Bromwich English businesspeople High sheriffs of Buckinghamshire English expatriates in Monaco