Hudson, William (1734-1793)

English botanist and apothecary who furthered the use and understanding of Linnaeus's system of plant classification, a taxonomic system that is based on stamens and pistils. Hudson's Flora Anglica was essentially a rearrangement of John Ray's Synopsis methodica Stirpium Britanniacarum according to Linnaeus' system of classification.

Hudson was born in Kendal in the English Lake District and apprenticed to an apothecary in London, winning the Apothecaries Company's prize for botany. In 1757, he was made sub-librarian of the British Museum, where he encountered the botanical writing of Linnaeus. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 1761 and a member of the Linnaean Society 1791.

From 1765-71, he was the director of the Apothecaries Company at Chelsea Physic Garden in London. During this time Hudson also compiled an extensive insect collection and was distraught when this and his large botanical collections were destroyed in a fire at his home 1783. It is thought that he never really recovered from this event, although he worked on as an apothecary in London until his death from paralysis in 1793.