Conor Mark Jameson, Finding W. H. Hudson: The Writer Who Came to Britain to Save the Birds (London: Pelagic Publishing, 1923), 360 pp. £17.99 Pb. ISBN: 9781784273286
It is almost a given that any review or essay (and there is precious few of either) of the work of W. H. Hudson (1841-1922) will lament the fact that he is undervalued both as a writer and as a proto-environmentalist. And though it has become a commonplace, the lament nevertheless bears repeating. If readers are familiar with Hudson, it is primarily through his remarkable novel Green Mansions (1904) which deserves to be included in every course dealing with the history of eco-critical writing. And if a reminder is necessary to read Hudson, Jacob Epstein’s 1925 sculpture in Hyde Park, entitled ‘Rima’ (the central character of Green Mansions), is a powerful reminder of Hudson’s importance.
Beyond Green Mansions, the Anglo-Argentinian Hudson demonstrated remarkable breadth as a writer in his lifetime, and his books ranged from memoirs and science fiction to natural history. Above all topics however, he was devoted to ornithology, as evinced in just a few of his ornithological titles including Argentine Ornithology (1888), British Birds (1895), Birds in London (1898), Birds in Town and Village (1919), and Birds of La Plata (1920). Not surprisingly, Hudson was one of the first members of the Society for the Protection of Birds (later the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, RSPB), an organization that at the time was predominately female, and he served the society actively throughout his lifetime.
Conor Mark Jameson, himself a former worker at the RSPB, has written Finding W. H. Hudson, in an effort to highlight Hudson as a pro-active ‘field naturalist and campaigner’ (xi). Hudson, writes Jameson in this valuable, personal, and detailed work, ‘was first and foremost a spirit of nature and a champion of its protection’ (xi). This then is a work that simultaneously tracks Hudson’s activity as an advocate for birds and nature, but with the added insight of understanding how the RSPB managed to develop into an influential and impactful environmental organization.
Arriving in London in 1874, from his native Argentina, Hudson had already made some inroads into the scientific community of the UK having corresponded with the renowned ornithologist Philip Sclater (1829-1913), founder and editor of the journal Ibis. The relationship between the two, one self-educated and the other an Oxonian, was often strained, but tensions aside, they were able to collaborate on the important 2-volume Argentine Ornithology which was published in 1888-89.
Much of Hudson’s career, as Jameson carefully notes, was tied to the influence and support of women. The Society for the Protection of Birds (SPB), which was at the time predominantly a women’s organization welcomed Hudson as a ‘birder’ equipped with knowledge and a passion for preservation. While birds owed much to the women of the SPB, they (or at least their feathers) were also being exploited ruthlessly for the sake of women’s fashions which outraged the Society and, of course, Hudson. It became clear, particularly as he published new and important books, like the Naturalist in La Plata (1892) (which was admired by Alfred Russel Wallace) that Hudson was taking the lead as an advocate of natural landscapes and the preservation of British bird life. His Birds in a Village (1893) led to the more exhaustive work British Birds (1895) that quickly became a primary resource for ornithologists and amateur birders. Hudson, ever alert to the depredation of nature, also understood that collectors of rare birds would also consult the work and so he ‘omitted some details of rarer species’ lest that information be used to ‘further deplete bird populations’ (67).
Jameson’s commitment to depicting Hudson’s relentless devotion to the ‘bird protection business’ (116) reveals biographical facets of the author that are too often, and perhaps too easily, neglected. His friendships with Robert Morley, Edward Garnett, John Galsworthy, and the renowned society hostess, ‘Ranee’ Margaret Brooke were certainly genuine, but also strategically calculated to recruit powerful voices for his cause. His friendship with Sir Edward (18622-1933) and Lady Grey (1871-1928) played a critical role in his effort to pass a bill prohibiting the importation of plumage which, despite opposition to the bill – and the political diversions necessitated by the first World War – was passed in 1921 as the ‘Plumage Protection Act’. Among the signatories to Hudson’s (and the RSPB’s) petitions for the protection of birds were distinguished names from Hudson’s literary circle of acquaintances and friends, including Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, and Bertrand Russell.
When (and if) remembered, W. H. Hudson, is revered as an important author, naturalist, environmentalist who set the tone (along with his predecessors Gilbert White and Richard Jefferies) for ecological awareness and action in Great Britain. Hudson’s prolific work as a naturalist and ornithologist, however, as Jameson notes, is amplified by his extraordinary energy as an activist. Like his successor, Rachel Carson, about whom Jameson has also written, Hudson’s dedication to science was inseparable from the reality that the future of the environment is dependent on science in action. Jameson, true to the title of the book, helps the reader appreciate his own pathway as a biographer (often complicated and sometimes frustrating) to finding the essential qualities that defined W. H. Hudson. It is a book, both original and authentic in tone, that is at once informative, provocative, and instructive. Foremost, however, it is an indispensable contribution to our understanding one of Britain’s earliest and most significant environmental writers.
Alan Rauch, UNC Charlotte
