The Fascinating Life of Sir Jeffrey Hudson

     Sir Jeffrey Hudson (1619 – circa 1682), England's smallest man, was normally proportioned but only 18 inches tall until well into middle age, when he grew to a height of 3 feet 6 inches. 

     Hudson was a court dwarf of the English queen Henrietta Maria of France. He was famous as the "Queen's dwarf" and "Lord Minimus", and was considered one of the "wonders of the age" because of his extreme but well-proportioned smallness.

     He fought with the Royalists in the English Civil War and fled with the Queen to France but was expelled from her court when he killed a man in a duel. He was captured by Barbary pirates and spent 25 years as a slave in North Africa before being ransomed back to England. His parents, three brothers, and a half-sister were all of typical size. Hudson's father John was keeper of the baiting bulls for George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. 

     Hudson's smallness and normal proportions became apparent in early childhood. Various theories existed for his size, including that his mother choked on a gherkin while pregnant, but he probably suffered from a growth hormone deficiency caused by a pituitary gland disorder. 

     In 1626, Hudson was presented to the Duchess of Buckingham as a "rarity of nature" and she invited him to join the household. A few months later, the Duke and Duchess entertained King Charles I and his young French wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, in London. The climax of the lavish banquet was the presentation of Jeffrey to the Queen, served in a large pie. When the pie was placed in front of the Queen, Hudson arose from the crust, 18 inches tall and dressed in a miniature suit of armor. The Queen was delighted and the Duke and Duchess of Buckingham offered Hudson to her as an amusing gift. 

     Hudson moved to London in late 1626, where the Queen maintained her royal household. There he was one of several natural curiosities and pets, among whom were a giant Welsh porter named William Evans, two dwarfs and a monkey. He later developed a routine with Evans in which Evans pulled Hudson out of his pocket along with a loaf of bread and proceeded to make a sandwich. As he grew older Hudson learned to amuse and entertain with his wit and courtly behavior as well as his appearance. 

     Dwarfs were not rare in the courts of Europe but Hudson's proportions and tiny size made him uniquely famous. His size was described as 18 or 19 inches. Hudson rode a horse with the queen and her household. He was provided with an elaborate saddle of velvet with laces and silver and silk fringes. Hudson was educated in the Queen's household and learned the manners of the court and was brought up in the Roman Catholic Church. 

     By 1640 the relationship between King Charles and the Parliament had deteriorated to the point of plots and attempted arrests. Armed conflict broke out between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians in 1642. The Queen took a small number of her retinue, including Hudson, to the Netherlands to raise money and support for for the King. By selling articles from her palace she raised enough to buy some supplies for the King's army but was unsuccessful in obtaining official support from the Protestant Dutch government. 

     She returned to England with her courtiers and they found themselves in the middle of a civil war. Upon return the Queen appointed Hudson a "Captain of Horse." It is not known whether he commanded troops or saw combat, but he considered the appointment an honor and later continued to call himself Captain Jeffrey Hudson. 

     The Queen fled to France in 1643 with a small group of courtiers and household staff, again including Hudson. Ailing after a difficult delivery, the Queen moved her court in exile to the spa at Nevers. This time Hudson apparently had no interest in being a pet or clown and let it be known he would suffer no more jokes or insults.

     There is no record of the reason, but in October 1644, Hudson challenged the brother of William Crofts, an English gentleman and servant to the Queen, to a duel. Crofts arrived at the duel brandishing a large water squirt gun, but Hudson, who had a real gun, shot him in the forehead and killed him. 

     Crofts's death was a disaster for Hudson. Dueling had been outlawed in France plus William Crofts was a powerful figure as the Queen's Master of Horse and head of her lifeguard. Hudson was sentenced to death, but the Queen interceded and he was sent back to England. 

     After he left the Queen's court in late 1644 at the age of 25, within months he was on a ship captured by the Barbary pirates and was taken to North Africa as a slave, where he spent perhaps his next 25 years. The date and circumstances of his rescue are not known but it was in the 1660s that several missions were sent from England to Algeria and Tunis to ransom English captives, and his first documented presence back in England was in 1669. 

     No details of his captivity were recorded except one fact: he claimed to have grown to 45 inches during this time, doubling his height after 30 years. He attributed to the buggery he had regularly suffered at the hands of his captors. 

     The few records of Hudson's years between 1669 and his death in 1682 consist of a few receipts for grants of money from the Duke of Buckingham and the new King and he never returned to the Queen's court. 

     In 1676 Hudson returned to London where he had the misfortune of arriving at a time of anti-Catholic activity and he was imprisoned for a considerable time. Being a Roman Catholic was his only offense, but he was not released until 1680. He died about two years later and was buried in an unmarked Catholic paupers' grave.