Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJuly 15, 1895
Place of BirthKenora, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinFrederick Hudson (father), 217 Donald Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / CallingBookkeeper
ReligionMethodist
Service Details
Regimental Number288065
Service RecordLink to Service Record
BattalionLondon
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Army Pay Corps
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at Enlistment97 Canora Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentMarch 11, 1916
Age at Enlistment20
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMay 20, 1960
Age at Death64
Buried AtGarry Memorial Park Cemetery (Thomson in the Park), Winnipeg

Hudson, Clifford Ross

Acting Sergeant Clifford Ross Hudson enlisted in March 1916 and served in the UK for two and a half years, most of that time with the Canadian Army Pay Corps. After the war he lived in Winnipeg and had a very successful curling career.

Clifford was the younger of two sons of Frederick Albert Hudson and Estella May Fleming of Kenora, Ontario. Estella was born in the U.S. but both of her parents were from Ontario. They returned to Canada when she was a child and settled in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora). By 1891 Fred was also living in Rat Portage, where he worked as a carpenter and later as a contractor. He and Estella were married in Rat Portage in March 1893. Their first son Gordon Milford was born on 5 January 1894 and Clifford followed on 15 July 1895.

Fred was the manager of the Kenora Thistles hockey team for several years, including in 1907 when they won the Stanley Cup. Clifford and his brother Gordon both got involved in curling when they were in their teens. In 1914 the Hudson ‘kid’ rink from Kenora, with Gordon as skip, caused a sensation when they tied for the Grand Aggregate in the Manitoba Bonspiel. A year or two later the family moved to Winnipeg and Clifford found work as a bookkeeper with a grain company.

Clifford enlisted in Winnipeg on 11 March 1916, signing up with the 221st (Bull Dogs) Battalion. In April he spent two weeks in the Winnipeg General Hospital and during that time he had an operation for a goitre. The 221st Battalion trained at Camp Hughes over the summer and returned to the city for the winter. In January 1917 Clifford was appointed Acting Sergeant and his unit headed overseas that spring, embarking from Halifax in mid-April 1917 on the SS Scandinavian and the SS Ausonia, and arriving in the UK about two weeks later.

Over the next two and a half months Clifford served with the 11th Reserve Battalion and the Manitoba Regiment Depot. On 21 July he was attached to the London headquarters of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada and two months later, in mid-September, he was transferred to the Canadian Army Pay Corps. He served in London with the pay corps for the next two years. He was appointed Acting Sergeant (Clerk) in September 1918. He returned to Canada in October 1919, sailing from Glasgow on the SS Saturnia and arriving in Montreal on 20 October. He was discharged in Winnipeg three days later. His brother Gordon Hudson was called up in April 1918 and he served in Canada for a year.

Clifford lived with his parents again after the war and when the 1921 census was taken he was employed as a clerk with the Winnipeg Tribune. He was married the following year, on 25 February 1922, at St. Stephen’s Church in Winnipeg. His wife, Marion Vine Samson, was born into a large family in Morden, Manitoba in 1891. Her parents, Peter and Marion, had emigrated from Scotland with the oldest children around 1886 and they settled in Manitoba. By 1901 Vine’s mother was widowed and they were living in Winnipeg.

Both Clifford and Gordon joined the Strathcona Curling Club and had very successful curling careers. In 1923 they won 27 straight games in the Manitoba bonspiel, taking home five trophies. Clifford won bonspiels through the 1920s, 30s and 40s. He served as president of the Strathcona club and the Manitoba Curling Association (1942-43) and he was an honorary life member of both. He also belonged to the Lions Club, serving as president for a period, and he was a member of St. Stephen’s United Church. He and his wife had one daughter, Marion.

Clifford worked for the Winnipeg Tribune for more than twenty years, becoming office manager in 1937 and circulation director by 1940. Around 1943 he left the Tribune to work for the Unemployment Insurance Commission and he was with them for 17 years. He was planning to retire soon when he passed away at home on 20 May 1960, at age 64. He was predeceased by his wife and his brother Gordon, both in 1959, and survived by his daughter Marion (Mrs. Orville Hess). He is buried at Garry Memorial Park Cemetery (Thomson in the Park) in Winnipeg.

Memorable Manitobans: Clifford Ross Hudson

By Becky Johnson

Hudson-Clifford-Ross-90 Hudson-Clifford-Ross-91 Hudson-Clifford-Ross-92 Hudson-Clifford-Ross-93 Hudson-Clifford-Ross-94 Hudson-Clifford-Ross-95

Clifford is in an unmarked grave.


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