HUDSON, SIR JEFFERY or GEOFFREY (1619 1682), English dwarf, was born at Oakham, Rutlandshire, in 1619. For the first 3o years of his life he measured only 18-20 in., though perfectly proportioned, but he then grew to 3 ft. 9 in. After the marriage of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria, Hudson was taken to court where he became a favourite of the queen. He led an adventurous life and is reputed to have held a commission as captain of horse during the Civil War. He ac companied the queen to Paris, left after killing Crofts in a duel, was captured at sea and sold as a slave in Barbary. He escaped, and after the Restoration lived in retirement on a pension, to which the duke of Buckingham contributed. He was arrested in 1679 on suspicion of complicity in the Popish Plot, and confined in the Gatehouse prison. He died in 1682, after his release. Sev eral portraits of him exist, of which that by Sir Ralph Mytens is at Hampton Court.