[1] Skeat, _Etym. Dict._ (1898), says, "The word bears so remarkable
resemblance to Low Ger. _hukkebak_, Ger. _huckeback_, pick-a-back,
that it seems reasonable to suppose that it at first meant 'peddler's
ware.'" The _New English Dictionary_ does not consider that the
connexion can at present be assumed.
HUCKLEBERRY, in botany, the popular name in the north-eastern United
States of the genus _Gaylussacia_, small branching shrubs resembling in
habit the English bilberry (_Vaccinium_), to which it is closely allied,
and bearing a similar fruit. The common huckleberry of the northern
states is _G. resinosa_; while _G. brachycera_ and _G. dumosa_ are known
respectively as box and dwarf huckleberry. The name _Gaylussacia_
commemorates the famous French chemist Gay-Lussac.
HUCKNALL TORKARD, a town in the Rushcliffe parliamentary division of
Nottinghamshire, England; 132 m. N.N.W. from London by the Great Central
railway, served also by the Great Northern and Midland railways. Pop.
(1901) 15,250. The church of St Mary Magdalene contains the tomb of Lord
Byron. There are extensive collieries in the vicinity, and the town has
tobacco and hosiery works. Small traces are found of Beauvale Abbey, a
Carthusian foundation of the 14th century, in the hilly, wooded district
W. of Hucknall; and 3 m. N. is Newstead Abbey, in a beautiful situation
on the border of Sherwood Forest. This Augustinian foundation owed its
origin to Henry II. It came into the hands of the Byron family in 1540,
and the poet Byron resided in it at various times until 1818. There
remain the Early English west front of the church, a Perpendicular
cloister and the chapter-house; while in the mansion, wholly restored
since Byron's time, and in the demesne, many relics of the poet are
preserved. To the S. of Hucknall are traces of Gresley Castle, of the
14th century.
HUCKSTER, a dealer or retailer of goods in a small way. The word, in
various forms, is common to many Teutonic languages. In Early English it
is found as _howkester_, _hokester_, _huxter_; in early modern Dutch as
_heuker_, and Medieval Low German as _hoker_; but the ultimate origin is
unknown. Huckster apparently belongs to that series of words formed from
a verb,--as brew, brewer; but the noun "huckster" is found in use before
the verb to huck. Hawker and pedlar are nearly synonymous in meaning,
but "huckster" may include a person in a small way of trade in a settled
habitation, while a hawker or pedlar invariably travels from place to
place offering his wares. In a contemptuous sense, huckster is used of
any one who barters, or makes gain or profit in underhand or mean ways,
or who over-reaches another, to get advantage for himself.
HUDDERSFIELD, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, England, 190 m. N.N.W. from London. Pop. (1901)
95,047. It is served by the Lancashire & Yorkshire and London & North
Western railways, and has connexion with all the important railway
systems of the West Riding, and with the extensive canal system of
Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is well situated on a slope above the river
Colne, a tributary of the Calder. It is built principally of stone, and
contains several handsome streets with numerous great warehouses and
business premises, many of which are of high architectural merit. Of the
numerous churches and chapels all are modern, and some of considerable
beauty. The parish church of St Peter, however, though rebuilt in 1837,
occupies a site which is believed to have carried a church since the
11th century. The town hall (1880) and the corporation offices (1877)
are handsome classic buildings; the Ramsden Estate buildings are a very
fine block of the mixed Italian order. The market hall (1880) surmounted
by a clock-tower is in geometrical Decorated style. The cloth-hall dates
from 1784, when it was erected as a clothiers' emporium. It is no longer
used for any such purpose, but serves as an exchange news-room. The
Armoury, erected as a riding-school, was the headquarters of a volunteer
corps, and is also used for concerts and public meetings. The chief
educational establishments are the Huddersfield College (1838), a
higher-grade school, the technical school and several grammar-schools,
of which Longwood school was founded in 1731. The Literary and
Scientific Society possesses a museum. Of the numerous charitable
institutions, the Infirmary, erected in 1831, is housed in a building of
the Doric order. The chief open spaces are Greenhead and Beaumont parks,
the last named presented to the town by Mr H. F. Beaumont in 1880. There
is a sulphurous spa in the district of Lockwood.
Huddersfield is the principal seat of the fancy woollen trade in
England, and fancy goods in silk and cotton are also produced in great
variety. Plain cloth and worsteds are also manufactured. There are silk
and cotton spinning-mills, iron foundries and engineering works. Coal is
abundant in the vicinity. The parliamentary borough returns one member.
The county borough was created in 1888. The municipal borough is under a
mayor, 15 aldermen and 45 councillors. Area, 11,859 acres.
Huddersfield (_Oderesfelte_) only rose to importance after the
introduction of the woollen trade in the 17th century. After the
Conquest William I. granted the manor to Ilbert de Laci, of whom the
Saxon tenant Godwin was holding as underlord at the time of the Domesday
Survey. In Saxon times it had been worth l00s., but after being laid
waste by the Normans was still of no value in 1086. From the Lacys the
manor passed to Thomas Plantagenet, duke of Lancaster, through his
marriage with Alice de Lacy, and so came to the crown on the accession
of Henry IV. In 1599 Queen Elizabeth sold it to William Ramsden, whose
descendants still own it. Charles II. in 1670 granted to John Ramsden a
market in Huddersfield every Wednesday with the toll and other profits
belonging. By the beginning of the 18th century Huddersfield had become
a "considerable town," chiefly owing to the manufacture of woollen
kersies, and towards the end of the same century the trade was increased
by two events--the opening of navigation on the Calder in 1780, and in
1784 that of the cloth-hall or piece-hall, built and given to the town
by Sir John Ramsden, baronet. Since 1832 the burgesses have returned
members to parliament. The town possesses no charter before 1868, when
it was created a municipal borough.
HUDSON, GEORGE (1800-1871), English railway financier, known as the
"railway king," was born in York in March 1800. Apprenticed to a firm of
linendrapers in that city, he soon became a successful merchant, and in
1837 was elected lord mayor of York. Having inherited, in 1827, a sum of
L30,000, he invested it in North Midland Railway shares, and was shortly
afterwards appointed a director. In 1833 he had founded and for some
time acted as manager of the York Banking Company. He had for long been
impressed with the necessity of getting the railway to York, and he took
an active part in securing the passing of the York and North Midland
Bill, and was elected chairman of the new company--the line being opened
in 1839. From this time he turned his undivided attention to the
projection of railways. In 1841 he initiated the Newcastle and
Darlington line. With George Stephenson he planned and carried out the
extension of the Midland to Newcastle, and by 1844 had over a thousand
miles of railway under his control. In this year the mania for railway
speculation was at its height, and no man was more courted than the
"railway king." All classes delighted to honour him, and, as if a
colossal fortune were an insufficient reward for his public services,
the richest men in England presented him with a tribute of L20,000.
Deputy-lieutenant for Durham, and thrice lord mayor of York, he was
returned in the Conservative interest for Sunderland in 1845, the event
being judged of such public interest that the news was conveyed to
London by a special train, which travelled part of the way at the rate
of 75 m. an hour. Full of rewards and honours, he was suddenly ruined by
the disclosure of the Eastern Railway frauds. Sunderland clung to her
generous representative till 1859, but on the bursting of the bubble he
had lost influence and fortune at a single stroke. His later life was
chiefly spent on the continent, where he benefited little by a display
of unabated energy and enterprise. Some friends gave him a small annuity
a short time before his death, which took place in London, on the 14th
of December 1871. His name has long been used to point the moral of
vaulting ambition and unstable fortune. The "big swollen gambler," as
Carlyle calls him in one of the _Latter-Day Pamphlets_, was savagely and
excessively reprobated by the world which had blindly believed in his
golden prophecies. He certainly ruined scrip-holders, and disturbed the
great centres of industry; but he had an honest faith in his own
schemes, and, while he beggared himself in their promotion, he succeeded
in overcoming the powerful landed interest which delayed the adoption of
railways in England long after the date of their regular introduction
into America.
HUDSON, HENRY, English navigator and explorer. Nothing is known of his
personal history excepting such as falls within the period of the four
voyages on which his fame rests. The first of these voyages in quest of
new trade and a short route to China by way of the North Pole, in
accordance with the suggestion of Robert Thorne (d. 1527), was made for
the Muscovy Company with ten men and a boy in 1607. Hudson first coasted
the east side of Greenland, and being prevented from proceeding
northwards by the great ice barrier which stretches thence to
Spitzbergen sailed along it until he reached "Newland," as Spitzbergen
was then called, and followed its northern coast to beyond 80 deg. N.
lat. On the homeward voyage he accidentally discovered an island in lat.
71 deg. which he named Hudson's Touches, and which has since been
identified with Jan Mayen Island. Molineux's chart, published by Hakluyt
about 1600, was Hudson's blind guide in this voyage, and the polar map
of 1611 by Pontanus illustrates well what he attempted, and the valuable
results both negative and positive which he reached. He investigated the
trade prospects at Bear Island, and recommended his patrons to seek
higher game in Newland; hence he may be called the father of the English
whale-fisheries at Spitzbergen.
Next year Hudson was again sent by the Muscovy Company to open a passage
to China, this time by the north-east route between Spitzbergen and
Novaya Zemlya, which had been attempted by his predecessors and
especially by the Dutch navigator William Barents. This voyage lasted
from the 22nd of April to the 26th of August 1608. He raked the Barents
Sea in vain between 75 deg. 30' N.W. and 71 deg. 15' S.E. for an opening
through the ice, and on the 6th of July, "voide of hope of a north-east
passage (except by the Waygats, for which I was not fitted to trie or
prove)," he resolved to sail to the north-west, and if time and means
permitted to run a hundred leagues up Lumley's Inlet (Frobisher Strait)
or Davis's "overfall" (Hudson Strait). But his voyage being delayed by
contrary winds he was finally compelled to return without accomplishing
his wish. The failure of this second attempt satisfied the Muscovy
Company, which thenceforward directed all its energies to the profitable
Spitzbergen trade.
Towards the end of 1608 Hudson "had a call" to Amsterdam, where he saw
the celebrated cosmographer the Rev. Peter Plancius and the cartographer
Hondius, and after some delay, due to the rivalry which was exhibited in
the attempt to secure his services, he undertook for the Dutch East
India Company his important third voyage to find a passage to China
either by the north-east or north-west route. With a mixed crew of
eighteen or twenty men he left the Texel in the "Half-Moon" on the 6th
of April, and by the 5th of May was in the Barents Sea, and soon
afterwards among the ice near Novaya Zemlya, where he had been the year
before. Some of his men becoming disheartened and mutinous (it is now
supposed that he had arrived two or three months too early), he lost
hope of effecting anything by that route, and submitted to his men, as
alternative proposals, either to go to Lumley's Inlet and follow up
Waymouth's light, or to make for North Virginia and seek the passage in
about 40 deg. lat., according to the letter and map sent him by his
friend Captain John Smith. The latter plan was adopted, and on the 14th
of May Hudson set his face towards the Chesapeake and China. He touched
at Stromo in the Faroe Islands for water, and on the 15th of June off
Newfoundland the "Half-Moon" "spent overboard her foremast." This
accident compelled him to put into the Kennebec river, where a mast was
procured, and some communication and an unnecessary encounter with the
Indians took place. Sailing again on the 26th of July, he began on the
28th of August the survey where Smith left off, at 37 deg. 36' according
to his map, and coasted northwards. On the 3rd of September, in 40 deg.
30', he entered the fine bay of New York, and after having gone 150 m.
up the river which now bears his name to near the position of the
present Albany, treating with the Indians, surveying the country, and
trying the stream above tide-water, he became satisfied that this course
did not lead to the South Sea or China, a conclusion in harmony with
that of Champlain, who the same summer had been making his way south
through Lake Champlain and Lake St Sacrement (now Lake George). The two
explorers by opposite routes approached within 20 leagues of each other.
On the 4th of October the "Half-Moon" weighed for the Texel, and on the
7th of November arrived at Dartmouth, where she was seized and detained
by the English government, Hudson and the other Englishmen of the ship
being commanded not to leave England, but rather to serve their own
country. The voyage had fallen short of Hudson's expectations, but it
served many purposes perhaps as important to the world. Among other
results it exploded Hakluyt's myth, which from the publication of Lok's
map in 1582 to the 2nd charter of Virginia in May 1609 he had lost no
opportunity of promulgating, that near 40 deg. lat. there was a narrow
isthmus, formed by the sea of Verrazano, like that of Tehuantepec or
Panama.
Hudson's confidence in the existence of a North-West Passage had not
been diminished by his three failures, and a new company was formed to
support him in a fourth attempt, the principal promoters being Sir
Thomas Smith (or Smythe), Sir Dudley Digges and John (afterwards Sir
John) Wolstenholme. He determined this time to carry out his old plan of
searching for a passage up Davis's "overfall"--so-called in allusion to
the overfall of the tide which Davis had observed rushing through the
strait. Hudson sailed from London in the little ship "Discovery" of 55
tons, on the 17th of April 1610, and entered the strait which now bears
his name about the middle of June. Sailing steadily westward he entered
Hudson Bay on the 3rd of August, and passing southward spent the next
three months examining the eastern shore of the bay. On the 1st of
November the "Discovery" went into winter quarters in the S.W. corner of
James Bay, being frozen in a few days later, and during the long winter
months which were passed there only a scanty supply of game was secured
to eke out the ship's provisions. Discontent became rife, and on the
ship breaking out of the ice in the spring Hudson had a violent quarrel
with a dissolute young fellow named Henry Greene, whom he had befriended
by taking him on board, and who now retaliated by inciting the
discontented part of the crew to put Hudson and eight others (including
the sick men) out of the ship. This happened on the 22nd of June 1611.
Robert Bylot was elected master and brought the ship back to England.
During the voyage home Greene and several others were killed in a fight
with the Eskimo, while others again died of starvation, and the feeble
remnant which reached England in September were thrown into prison. No
more tidings were ever received of the deserted men.
Although it is certain that the four great geographical landmarks which
to-day serve to keep Hudson's memory alive, namely the Hudson Bay,
Strait, Territory and River, had repeatedly been visited and even drawn
on maps and charts before he set out on his voyages, yet he deserves to
take a very high rank among northern navigators for the mere extent of
his discoveries and the success with which he pushed them beyond the
limits of his predecessors. The rich fisheries of Spitzbergen and the
fur industry of the Hudson Bay Territory were the immediate fruit of his
labours.
See _Henry Hudson, the Navigator_ (Hakluyt Society, 1860); and T. A.
Janvier, _Henry Hudson_ (1909). In 1909 a great celebration of the
tercentenary was held in the United States.
HUDSON, JOHN (1662-1719), English classical scholar, was born at Wythop
in Cumberland. He was educated at Oxford, where the remainder of his
life was spent. In 1701 he was appointed Bodley's librarian, and in 1711
principal of St Mary's Hall. His political views stood in the way of his
preferment in the church and university. He died on the 26th of November
1719. As an editor and commentator he enjoyed a high reputation both at
home and abroad. His works, chiefly editions of classical authors,
include the following: Velleius Paterculus (1693); Thucydides (1696);
_Geographiae Veteris Scriptores Graeci minores_ (1698-1712) containing
the works and fragments of 21 authors and the learned, though diffuse,
dissertations of H. Dodwell--a rare and valuable work, which in spite of
its faulty text was not superseded until the appearance of C. W.
Muller's edition in the Didot series: the editio princeps of Moeris, _De
Vocibus Atticis et Hellenicis_ (1712); Josephus (1720, published
posthumously by his friend Anthony Hall, the antiquary), a correct and
beautifully printed edition, with variorum notes and translation.
See Wood, _Athenae Oxonienses_, iv.; introduction to the edition of
Josephus; W. Hutchinson, _History of Cumberland_ (1794).
HUDSON, a city and the county-seat of Columbia county, New York, U.S.A.,
on the E. side of the Hudson river, about 114 m. N. of New York City and
about 28 m. S. of Albany. Pop. (1890) 9970; (1900) 9528, of whom 1155
were foreign-born; (1910 census) 11,417. It is served by the Boston &
Albany, the New York Central & Hudson River and the (electric) Albany &
Hudson railways, by river steamboats, and by a steam ferry to Athens and
Catskill across the river. The city is picturesquely situated on the
slope of Prospect Hill; and Promenade Park, on a bluff above the
steamboat landing, commands a fine view of the river and of the Catskill
Mountains. Among the public buildings and institutions are a fine city
hall, the Columbia County Court House, a public library, a Federal
building, a State Training School for Girls, a State Firemen's Home, an
Orphan Asylum, a Home for the Aged and a hospital. The city's
manufactures include hosiery and knit goods, Portland cement (one of the
largest manufactories of that product in the United States being here),
foundry and machine shop products, car wheels, ice tools and machinery,
ale, beer, bricks and tiles and furniture. The value of the factory
products in 1905 was $4,115,525, an increase of 58.1% over that in 1900.
The municipality owns and operates the water-works. Hudson, which was
originally known as Claverack Landing, was for many years merely a
landing with two rude wharfs and two small storehouses, to which farmers
in the neighbourhood brought their produce for shipment on the river.
Late in 1783 the place was settled by an association of merchants and
fishermen from Rhode Island, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. The
present name was adopted in 1784, and the city was chartered in 1785.
For many years Hudson had a considerable foreign commerce and whaling
interests, but these were practically destroyed by the war of 1812.
HUDSON BAY (less often, but more correctly, Hudson's Bay), an inland sea
in the N.E. of Canada, extending from 78 deg. to 95 deg. W. and from 51
deg. to 70 deg. N. On the east it is connected with the Atlantic Ocean
by Hudson Strait, and on the north with the Arctic Ocean by Fox Channel
and Fury and Hecla Strait. Its southern extremity between 55 deg. and 51
deg. N. is known as James Bay. It is 590 m. in width, and 1300 from S.
to N., including James Bay (350 m.) and Fox Channel (350 m.). The
customary use of the term includes James Bay, but not Fox Channel. The
average depth of water is about 70 fathoms, deepening at the entrance of
Hudson Strait to 100 fathoms. James Bay is much shallower, and unfit for
shipping save for a central channel leading to the mouth of the Moose
river. The centre and west of the main bay are absolutely free from
shoals, rocks or islands, but down its east coast extend two lines of
small islands, one close to shore, the other at 70 to 100 m. distance,
and comprising a number of scattered groups (the Ottawa Islands, the
Sleepers, the Belchers, &c.).
Into Hudson and James Bays flow numerous important rivers, so much so
that the water of the latter is rather brackish than salt. Beginning at
the north-west, the chief of these are Churchill, Nelson (draining Lake
Winnipeg, and the numerous inland rivers of which it is the basin),
Hayes (the old boat route of the _voyageurs_ to Winnipeg), Severn,
Albany, Moose, Rupert river (draining Lake Mistassini), Nottaway, East
Main, Great Whale and Little Whale.
Save for some high bluffs on the east and north-east, the shores of the
bay are low. Around much of James Bay extend marshes and swampy ground.
Geologically the greater part of the Hudson Bay district belongs to the
Laurentian system, though there are numerous outcrops of later
formation; Cambro-Silurian on the south and west, and to the north of
Cape Jones (the north-eastern extremity of James Bay) a narrow belt of
Cambrian rocks, of which the islands are composed. Coal, plumbago, iron
and other minerals have been found in various districts near the coast.
The climate is harsh, though vegetables and certain root crops ripen in
the open air as far north as Fort Churchill; cattle flourish, and are
fed chiefly on the native grasses; spruce, balsam and poplar grow to a
fair size as far as the northern limit of James Bay. Caribou, musk ox
and other animals are still found in large numbers, and there is an
abundance of feathered game--ducks, geese, loons and ptarmigan; hunting
and fishing form the chief occupations of the Indians and Eskimo who
live in scattered bands near the shore. The bay abounds with fish, of
which the chief are cod, salmon, porpoise and whales. The last have long
been pursued by American whalers, whose destructive methods have so
greatly depleted the supply that the government of Canada is anxious to
declare the bay a _mare clausum_.
Hudson Strait is about 450 m. long with an average breadth of 100 m.,
narrowing at one point to 45. Its shores are high and bold, rarely less
in height than 1000 ft., save on the coast of Ungava Bay, a deep
indentation on the south-east. No islands or rocks impede navigation.
Its depth is from 100 to 200 fathoms. Owing to the violence of the
tides, which rise to a height of 35 ft., it never absolutely freezes
over.
After three centuries of exploration, the navigability of Hudson Bay
and Strait remains a vexed question. To Canada it is one of great
commercial interest, and numerous expeditions have been made and
reports issued by the Geological Survey. From Winnipeg to Liverpool
via Churchill is over 500 m. less than via Montreal, and from Edmonton
to Liverpool almost 1000 m. less. Were navigation open for a
sufficient time, such a route for the grain of the Canadian and
American west would be of enormous advantage. But the inlet from the
Arctic sends down masses of heavy ice, which drift about in the bay
and the strait. Past the mouth of the strait flows a stream often over
100 m. wide, of berg and floe ice, carried by the Arctic current.
Owing to the proximity of the Magnetic Pole (in Boothia) the compass
often refuses to work. For sailing ships, such as the Hudson's Bay
Company has long employed, the season for safe navigation is from the
15th of July to the 1st of October. In over 200 years very few serious
accidents have occurred to the company's ships within these limits. It
is claimed that specially built and protected steamers would be safe
from the 15th of June till the 1st of November, and the problem may be
solved by ice-breaking vessels of great power. The only good harbour
available is Fort Churchill, at the mouth of the Churchill river,
which is large and easy of access. Moose Factory (at the foot of James
Bay) and York Factory (at the mouth of the Nelson) are mere
roadsteads. Marble Island, south of Chesterfield Inlet, where the
whalers winter, is too far north for regular shipping.
The Cabots entered the strait in 1498, and during the next century a
series of Elizabethan mariners; but the bay was not explored until
1610, when Henry Hudson pushed through the ice and explored to the
southern limit of James Bay.
See Lieutenant Gordon, R.N., _Reports on the Hudson's Bay Expeditions_
(1884, 5, 6); William Ogilvie, _Exploratory Survey to Hudson's Bay in
1890_ (Ottawa, 1891); R. F. Stupart, _The Navigation of Hudson's Bay
and Straits_ (Toronto, 1904).