Edward was born in October 1772 in County Wexford, Ireland. He was of English-Quaker parentage, the son of Capt. Henry Edward and Jane (de Tracey) Hudson. Apparently his parents died during his childhood, for a contemporary record states that the boy was adopted by a cousin, Dr. Hudson.
His cousin educated him at Trinity College and later instructed him in dentistry.
At Trinity, among Hudson's classmates were Thomas Moore, the poet, who became an intimate friend and associate, Robert Emmet, patriot, and a number of young men destined to fame in Irish history. This group of youthful agitators became prominent through their activities in debating societies, and later several of them, including Hudson, were drawn into the socalled "Emmet conspiracy" – with the resulting arrest of Hudson and thirteen of his associates in March 1798, and their imprisonment in Kilmainham jail. After twelve months' captivity, during which time several of his friends were put to death, Hudson was taken to Ft. George, Scotland, where he was confined until 1802. During this period he was allowed to practise his profession, in which he acquired a considerable reputation among "the nobility and gentry of the surrounding country. " On the conclusion of the Peace Treaty of Amiens, March 25, 1802, he was exiled to Holland, where he took the first opportunity to embark for America. He arrived at Philadelphia in 1803.
About 1810 he became reetablished in the practice of dentistry, in which he continued in Philadelphia until his death, which followed a brief illness in 1833. The solid part of his reputation was laid during his thirty years of professional service, and his influence on dental art in its primitive stage was great, but the imagination is stirred by a tribute of Thomas Moore, in the preface to the fourth volume of his poetical works, to "a young friend of our family, Edward Hudson [who] was the first who made known to me this rich mine of our country's melodies; – a mine, from the working of which my humble labours as a poet have since derived their sole lustre and value. "
At a time when American dentistry was in its infancy, Hudson's native talent and skill gave him acknowledged leadership as a practitioner. He made no outstanding discovery, nor left important writings. He was one of the first (1809) to perform the operation of removing the dental pulp and filling the root of the tooth to its end with gold foil.
He was broadly educated, talented in musical and artistic attainments, and possessed of a magnetic personality which brought him great popularity.
In April 1804 he married Maria Bridget Bryne. He was married three times; his second wife was Maria Elizabeth Bicker, and his third was Marie Mackie, the daughter of a prominent merchant in Philadelphia. She became the mother of eight children.
