2-714-127 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Jeffery Hudson, Aged 30 Years, 18 Inches high. - Dwarf to King Charles the First', 1821. Sir Jeffrey Hudson (1619-1682) is recorded to have been only 18 or 19 inches (46cm) tall at the age of 30. In 1626 he was served in a pie to Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, and soon afterwards entered the queen's service. He killed a man in a duel and was expelled from court, was captured by Barbary pirates and spent twenty-five years as a slave in North Africa before being ransomed back to England. From "Wonderful Characters: Comprising Memoirs and Anecdotes of the Most Remarkable Persons of Every Age and Nation", Vol. I, by Henry Wilson. [J. Robins and Co. Albion Press, London, 1821]