THE legal world is mourning the death of one of its best-known local characters

Mr Frank Hudson (84), of Sherwood Avenue, Radcliffe, passed away in Bury General Hospital on Good Friday.

Born in Wimbledon, Mr Hudson explored monastic life for around four years after leaving school. He spent a year at Buckfast Abbey, helping to build the church.

During the war he joined the Royal Artillery and then the Glider Pilot Regiment.

He saw service in Dunkirk, Arnhem and India and maintained a lifelong link with the regiment.

In India he resolved to continue his education when the war ended. Mr Hudson achieved a BA degree with a concentration in classics from London University in 1957, and was called to the Bar in 1961.

This time also spanned his marriage to Jean in 1947, and the birth of his daughter Elizabeth in 1953. They both survive him, as do three grandchildren.

Working as a legal adviser to a textile association brought him up to Besses and then to Radcliffe in 1964.

He began to practice as a barrister in 1969 when he was called to the Northern Circuit.

With a relatively late start at the Bar, he was nonetheless honoured by the appointment in 1981 to serve as a Recorder of the Crown Court in Manchester, which he regarded as the most successful and satisfying time of his life.

In 1971 Mr Hudson founded a new chambers in Princess Street, Manchester, which he headed until he retired from the Bar in 1983.

Retirement did not slow his interest in the world, in others or his desire to continue learning. He took up bee-keeping and computing, despite failing eyesight.

Throughout his last illness Mr Hudson was still eager to be kept up to date on the latest judicial proceedings, and was consistently appreciative and grateful for, as he put it, the extraordinary goodness of people.

A Requiem Mass was held at St Marie's Church, Bury on Monday (April 23), followed by committal at Overdale Crematorium.