There is an Edward F[isher] Hudson born in Dec. 1869 at Greenwich (or sometime in 1870) listed in the UK Census for 1901 as being employed by "His Britannic Majesty's Consular Service". It's worth remembering that firearms ownership was not common in Victorian England except among farmers, gamekeepers, the landed gentry and the upper middle classes who took an interest in "field sports". So that probably lets out most of the other candidates. I looked for Eric, Edward and Edmund, and he was the best fit. There could be others of course. Too bad more records aren't available, but the "OB 478/04" is perhaps "Order Book..." I wonder if those still exist? If the ledger shown was the only one, there would be no need for such a reference. The Order Book may have listed personal details whereas the other ledger would record the details of the build?

[url=https://familysearch.org/search/collection/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3A"Edward%20F."%20%2Bsurname%3AHudson%20%2Bgender%3AM&collection_id=1888129]https://familysearch.org/search/collecti...tion_id=1888129[/url]

If you could find Hudson's will or probate papers the rifle might be listed, and if it does turn out to be his rifle, you should be able to get details of his career from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the Public Record Office at Kew.

I see Hudson was Vice-Consul at Colon, Panama in 1904 and in 1908 in northern Chile: [url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28234/page/2121/data.pdf]https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28234/page/2121/data.pdf[/url]

He doesn't seem to have died in England from what I found here: [url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl]http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl[/url]

Married Sept. 1903 at Woolwich (Greater London)

If this was his rifle, he might have bought it before setting out for his posting in Panama. Officers and officials in those days would often "come home" for long leaves between postings.

It's possible he ended up in the USA, but equally possible the rifle was picked up in the UK by a dealer from the USA. I didn't find him in the Social Security Death Index, but US immigration records would tell you if he did immigrate.

There is also an Edward Fisher Hudson born in Colchester, Essex in 1891 who died in 1973 in Colchester; probably a relation, but possibly just a case of a parallel branch of the family perpetuating the same forenames, something that happens quite often.

OK, sniffing around the net a little further, we find via this page: [url=http://www.travelpod.com/hotel/Spark-Express-Iquique.html]http://www.travelpod.com/hotel/Spark-Express-Iquique.html[/url], this chap who was E.F. Hudson's son and born in Chile in the British Consulate, no less. [url=http://assyrianlevies.info/major-guy-hudson.html]http://assyrianlevies.info/major-guy-hudson.html[/url]

Quite possible the rifle went back to the UK with him and his mother after W.F. Hudson's death. I see Guy Hudson's widow is still mentioned as being alive, so if you found her address and sent her a letter with some photos of the rifle, she might be able to confirm its history - IF THIS IS RIGHT E.F. HUDSON!

Good luck.