Edward Wren Hudgins

Edward W. Hudgins served as Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court from 1947 to 1958. Hudgins was born January 17, 1882 in Buckingham County, Virginia, and died July 29, 1958 at Chase City, Virginia. Hudgins, the son of a Confederate veteran, worked as a streetcar conductor to put himself through Richmond College and was graduated from the T. C. Williams School of Law in 1908. He began his law practice in Mecklenberg County in 1908. In 1916 Hudgins was elected a delegate to the Virginia General Assembly and served until 1920 when he was appointed to the circuit court bench. Hudgins' leadership on the Virginia Supreme Court was credited by conservative supporters with upholding states rights. Governor Lindsay Almond and Congressman Watkins Abbitt, among others, considered Hudgins a "tower of strength" in "perilous" times who would "protect the rights of our people." (Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 30, 1958)