Catching chocolate fish

How much do New Zealanders love their pies? And coffee? And chocolate fish?
Well, while Richard Hudson did not invent any of those things, he is the one the men behind these things being as popular as they are.
Richard Hudson was born Daniel Richard Bullock in 1841 in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England to John and Susan Bullock.
By the age of nine he had been orphaned. He originally worked in a locomotive and carriage building business before going to sea as a cabin boy.
He came to New Zealand in 1865, landing in Lyttelton where he learned to bake under the eye of John Griffin.
After a short stint trying his hand in the gold fields he ended up in Dunedin in 1868, where he worked as a pastry cook. He would take his biscuits down to the docks to sell and his reputation spread.
He married Mary Ann Riley in 1868 and they had eight children. Several of the children had the surname Hudson-Bullock but in 1874 Bullock was dropped altogether along with his first name.
In 1884, he opened the first chocolate manufacturer in Moray Place.
After a trip to Europe in 1885, where he saw the technical advances, he brought them back to New Zealand.
He launched a biscuit, cake and confectionary bakehouse. He is believed to be the first trader to sell a pie and a cup of coffee for sixpence.
Hudson was one of the richest men in Dunedin and Hudson’s had become a household name. Remember Cookie Bear - well that was Hudson’s.
The factory was on a block of land bounded by Cumberland and Castle Streets.
Hudson was an innovator and a firm advocate of the eight-hour working day. He also banned working on Saturday afternoons.
In 1930, Hudson’s merged with Cadbury’s.
While it can’t be said definitively that Hudson was behind the chocolate fish - excavation of the old factory unearthed a chocolate fish mould.
The first mention of chocolate fish was in the Feilding Star in 1926 when a sweet shop in Whanganui was burgled. Tooth marks were found in the chocolate fish. The little marks seemed to be from children.
Hudson died April 10, 1903, aged 61, and was buried in Dunedin’s Northern Cemetery. He had said he wanted no memorial - so there is no headstone on his grave, however it is surrounded by a beautiful cast iron fence.