Hudson, George 1800 - 1871

Hudson, George (1800–1871) was a railway promoter and MP, whose career attracted much controversy. He had shares in many new projects in the early railway building period.

Hudson was born in March 1800 at Howsham, near York, as the fifth son of a farmer. He went to local schools and in 1815 was apprenticed to Bell and Nicholson, a firm of drapers in College Street, York. When his apprenticeship was complete he received a share in the business. Bell retired and the firm became Nicholson and Hudson. In 1821 he married Elizabeth Nicholson, the daughter of one of the partners in the firm. Four of their children survived into adulthood: George, John, William and Anne.

In 1827 Hudson received a legacy of £30,000 from a great-uncle, Matthew Bottrill. This money enabled him to establish himself in the political and social life of York. He became treasurer of the local tory party at the time of the election following the Reform Bill of 1832, and in 1833 he took a leading part in the establishment of the York Union Banking Company. In 1835 Hudson was elected to the newly reformed York city council and in November of 1837 he became lord mayor and was re-elected in the following year. Hudson obtained several estates in Yorkshire, including the Londesborough estate, Newby Park and also owned a large mansion, Albert House, in Knightsbridge.

In 1837 an Act of Parliament was obtained for the York and North Midland Railway Company for the purpose of constructiong a railway from York to link up with the Leeds to Selby line. Hudson became chairman and largest shareholder with George Stephenson as the engineer. In 1841 he persuaded the shareholders in eight railway companies to join together to build a line from Darlington to Newcastle and an act of parliament was obtained in 1842. In the same year he obtained control of the North Midland Leeds to Derby line and this was followed by the merger of the Birmingham and Derby and the Midland Counties companies. By 1844 he controlled over 1000 miles of railway and was dubbed the Railway King. His companies controlled over a quarter of the railways then built in England, with lines from Bristol to Newcastle, and branches to Scarborough, Hull, Leeds, Nottingham, and Rugby, together with the Eastern Counties line from London to Colchester and to Ely.

By the mid to late 1840s Hudson was embroiled in scandals relating to share prices which resulted in him losing credibility. He was subjected to a number of committees of inquiry relating to his business practices, these exposed that dividends had been paid out of capital, figures of traffic, revenue and expenditure had been manipulated. He was compelled to resign from many of his company directorships and to repay large sums of money which he was deemed to have misappropriated. Hudson was compelled to sell his landed estates, his Knightsbridge mansion was leased to the French ambassador, and his name was removed from the roll of aldermen at York.

George Hudson was MP for Sunderland 1845-1859. He could not be arrested for debt while the House of Commons was in session, but in between sessions he went to France and Spain in order to evade his creditors. After losing his seat in general election of 1859, Hudson retired permanently to France. Hudson returned to England again in 1865 to campaign for a seat in general elections, but was subsequently arrested and imprisoned in York. In lack of sufficient funds the creditors finally relented and Hudson moved with his wife to London and was slowly re-accepted into society. Hudson died of angina in his home in Churton Street, London, on 14 December 1871. His coffin was taken by train to York and he was buried at Scrayingham, Yorkshire.