George Hudson

George Hudson was born in Howsham, a small village about 12 miles from York, to John and Elizabeth Hudson on 10 March 1800. His mother died at the age of 38 in 1806 when George was six and his father two years later in 1808. He was brought up by older brothers William and John and after a cursory education he left Howsham at age 15. Beaumont (2003) suggests that this may have been the result of the slump affecting agriculture in 1815, but there was also a payment of 12 shillings and 6 pence recorded in the Howsham poor book as being "received of George Hudson for bastardry".

Hudson was apprenticed to Bell and Nicholson, a firm of drapers in College Street, York. He finished his apprenticeship in 1820, was taken on as a tradesman, and given a share in the business early in 1821. On 17 July that year he married Nicholson's daughter Elizabeth. When Bell retired, the firm became Nicholson and Hudson. By 1827 the company was the largest business in York.

In 1827, his great-uncle Matthew Botrill fell ill and Hudson attended at his bedside. In thanks for this, the old man made a will leaving him his fortune of £30,000 (equivalent to £2,741,168 in 2025). In later years when exiled in France, Hudson acknowledged "it was the very worst thing that could have happened to me. It let me into the railways and all my misfortunes since."

Hudson became a prominent member of the York Board of Health and when cholera visited the city in 1832 Hudson distinguished himself as a spirited public servant visiting the sick and reporting on their welfare".

From being a Methodist and a Dissenter, Hudson changed his allegiance to become a High Church Tory and became treasurer of the York Conservative Party in 1832. He supported the unsuccessful candidature of John Henry Lowther in the general election of 1832 and again in an 1833 by-election. Although York was primarily a Whig city the influence Hudson had on the campaigns was being noticed.

In 1833 it became possible for joint stock country banks to conduct their business in the City of London and he took a leading part in the establishment of the York Union Banking Company with its agent in the city being George Carr Glyn.

In 1833 York businessmen formed a railway committee. The initial idea of this was to link York to Leeds to enable the city to enjoy cheaper coal and emulate the industrial success being enjoyed by Leeds, Bradford and other West Yorkshire towns. Hudson was treasurer of this group and subsequently subscribed for 500 shares becoming the largest shareholder. They retained John Rennie to survey the line and Hudson accompanied him, learning the practicalities of railway construction and of dealing with landowners. In spite of the success of the locomotive powered Liverpool and Manchester Railway on the other side of the Pennines, Rennie produced plans for a horse-drawn line (in 1834), and matters fell into abeyance.

In the summer of 1834 Hudson met George Stephenson by chance in Whitby and they became friends and business associates. He learnt of Stephenson's dream of a railway from London, using a junction of the London and Birmingham Railway at Rugby, through Derby and Leeds to Newcastle – but bypassing York.

In fact, since 1833, plans had been advanced for three lines – the Midland Counties Railway from Rugby to Derby, the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway from Hampton in Arden just outside Birmingham to Derby, and the North Midland Railway from there to Leeds.

In 1835 the York railway committee became the York and North Midland Railway (YNMR) and at Hudson's suggestion the new line would join the North Midland at Normanton a few miles south-east of Leeds. The YNMR received its Act of Parliament on 21 June 1836. and at its first official meeting Hudson was elected Chairman with other officers including James Meek, James Richardson and Richard Nicholson (Hudson's brother-in-law).

At this time there was also another railway being planned which would link York to Darlington called the Great North of England Railway. Its promoters hoped that it would be part of an East Coast route to Scotland and while initially favouring Leeds and York they eventually chose York as their southernmost destination although Hudson had little to do with this decision.

Work started on the YNMR line in April 1837 with a new station being built in York. In April – before full opening – Hudson declared a dividend of one guinea per share which, when questioned he confirmed had been paid out of the companies' capital. …

In 1848 a pamphlet called "The bubble of the age" or "The fallacy of railway investment, Railway Accounts and Railway dividends" alleged that the dividends paid by Hudson's companies were paid out of capital rather than revenue. Hudson was attacked by Midland shareholder and Liverpool shipowner J. H. Brankner in February 1849 over his fight with the GNR. This was then exacerbated by Hudson's agreement with the Great Northern to allow then to use the Burton Salmon route (see above) which many felt effectively sold them out.

Hudson had been borrowing money at a high interest rate to keep some of his companies afloat. A payment of £400,000 had to be made in 1849; many of these companies were left in a difficult position with falling revenues, an economic depression and little scope for future shareholder dividends. In York, the local corporation led by George Leeman were demanding money for the Lendal Bridge project and many of Hudson's allies were unseated at local elections that year.

The shareholders that had so fulsomely praised Hudson for the large dividends paid now lined up against him. In the Midland Railway meeting of 15 February 1849 there were calls for a committee of inquiry to be set up which Hudson managed to quash by threatening to resign. Five days later at the meeting of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway two shareholders Horatio Love and Robert Prance revealed a number of shares had been sold to the company at a value far in excess of what they were actually worth and the beneficiary was Hudson. This time the call for a committee of inquiry to be set up was successful.

The Eastern Counties Railway Annual General Meeting was on 28 February and Hudson decided not to attend. Vice chair David Waddington faced the wrath of the shareholders (who had received a very small dividend) and promptly blamed the absent Hudson. Another committee of inquiry was set up under William Cash and within a month the Midland Railway shareholders had set one up and Hudson had resigned.

In April 1849 the Prance report (YNMR) revealed the wrongful valuation of the shares and Hudson had to pay back £30,000. Later that month he faced a hostile ECR inquiry (formed of men who had approved everything he did in previous years), after which he resigned. On 7 May, MP Francis Charteris alleged possible bribery of MPs and another inquiry was started. …

By 1830 Hudson was a Tory, although at this point the Tories did not control York. At the 1832 general election he backed the unsuccessful candidate, John Lowther, and did so again in 1833 in a by-election. In both of these elections accusations of bribery were levelled against Hudson, but in fact both sides misbehaved. Vaughan (1997) states "The Whigs were not in favour of bribery but instead used gangs of thugs to intimidate any would be Tory voter – in those days the vote was given orally and in public, surrounded by the crowd".

Lowther was elected to parliament at York at the third time of asking in the 1835 general election, and Hudson inadvertently helped his enemies by sending the poorer voters who had voted for Lowther a gold sovereign each by post. A parliamentary select committee later investigated this, but no further action was taken, mainly because unsavoury tactics had also been used by the Whigs in York.

In 1835, Hudson was elected to the City of York Corporation as an alderman. Funded by Hudson's money, the York Tories eventually gained the balance of power in York, and Hudson became Lord Mayor of York in 1836 and again in 1837. There was some doubt about the lawfulness of this second term, but by the time the matter went to court Hudson's second year as mayor was over.

Following his election as one of the two members of parliament for Sunderland in 1845, Hudson's influence led to his becoming Lord Mayor of York for a third time. One of his ambitions, to build a bridge to link the railway with Lendal in York was high on his agenda. However his attempts to raise money for this project did not go well, as he stated that the YNMR would fund the bridge with the corporation. However, when the proposal was presented to the corporation there was no mention of the YNMR. Alarmed, one of Hudson's bitterest enemies, George Leeman, led the opposition, resulting in Hudson agreeing to pay some of the costs of the bridge design himself.

The Sunderland Conservatives selected Hudson hoping he would help to re-invigorate two failing infrastructure projects – Monkwearmouth Dock and the Durham and Sunderland Railway. Hudson defeated the opposition candidate and was elected to parliament on 14 August 1845. In parliament Hudson – as well as looking after his railway interests – was a key player in the repeal of the Corn Laws. …

Hudson however had many friends in York and the north and the thought of an old man (now aged 65) in poor health in prison offended Victorian sensibilities. Hudson was released in October 1865 as the debt (still one of many outstanding at this point) was paid off by a colliery owner called George Elliot.

Hudson once again moved abroad, but on return to London (in June 1866) he was again arrested and imprisoned for three weeks in Whitecross Street Prison. Released to see his lawyer Hudson fled the country and the following month the NER case against Hudson was held with him absent. The outcome was that Hudson's debts were reduced to £14,000 plus interest but the NER appealed and it was not until March 1869 that the matter was resolved with the original debt being restored (estimated to be £60,000 by Elliot).

While initially a blow for Hudson it acted as a turning point in his fortunes as his plight was noted by newspapers in Sunderland, Hull and Whitby. Elliot and Hugh Taylor, MP for Tynemouth and North Shields started a subscription fund for Hudson later that year which raised £1,000 in three weeks. His friends started a trust for Hudson (which they legally protected against Hudson's creditors such as the NER) to give him a regular income. With the passing of the Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt Act on 1 January 1870 Hudson was able to return to London and live with his wife Elizabeth.

In 1871 the NER finally accepted it was not going to get the monies owed and the remaining debt cases were dropped. Hudson was not in good health and was taken ill on 9 December 1871 while visiting York. He returned by train to London and died 5 days later, aged 71. His body was taken by train from Euston Station to York where the hearse drove through the streets. Many turned out to pay last respects and shop owners lowered their window blinds as a mark of respect. Hudson was buried at St Peter and St Paul's Church, Scrayingham on 21 December in accordance with his wishes.