51 Facts About George Hudson

George Hudson's success was built on dubious financial practices and he frequently paid shareholders out of capital rather than money the company had earned.

George Hudson's name is associated with financial wrongdoing, although others were at least partially guilty of similar practices.

George Hudson never named any of his co-conspirators, although many of them turned their backs on him when the bubble burst.

George Hudson was born in Howsham, a small village about 12 miles from York, to John and Elizabeth Hudson on 10 March 1800.

George Hudson's mother died at the age of 38 in 1806 when George was six and his father two years later in 1808.

George Hudson was brought up by older brothers William and John and after a cursory education he left Howsham at age 15.

George Hudson finished his apprenticeship in 1820, was taken on as a tradesman, and given a share in the business early in 1821.

In 1827, his great-uncle Matthew Botrill fell ill and George Hudson attended at his bedside.

From being a Methodist and a Dissenter, George Hudson changed his allegiance to become a High Church Tory and became treasurer of the York Conservative Party in 1832.

George Hudson supported the unsuccessful candidature of John Henry Lowther in the general election of 1832 and again in an 1833 bye-election.

George Hudson was treasurer of this group and subsequently subscribed for 500 shares becoming the largest shareholder.

The merger was agreed in September 1843 despite some opposition from the Midland Counties directors, and George Hudson became the Midland Railway's first chairman.

In 1845, as a result of work by vice-chairman John Ellis, the Midland leased the Bristol and Gloucester Railway and Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and George Hudson's railways linked Gateshead in the north with Bristol in the south.

One quote often attributed to George Hudson was that he would make all railways come to York.

Early in 1845 he and George Hudson had a very public argument on Derby station resulting in a serious rivalry.

George Hudson was appointed chairman of the ailing Eastern Counties Railway in 1845 and one of his first actions was to appoint David Waddington as his vice chairman.

George Hudson was interested in the ECR as he felt it offered an opportunity for an alternative route from York to London although the truth was the ECR had an appalling reputation for time keeping and safety at this time; George Hudson immediately ordered the payment of a generous dividend for the shareholders.

Later investigation showed that while George Hudson decided the levels of dividends to be paid to shareholders it was Waddington's job to doctor the traffic accounts to make it appear legally earned.

George Hudson cut costs in a similar way on the North Midland Railway and an accident at Romford on 18 July 1846 led the satirical magazine Punch to petition George Hudson to the effect that:.

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 George Hudson's companies were paid out of capital rather than revenue.

George Hudson had been borrowing money at a high interest rate to keep some of his companies afloat.

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.

However, although George Hudson was being scapegoated, others did not always escape.

George Hudson had to sell his property at Newby Park and the purchaser Viscount Downe used Hudson's enemy George Leeman to complete his purchase.

Lowther was elected to parliament at York at the third time of asking in the 1835 general election, and George Hudson inadvertently helped his enemies by sending the poorer voters who had voted for Lowther a gold sovereign each by post.

In 1835, George Hudson was elected to the City of York Corporation as an alderman.

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.

George Hudson defeated the opposition candidate and was elected to parliament on 14 August 1845.

In 1847 Lord George Hudson Bentinck introduced a bill to build a railway network in Ireland.

George Hudson was re-elected by 54 votes in the election, but with his railway career in decline, and drinking heavily, he presented a rather forlorn figure.

George Hudson held onto his seat until his defeat at the 1859 general election where he polled 790 out of 4,000 votes.

George Hudson returned to England in December 1864 for the funeral of his younger brother Charles.

George Hudson had to return to France to escape his creditors but was duly selected to fight Whitby in the 1865 election.

George Hudson had long had business interests in the town with some of the property he inherited from his uncle, Matthew Bottrill, being located there.

In 1865 West Cliff was mortgaged to the NER although George Hudson hoped to recover it and start further developments.

George Hudson returned to Whitby on 11 June 1865 where his opponent was the sitting Liberal MP Harry Thompson.

George Hudson however had many friends in York and the north and the thought of an old man in poor health in prison offended Victorian sensibilities.

George Hudson moved abroad, but on return to London he was again arrested and imprisoned for three weeks in Whitecross Street Prison.

George Hudson's friends started a trust for Hudson to give him a regular income.

George Hudson was not in good health and was taken ill on 9 December 1871 while visiting York.

George Hudson returned by train to London and died 5 days later, aged 71.

George Hudson's body was taken by train from Euston Station to York where the hearse drove through the streets.

George Hudson's name has been used to point the moral of vaulting ambition and unstable fortune, Thomas Carlyle calling him the "big swollen gambler" in one of the Latter-Day Pamphlets.

George Hudson was roundly chastised by those who had blindly believed in his golden prophecies.

George Hudson ruined investors, disturbed the great centres of industry, and beggared himself in the promotion of his schemes.

George Hudson married Elizabeth Nicholson in 1821 in York.

Elizabeth Hudson died in London at 13 Pitt Street, Kensington on 15 January 1886 and their son George was recorded as living there for a few years after his mother's death.

George Hudson lived at 44 Monkgate with his family between 1827 and 1844.

George Hudson rebuilt it as 'Baldersby Park, providing it with a northern front in a Jacobethan style, retaining its Georgian south front.

George Hudson hoped his sons would both inherit a country house and this was close to the then proposed Bridlington branch line.

Elizabeth George Hudson lived here for many years while George Hudson lived in exile.