George Hudson
George Hudson was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a title conferred on him by Sydney Smith in 1844.
Hudson played a significant role in linking London to Edinburgh by rail, carrying out the first major merging of railway companies and developing his home city of York into a major railway junction. He also represented Sunderland in the House of Commons. Hudson's success was built on dubious financial practices and he frequently paid shareholders out of capital rather than money the company had earned.
Eventually in 1849, a series of enquiries, launched by the railways he was chairman of, exposed his methods, although many leading the enquiries had benefited from and approved of Hudson's methods when it suited them. Hudson fell a long way, becoming bankrupt. After losing his Sunderland seat he was forced to live abroad to avoid arrest for debt, returning only when imprisonment for debt was abolished in 1870.
Hudson's name is associated with financial wrongdoing, although others were at least partially guilty of similar practices. He never named any of his co-conspirators, although many of them turned their backs on him when the bubble burst.
Early life
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. 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. 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 bye-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.
Railways
York and North Midland Railway (YNMR)
A line to London
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, 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 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.
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. Some objected but both Meek and Joseph Rowntree defended the move although in later years the latter would be foremost amongst Hudson's critics. Opening to a junction on the Leeds to Selby line took place on 29 May 1839 and to Normanton on 1 July 1840 meaning London was now linked by rail to York. On 9 November 1840 the YNMR leased the Leeds and Selby Railway for £17,000 per year and Hudson promptly closed the line so passengers had to use his route via Castleford.
Other YNMR lines opened under Hudson's chairmanship
Other lines built by the YNMR under Hudson's chairmanship included those to Pickering and Scarborough both of which were authorised on 4 July 1844. The then isolated Whitby – Pickering Railway was purchased by the YNMR on 30 June 1845 and when the York to Pickering line opened on 8 July 1845 there was a through route from York to Whitby. This was a logical choice for Hudson as he had property in Whitby and regarded the harbour as promising for development.The route to Scarborough – which Hudson declared would become the "Brighton of the north" – opened on the same day. It is however worth noting that at the meeting where this line was first mooted the Quaker Joseph Rowntree sounded a note of caution about the company accounts which Hudson glossed over.
On 1 July 1845 the YNMR leased the Hull and Selby Railway and on 1 October that year the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway became joint lessee.
The following year lines from Seamer to Filey and Hull to Bridlington were completed opening on 5 October and 6 October respectively. The link between Filey and Bridlington was completed on 20 October 1847.
On 20 August 1847 the YNMR line to Harrogate opened between Church Fenton and Spofforth and on 4 October the line from York to Market Weighton was completed. It is worth noting that Hudson had purchased the Londesborough Hall estate in September 1845 to partly to prevent the scheme of one of his bitter enemies George Leeman succeeding.
On 8 May 1848 Hull Paragon station opened and on 20 July the line from Spofforth to Harrogate was completed. On 1 August the line linking Selby and Market Weighton was opened to traffic although it was a number of years before the line to Beverley was completed.
A direct line to Leeds was also planned but following Hudson's downfall this was abandoned. Authorised in 1846 and abandoned in 1849 the only tangible evidence of this line is a railway viaduct built at Tadcaster.
Railway Clearing House
At this time, of course, each railway was a separate company with its own infrastructure, rolling stock, even stations. This meant that, at each stage of the journey it was necessary to change trains and buy a new ticket. With his powerful influence and financial interest in so many railways, it was Hudson who played a great part in setting up the Railway Clearing House in 1842. This was an organisation set up to manage the allocation of revenue collected by pre-grouping railway companies of fares and charges paid for passengers and goods travelling over the lines of other companies.Midland Railway
In 1842 the North Midland Railway was in severe financial difficulty due to its high construction costs down to George Stephenson's insistence that the ruling gradient should be no more than 1 in 300. As a shareholder Hudson took over the inquiry into the situation and devised a scheme to radically reduce operating costs by reducing staff numbers and wages. Experienced staff were laid off and replaced and performance on the railway suffered. On 12 January 1843 there was a serious accident at Barnsley with a single fatality. The following public outcry demanded changes to restore the NMR to its former operating efficiency. In his first six months Hudson managed to reduce operating expenses by £11,530 and increase revenue by £2,500.Like the NMR two of the other companies, the Midland Counties Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, that made up the route from London to York were in serious financial difficulty as they had fought a long "war of attrition" over fares. Hudson convinced the shareholders in a meeting in August 1843 that a merger between the three railways would save £325,000 per year operating costs and yield shareholder dividends of 5%. The merger was agreed in September 1843 despite some opposition from the Midland Counties directors, and Hudson became the Midland Railway's first chairman. Royal assent was given to the merger on 10 May 1844.
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 Hudson's railways linked Gateshead in the north with Bristol in the south. In May of that year a company was formed to build a line from Manchester via Buxton and Matlock to Ambergate on the Midland line just north of Derby. Hudson was on the board of directors with Lord George Cavendish as chairman. On 4 July 1845 the Midland leased the Erewash Valley line and bought the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway on 21 July. On 4 August the Midland line from Nottingham to Lincoln opened a month after the Midland had absorbed the Leicester and Swannington Railway.
In 1843 a group of local businessman formed the Leeds and Bradford Railway company, with Hudson as chairman. An Act of Parliament was obtained in July 1843, to build a line from Leeds to Bradford via Shipley as well as a link to the North Midland Railway's terminus at Hunslet Lane, to allow connections to the south. The railway opened on 1 July 1846 and was immediately leased by the Midland Railway at very favourable terms. There was some concern here as Hudson was benefiting from this arrangement which he had initiated. Beaumont suggests it was this transaction that was where concerns started to grow about Hudson's methods.
Later in 1846 the Midland line from Syston to Melton Mowbray was opened on 2 September and then a month later the Stamford to Peterborough section opened. It opened as a through route on 20 March 1848. Other Midland lines opened under Hudson's chairmanship included Skipton-Colne, Coalville-Burton and Nottingham to Kirkby.
Other LBR extensions included Shipley to Keighley on 16 March to Skipton on 8 September 1847.