George Hudson
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
railway financier, known as "The Railway King", was born, the fifth son of a farmer, in Howsham
Howsham, North Yorkshire
Howsham is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is home to a beautiful small parish church and Howsham Hall. Howsham appeared as Husun in the Domesday Book....
, in the parish of Scrayingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...
, north of Stamford Bridge
Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire
Stamford Bridge is a village and civil parish on the River Derwent in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, approximately east of York.-Location and history:The village sits astride an ancient ford on the River Derwent....
, east of York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
. He is buried in Scrayingham.
Career
After a cursory education, at age 15, he was apprenticed to Bell and Nicholson, a firm of drapers in College Street, York. He finished his time in 1820, was taken on as a tradesman, and given a share in the business. The following year he married Nicholson's daughter. When Bell retired, the firm became Nicholson and Hudson. By 1827 the company was the largest drapery, indeed 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 From being a Methodist and a Dissenter
Dissenter
The term dissenter , labels one who disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. In the social and religious history of England and Wales, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body who has, for one reason or another, separated from the Established Church.Originally, the term...
, Hudson changed his allegiance to become a High Church
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
. In 1833 it became possible for joint stock
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
country banks
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
to conduct their business in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
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
At about this time the group considered the idea of a railway line to LeedsLeeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
with Hudson as Treasurer. Hudson subsequently subscribed for 500 shares and was 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 Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Liverpool and Manchester Railway
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North...
on the other side of the Pennines, Rennie produced plans for a horse-drawn line, and matters fell into abeyance.
In 1835 Hudson was elected to the newly reformed York city council (becoming lord mayor in 1837). In the same year he met George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
by chance in Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
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
London and Birmingham Railway
The London and Birmingham Railway was an early railway company in the United Kingdom from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway ....
at Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
, through Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
and Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
to Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
– but bypassing York!
In fact, since 1833, plans had been advanced for three lines – the Midland Counties Railway
Midland Counties Railway
The Midland Counties Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which existed between 1832 and 1844, connecting Nottingham, Leicester and Derby with Rugby and thence, via the London and Birmingham Railway, to London. The MCR system connected with the North Midland Railway and the...
from Rugby to Derby, the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway
Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway
The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway was a British railway company. From Birmingham it connected at Derby with the North Midland Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station...
from Henley in Arden just outside Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
to Derby, and the North Midland Railway
North Midland Railway
The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham and Leeds in 1840.At Derby it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station...
from there to Leeds. In 1835 he formed a committee to promote a line to be known as the York and North Midland Railway
York and North Midland Railway
The York and North Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1839, connecting York, with the Leeds and Selby Railway and in 1840 with the North Midland Railway at Normanton near Leeds.-Origins:...
, This would join the North Midland at Normanton
Normanton, West Yorkshire
Normanton is a town and civil parish within the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It is northeast of Wakefield and southwest of Castleford, and at the time of the 2001 Census, the population was 19,949.-History:...
a few miles east of Leeds and received its Act of Parliament in 1837.
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
Railway Clearing House
The British Railway Clearing House was an organisation set up to manage the allocation of revenue collected by numerous pre-grouping railway companies...
in 1842.
He also invested in North Midland shares but, with the expense of constructing the line and an economic depression, by 1842 the dividend was a mere 1% and the Lancashire and Yorkshire shareholders took over the board from the Derby members with George Hudson becoming Chairman. The two other lines which connected to London, the MCR and the B&DJR, were also in trouble from having fought a long "war of attrition.
Attrition warfare
Attrition warfare is a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and matériel....
" Hudson's intervention led to the three amalgamating in 1844 to become the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
.
Turning his attention to the proliferation of railways, he initiated the Newcastle and Darlington line in 1841. With George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
he planned and carried out the extension of the Y&NMR to Newcastle, and by 1844 had control of over a thousand miles of railway. The mania for railway speculation was at its height, and no man was more courted than the "railway king", a name conferred upon him by Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith was an English writer and Anglican cleric. -Life:Born in Woodford, Essex, England, Smith was the son of merchant Robert Smith and Maria Olier , who suffered from epilepsy...
.
Member of Parliament
Despite his personal wealth, he was presented with a tribute of £20,000. Deputy-lieutenant for DurhamDurham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
, and thrice lord mayor of York, he was elected the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Sunderland
Sunderland (UK Parliament constituency)
Sunderland was a borough constituency of the House of Commons, created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election. It elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote system of election until it was split into single-member seats of Sunderland North and Sunderland South for the 1950...
at a by-election in August 1845, holding the seat until his defeat at the 1859 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1859
In the 1859 United Kingdom general election, the Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, held their majority in the House of Commons over the Earl of Derby's Conservatives...
.
Fraud and ruin
Full of rewards and honours, he was suddenly ruined by the disclosure of fraud in the Eastern Railway, along with the discovery of his bribery of MPs. Sunderland clung to her generous representative till 1859, but, on the bursting of the financial and political bubble, he had lost influence and fortune. His later life was chiefly spent on the continent. Some friends gave him a small annuity a short time before his death, which took place in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
His name has been used to point the moral of vaulting ambition and unstable fortune, Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
calling him the "big swollen gambler" in one of the Latter-Day Pamphlets
Latter-Day Pamphlets
Latter-Day Pamphlets was a series of "pamphlets" published by Thomas Carlyle in 1850, in vehement denunciation of what he believed to be the political, social, and religious imbecilities and injustices of the period...
.
Family life
He married Elizabeth Nicholson in 1821. Their four surviving children were: George, who was called to the bar and became an inspector of factories; John, who entered the army and was killed in the Indian Mutiny; William, who became a doctor; and Anne, who married a Polish count, Michał Hieronim Leszczyc-SumińskiBaldersby Park
In 1845 he bought from Lord de Grey Colen CampbellColen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
's already much-remodelled Newby Park in the North Riding of Yorkshire, between the small towns of Ripon and Thirsk, which is often referred to as the first Palladian villa
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
in England. He rebuilt it as Baldersby Park, providing it with a northern front in a Jacobethan
Jacobethan
Jacobethan is the style designation coined in 1933 by John Betjeman to describe the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance , with elements of Elizabethan and...
style, retaining its Georgian south front. The mansion, its interior reconstructed after a fire in 1902, is now home to Queen Mary's School
Queen Mary's School
Queen Mary's School is a girls' school for day and boarding students ages 3–16 in Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, England. Established in 1921, the school is set on of landscaped grounds and houses approximately 300 students. The school aims to offer a broad, inclusive curriculum...
, a girls' independent school.
Memorials
Hudson House, on the site of the former York and North Midland RailwayYork and North Midland Railway
The York and North Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1839, connecting York, with the Leeds and Selby Railway and in 1840 with the North Midland Railway at Normanton near Leeds.-Origins:...
terminus in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, is named after him, as is George Hudson Street in the City of York running parallel to North Street.
Further reading
- A.J. Peacock and David Joy, George Hudson of York, Dalesman, 1971.
- A. J.Arnold, and S. M. McCartney, George Hudson: The Rise and Fall of the Railway King, London and New York: Hambeldon and London, 2004
- Lambert, Richard S. The Railway King 1800–1871, a study of George Hudson and the Business Morals of his Times, George Allen and Unwin, 1964.
External links
- Short biography, bibliography and more
- The Railway King: George Hudson on History of York