The New International Encyclopædia/Hudson, George

HUDSON, George (1800-71). An English speculator, known as the ‘railway king.’ He acquired a fortune as a linen-draper, and at the age of twenty-seven inherited £30,000. Investing in railways, he soon carried out large schemes of annexation and extension, crushing roads and buying up embarrassed lines. He was three times elected Lord Mayor of York, and was sent to Parliament. In 1847 the value of railway property fell rapidly, and it was found on investigation that Hudson was paying dividends out of capital, and appropriating large sums to his personal use. He spent his last twenty years in contesting lawsuits.