THE RAILWAY KING. 149 



among us the history of the movement. Mr. Hudson, 

 who was a draper in the City of York and Lord Mayor 

 of that ancient city, was connected with the North- 

 Eastern Line, of which he became chairman ; and, being 

 a man of real financial ability and determined courage, 

 he rapidly became associated with many of the projected 

 undertakings, notably with the Great Eastern, then 

 called the Eastern Counties Railway. He pushed these 

 forward, and became chairman of some of them, whilst 

 an intimate friend of mine, Mr. David Waddington, 

 became his vice-chairman, and together they amassed a 

 considerable fortune. Mr. Geo. Hudson came to London, 

 took one of the newly-erected mansions at Albert Gate, 

 and gave a series of splendid dinners and entertain- 

 ments, presided over by Mrs. Hudson, who, being one of 

 les nouveaux ricJies, was made the shaft of many funny 

 stories, similar to those attributed to the heroic Mrs. 

 Ramsbotham. The Railway King had his levees 

 attended by many of the leaders of both Houses of 

 Parliament ; members of the Royal Family were not 

 ashamed to be amongst the numbers who flocked to his 

 house ; and the lately-elected member for Sunderland 

 completely carried London society by storm. Then 

 came the dire crash about 1850 ; every one " went for " 

 George Hudson ; a large sum of money, amounting to 

 some ;^ 200,000, he was forced to disgorge by order of the 

 Courts. He was obliged to give up his seat in Parliament 

 and to retire to the Continent, where he lived on the 

 wretched remnants of his fortune ; till at last, reduced 

 almost to want, a subscription was started for him 

 amongst those who had not only partaken of his bound- 



