George Hudson Bentinck introduced a bill to build a railway network in Ireland. The cost of the proposal was £16 million which George Hudson, no doubt sensing an opportunity, supported. The government did not support the bill which was ultimately defeated. In the run up to the 1852 general election Hudson – who by this time was in severe financial difficulty – spoke on several issues including a repeal of a timber tax and on a corrupt practices bill. He was re-elected by 54 votes in the election but with his railway career in decline and drinking heavily he presented rather a
George Hudson North Eastern Railway (NER) and was not popular in Whitby as he had failed to join the town to the national rail network and had overseen the rise of neighbouring Scarborough as Yorkshire's leading seaside resort. Hudson made the most of this in a speech delivered on 19 June in St. Hilda's Hall, Whitby and victory seemed assured. On Sunday 9 July 1865 (just before the election) the Sheriff of York arrested Hudson in Whitby and he was taken back to York. Although not proven, it is suggested by two of his biographers that Thompson and George Leeman were behind