George Hudson He never named any of his co-conspirators, although many of them turned their backs on him when the bubble burst. George Hudson was born in Howsham, about 12 miles from York, to parents John and Elizabeth Hudson on 10 March 1800. His mother died at the age of 38 when George was six and his father two years later. 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
George Hudson long had business interests in the town with some of the property he inherited from his uncle, Matthew Bottrill, being located there. The building of the railway to the town had led Hudson to form and become the chairman of the Whitby Building Company which developed the West Cliff area of the town in the 1850s. In 1865 West Cliff was mortgaged to the NER although Hudson hoped to recover it and start further developments. Hudson returned to Whitby on 11 June 1865 where his opponent was the sitting Liberal MP Harry Thompson. Thompson was also the chairman of the