George Hudson George Hudson George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King" – a title conferred on him by Sydney Smith in 1844. Hudson played a significant role in linking London to Edinburgh by rail, carrying out the first major merging of railway companies (the Midland Railway), developing his hometown of York into a major railway junction, and represented Sunderland in the House of Commons. Hudson's success was built on dubious financial practices
George Hudson its Georgian south front. The mansion, its interior reconstructed after a fire in 1902, is now home to Queen Mary's School, a girls' independent school. When Hudson became an MP he bought a property in Albert Gate in Knightsbridge, London which became the centre of the Hudsons' social life in London. Today (2018) it is the French embassy. Octon Grange was bought as a strategic investment in August 1844. Hudson hoped his sons would both inherit a country house and this was also close to the then proposed Bridlington branch line. This estate, bought within a year, effectively ended George