George Hudson his time as Mayor of York is still displayed in the York Mansion House, once found in the basement and currently at the top of the main staircase. The painting has itself survived the years following his fall from grace in remarkable condition, but its frame, bearing a description of his accomplishments and titles has been disfigured, thought to be the work of disgruntled successors. 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
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