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George Hudson - The Rise and Fall of the Railway King ****

Brian Bailey, Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd., 1995, UK

ISBN 0-7509-0493-3

Why, you may ask, is there a book about railways on a business web site? Well, the development of the railways were invariably undertaken as business ventures. Driven by visionary entrepreneurs, backed by other business owners and speculators, many of them common workers, the proposals were often opposed by the landed gentry and usually bitterly fought over in political circles - for every railway needed an Act of Parliament.

This book draws many parallels with the dot com era (or should it be the other way round?). As stated, both were driven by entrepreneurs and backed by speculators alike. Both were networks that increased in value as they joined community to community, business to business, citizen to citizen. Both cultivated lots of publicity, and in both cases many were no more than over-hyped speculative shams. Ventures that had no real commercial prospects other than a hope of being fought over and then bought for an over inflated sum. And now we know, that both were infected with corruption.

This book, the story of George Hudson's life from 1800 to 1871, tells of his rise from a peasant family, to millionaire and Member of Parliament and Mayor of York, and then back again to poverty. When aged 27, George inherited property from his great uncle and at once gained admittance to the circle of local business and politicians and sat on various charitable boards. Then in 1833 he helped to establish the York Union Bank and was made a director. From there it was a small step to becoming treasurer of a new company formed to bring the railway to York.

Over the next 15 years, George was involved in promoting one railway after another, often using the paper assets of one to underpin another. Eventually he controlled lines from London right up to the north east of England with extensions down to Bristol. However, he also controlled the accounts and speculation was rising that the published accounts were not accurate, that assets and materials were being sold between the companies for less than market value, that dividends were being paid out of capital, and worse, that Hudson had sold back his own shares at highly inflated prices and was claiming inappropriately for significant levels of expenses.

The end was not swift, but I suggest you acquire this books and find the outcome yourself. A gripping business story that will have you looking for modern day counterparts.