Midland Railway - Hudson's Defection

Hudson's Defection

In spite of the objections of Hudson, for the Midland, and others, the new "London and York Railway", (later the Great Northern Railway) led by Edmund Denison persisted, and the bill passed through Parliament in 1846.

Hudson changed his allegiance and promoted a short line to connect his York and North Midland Railway to Knottingley, ostensibly as a quarry line, that would give the Great Northern an easy entry into York.

His defection incensed the Midland's directors. Their rejection of him attracted the attention of others and questions began to be asked about other aspects of his financial affairs. Apart, perhaps, from the canals, until the beginning of the century there had simply been no companies with the size and capitalisation of the railways. Company law was still in its infancy, something which many took advantage of. There is no doubt that Hudson had greatly encouraged railway development, but his financial practices had often been dubious. In the end he was discredited and retired to Paris in poverty.

After Hudson's departure, the Midland was in financial difficulties. Opposition to the Great Northern bill had cost a fortune, a great deal of maintenance was overdue, and the Lincoln and Peterborough lines were still to be paid for. Added to this, the Great Northern was taking much of the traffic from the North-East, particularly as the Midland was dependent on the LNWR from Rugby into London.

Thanks to the control that had been exercised by John Ellis, there was no impropriety in the company's accounts, and it was due to his business acumen that the Midland survived and prospered.

Rather than compete on the passenger front, he first set out to concentrate on the coal trade, for in this he had an advantage over both the GNR and the M&SLR. While a number of lines had access to the Yorkshire fields and resisted encroachment by others, the Midland had virtually sole access to the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire mines, which were thirty miles or more nearer London.