- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Headline Review; New edition edition (7 July 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747232369
- ISBN-13: 978-0747232360
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
998,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #70 in Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Historians > Roberts, Andrew
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
George Hudson, the eponymous Railway King - started his career with a stroke of luck, inheriting #27,000 (a fortune in 1827) from a distant relative. He invested successfully in the North Midland Railway, then formed his own Midland Railway, raising #5 million and bribing MPs along the way. But from his glory in 1845 he fell into disgrace, admitting corruption and selling land he did not own. He was eventually imprisoned in York Castle and died a broken man in 1871. His story provides an insight into 19th-century politics and industrial progress, full of moral dilemmas and also a testimony to the growth of the railways in Britain.
About the Author
Robert Beamont grew up in Yorkshire and embarked on a career as a journalist while at at Oxford University He worked for twenty years at the Yorkshire Evening Press where he was named Feature Writer of the Year four times in the Yorkshire Newspaper Society Awards.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a fascinating and first-rate look at one of the key figures in the commercial development of railways in Britain. George Hudson, for so long an embarrassment to polite society and the writers of history, has been painstakingly brought vividly to life by historian Robert Beaumont. In many ways Hudson emerges as a hugely unsympathetic character - arrogant and pig-headed with a fraudulent side to his business practices. For generations that was the sole judgement on Hudson made by his home city of York. Without falling into the trap of trying to paint his subject in saintly colours, Beaumont redresses the balance brilliantly. He brings all the wit of a top-class newspaper feature writer to get to the driven core of the man. Some historians might have liked to consign Hudson to the sidings of railway history. That can not happen now. Deal by deal, pound by pound the breathtaking rise of this poorly-educated son of a Yorkshire farmer is tracked until, in 1848, he is in control of one third of Britain's railway network. But by then the seeds of disaster had been sown for Hudson the over-reacher.
With forensic accuracy, Beaumont allows Hudson to emerge as a towering presence of his age, a rough diamond - albeit a much-flawed one.
With forensic accuracy, Beaumont allows Hudson to emerge as a towering presence of his age, a rough diamond - albeit a much-flawed one.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I carefully read the reviews before by buying this book. I was seriously misled. On the front cover we are told that this is a serious work of scholarship. This is not true. There is no evidence given by the author that he has done any original research. Where he quotes this is of previous biographies, largely Lambert which I subsequently bought and found immensely superior. Essentially what we are given is a précis of previous biographies, and double line spacing making the book appear longer than it is. He does quote from newspapers but without footnotes or sources. These may also be from other biographies. My biggest criticism is that the author makes little to no selection of his material. Each year of Hudson's life is treated to its due of 3 pages. Consequently 1847, the most decisive year in view of the economic crisis precipitating the collapse of the railway driven boom gets no more than those few pages. Lambert is quite the opposite and therefore informative with analysis and comment. Our author however dismisses the economic crisis in about two sentences.
This is a book of an amateur historian. If you were at an airport and wanted a plesant read about something you knew nothing about, it would pass the time and do its job. If you want to study the man and the period, forget it.
This is a book of an amateur historian. If you were at an airport and wanted a plesant read about something you knew nothing about, it would pass the time and do its job. If you want to study the man and the period, forget it.
Format:Paperback
This biography contains most of the relevant facts about George Hudson's life but it's a whitewash so read it with plenty of salt to hand. Beaumont makes light of the fact that his hero fathered an illegitimate child when he was 15, glosses over his greed and plays down his nefarious money dealings. The pictures aren't particularly accurate either.
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