Mark Huish

Captain Mark Huish (9 March 1808 – 18 January 1867) was an English railway manager. He is best known for his term as General Manager of the London & North Western Railway, a position he held for 12 years, beginning from the Company's formation in 1846.

Huish was born in Nottingham on 9 March 1808, the son of Mark Huish and Elizabeth Gainsford. He was baptised in High Pavement Presbyterian Church on 6 April 1808.

His father, Mark Huish (1 March 1776 – 14 January 1833) was a deputy-lieutenant for Nottinghamshire. His mother, Elizabeth Gainsford (d. 1824), was the daughter of John Gainsford of Worksop. They married on 5 August 1799.

At age 16 he was sent to India to enter the service of the East India Company, where he joined the 67th regiment Bengal Native Infantry as an Ensign. Huish rose through the ranks and by 1834, at the age of 26, he became entitled to a 3-year leave which allowed him to return to England. While he was in England his promotion to ‘Captain’ came through. For the rest of his life he always styled himself Captain Mark Huish.

At this time Huish had to make a choice: either to return to India at the end of the leave, which would have committed him to a long period without the prospect of returning home, or to look for employment in another sphere. He had become interested in the possibility of working in railway management and applied for the position of Secretary to the newly formed Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railway. Huish was selected from amongst the more than 60 applicants and he began work in Glasgow on 24 November 1837. He remained with the company until 7 July 1841 when he resigned on being offered the job of Secretary to the Grand Junction Railway company, a significant promotion.

The Grand Junction Railway merged with the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway to become the London & North Western Railway. In October 1846 the Directors of the combined company appointed Huish General Manager at a salary of £2,000 p.a.(equivalent to £177,700 in 2016), This was an incredibly high salary for the time.

...
Wikipedia