STEPHENSON, GEORGE, the founder of the railway system in Britain, and the principal improver, or (as some think) almost originator, of the present locomotive steam-engine. Some incidents in the life of this great mechanic having been mentioned in Professor James Forbes' Dissertation in vol. i. (pp. 883, &c.) of this work, and some observations having been there added on his part and share in the construction of the locomotive-engine, it will be unnecessary in this place to repeat what is previously recorded, and we shall therefore only cursorily notice the chief points in the life and mechanical triumphs of the subject of this biographical sketch.
In a poor cottage in the primitive, rough village of Wylam, eight miles west of Newcastle-on-Tyne, George Stephenson was born, on the 9th of June 1781. The various incidents connected with his humble origin and early occupations have the air of romance when contrasted with his ultimate attainments, fortune, and fame. Few tours in this country are more suggestive than one which the writer has undertaken to trace out the scenes and circumstances in which George Stephenson first lived and laboured; nor even yet has the most been made of the wonderful transition from obscurity to celebrity, from abject poverty to abundant wealth, from comparative ignorance to ample knowledge, from primitive simplicity to large experience, which has been exemplified in the life of the Wylam lad—the Killingworth breaksman; the bold projector and constructor of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway; and, finally, the owner and worker of Midland collieries, and the world-known engineer, the companion of men of science, and the father of a son who continued and augmented the glory that gathers round the name of Stephenson.
Taking up the biography of George Stephenson from the year 1804, he became a breaksman at Killingworth Colliery, seven miles north of Newcastle. The times were hard, taxes heavy, and his own prospects in particular rather gloomy. He was drawn for the militia, paid for a substitute, and contemplated emigration to the United States. Poverty prevented the step. He mended clocks and watches, repaired shoes, and cut out pitmen's clothes. Every spare minute was improved, and his observing eye was always vigilant. He improved the winding-engines of the colliery, and was fortunate in repairing and refitting a failing pumping-engine. His fame as an "engine-doctor" grew, and he was appointed colliery engine-wright at Killingworth.
Railways were first employed in the northern collieries, the visitor to which may even now behold some remains of primitive attempts of this kind. The Wylam waggon-way is one of the oldest, and down to 1807 it was formed of wooden spars or rails, and passed close in front of the cottage where George Stephenson was born. In 1808 this wooden road was taken up, and supplanted by a "plateway" of cast-iron (a single line of rails), with sidings. In 1811 a locomotive-engine was ordered from Treveethick; and another in 1812, after the same pattern, was constructed at Gateshead. These ran upon the Wylam Railway, and are interesting though somewhat clumsy specimens of the earlier locomotives. It is remarkable that at this very time steam, in its other applications, had become a great industrial power,
and was performing the work of thousands of horses. It had even then revolutionized the whole domain of human industry. It was driving mills and machinery, rolling iron, spinning cotton, grinding corn, and to some extent impelling ships over the waters; but the general adoption of the locomotive, which was to bring together towns and cities, almost to annihilate distance, and to confer upon man as much enjoyment and as many capabilities as if he had been endowed with wings, was not yet thought of, and could hardly have been conceived by the most sanguine spectator of the rude, unwieldy machines then creeping along the plateways of the northern collieries.
Stephenson made his first locomotive at Killingworth, and it was the first engine which had smooth wheels, the constructor being satisfied of sufficient adhesion between the toothless rim and an edge-rail. It was first placed upon the Killingworth Railway on July 25, 1814, but its performances were not remarkable. He constructed his second locomotive in the succeeding year, but its improvements were not great. In 1816 he constructed other engines, in which he further simplified the working parts, and amended the whole by resting the weight on four small cylinders, a plan which was afterwards abandoned for ordinary springs. These engines regularly dragged coals at Killingworth, and the writer has seen one of them at that colliery. Mr Stephenson became engineer of the Hetton Colliery Railway, which was opened in 1822, where five of his locomotives were soon at work. To meet the anticipated demand for these engines, he entered into arrangements with Mr Edward Pease in 1823, and soon afterwards erected the famous locomotive manufactory at Newcastle. The Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened for traffic in 1825, and the first engines employed on it were constructed after the Killingworth model, travelling at a speed of from six to eight miles an hour. Mr Stephenson was appointed in 1826 to survey the line for a railway between Liverpool and Manchester; and the history of this railway is to a great degree that of Mr Stephenson's advances; but when the line was completed the directors hesitated to adopt locomotives. A trial, however, was conceded, a prize of £500 offered for the best engine, and on October 1, 1829, three engines appeared, and competed on the 6th. The Rocket was made by Stephenson. On the evening preceding the trial he added to it the blast-pipe, copied from the Sanspareil, a rival engine by Mr Hackworth. Up to that time the Rocket had only attained 15 miles an hour; but on the following day it ran at the amazing velocity (for that period) of 29 miles an hour, while the Sanspareil could only reach 22 miles. Controversy has settled that the merit of the blast-pipe is due to Mr Hackworth, whose engine, however, was disabled, and the Rocket obtained the prize.
It would be vain to attempt to condense into a few lines the several improvements which the locomotive experienced since that memorable trial, but their leading principles remain to this day, although numerous ingenious engineers have studied all its details, and have devised considerable improvements in its working parts, by which greater economy of fuel has been effected, and greater speed attained. The invention of the steam-blast has been attributed to Mr Stephenson, but those who are intimately acquainted with its history accord it to Mr Hackworth, and this has been contested against Dr Smiles, the biographer of Mr Stephenson. The summing up of those who hold this view is, that the speed of the locomotive-engine is mainly due to the application of Hackworth's blast-pipe, Booth's or Seguin's multitubular boiler, and Trevethick's high-pressure engine. It is therefore contended that George Stephenson did not contribute any very important inventions to the locomotive, but is entitled to a large share of the merit due to its ultimate success, inasmuch as he admirably simplified the machinery,
and brought all possible mechanical skill to bear upon the accuracy and solidity of its workmanship, while as a private and public advocate of its powers and prospects (together with those of railways) he was second to none, manifesting and partly inspiring an almost unlimited faith in this great triumph of mechanical adaptation.
Mr Stephenson attained the culminating point of his fame upon the completion and success of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. His subsequent life was one of activity as a railway engineer; but others now emerged from obscurity, and shared his triumphs, while they rather confirmed than lessened his celebrity. The article RAILWAYS details the various improvements in the system which were adopted at different times; while the history of railway progress, so far as it was contemporaneous with Mr Stephenson's life, displays not more his co-operation than his singleness of purpose and integrity of character. He discounteranced the lamentable railway mania, and stood, in the main, aloof from its trickeries and infatuations. He visited other countries as an engineer, and was greatly honoured in all such visits. Finally, he retired to Tapton, opened extensive collieries, and lived the life of a plain but wealthy country gentleman. In 1845 he took a warm interest in horticulture, built melon-houses, pinceries, and vineries, and contended as eagerly with the cultivators of exotics as he formerly did with mechanicians, while his early affection for birds and animals revived. We have not referred to his improvements in the miner's lamp, mainly because they are noticed in the preliminary dissertation, already alluded to. He died 12th August 1848, aged 67. We should say his leading characteristics were sagacity, enterprise, and persistence.
Dr Smiles has written a popular life of this great man, replete with interesting details, but not, we think, always accurate in mechanical history. A "biography in brief" of Mr Stephenson may be found in the little work, Our Coal and our Coal-pits, the People in them, and the Scenes around them (pp. 228, &c.) Several points of interest in the history of the locomotive-engine have been discussed in technical periodicals, and might be advantageously collected into one publication. (J. R. L.)