George Stephenson

Learn more about George Stephenson

Education

Stephenson’s father earned a minimal income, which meant that he received no formal education. Neither of his parents could read or write.

After a brief stint as an engineman at Water Row Pit in Newburn, Stephenson decided to pay to attend night school, where he learned to read, write, and do arithmetic.

He soon showed an excellent aptitude for mechanics, but he had been illiterate before enrolling at night school.

His love for education and learning is something that he passed on to his son, Robert Stephenson.

Robert was sent to school in Newcastle to learn mathematics, but Stephenson would sit with his young son each night after school, and the two would work on his homework together.

Stephenson’s route into education and civil engineering may have been an unconventional one but is also a testament to the impact of determination and self-reliance.

Career

Stephenson spent the early part of his career working on collieries in the North East, with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution creating much greater demand in the coal-mining industry.

He had a lucky break in 1811 when he identified and successfully fixed a problem with a Newcomen engine at a mine belonging to a group of influential businessmen.

A Newcomen atmosphere engine is used to drain mines and raise water to power waterwheels.

The owners were so impressed with Stephenson’s expertise that they hired him to work at the Killingworth Colliery. These years proved foundational for him, allowing him to stretch his creative muscles while learning on the job.

During this time, he invented the Geordie lamp that miners used down coal mines to prevent explosions due to firedamp. This period also saw him build the first steam locomotive, Blucher.

But Stephenson’s big break came in 1821, when the Stockton and Darlington Railway was commissioned to improve connectivity between colliers in County Durham and London.

Stockton and Darlington Railway recruited Stephen's to work on the project, and on the 27 of September 1825, Locomotive No1 was born.

After witnessing his success in the locomotive industry, he was commissioned to work on numerous other railways, including the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, where he was appointed chief engineer.

Stephenson’s dedication to the rail industry culminated in Stephenson’s Rocket, built by Robert Stephenson in 1829.

It was created for and won the Rainhill Trials of Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), which finally proved that locomotives provided greater efficiency than stationary steam engines.

Stephenson spent the rest of his career involved with rail projects, including the Grand Junction Railway.

Personal life

George Stephenson was born in Wylam, Northumberland, England in 1781.

As the son of a mechanic, who himself operated a Newcomen atmospheric-steam engine at a coal mine in Newcastle, it appears engineering was always in Stephenson’s blood.

Aged seventeen, he became an engineman at Water Row Put in Newbury. By the age of nineteen, he was following in his father’s footsteps by operating a Newcomen machine.

Shortly after completing his education at night school, he married Frances Henderson and went on to have a son, Robert Stephenson, in 1803, followed by their second child, a daughter, Frances, in 1805.

Tragically the Stephenson’s daughter died after just three weeks. Stephenson’s wife, Frances, later died of tuberculosis in 1806 and was buried in St Bartholomew's Church, the same churchyard their daughter was buried in.

He married his second wife, Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas Hindmarsh, a wealthy farmer, in 1820. Elizabeth died in 1845, and three years following his wife’s death, he married his housekeeper, Ellen Gregory, who was the daughter of a farmer in Bakewell.

Around this time, Stephenson’s health was beginning to fail, and he died of pleurisy at Tapton House, near Chesterfield, on the 12 August 1848.

The centenary of Stephenson’s birth was celebrated in Newcastle on the 09 of June 1881.