George Stephenson

George Stephenson
Engineer and inventor
Born	(1781-06-09)9 June 1781 Wylam, Northumberland, England
Died	12 August 1848(1848-08-12) (aged 67) Tapton House, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England
Resting place	Holy Trinity Church, Chesterfield
Nationality	English
Citizenship	British
Spouse(s)	Frances Henderson (1802–1806); Elizabeth Hindmarsh (1820–1845)
Children	Robert Stephenson

George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", the Victorians considered him a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement, with self-help advocate Samuel Smiles particularly praising his achievements. His of 4 feet 8 ¹⁄₂ inches (1,435 mm), sometimes called "Stephenson gauge", is the standard gauge by name and by convention for most of the world's railways.

George Stephenson was born on 9 June 1781 in Wylam, Northumberland, 9 miles (15 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was the second child of Robert and Mabel Stephenson, neither of whom could read or write. Robert was the fireman for Wylam Colliery pumping engine, earning a very low wage, so there was no money for schooling. At 17, Stephenson became an engineman at Water Row Pit in Newburn. George realised the value of education and paid to study at night school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic – he was illiterate until the age of 18. In 1801 he began work at Black Callerton Colliery as a 'brakesman', controlling the winding gear at the pit. In 1802 he married Frances Henderson and moved to Willington Quay, east of Newcastle. There he worked as a brakesman while they lived in one room of a cottage. George made shoes and mended clocks to supplement his income.

Their first child Robert was born in 1803, and in 1804 they moved to West Moor, near Killingworth where George worked as a brakesman at Killingworth Pit. Their second child, a daughter was born in July 1805. She was named Frances after her mother. The child died after just 3 weeks and was buried in St Bartholomew's Parish Church near Newcastle.
In 1806 George's wife Frances died of consumption (tuberculosis). She was buried in the same churchyard as their daughter on the 16th May 1806.
George decided to find work in Scotland and left Robert with a local woman while he went to work in Montrose. After a few months he returned, probably because his father was blinded in a mining accident. He moved back into a cottage at West Moor and his unmarried sister Eleanor moved in to look after Robert. In 1811 the pumping engine at High Pit, Killingworth was not working properly and Stephenson offered to fix it. He did so with such success that he was promoted to enginewright for the collieries at Killingworth, responsible for maintaining and repairing all the colliery engines. He became an expert in steam-driven machinery.