George Stephenson

Stephenson was involved in a number of romantic relationships before marrying Frances (Fanny) on November 28, 1802 at Newburn Church. The couple was blessed with two children, Robert and Fanny. Fanny died in infancy.

Following the death of his wife Frances due to tuberculosis, Stephenson remarried Betty Hindmarsh at Newburn on March 29, 1820. They did not have any children. Betty passed away in 1845.

Stephenson married for a third time to Ellen Gregory, his housekeeper, on January 11, 1848 at St John's Church in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

George Stephenson was born on June 9, 1781 in Wylam, Northumberland to Robert and Mabel Stephenson. His father was a fireman with meagre means.

Born in a financially weak household, education was a luxury which Stephenson could not afford. He took to working as a Newcomen engineman when he was 17. The money gained from the job was spent studying in a night school where he learned how to read and write. He even learned mathematics.

In 1801, Stephenson started working as a brakesman at Black Callerton Colliery. Following year, he married and moved to Willington Quay continuing his work as a brakesman. For extra income, he learned to repair shoes, fix clocks and cut clothes.

After the birth of his son, he shifted to work at the Killingworth Pit. In 1811, he was promoted as an enginewright for the Killington Colleries after he successfully fixed a pumping engine at High Pit. Soon, he became an expert of steam-driven machinery.

Taking cue from John Blenkinsop’s travelling engine, Stephenson devised his first locomotive in 1814. The engine was designed for hauling coal on Killingworth wagonway and was named Blucher. The first steam engine powered locomotive to run on railroad, it could haul 30 tons of coal up a hill at 4mph. It became the most successful working steam engine that had ever been constructed.

Having spent a better part of his life at coal mines, Stephenson was not naïve to the explosive danger faced by the mining industry. The workers used naked flames in pits full of inflammable gases. As such, to minimise the risk of explosion, he invented a safety lamp in 1815. The lamp used a cylinder with tiny air holes that restricted the exposure.

Following the success of his first locomotive engine, Stephenson devised 16 more locomotives for Killingworth. In 1817, he built a six-wheeled locomotive for Kilmarnock and Troon Railway.

Stephenson major contribution has been as the inventor of the first commercial locomotive and railways. In 1814, he combined tramways and steam engine to make the first commercially viable locomotive, Blucher. Blucher was essentially created to haul coal. Though Blucher was extremely slow at 4mph, it marked the end of horsepower.

In 1822, he created the first machine-powered locomotive railway for the Hetton Colliery. However, his biggest breakthrough came with Stockton and Darlington railway line in 1825. It was the first public steam locomotive railway in the world. The success led way to several more railway lines including Liverpool and Manchester Railway and so on.

Stephenson is also credited for coming up with the historic measurement of the rail gauge at four feet eight-and-a-half inches which has become the standard measurement of the railway gauge all over the globe.

In 1829, Stephenson, along with his son Robert, created the most powerful locomotive engine of that time, Rocket. Rocket sped past at 36mph, breaking all previous records.