The Life of George Stephenson

Samuel Smiles

Description

This vintage book contains Samuel Smiles Jr.'s 1857 biography, “The Life of George Stephenson”. George Stephenson (1781–1848) was an English engineer who is responsible for building the world's first inter-city railway line to use steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. This fascinating and insightful biography is highly recommended for those with an interest in locomotive history, and it would make for a worthy addition to any collection. Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) was a Scottish author. Other notable works by this author include: “Self-Help” (1859), “Character” (1871), and “Thrift” (1875). Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction.

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 16 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528761321
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

GEORGE STEPHENSON.
THE LIFE
OF
GEORGE STEPHENSON.
BY
SAMUEL SMILES, LL.D.

BIRTHPLACE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON
CENTENARY EDITION.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1881.
Works by the same Author .
LIFE OF GEORGE AND ROBERT STEPHENSON. Illustrated. 8vo. 21 s .
LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS. Illustrated by 9 Steel Portraits and 342 Engravings on Wood. 5 vols. crown 8vo. 7 s . 6 d . each.
Vol. I. E MBANKMENTS AND C ANALS -V ERMUYDEN ; M YDDELTON ; P ERRY ; B RINDLEY .
II. H ARBOURS , L IGHTHOUSES, AND B RIDGES -S MEATON ; R ENNIE.
III. H ISTORY OF R OADS -M ETCALFE ; T ELFORD.
IV. T HE S TEAM-ENGINE -B OULTON AND W ATT.
V. T HE L OCOMOTIVE -G EORGE AND R OBERT S TEPHENSON.
Each Volume is complete in itself, and may be had separately
DUTY: with Illustrations of C OURAGE , P ATIENCE, AND E NDURANCE. 6 s .
SELF-HELP : with Illustrations of C ONDUCT AND P ERSEVERANCE. 6 s .
CHARACTER : a Book of N OBLE C HARACTERISTICS. 6 s .
THRIFT : a Book of D OMESTIC C OUNSEL . 6 s .
INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHY: I RONWORKERS AND T OOLMAKERS. 6 s .
THE HUGUENOTS: THEIR S ETTLEMENTS , C HURCHES, AND I NDUSTRIES, IN E NGLAND AND I RELAND . 7 s . 6 d .
LIFE OF A SCOTCH NATURALIST (T HOMAS E DWARD , A.L.S.). Illustrated by G EORGE R EID , R.S.A. 10 s . 6 d .
LIFE OF ROBERT DICK (B AKER OF T HURSO ), G EOLOGIST AND B OTANIST . Illustrated, with a Portrait etched by R AJON . 12 s .

LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
PREFACE.

T HE first edition of this Biography was published twenty-four years ago. Since then a new generation has sprung up; railways have been extended all over the civilized world; and the engineer who achieved the success of the railway locomotive continues to be regarded as a man of character and genius.
Since the publication of the first edition, a large amount of new information has been communicated to the author-by George Stephenson s pupils, by railway engineers, engine-drivers, and plate-layers-the whole of which has been embodied in the present volume.
It is one of Emerson s pithy and suggestive sayings, that an institution is the lengthened shadow of a man; and it may be truly said, that the locomotive railway system is the result of George Stephenson s life and labours. His Biography is the visible commencement of this great event in history.
For the first fifty years of his life, he had everything against him. He owed nothing to luck, to patronage, to the advantages of education. He owed everything to bravery, intense conviction, and prolonged perseverance. He had to teach himself everything, from the A B C to the principles of mechanics. He had to conquer every inch of the ground on which he stood.
His conquests were not easy; for arrayed against him were, first, his own ignorance, which had to be subdued by silent, persistent endeavour; and second, the opposition of men of knowledge and science, who stood united to oppose him and could only be silenced by success.
At first, Stephenson stood almost alone in his belief in the powers of the locomotive engine. His experiments were carried on in silence and obscurity. They were quite unknown to the journalists, historians, and writers of the day. The great work was done without any help from authors and orators.
He never contented himself with dwelling in the regions of speculation and abstraction. He worked energetically in giving life to a dormant principle, and practical realisation to an abstract proposition. Yet the facts which he developed by experience were laughed at as moonshine.
There is something tragic in witnessing the determined hostility which obstructed his efforts. The whole prejudice of the scientific world opposed him. When he invented the Safety-Lamp, he was pooh-poohed, and regarded as an interloper. The Civil Engineers opposed him to a man. He was not one of us; he had never received an engineer s education. They would not admit his facts. They would not even inquire into his experiments.
Everything that he proposed to do was demonstrated to be impossible . The Civil Engineers declared that it was impossible to drive a locomotive at the rate of twelve miles an hour. The engine would be driven back by the wind. If it travelled, it would be beaten by the canal-boats. But it could never go at all. The smooth wheels could never bite upon smooth rails. The wheels would merely turn round and round, and the whole machine would stand still.
It was also declared to be impossible to make a railroad over Chat Moss without stopping short of the bottom. No engineer in his senses , said a distinguished Civil Engineer, would go through Chat Moss if he wanted to make a railroad from Liverpool to Manchester. The whole thing was declared to be impossible.
And yet the impossible things were done. What George Stephenson proposed to do, he did. The impossible locomotive was run, not only at twelve, but at fifty miles an hour; and the impossible railroad was made from Liverpool to Manchester over the centre of Chat Moss.
The Legislature baffled him. They reported in favour of road tramways, but resisted railway locomotives. They defeated the promoters of the early railways again and again. At length railways were introduced, and, like all good works, they enriched and blessed the nation.
The success of the railway locomotive grew in the main from the mind of George Stephenson. The cow-boy, the picker, the plugman, the engineman, the pump-curer, the brakesman, the colliery engine-wright, is truly the parent of the great railway system of the world. In his mind, the essential parts of it were first conceived; and by his hand and genius they were made visible and real.
The locomotive railway started into full life under the eyes of a single generation. The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway on the 15th of September, 1830, was the era of a great change in all popular ideas respecting locomotion. It proved the germ of infinite change in all civilised countries.
It imparted a new series of conditions to every rank of life-to every kind of work, possession, and intercourse. It brought to an equality the richest and the poorest in the facilities of travelling. George Stephenson s prediction that the time would come when it would be cheaper for a working man to make a journey by railway than to walk on foot, is already realised.
The iron rail proved a magician s road. The locomotive gave a new calerity to time. It virtually reduced England to a sixth of its size. It brought the country nearer to the town, and the town to the country. To America, Canada, and other countries, it opened up the boundless resources of their own soil. It energised punctuality, discipline, and attention; and proved a moral teacher by the influence of example.
When the first English lines were projected, great were the prophecies of disaster to the inhabitants of the districts through which they were to be forced. The same prejudice existed in France. When a railway was projected to pass through Lyons, it was predicted that the city would be ruined- Ville travers e, ville perdue! Now it is the city without the railway that is regarded as the city lost.
Towns were formerly built along the banks of rivers; now they are built along the banks of railways. The railway line is like a river-course. People build houses and settle down at every railway station. Thus the population of London has been extended more than twenty miles round the original city.
Without George Stephenson, Sir Rowland Hill might have lived in vain. It was the Locomotive that made Cheap Postage possible. Mail-coaches could never have done the work. Letters, books, and newspapers are now conveyed by the ton, at marvellously cheap rates, and with extraordinary regularity and despatch.
Two celebrations of the openings of railways have occurred since the death of George Stephenson. The first was the jubilee of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, on the 27th of September, 1875. That line had originally been formed for the conveyance of coals to the seaside, as well as for inland sale. It now forms part of the North-Eastern Railway, 1490 miles in length.
The second jubilee was held- not at Liverpool, where the triumph of the passenger locomotive was first achieved-but at Turin, in Piedmont! The young kingdom of Italy was amongst the first to recognise the great advantages of railways in opening up and uniting the great provinces and cities of the State.
The jubilee at Turin was worthily celebrated on the 8th of October, 1879. The King was present. There were processions and ovations. A striking likeness of Stephenson, in marble, was unveiled in front of the magnificent railway station. Immediately after the event, the King of Italy kindly and thoughtfully conferred an Order of Merit upon the author of this work, for having commemorated the Life of the Great Engineer.
The Centenary of George Stephenson s birth occurs on the 9th of June, 1881. It will be celebrated in London, Chesterfield, and Newcastle. An effort will be made to complete the Railway Orphanage at Derby, and to establish the Scientific College at Newcastle. Both are excellent objects. Every friend of benevolence and education must wish them all success.

S. S.
L ONDON ,
May , 1881.
CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
T HE N EWCASTLE C OAL -F IELD -G EORGE S TEPHENSON S E ARLY Y EARS
CHAPTER II.
N EWBURN AND C ALLERTON -G EORGE S TEPHENSON LEARNS TO BE AN E NGINEMAN
CHAPTER III.
M ARRIAGE -E NGINEMAN AT W ILLINGTON Q UAY AND K ILLINGWORTH -E NGINE -C URING
CHAPTER IV.
T HE S TEPHENSONS AT K ILLINGWORTH -E DUCATION AN