®lje i. H. ItU ffitbrarg North CEarohna ^tatp Mmopraity TFlUo v.l b'- THIS BOOR IS DUE ON THE DATE INDICATED BELOW AND IS SUB- JECT TO AN OVERDUE FINE AS POSTED AT THE CIRCULATION DESK. 6? ir> THE LIFE ROBERT STEPHENSON, VOL. I. LONDON PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. NKWSTRERT SOUAUR X / %^/^ ^^^z-^-^^- THE LIFE OF ROBEET STEPHENSON, E.R.S. LATE PRESIDENT OP THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. J.^C.-*> JEAFFEESON .?^ ^-^" BABRISTEK-AT-LAW. WITH DKSCRIPTIVK CHAPTERS ON SOME OF HIS MOST IMPOKTANT PROFESSIONAL WORKS BY WILLIAM POLE, F.E.S. MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. IN TWO VOLUMES ff^ Q ^^^ ^^^^ VOL. I. SECOXD EDITION. LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, EEADER, AND DYER. 1866. PREFACE. T70UE YEAE3 have elapsed since with Professor -*- Pole I undertook to write the Life of Egbert Stephenson. A careful examination of the many pubhshed works which, either specially or incidentally, treat of the labours of the two Stephensons, was amongst the first steps which I took towards the performance of my task. I read critically a large number of scientific volumes, biographies, lectures, and articles bearing upon the history of the locomotive, upon the art of building bridges, and upon the careers of the men who, during the last sixty years, have brought our railway system to its present state of efficiency. My surprise was great at finding that the statements of the various treatises were irreconcilable. In the summer and autumn of 1860 I passed some time in Northumberland and Durham, collecting mate- rials for this work firom the oral communications of Eobert Stephenson's numerous relations, from the remin- iscences of men who had been the companions or the patrons of both the Stephensons, and from entries in ir:,CSTAMcoL]LJ!Hft TJ? vi PREFACE. parish registers, and the account-books of colUeries and factories. I was fortunate in meeting with cordial response from all of the many persons whose assistance Avas solicited. The resuU of these enquiries was the dis- covery tliat many mistakes had been made in telhng the story of the elder Stephenson's Hfe, and that no Hfe of the younger Stephenson would be complete that shoidd neglect to give a correct account of the misapprehended passages in the life of the elder. The only course, there- fore, open to me was to re-'vvrite the Life of George Stephenson, so far as it affected Eobert Stephenson's career, and to tell the whole truth of the son's hfe to the best of my abihty. On my return from the North of England I gathered documentary materials from many different quarters, and ere long I was fortunate enough to bring together a mass of evidence which the representatives of Eobert Stephenson did not know to be in existence. "Besides letters submitted to my perusal by a great number of the engineer's friends, and besides papers sent to me by his executors, I obtained custody of several important collec- tions of documents. Mr. Longridge put into my hands the Stephenson papers which his father preserved. Mr. lUingworth allowed me to peruse his South-American papers. Mr. Charles Empson, shortly before his death, contributed to my store of materials a most interesting collection of letters and documents ; consisting of Eobert Stephenson's early journals, and of nearly all the letters which he either received from or had written to friends PREFACE. vu or relations, between the termination of his life on KiUingworth Moor and his return from South America. I have also to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. George Parker Bidder, late President of the Institution of Civil Engineers ; Mr. Cliarles Manb/, F.E.S. ; and Mr. George Eobert Stephenson, C.E. In expressing my thanks to the gentlemen who have assisted me with information or papers, I render no mere formal act of courtesy. Gratitude is a solemn duty when acknowledgment has to be made of services con- ferred by those who no longer tarry in the ways of men. Of those to whom I am indebted for facts or counsel, many have passed to another world. Mr. Losh and Mr. WeaUens of Newcastle, Mr. KeU of Gateshead, Mr. Charles Empson of Bath, Admiral Moorsom, and Mr. Charles . Parker, are amongst those who wiU never see this page. J. COEDY JEAFFEESOK The task of describing some of the more important professional subjects which occupied the attention of Eobert Stephenson has been confided to me. There was some difficulty in determining what subjects should be chosen, for many of his works were so mixed up with the current events of his life, that they could scarcely be separated from the narrative of his biography. mil PREFACE. I determined, finally, to select the Atmospheric system of Kailway Propulsion, and the great Iron Eailway Bridges erected by him. The length at which I have treated the former of these subjects demands some explanation, inasmuch as Eobert Stephenson, far from promoting the Atmospheric system, was always one of its strongest opponents. But judges on whom I can fully rely were of opinion that it deserved a prominent place in his life, as well from the great interest he took in it, as from the extent to which it must have affected the whole course of Eailway engineering. The facts of its history, with the results and lessons to be drawn from it, seemed likely soon to be forgotten, and were considered worthy of being put fully on record. The prehminary chapter on Iron Bridges has been written in order to bring out more clearly the pecu- liarities and merits of the magnificent structures of tliis kind, to which probably Eobert Stephenson will even- tually owe his widest fame. I have to acknowledge information kindly supplied by many friends in the profession. The chapters which I have contributed to the work are XIV. in Vol. L, and IL, III., IV., VIIL, in Vol. II. WILLIAM POLE. London: September 1864, CONTENTS OF THE FIKST VOLUME CHAPTER I. THE STEPHENSOK FAMTLT. Various Stepliensons of Newcastle — ' Old Eobert Stephenson ' — Mabel Carr — George Stephenson's Birth — Fanny Henderson — George Ste- phenson moves to Willington — Robert Stephenson's Birth — The Christen- ing Party at Willington Quay — Mxs. George Stephenson's delicate Health — George Stephenson removes to Killingworth Township, Long Benton — Site of George Stephenson's House at Willington — ' The Stephenson Memorial '....... Pase 1 CHAPTER II. LONG BENTON. (^TAT. 1-9.) The West Moor Colliery —' The Street' of Long Benton — Road from Newcastle to Killingworth — ' The Cottage ' on the West Moor — View from the Cottage Windows — Apparent Amendment of Mrs. Stephenson s Health — Robert and his Mother visit Black Callerton — Robert Ste- phenson's Sister — Death of his Mother — George Stephenson's Joiuney to Montrose — Eleanor Stephenson — Her gi-eat Disappointment — ' The Artificials ' — Little Robert's Visits to the Red House Farm, Wolsing- ham — ' The Hempy Lad ' — Tommy Rutter's School — The young Gleaner — A Lesson for the Lord's Day — George Stephenson's Sundays — His Friends, Robert Hawthorn and John Steele — The first Locomotive ever built on the Banks of the Tyne — Anthony Wighaui— Captain Robson — Evenings at the West Moor . . . . . .12 CONTENTS OF CHAPTER m. ROBERT STEPDEN^SON, THE SCnOOLBOY. (.BTAT. 9-15.) Robert and the Pitman's Picks — • Mind the Biiiks ' — George Stephenson's pecuniary Position whilst his Son attended Rutter's School — George appointed Engineer to the Collieries of 'The Grand ^Vllies' — The Locomotive on the Wylam Line — Geoi-ge Stephenson's first Locomo- tive — His Appointment to the ' Walker Iron-works ' — 'Bruce's Academy' — The Cost of Robert's Tuition at the School — Robert Stephenson's Reception by his new Schoolfellows — The Boy's delicate Health — The Purchase of his Donkey — John Tate — Rival Safety Lamps — Testi- monial and Public Dinner to George Stephenson for his Lamp — Home Gossip — 'Throwmg the Hammer' — George Stephenson's Views with regard to the Education of his Son — Robert Stephenson's Plan of a Sun- Dkl . Page 29 CHAPTER IV. BOBERT STEPHENSON, THE APPRENTICE. (mtjlT. 15-20.) Robert Stephenson leaves School — He is apprenticed to Mr. Nicholas Wood — George Stephenson lays down the Hetton Colliery Railway — Father and Son — Robert's Economy in his personal Expenses — The ' Three Tuns ' — The Circumferentor — George Stephenson's increasing Prosperity — His Second Marriage — He builds the 'Friar's Goose Pumping Engine' — He embarks in a small Colliery Speculation — The Locomotive Boiler Tubes of the Messrs. James — Explosion in the Killingworth Mine — George Stephenson's First Visit to INIi*. Edward Pease — Robert Stephenson and his Father survey the Stockton and Darlington Line — Robert Stephen- son's First Visit to London — His delicate State of Health — Survey for the Second Stockton and Darlington Act — Robert Stephenson goes to Edinburgh — Professor Leslie's Testimonial — Letters written at Edin- burgh by Robert Stephenson to Mr. Longiidge — Robert Stephenson accompanies Professor Jamieson on a Geological Excursion — George Stephenson's Letter to his friend Locke — Eobert Stephenson and his Father visit Ireland — Robert Stephenson's Letters from that Country 4G CILVPTER V. PREPARATIONS FOR AMERICA. (JETA.T. 20-21.) George Stephenson's Rupture with Mr. Losh — The Establishment of the Firm of R. Stephenson and Co. of Newcastle — The Colombian Miuuig THE FIRST VOLUME. xi Association — George Stephenson a Chief Agent for the Project — Robert Stephenson visited with renewed and aggravated Symptoms of Pul- monary Disease — Robert Stephenson proposed as Engineer to the 'Co- lombian Mining Association ' — His Visits to Cornwall and other Places — Newcastle — The London CoiFee House, Ludgate Hill — Robert Ste- phenson accepts the Post of Eugineer-in-Chief to the Colombian Mining Association — In London — Preparations and Hard Work — ' Home, sweet Home ' — Letter to ' the North ' — Conduct of 'the Association ' — Liver- pool — Sails for South America . . « . Page 64 CHAPTER VI. SOUTH AMEEICA. (iETAT. 20-24.) La Guayra — Caraccas — Proposed Breakwater and Pier at La Guayra — Survey for Railroad between La Guayra and Caraccas — Santa Fe de Bogota — Mariqiuta — Life on the Magdalena — Explores the Comitry — Road between the Magdalena and the Mines — Santa Ana — Descriptions of Scenery — Arrival of the Cornish Miners — Insubordination of Miners — Friends, Pursuits, and Studies — Inclination and Duty — Disappointment of the Directors — Their Secretary . . . . .78 CHAPTER VII. FEOM SOUTH AMERICA TO NEWCASTLE. (iETAT. 23-24.) Leaves Santa Ana — Goes up to Oarthagena — Encounters Trevithick — Trevithick's Peculiarities — Sails for New York — Becalmed amongst the Islands — Terrible Gales in the open Sea — Two Wrecks — Can- nibalism — Shipwrecked off New York — Strange Conduct of a Mate — Is made a Master Mason — Pedestrian Excursion to Montreal — Remarkable Conversation on the Banks of the St. Lawi'ence — Returns to New York — Arrives at Liverpool — Meeting with his Father — Goes up to London and sees the Directors of the Colombian Mining Association — Trip to Brussels — Retm'n to Newcastle — Liverpool . . . 100 CHAPTER VIII. EESIDENCE IN NEWCASTLE. (iETAT. 24-25.) State of the Locomotive in 1828 — Efforts to improve the Locomotive — The Reports of Messrs. Walker and Rastrick — A Premiimi of £600 offered by the Directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway for u CONTENTS OF the best Locomotive — Mr. Henry Booth's Invention of the Multitubular Boiler — Commencement of the ' Rocket ' Steam Engine — A Tunnel across the Mersey — Survey for a Junction Line between the Bolton and Leigh and Liverpool and Manchester Railways — Sun-ey for Branch Line from the Livei-pool and Manchester Railway to Warrington — Robert Stephen- son's liOve Affairs — His Access to Society in Livei-pool and London — Miss Fanny Sanderson — Proposal that Robert Stephenson should live at Bedlinglon — Mr. Richardson's Expostulations — No. 5 GreenBeld Place — The Sofa a la mode — Marriage .... Page IIG CHAPTER IX. RESIDENCE IN NEWCASTLE — CONTINUED. (..ETAT. 25-28.) Wedding Trip — Battle of the ' Locomotive ' — ' The Oracle ' — Construc- tion of the 'Rocket' Steam Engine — The Rainhill Contest — Particulars concerning the ' Rocket ' — History of ' the Blast-Pipe ' — Triuniplijmt return from Liverpool to Newcastle — Answer to Mr. Walker's Report — Letters to Mr. Richardson — Numerous Engagements — More Loco- motives — Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway — Robert Stephenson appointed Engineer to the 'Wan-ington' and 'Leicester and Swanuington' Lines — Discovery of Coal Strata, and Purchase of Snib- stone — Loudon aud Birmingham Railway — Robert Stephenson employed to cany the Line through Parliament — Opposition to the Line — ' Inves- tigator's ' Pamphlet — Robert Stephenson's Evidence before the Lords' Committee— Rejection of the Bill in 1832 — Calumnies — Public Meeting at Thatched House Tavern in support of the London and Birmingham Railway — Bill passes Parliament in 18o3 — Robert Stephenson appointed sole- Engineer-in-Chief to the Loudon and Bu'mingham Railway — Leaves Newcastle-on-Tyue — Pupils .... 138 CHAPTER X. CONSTEUCTION OP THE LONDON AND BIEMINGHAM RAILWAY. (.ETAT. 29-34.) Appointment as Engineer-in-Chief to the London and Birmingham Line — Contract Plans — Drawing-Office in the Cottage on the Edgeware Road, and subsequently at the Eyre Arms, St. .John's Wood — Health and Habits of Life — Staff of Assistant and Sub-Assistant Engineers — The principal Contractors — Primrose Hill Tunnel — Blisworth Cutting — Wolverton Embankment aud Viaduct — Kilsby Timnel — Interview with Dr. Arnold at Rugby — Conduct and Character of Navvies — Anec- THE FIRST VOLUME. xiii dotes — Eobert Stephenson proposes the Extension of the Line from Camden Town to Euston Square — Proposition first rejected and then adopted by Directors — Act of Parliament obtained for Extension of the Line — The Lacliue from Camden Town to Euston Square originally worked by Stationary Engines and Ropes — Lieut. Lecoimt's Comparison of Labour expended on the London and Birmingham Railway, and Labom- expended on the Great Pyi-amid — Conduct of a certain Section of the Du-ectors to Robert Stephenson — Opening of the Line — Dinner at Dee's Royal Hotel, Manchester — Robert Stephenson's Anger with a Director — Dinner and Testunonial given to Robert Stephenson at Dunchurch — Brmiel uses Robert Stephenson's System of Drawing on the Great Western — Robert Stephenson's Appointment as Consulting Engineer Pag-e 184: CHAPTER XI. AFFAIRS, PTTBLIC AND PRIVATE, DtTRIKG THE CONSTRITCTION OF THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY. (^TAT. 29-35.) Stanhope and Tyne Railway Company — Robert Stephenson appointed their Engineer — Opening of the Line and its rapidly increasing Em- barrassments — Robert Stephenson visits Belgium with his Father — Offices in Duke Street, and George Street, "Westminster — The Session of 1836 — Various proposed Lines between London and Brighton : Sir John Rennie's, Robert Stephenson's, Gibbs's, Cimdy's — London and Blackwall Railway, and the Commercial Road Railway — Robert Stephenson strongly opposes the Use of Locomotives in Towns — Life at Haverstock Hill — Reading, Friends, Horses, Sunday Dinners — Newcastle Correspondence — Mrs. Stephenson's Accident to Knee-Cap — Professor WTieatstone's and Robert Stephenson's Adoption of the Electiic Telegraph — Robert Ste- phenson assumes Arms — That ' Silly Picture ' . . . 214 CHAPTER Xn. FROM THE COMPLETION OF THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY TO THE OPENING OF THE NEWCASTLE AND DARLINGTON LINE. {JEIKT. 35-41.) Railways undertaken in various Directions — Brunei, Giles, Braithwaite — Robert Stephenson's Trip to Italy — On his Return again immersed in Projects — The Contractors' Dinner at ' The Albion' — Letters to New- castle — Cigars for the Continent — Stanhope and Tyne Crisis — Robert Stephenson threatened with Insolvency — Acts for the Pontop and South Shields and the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railways — Robert iv CONTENTS OF « Stephenson appointed to execute the Newcastle and Darlington Lines — Robert Stephenson created a Knight of the Order of Leopold — Mrs. Stephenson's Death — Opening of Newcastle and Darlington Line — Public Dinner and Speeches — Continentnl Engagements — Leaves ILaverstoek Hill and moves to Cambridge Square — Fire in Cambridge Square — George Hudson and Robert Stephenson — A Contrast Page 238 CHAPTER XHI. RAILWAY PROGRESS AND RAILWAY LEGISLATION. First Act of Parliament authorising the Construction of a Railway — Rail- way Developement from the year 1801 to 184G inclusive — The Railway Mania of 1825-26— The Railway Mania of 183G-37— The Railway Mania of 1845-46— Difference between the Crises of 1825-26 and 1836 -37 and of 1845-46 — Report from Committees, 1837 — Bubble Com- panies — Parliamentary Influence — Parliamentary Corruption — Compen- sation ; Stories of — The Parliamentary Committee as a Tribunal — Robert Stephenson's Views on Parliamentary Legislation — Observations on his Project for a ' Preliminary Board of Inquiry ' — Causes of Parliamentary Inconsistency — Stories of the Parliamentaiy Bar — Professional Wit- nesses in the House of Commons: Robert Stephenson, Brunei, Locke, Lardner, Bidder — Great Britain compared with other Coimtries in respect of Railway Developement — Results — Proposal for Railway Farmers — Proposal for a Railway Bank .... 263 CHAPTER XIV. THE ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM OF RAILWAY PROPULSION. Remarkable Episode in the History of Railways — Correction of Nomen- clature — Objects of this Chapter — General Modes of Locomotion — Constant rivalry between Locomotive and Stationary Steam-power — Liver- pool and Manchester Railway — Walker and Rastrick's Report — Ste- phenson and Locke's Reply — Triumph of the Locomotive — Renewal of the Stationary Plan in the Atmospheric form — Early Inventors — Papin — Medhurst — Features of his Schemes — Vallance — Pinkus — Clegg — Jacob and Joseph Samuda — Private Experiments — Trial of their I'lan on the Thames Junction Railway — Description of the Apparatus — Pro- posal to apply it in Ireland — Smith and Barlow's Report — Application on the Kingstown and Dalkey Line — Arguments in favour of the Plan — Robert Stephenson's attention called to it in reference to the Chester and Holyhead Railway — His Report — Public Interest excited — Croydon Railway Parliamentaiy Committee — The Railway Mania — Appointment of a Committee of the House of Commons to enquire into the Merits of THE FIRST VOLUME. xv the Plan — Their Report in its favour — Culminating point of the History — Contests in Parliament — Application of the Atmospheric System in practice — Thames Junction Line — Kingstown and Dalkey Line — Croydon Line — South Devon Line — Paris and St. Germain Line — Summaiy of Results — Mechanical Efficiency — Economy — General Applicability to Railway Traffic — Reasons for its Abandonment — Conclusion Page 292 ILLUSTRATION IN VOL. I. Portrait of Egbert Stephenson, by George Eiclimond To face Title. fHOPERTY mkARY M. C. StaU ailefc THE LIFE EGBERT STEPHENSON. CHAPTEE I. THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. Various Stepliensons of Newcastle — ' Old Eobert Stephenson ' — Mabel Carr — George Stephenson's Bu-th — Fanny Henderson — George Stephenson moves to WilHngton — Eobert Stephenson's Birth — The Christening Party at Willington Quay — Mrs. George Stephenson's delicate Health — George Stephenson removes to Killing-worth Township, Long Benton — Site of George Stephenson's House at Willing ton — 'The Stephenson Memorial.' I^HE records of Newcastle show that the name of Stephenson has been frequent in every rank of the town for the last two hundred and fifty years. Eut no attempt has ever been made to establish a family connection between the subject of this memoir and the many worthy citizens of Newcastle who, in the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries, bore the same name. A gentleman of high attamments, residing in the neighbour- hood of Newcastle, in answer to enquiries for ancestors VOL. L B 2 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. I. in the male line of George Stephenson, stated that George Stephenson on a certain occasion said that his family were natives of Castleton, in Liddisdale, and that his grandfather came into England in the service of a Scotch gentleman. There is no doubt that the grandfather of the greatest engineer of the present century lived and toiled and died in humble cu-cumstances. He worked as fireman to the engines of the various colliery pits in the neighbour- hood of Wylam, till an accident deprived him of sight and rendered him dependent on others for his daily bread. Gentle beyond the wont of rude North-countrymen, and fond of spinning out long stories of adventure and romance to village children, he was known as ' Bob the story-teller.' He is now remembered by the few of his associates who hnger on the earth as ' Old Eobert Stephen- son.' In early hfe he married Mabel, the daughter of George Carr, a bleacher and dyer of Ovingham, a village standing on an ascent which rises from the north bank of the Tyne, and faces the ancient ruins of Prudhoe Castle, that crown the hill on the opposite bank. The maiden name of Mabel Carr's mother was Eleanor Wilson. Eleanor was the daughter of a wealthy Northumbrian yeoman, who possessed a good estate in the parishes of Stocksfield and Bywell. Indignant at her marriage with the bleacher and dyer of Ovingham, Mr. Wilson turned his back upon her, and died without bequeathing her a peimy. By his wife Mabel ' Old Eobert Stephenson ' had four sons (James, George, Eobert, and John) and two daughters (Eleanor and Ann). James, the eldest son, closely resembled his fiither ; but George, Eobert, and ISOL] EAELY YEARS OF GEORGE STEPHENSOX. 3 John, were all slirewcl and observant men, self-reliant and resolute. Born June 9, 1781, George Stephenson could neither A\Tite nor read when he had attained the age of eighteen years. Up to that age he displayed no signs of unusual intelligence, but he had always been a good, sober, steady lad. Like most pit-children, he used to grub about in the dirt, and for his amusement fashion models of steam- engines in clay. From his earliest years, also, he kept as pets pigeons, blackbirds, guinea-pigs, and rabbits ; an almost universal trait amongst the colhery labourers of the Newcastle field. In 1801, he became brakesman of the engine of the Dolly Pit, in Black Callerton, and lodged in the house of Thomas Thompson, a small farmer of that parish. George Stephenson was at that time a light-hearted young fellow, famous for practical jokes, and proud of his muscular power. At this period, also, he acquired the art of shoe-cobbhng. The most important farmer of the parish was Mr. Thomas Hindmarsh, who occupied land which his an- cestors had farmed for at least two centuries. To his grave displeasure, his daughter Ehzabeth accepted the addresses of the young brakesman, giving him clandestine meetings in the orchard and behind the garden-fence, until such effectual measures were taken as prevented a repetition of the suitor's visits. Ehzabeth, however, remained faith- ful to the lover, whom her fatlier drove from his premises, and she eventually became his second, but not his last, wife. George Stephenson took this disappointment hghtly. He soon fixed his aflections on Ann Henderson, daugliter U 2 4 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cii. I. of Jolin Henderson, a small and impoverished farmer, near Caplieaton. Like her two sisters Hannah and Franees (wlio Avere the female servants in Thomas Thomp- son's house) Ann was a domestic servant. At first she seemed well pleased with her lover, who, amongst other attentions, paid her one which deserves a few passing words.* Observing that her shoes wanted to be re-soled, he begged leave to mend them, and, the permission being granted, he not only repaired them, but boastfully dis- played them to his companions. His triumph, however, was of short duration ; for on returning the shoes to Ann, witli a request for a warmer acknowledgement of his services than mere thanks, he was informed by her that he wooed where he could never win. This second rejection was for a time deeply felt, but he concealed his chagrin, and then made up his mind that, since he could not have Ann, he would try his luck ■with her sister Fanny. Fanny Henderson had for years been a servant in the house where George Stephenson was a lodger. When Thomas Thompson, more than ten years before, took the farm from the outgoing tenant, George Alder, she came into his service as part of the concern, with the following character : — • ISfr. Pattison, the nephew of ardently admired ; but not succeed- Ann Henderson, and son of Elizabeth ing with her, he said he would have Henderson (who married Thomas one of the family, and he turned his Pattison, a tenant fanner of Black attention to Fanny.' Mr. Pattison, Callerton), wi-ites thus : ' The pair the author of this statement, is era- of shoes mentioned in the " Life of ployed in the factory of Messrs. George Stephenson," as having been Robert Stephenson and Co., New- made for Fanny Henderson, after- castle. His statement is corroborated wards his wife, were not for her, by all the members of his mother's but for her sister Ann, whom he respectable family. 1802.] MARRIAGE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. c Black CallertoQ : April 10, 1791. The bearer, Frances Henderson, is a girl of a sober disposition, an honest servant, and of a good family, as witness my hand, George Aldee. Slie was no longer young, and it was the village gossip that she would never find a husband. As a girl, she had plighted her troth to John Charlton, the village school- master of Black Callerton, but their long engagement was terminated in 1794 by the young man's death, when she was in her twenty-sixth year. She was therefore George's senior by twelve years ; but it was not for her to object to the disparity of their ages, since he was wilhng to marry a woman so much older than himself. So, to the good-natured amusement of neighbours, and to the vexation of Ann Henderson, who did not enjoy the apparent unconcern with which her lover had passed from her to her old maid sister, George Stephenson was married at Newburn cliurch on November 28th, 1802, to Fanny Henderson, the mother of the subject of this memoir. Mr. Thomas Thompson gave the wedding breakfast to his faithful domestic servant and his young lodger, and signed his name in the parish register, as a witness of the marriage ceremony. George Stephenson had at that time so far advanced in the art of A\Titiug, that he was able to sign his own name (and his wife's maiden name also — if handwriting may be trusted as evidence on such a point) on the certificate. The signature is blurred — possibly by the sleeve of his coat, as he stretched out his pen for another dip of ink before acting as his wife's secretary ; but the handwriting is legible, and is a good specimen of George Stephenson's caligraphy. 6 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. I- For a short time after liis marriage George Stephenson continued to reside at Black Callerton, lodging with his . wife in a cottage not far from the Lough House, as Mr. Thomas Thompson's residence was called. This arrange- ment, however, did not last long. While he was act- ins; as brakesman at Black Callerton, his father and his brothers James and John continued to work at Walbottle colliery, where the engineer was Eobert Hawthorn, the ingenious and enterprising man whose sons still carry on the important locomotive foctory at Newcastle that bears their name. At the opening of the present century, Eobert Hawthorn, then known as one of the best enginewrights in the Newcastle country, erected the first ballast machine that ever worked on the banks of the Tyne. This machine was erected at Willington Quay (a station on the river side, about six miles below Newcastle), and was placed upon the quay, on the edge of the river.* Wlien the work was completed. Hawthorn exerted his influence in favour of the Dolly Pit brakes- man, the consequence of which was, that the latter quitted Black Callerton (situated a few miles above Newcastle), and became the brakesman of the Ballast Hill engine. It was while he held this appointment that George Stephenson first set up as a housekeeper on his own humble account — that is to say, first bought bedding and such modest furniture as he required for * It has been represented that incline, say that the former was this machine was placed on the near the water. ' If,' say these summit of the Ballast Hill. The gentlemen, ' the machine had been JNIessrs. Hawthorn, however (the erected on the open Ballast Hill, it sons of the contractor), who remem- woidd have been buried up.' ber well both the engine and the 1803.] BIRTH OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. 7 two rooms in a cottage stationed hard by the engine on Wilhngton Quay. As everything connected with the career of this remarkable man is interesting, it is worthy of mention that at the time of his marriage he had not saved sufficient money to buy the upliolstery and fittings of his new home. In marrjing Panny Henderson, how- ever, he had, in a pecuniary sense, bettered himself When they mounted the horse which 'Mr. Bmii of the Eed House farm, Wolsingham, put at their service, and made their progress from their furnished lodgings at Black Callerton to their new domicile on the other side of Newcastle, George had m his pocket a handsome number of gold pieces — the savings of his careful ^vife dm'ing long years of domestic service. A portion of tliis money was expended on household goods, the rest being laid by against a rainy day. Marriage made a great difference in George Ste- phenson, and on setthng at Wilhngton he apphed himself earnestly to the work of self-education. On October IGth, 1803,* his wife gave birth to a son, who was christened Eobert : the ceremony was performed in the Wallsend school-house, as the parish church was unfit for use. The sponsors were Eobert Gray and Ann Henderson, but they were by no means the only guests at the christen- ing. Proud of being a father, George called together his kinsmen fi'om the Wylam and Newburn districts, and gave them hospitable entertamment. His father, mother, and brothers answered the summons. So Eobert Stephenson was received into the family with * Robert Steplienson stated that celebrated at tbat time ; but the ex- lie was born in the month of No- tract from the registerproves his birth vember, and his birthday was always to have been in October. 9 LIFE OF ROBERT STEi m.ENSON. [Ch. I. all honour, being named, according to nortli-countiy fashion, after his grandfather, and having long hfe and health and success drunk to him in sound ale and Scotch whisky. But the uncles and aunts who were present at the festivities remarked that the babe was ' a wee sickly bairn not made for long on this earth.' Dehcate the child both was and remamed until he had made several years' entry into manhood. From his father he inherited strong thews and a strong ^vill ; but from his mother's blood there was a taint imparted to what otherwise would have been a magnificent constitution. The disease — consumption — which carried off Jolm Charlton, now made insidious advances on Islis. Stephen- son ; and her husband, whilst he was still only two and twenty years old, saw his hfe darkened by the heaviest misfortune that can befall a poor man — an invahd wife. In this respect his career sadly resembled the lot of his father, and years afterwards it was mournfully reproduced in the experiences of his only son. But the young father was not the man to crouch at the fii^st blast of adversity. If his wife could not help him, the more reason that he should help himself. He worked steadily at his engine during the appointed hours, and employed his evenings in shoemaking and cobbling and in acquiring the rudiments of mechanics. Whilst he was spelhng out the secrets of his books, and often as he worked, hammer in hand, he reheved his sickly wife by taking his son from her cough-racked breast and nursing him for hours together. Eobert's earliest recollections were of sitting on his father's knee, watching his brows knit over tlie difficult points of a page, or marldng the deftness and precision with which 1803.] GEORGE STEPHEXSON xVT WILLTXGTON. 9 his right hand phed its craft, Tlie child, too, bore in body as well as heart a memorial of his father's tender- ness. His seat was always on George's left knee, his body encircled by his father's left arm. The consequence was that the left hand and arm, left at liberty by the position, became stronger and were more often used than the right ; and the child's habit of trusting the left hand, strengthening with time, graduaUy developed into a per- manent defect. George Stephenson did not remain long at Wilhngton, but his brief residence on the quay side was marked by other incidents besides the birth of his child. It was there that his intercourse with Eobert Hawthorn first took the form of personal intimacy. It was at Wilhngton, too, that he first took to clock-mending and clock-cleaning as an additional field of industry. The pit-man's cabin has points by which it may be dis- tinguished from the southern peasant's cottage. Its prominent article of furnitm^e is a good and handsome bed. Not seldom a colhery workman spends ten, or fifteen pounds on his bedstead alone, and when he has bought the costliest he can afford he j)laces it in the middle of his principal apartment. Invariably he has also a clock — usually a valuable one — amongst his possessions. Every viUage, therefore, abounds in clocks, and as the people are very particular and even fanciful about them, a brisk business is everywhere carried on by clock- cleaners. Each petty district has its own clock-cleaner, who is supported by aU the inhabitants ; and it is to be observed that this artificer almost invariably has been self-taught. George Stephenson, therefore, in occupying his spare 10 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. I. time in cleaning clocks, did only what tlie superior and more intelligent workmen of his time and country were in the habit of doing. His new employment was lucra- tive, and enabled him, for the first time in his hfe, to lay by money out of his own earnings. Eecent circumstances have connected the Stephensons in the public mind with Willington ; but their relations with that township were neither lasting nor intimate. Scarcely had George Stephenson formed attachments to his neighbours when he moved to the parish of Long Benton, where he was engaged as brakesman of the West Moor coUiery engine. On receiving his new ap- pointment, George, now twenty-three years old, with his wife and little Eobert (then in his second year), settled in a cottage in Killingworth township, close to the West Moor colliery — about four or five miles to the north of Newcastle, and about the same distance from Willington Quay. The cottage in which George Stephenson lived on Willington Quay has been pulled down, but before it was destroyed the pubhc interest attaching to it was so great, that photographic pictures and engravings of it had been circulated in every direction. The site, how- ever, of Eobert Stephenson's birthplace is appropriately preserved. Of the objects which arrest the attention of a person makmg the passage up the river from Tyne- mouth to Newcastle, there is nothing of greater archi- tectural merit than the Gothic edifice that stands out upon Willington Quay. This structure, generally spoken of as the ' Stephenson Memorial,' comprises (besides rooms for officers and teachers) two school-rooms, one for boys and another for girls, and a reading-room 1803.] THE « STEPHENSON MEMORIAL.' 11 for mechanics. The entire building is a model of what such a structure ought to be, and the children's play- grounds are as spacious and well-appointed as the in- terior of their excellent institution. The exact spot on which the Stephenson cottage stood, is now the boys' play-groundj in the rear of the school. 12 LIFE OF liOBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. 11. CHAPTEE n. LOXG BEXTON. (-^TAT. 1-9.) The West Moor Colliery —'The Street' of Long Benton — Road from Newcastle to Killingwortk — ' The Cottage ' on the West Moor — View from the Cottage Windows — Apparent Amendment of Mrs. Stephenson's Health — Robert and his Mother visit Black Caller- ton — Robert Stephenson's Sister — Death of his Mother — George Stephenson's Jom-ney to Montrose — Eleanor Stephenson — Her gi-eat Disappointment — 'The Artificials' — Little Robert's Visits to the Red House Farm, Wolsingham — 'The Henipy Lad' — Tommy Rutter's School — The young Gleaner — A Lesson for the Lord's Day — George Stephenson's Sundays — His Friends, Robert Hawthorn and John Steele — The first Locomotive ever built on the Banks of the TjTie— Anthony Wigham —Captain Robson — Evenings at the West Moor. T OWAEDS the close of 1804, George Stephenson J- moved to the West Moor colliery, and fixed himself and family in the little cottage where he resided, till he made rapid strides to opulence and fame. Long Benton,* a wide stragghng parish, comprising in its five townships numerous colonies of operatives, presents those contrasts of wealth and poverty for which mining and manufacturing districts are proverbial. The long irregidar street of the village is not without beauty. The vicarage • In this parish Smoaton, in 1772, erected the large atmospheric engine, •which formed the standard engine before Watt's improvements. — W. P. 1804.] THE COTTAGE AT LONG BENTON. 13 is a picturesque dwelling, and on either side of tlie road, surrounded by gardens, with paths of crushed slag and refuse coal, and plantations of a somewhat sooty hue, are the houses of prosperous agents and employers. The general aspect of the place, however, is humble, and the, abodes of the poorer inhabitants are comfortless. The road from Newcastle to Long Benton quits the town at the northern outskirt, and, leaving ' the moor ' on the left, passes through the picturesque plantations of Jesmond Vale (watered by the brawhng Dean that flows to Ouseburn), and, having ascended the bold and richly wooded sweep of Benton Banks, leads on over a bleak and unattractive level to Long Benton, where art and nature again combine to render the landscape attrac- tive. Pursuing its course down the disjointed village, the road descends to the church, where it turns to the left over a rustic stone bridge, curves round a corner of the churchyard, and bears away to Kilhngworth township and the West Moor colliery. The cottage in which the young brakesman and his middle-aged wife settled, was a small two-roomed tenement. Even as it now stands, enlarged by George Stephenson to the dignity of a house with four apartments, it is a quaint httle den — a toy-house rather than a habitation for a family. The upper rooms are very low, and one of them is merely a closet. The space of the lower floor is made the most of, and is divided into a vestibule and two apart- ments. Over the httle entrance door, in the outer wall, is a sun-dial, of which mention will be made hereafter. The principal room of the house is on the left hand of the entrance, and in it stands to this day a piece of furniture which is now the property of J\Ii'. Lancelot Gibson, the 14 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. II. hospitable occupant of tho cottage. Tliis article of furni- ture is a high strong-built cheffonier, with a book-case surmounting it, and it was placed in the apartment by George Stephenson himself. Of this chattel mention will be made elsewhere in these pages. The view from the little garden, in front of this cabin, is as fine as any in the neighbourhood of Newcastle. A road- way leading to the North Shields turnpike road runs along the garden rails ; on the other side of the road is a small paddock, not a hundred yards in width, beyond the farther confine of which are the mud walls of the glebe farm- house, of which George Stephenson's friend Wigham was tenant. On the right hand, buried in trees, is Gosforth Hall, formerly the residence of the Mr. Brandhng who fought George's battle in the matter of the safety lamp, and Avhose name — though he has long been dead — is never mentioned by the inhabitants of the district without some expression of affectionate regard. Newcastle cannot be seen ; but clearly visible is the blue-hill ridge beyond it, on the farther declme of which rests tlie seat of the Liddells — Eavensworth Castle. The excitement of moving to KilUngworth was for a time beneficial to Mrs. Stephenson's health. She became more cheerful ; and, that she might have every chance of amendment, George Stephenson prevailed on her to visit her sister Elizabeth, who had married Thomas Pattison, a farmer of Black Callerton. This apparent improvement in health, wliich her hus- band attributed altogether to the excitement of moving to a new home, was, however, httle more than the or- dinary consequence of pregnancy, which is well known to stay for a brief space the treacherous incursions of 1806.] DEATH OF HIS MOTHER. 15 plitliisical malady. In the July of 1805 she was put to bed, and Eobert Stephenson had a sister who lived just three weeks * — long enough to be named Frances after her mother, to be admitted into Christ's Church, and to taste something of human suffering. Her little girl born, dead, and buried, the bereaved mother relapsed into her previous condition. The cold winter and spring, with its keen north-eastern winds sweeping over the country, completed the slow work of consumption, and before Benton banks and Jesmond vale had again put forth their green leaves, she was quiet in her last earthly rest in Benton churchyard. Deprived of his mother, before he had completed his thii'd year, Eobert Stephenson was placed under the care of the Avomen who were successively George's housekeepers. Of the three housekeepers who lived in the West Moor cabin, the first and last were superior women. Soon after the death of his -wife, George Stephenson went for a few months to Scotland, where he was employed as engineer in a large factory near Montrose. On making this journey, he left Httle Eobert in the custody of his first housekeeper, at Killing- worth. On his return he was surprised, and shghtly angry, at finding his house shut up, and -without inmates. In his absence, the housekeeper (who was in every respect an excellent woman) had become the wdfe of his * The Long Benton registers con- Aged 3 weeks. tain the following entries : — 2. Buried 1806, Frances Stephen- I.Frances Stephenson, West Moor son, late Henderson, West Moor, Collieiy, d. of George Stephenson wife of George Stevenson (sic). Died and Frances his wife, late Henderson. May 14. Buried May 16. Aged 37 Died Aug. .3, 1805. Buried Aug. 4. years. 16 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPIIENSOX. [Cu. II. brother Eobert, in whose dwelling the little boy then was. Eecovering possession of his child, George Stephen- son again established himself at the West Moor, engaged a second housekeeper, and, having well-nigh emptied his pockets by paying some debts of his poor blind father, and by purchasing a substitute for service in the militia, once more set to work resolutely as brakesman, cobbler, and clock-cleaner. The burden of an invalid wife, of which he had been relieved, was replaced by the burden of a helpless father. Struck blind by an accident which has been already mentioned, ' Old Eobert ' was maintained in comfort by his sons until the time of his death. George's second selection of a housekeeper was not so fortunate as his first, but he soon dismissed her, and received into his cottage his sister Eleanor, or, as her name is spelt in the family register, Elender. This worthy and pious woman, born on April 16, 1784, was nearly three years the junior of her brother, and consequently was still young when she came to keep his house. But young as she was, she had made ac- quaintance with sorrow. A merry lass, she • went up to London to fill a place of domestic service, having first phghted her troth to a young man in her own rank of hfe, under a promise to return and become his bride whenever he wished to marry her. A year or two passed, when, in accordance with this agreement, her lover summoned her back to Northumberland. Eleanor went on board a Newcastle vessel homeward bound. Hi-fortune sent adverse breezes. The passage from the Thames to the Tyne consumed three weeks, and Avhen the poor girl placed her foot on the quay side of 180G.] 'THE ARTIFICIALS.' 17 tlie Northumbrian capital, the first piece of intelUgence she received was that her faithless lover was akeacly the husband of another. George Stephenson invited his sister to his house, and she, seeing a field of usefulness before her, wisely accepted the invitation. Her sister Ann ha\dng already married, and migrated to the United States, Eleanor was to George as an only sister. The record of one trifling but pathetic difference between George and Eleanor is still preserved by family gossip. When Eleanor first took up her abode at the West Moor colhery, she wore some cheap artificial flowers in her bonnet. The sad experiences of the four preceding years had made the young brakesman less gentle in his temper and more practical in his views. Eude love of truth and dislike of shams caused him to conceive a dislike for these 'artificials,' as he con- temptuously termed them. He asked Eleanor to throw them away, but she, averring that they cost good money, dechned to do so. ' Nay, then,' said George, stretching out his hand, ' let me take them out and tlu'ow them away, and I '11 give thee a shilhng.' But Eleanor, usually so meek and gentle, drew back. George saw her secret and blundered out an apology. The poor girl had put those flowers in her bonnet, in the vain hope that they would render her comely face more ac- ceptable to her false lover. She had been rightl}^ punished for what she called her worldly vanity ; and in humble acknowledgment of her error, she determined to wear ' the artificials ' as a memorial of her foohshness. Erom her early days she had been seriously inclined ; VOL. I. C 18 LIFE OF EGBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. 11. and her recent disappointment gave a tone to her mind that was not to be outgrown. Joining the Wesleyan Methodists, she regularly attended their prayer-meetings ; and all who remember her bear witness that her labours of unassuming charity aptly enforced the teaching of her lips. Her spare hours were employed in visiting the sick, and repeating long passages from the Bible to those who were themselves unable to spell out the secrets of ' the Word.' It was a bright day for httle Eobert when this young woman entered the cottage at the West Moor, and took him into her affectionate keeping. The best and most pleasant glimpses that can be obtained of his childliood, show the healthiest relations to have subsisted between him and this good aunt. Every few months Aunt Nelly used to take the child to visit his various relatives scattered about the country. Ann Henderson had become the wife of Joseph Burn of the Eed House farm, Wolsingham. She had done better had she been content with the poor young brakesman ; but she was for a time the most important personage in the family. She had a strong feehng of kindliness for George, and when her sister Fanny was no more, she v»^as con- stant in her hospitahty to her nephew. A visit to Wol- singham was the child's highest ideal of happiness ; and when he was there he used to repay his relations for their goodness by mimickmg the pecuharities of his Kilhngworth acquaintance. Aunt Burn was in the habit of giving the httle fellow, for his breakfast, fresh eggs with butter in them. This luxiu-ious fare, so unlike what he was accustomed to in his father's cottage, appeared to him in the hght of a strange and important discovery. CiKC. 1809.] THE SCPIOOL AT LONG BENTON. 19 and it is still remembered how he gravely informed his Amit Burn that 'when he went home, he'd teach his Aunt Eleanor to eat eggs and butter.' Another excursion made by the child was to Eyle, where his aunt Hannah Henderson had married Mr. Elhot, a small innkeeper. The time of the year was sum- mer, and as the journey was made on foot, little Bobby and his aunt rested several times on the dusty road, and refreshed themselves at wayside houses of entertain- ment. A gill of mild ' yell ' was the modest order, inva- riably made by the aunt, and the half pint of drink was always divided between herself and her charge. On reaching Eyle the child found his tongue and impudence, and astounded his relatives by asserting that his staid aunt could not pass an ale-house without entering it. ' Ah ! he was a hempy lad,' is the conclusion given amongst his humble relations to nearly all the stories of Eobert Stephenson's early life. Midway in the stragghng street of Long Benton, on the right hand of the traveller going from Newcastle to Kilhngworth township, stands a stone cottage, com- posed of two rooms — one on the ground-floor, the other upstan-s. For many years this has been the village school. At the present time the schoohnaster, in addition to his vocation of teacher, holds the office of postmaster — a fact set forth m bold characters on the exterior of the dwelling. On one side of the school-room, at a rude desk, sit eight or ten boys, whilst on the opposite side are ranged the same number of girls. At one end of the stone floor, between the two companies, sits the instructor, whose terms for instruction vary from threepence to sixpence per week for each pupil. When Eobert Stephenson was a little boy, c 2 20 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. II. the master of this school was Thomas Riitter. Fifty years ago the village schoolmaster had in many districts a more lucrative business than he enjoys in the present genera- tion. A majority of the surrounding men of business were dependent on a neighbour endowed with 'learn- ing ' for the management of their accounts. By keeping the books of prosperous mechanics and petty traders, and by instructing adults bent on self-education, the village schoolmaster found the chief part of his work and payment, apart from his classes for the young. Tommy Eutter, as he is still familiarly called by the aged inhabitants of Long Benton, w^as both successful and well esteemed. To Tommy Eutter 's school Eobert Stephenson was sent, and there he learnt his letters, at the same desk and under the same master as another distinguished child of Long Benton — Dr. Addison, the eminent physician, whose death under mournful circumstances recently created wide and painful sensation. In Eutter's time the girls were taught by Mrs. Eutter in the room upstairs, the ground- floor apartment being filled with lads — the sons of work- men at the surrounding colHeries, and of small dealers living in adjacent townships. Many of them had never worn shoe or boot ; but, though bare-footed, they were canny, hardy youngsters, and several of them have raised themselves to conditions of prosperity. The exact year of Eobert's entry into Eutter's school cannot be ascertained, but he was quite a httle fellow when he first felt his master's cane. The w^alk over the glebe farm and past the churchyard from the West Moor to Long Benton Street — a distance of about a mile, or a mile and a Jialf — was a long way for him, and Aunt. CiRC. 1809.] THE GLEiVNING. 21 Nelly used to pity her bairn for having to trudge so far, to and fro. He had not been long at school when the season of harvest came, and Aunt Nelly went out gleaning. Little Eobert Stephenson petitioned his father for leave to accompany Aunt Eleanor and the gleaners. George by no means approved the request, as he argued that he did not pay fourpence, or possibly sixpence, a week for his son's schooling, in the expectation that the young scholar should leave his books at the first temptation. But the petition was granted in the following terms : — ' Weel, gan; but thou maun be oot a' day. Nae skulk- ing, and nae shu-king. And thou maun gan through fra the first t' th' end o' gleaning.' On this understanding Eobert and Aunt Eleanor started for their vagrant toil, but long before sunset the boy was very tired. He kept up manfully, however, and as he trotted homewards at nightfall by the side of his aunt, he, Hke her, carried a full bag. At the gate of the West Moor cabin stood George Stephenson, ready to welcome them. Quickly discerning the effort Eobert was making to appear gallant and fresh, the father enquired : ' Weel, Bobby, hoo did the' come on ? ' ' Vara weel, father,' answered Bobby stoutly. The next day, bent on not giving in, the boy rose early, and for a second time accompanied the gleaners. The poor cliild slept for hours under the hedgerows ; and when evening came he trotted home, bag in hand, but holding on to Aunt Nelly's petticoats. Again at the garden wicket George received them, with amused look, and the same enquiry : ' Weel, Bobby, hoo did the' come on ? ' 22 » LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. II. ' Middling fatlier,' answered Bobby sulkily ; and, drop- ping his bag, he hastened into the cottage, and was asleep in a couple of minutes. The third day came, and little Eobcrt did his bravest amongst the gleaners : but the day was too much for him ; his pride gave in, and on lagging home at night- fall, when he was once more asked by his father, ' Weel, Bobby, hoo did the' come on ? ' he burst into tears, and cried, ' Oh, father, warse and warse, warse and warse : let me gan to school agyen.' It was not the time then to point the moral of those last three days, but the next day (Sunday, when even gleaners rest) the young father took his child under his arm, and placing him on the knee where he had so often sat, told him to be a good boy over his book, to leave hard work of the body for a few years to his elders, anfl to thank God that he (unlike his father) was not in child- hood required to toil hard all day for a few pence. It was a sermon fit for a day of rest, and from no lips could it have come more appropriately than from the lips of George Stephenson. Aunt Eleanor sat by, and heard George's paternal admonition, and was well pleased with its grave and serious tone. To tell the truth, the Sundays at the West Moor cottage were not altogether in accordance with Aunt Eleanor's views. George resolutely dechned to accompany his sister to the meetings of the Wesleyan Methodists; and, what to her seemed even worse, he was by no means a regular attendant at Long Benton church. Sunday was tlie day when, walking up and down the colliery railway, he pondered over the mechanical problems which Avere then vexing the brains of all the 1805-12.] GEORGE STEPHENSON'S EAELY FRIENDS. 23 intelligent workmen of the neighbouring country. It was his day, too, for receiving friends. Of George's early associates Eobert Hawthorn has been already specially mentioned — and the relations between them have been briefly stated. Whilst George Stephenson and William Locke worked under Haw- thorn, they found him an exacting and tyrannical su- pervisor. They both resented his domination, believing that he was jealous of their mechanical genius, afraid of being supplanted or surpassed by them, and anxious to keep them under. George Stephenson retained for many years a grudge against Hawthorn, but he was too pru- dent openly to quarrel with the cleverest engine-wright of the district. Slowly advancing himself from the position of a brakesman, whose duty it is simply to regulate the action of a steam-engine, to the higher status of the smith, or wright, who mends and even constructs the machine itself, George stood in frequent need of the counsel and countenance of Hawthorn, then his superior in knowledge, as he was also in age. The practice of the engine-wrights of George Stephenson's Killingworth days was very different from that of the educated engineers of a later date. John Steele, another of George Stephenson's early and most valued friends, was a man worthy of especial men- tion ; as his relations with Trevi thick, and his ascertained influence on the history of the locomotive, give value to the few particulars that can be picked up with regard to him. The son of a poor North-countryman, who was originally a coachman and afterwards a brakesman on the Pontop Eailway, John Steele in his early childhood displayed remarkable ingenuity in the construction of 24 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. II. models of machines. His schoolfellows at Colliery Dykes used to marvel at the correctness of ' his imitations of pit- engines,' and remember how in school ' the master could never set him fast ' in figures. Wliile he was still a school-lad, his leg was accidentally crushed on the Pontop tramway. After leaving the Newcastle infirmary, where the limb was amputated, he was apprenticed by the proprietary of the Pontop Eailway to Mr. John Whinfield, the iron-founder and engineer of the Pipewell- gate, Gateshead. Wliilst serving his apprenticeship he attracted the attention, not only of his masters, but also of Trevithick, who in nothing displayed his consummate genius more forcibly than in the sagacity with which he selected his servants and apprentices. In the autumn of 1860, the only sister of John Steele was still h\dng, at a very advanced age, at Ovingham, under the benevolent protection of Mr. T. Y. Hall, of Newcastle, and could re- member that Trevithick invited her brother to leave Whinfield's factory during his apprenticeship and to join him. Steele, however, remained at Gateshead until he had ' served his time,' and then joined Trevithick, during the manufacture of the locomotive constructed by that original mechanician m 1803 and 1804, in the latter of which years the engine won the memorable wager between Mr. Homfray, of Penydarren works, and Mr. Kichard Crawshay, of the Cyfarthfa works. Eeturning from Trevithick's works to Gateshead, Steele, in 1804, built the first locomotive which ever acted on the banks of the Tyne.* This engine was made in Whin- * The facts connected with this columns of the Gateshead Obso-ver engine were brought to light in the and the Mining Journal. The curious 0^' 1805-12.] STEELE'S LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE. 25 field's factory for Mr. Blackett of the Wylam colliery ; but owing to tlie imperfections in its structure, it was never put on the Wylam line, but was used as a fixed engine in a Newcastle iron-foundry. Speaking of this engine, Mr. Nicholas Wood, whose book on Eailroads has been copied by all writers on the subject, observes : — ' The engme erected by ]\Ir. Trevithick had one cyhn- der only, with a fly-wheel to secure a rotatory motion m the crank at the end of each stroke. An engine of this kind was sent to the North for Mi\ Blackett of Wylam, but was, for some cause or other, never used upon his railroad, but was apphed to blow a cupola at the iron-foundry at Newcastle.' In this statement Mr. Wood fell into a pardonable but not unimportant error. The engine was undoubtedly in all essential points a re- production of the one akeady made by Trevithick, with whose name, even more than with those of Leopold, Cugnot, Ohver Evans, or William Murdock, ^vill be associated the practical introduction of the steam loco- motive ; but it was made in Gateshead about the year 1804. It is equally certain that John Steele made it, and that when it was finished it ran on a temporary way laid down in Whinfield's yard at Gateshead. John TurnbuU, of Eighton Banks, living in 1858, remembered the engine being made, whilst he was serving his appren- ticeship at WQiinfield's factory. When it was completed, it ran, according to Turnbull's accoimt, backwards and forwards quite well, much to the gratification of ' the quahty ' who came ' to see her run.' are referred for farther infoi-mation tlie Gateshead Observer for August to the 3Iming Journal for October 2, 28, September 18, October 2, and 1858, and October 16, 1858, and to October 9, in the same year, 1858. 26 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON, [Cn. U. The subsequent career of John Steele was adventurous. He was employed by the British Government to raise sunken ships ; and, according to his sister's account, re- ceived a medal for his efforts to raise the ' Royal George.' Subsequently he went abroad, and having estabhshed a foundiy and machine factory at La Gare, near Paris, was commissioned to make some engines for several boat companies. His death occurred under painful but characteristic circumstances. Whilst engaged at Lyons in fitting engines on board a boat, he met with Mr. Charles Manby, a gentleman since well kno^vn as the Secretary of the Listitution of Civil Engineers, but who at that time (1824-5) was engaged in engineering pur- suits in France. On the day when Steele's vessel was tried, l^lr. Manby took his workmen on board to assist his countryman. On going below, he perceived that the engineman had fastened down the safety-valve, with the avowed intention of 'making her go or biu"sting her.' Seeing the danger, Mr. Manby and his men hastily quitted the ill-starred vessel. A few minutes later the boiler burst, and by the explosion Steele was killed, togetlier with several important persons of Lyons and many of the spectators on the quays.* Anthony Wigham, another of George's intimate asso- ciates, was the farmer occupying the glebe farm of Long Benton, the cottage-house on which small holding stands within sight of the West Moor cabin. He was a bad farmer, and, as bad farmers usually are, a poor one ; but he liad mastered the principal rules of arithmetic, and had a smattering of natural philosophy. George culti- Mmutcs of Proceediugs lust. C. E., vol. xii. p. 143. 1805-12.] THE SAFETY LAMP. 27 vated tlie farmer's acquaintance, and gained from him all the little knowledge he could impart. The teacher was in after hfe amply repaid for his lessons. Bad farming was in due course followed by commercial failure, and when the farmer was at a loss where to look for daily bread, George Stephenson — then gTOwn a rich man — took him to Tapton House, and, having made him the superintendent of his stables, treated him kindly to the last. Another of George Stephenson's early friends was Captain Eobson, a hale, hearty, manly sailor. His early hfe had been j)assed on board a man-of-war, and he afterwards became captain of a Newcastle trading vessel, built for him by his father. Marrying the only daughter of a prosperous farmer. Captain Eobson gave up sea-hfe, and became a farmer in Kilhngworth township. It was in his house that George discussed his schemes for the construction of the famous safety-lamp. After again turmng sailor and again rehnquishing the sea, the captain still lives to tell his version of the way in which the secret of the invention of the lamp was foohshly blabbed by Dr. Bm^net, the colhery-doctor, to his brother-m-law, Mr. Buddie, the viewer, who, he alleges, speedily conveyed the information to Sk Humphry Davy. The captain's story, thoroughly believed as it is by the veteran, is, of course, not to be rehed upon ; but it forms an amusing counterpart to the angiy accusations preferred by Sir Humphry's friends against George Stephenson, of having siurreptitiously possessed liimself of the philosopher's secret. Hawthorn and Steele, hving at a distance, were com- paratively rare visitors at Kilhngworth. George saw 28 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. II. more of them on pay-niglits at Newcastle, when he and all the clever mechanics of the country round met together, and exchanged views on the difficult 'jobs' then engaging the attention of the local engine-wrights ; the simple workmen thus unconsciously creating the earhest and the finest school of practical engineering. When, how- ever, either Hawthorn or Steele did make an appear- ance at the West Moor, the favourite topic was the possibility of employing steam for purposes of locomo- tion. Every word that came from Steele — Trevithick's pupil and workman, who had himself within six miles of Kilhngworth built a machine which, with all its defects, had actually travelled under the influence of steam — George Stephenson stored up in his memory. Steele was never weary of prophesjdng, that ' the day would come when the locomotive engine would be fairly tried, and would then be found to answer.' No wonder that George Stephenson caught enthusiasm from such a teacher. 29 CHAPTER III. EGBERT STEPHENSON, THE SCHOOLBOY. (JETAT. 9-15.) Robert and the Pitman's Picks — ' Mind tlie Biiiks ' — George Ste- phenson's pecuniary Position whilst his Son attended Rutter's School — George appointed Engineer to the Collieries of 'The Grand Allies ' — The Locomotive on the Wylam Line — George Stephenson's first Locomotive — Bjs Appointment to the ' Walker L'on-Tvorks ' — ' Bruce's Academy ' — The Cost of Robert's Tuition at the School — Robert Stephenson's Reception by his new Schoolfellows — The Boy's delicate Health — The Purchase of his Donkey — John Tate — Rival Safety Lamps — Testimonial and Public Dinner to George Stephenson for his Lamp — Home Gossip — ' Throwing the Hammer' — George Stephenson's Views with regard to the Education of his Son — Robert Stephenson's Plan of a Sun-Dial, AS soon as little Eobert was strong enough to help his father, he was put to do such jobs as were suited to his powers. One of his earhest recollections in after life was of having to carry the pitmen's picks to the smith's shop in Long Benton, when they needed repak. This commission he executed on his way to Tommy Eutter's school, and as he returned home he used to bring the implements back. Two years before his death, after his brilliant career of adventure and suc- cess, he visited Long Benton with some friends, and pointed out to them the route over the fields, along which he used to trudge laden with the hewers' 30 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. III. implements. But George's chief injunction to liis only child was to 'mind the bulks.' The father was deter- mined that his boy should not commence the real battle of life, as he had done, unable to cipher, or write, or even to read. An erroneous impression exists that George Stephen- son denied himself the indulgences appropriate to his condition in order that he might give his boy a superior education, and that in sending his son to school he showed his superiority to most of his fellow-work- men. He felt personally the disadvantages of a very defective education, and he determined that his sou should not labour under the same want. In 1812, on the death of Cree, the engine-wright of the Killingworth coUiery, George Stephenson was appointed engineer, with a salary of £100 per annum, to the con- tiguous coUieries possessed by Sir Thomas Liddell, Mr. Stuart Wortley, and the Earl of Strathmore — the 'grand alhes,' as they were called m the neighbourhood. In addition to this salary, George had the proceeds of his clock-mending and clock-cleaning business — a much more important somxe of gain than has hitherto been supposed. He not only kept in order the clocks of the pitmen and superior workmen, but performed the same service for surrounding farmers. Farmer Eobson paid him half-a-crown for cleaning watch or clock. He was also regularly employed at a fixed annual sum to attend to the clocks in the establishments of several wealthy gentlemen of the vicinity. Moreover, throughout the term of his Killingworth residence, he hved rent-free and had his fuel from the pit. During the year, also, lie increased his income considerably by jobs connected 1812.] EDUCATION. 31 with the repair of machinery. His income therefore amounted in 1812 to about £150. With such means at his command it was only natural that he should give his son the rudiments of education at the village school. Thus in sending Eobert Stephenson to Eutter's school, George Stephenson only did as every reputable ftxther of his own station and of similar means in the parish of Long Benton did as a matter of course. On gainmg the important post of engineer to the collieries of the 'grand alhes,' George Stephenson's advances towards success became quicker, and at the same time easier. Watchful of all that was going on in the neighbourhood relative to the steam engine, he knew the result of the memorable experiments on the Wylam line, as soon as they were accomphshed. On that hue it was first proved by Mr. Hedley, the viewer of Mr. Blackett's coUiery, that the adhesion* of smooth * 'About tliis time Mr. Blackett 'It was, however, a question of had considerably improved his en- the utmost importance to ascertain giues, and by experiments had as- if the adhesion of the wheels of the certained the quantity of adhesion engine upon the rails were sufficient of the wheels upon the rails, and had to produce a progressive motion in proved that it was sufficient to effect the engine, when loaded with a the locomotion of the engine upon train of carnages, without the aid railroads approaching nearly to a of any other contrivance j and it level, or with a moderate inclination. was by the introduction and con- His railroad was a plate-rail, and tinned use of them upon the Wylam would consequently present more railroad that this question was de- friction, or resistance, to the wheels cided : and it was proved that upon than the edge-rail, and on that ac- railroads nearly level, or with very coimt the amount of adhesion woidd moderate inclination, the adhesion be greater than upon the other rail. of the wheels alone was sufficient, in Still the credit is due to Mr. Blackett all the different kinds of weather, for proving that locomotion could be when the sm-face of the rails was applied by that means only.' — Mr. not covered with snow. Nicholas Wood's Treatise on Rail- ' Mr. Hedley informs us that they roads, third ed. p. 285. first tried by manual labour how 82 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. HI. wheels on smooth rails would afford sufficient resistance to enable an engine to drag a train of loaded carriages. And it was 01^ that same Hne, between Wylam and Lemington, that engines with smooth wheels, running on smooth rails, first took the place of horses and oxen for purposes of traffic. The alacrity ^vith which George Stephenson, the self- taught engineer, comprehended the importance of the Wylam discoveries, and put them in practice upon the Killiugworth Hne, in locomotives of his own construction, which were fully equal in efficiency to those on the Wylam way, attracted general attention to his proceedings. It was seen that he was a man who, with favourable oppor- tunities, would become a distinguished engineer. The Wylam way was laid wdth plate rails, whilst the KiUing- worth line had edge rails. George Stephenson therefore built ' the first locomotive engine that propelled itself by the adhesion of its wheels on edge rails.' The first trial of the engine took place on July 25, 1814, with marked success. When the training and antecedents of the young workman (then only thirty-three years of age) are taken into consideration, the achievement seems almost incredible. Amongst the gentlemen of the neighbourhood who Avatched the progress and hailed the success of George Stephenson's first engine, no one was more enthusiastic than liir. Losh, the senior partner of the firm of ' Losh, mucli Aveight the wheels of a com- eugine would produce sufficient ad- nion carriage would overcome with- hesion to drag after it, upon their out slipping romid upon the rail ; railroad, a requisite number of car- aud ha\-ing found the proportion it riages.'— Wood's Treatise mi Ridl- bore to the weight, they thence as- roaih, third ed. p. 287. certained that the weight of the 1815.] ADVANCEMENT OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. 33 Wilson, and Bell.' This highly cultivated gentleman, the fellow-student and friend of Humboldt, survived in a venerable old age in the autumn of 1860, to tell the story of his intercourse with George Stephenson. With a large capital embarked in the Walker iron-works, as well as in his chemical factories, he saw in the engine- wright a man well fitted to carry out his enterprises and to suggest new ones. He made overtiu^es to him ; and, in the beginning of the year 1815, an arrangement was made that George Stephenson should come to the Walker iron-works for two days in each week, receiving for his services a salary of £100 per annum, besides participation in aU profits arising from his inventions. To secure his good fortune in tliis compact from all drawback, the ' grand alhes,' with proper hberality to an engineer who had served them weU, gave him permission to accept Mr. Losh's ofier, and at the same time retain his post at Kilhngworth with an undiminished salary. George Stephenson, with these two concurrent ap- pointments yielding him a clear £200 per annum, besides perquisites and the participation in profits reserved to him by Losh, Wilson, and Bell, began to feel himself a rising man. Industrious as ever, he retained his clock- cleaning business ; and he had made some not unim- portant savmgs, A prosperous mechanic, with a good income, unmarried, and with brighter prospects opening before him, coidd not think of giving his only cliild no better education than that which a village schoolmaster imparted to the children of ordinary workmen. It was no part of his plan to bring up his son with an expense and refinement unusual in his station, but he wished to educate him in accordance with the rules of VOL. I. D 34 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. HI. his rank. He placed liim, therefore, when he was nearly twelve years old, as a day-pupil in an academy at New- castle, kept by ]\ir. Bruce. The friend and biographer of Dr. Hutton, and the author of several educational works of great merit, Mr. John Bruce had raised his school to such excellence that it then ranked higher than the Newcastle grammar- school, where Lord Stowell, Lord Eldon, and Lord Col- Hngwood received their early instruction. The 'Percy Street Academy ' — as Mr. Bruce's seminary was and still is called — was then attended by more than a hundred pupils, who might be described as a good style of 'middle-class boys.' Some few were the sons of the minor gentry of the vicinity, but the majority were the sons of professional men and traders of Newcastle and Gateshead. Not one half of the boys learned either Greek or Latin. Amongst those who did not receive classical instruction was Eobert Stephenson, who entered the school on August 14, 1815, and remained there four years. During that time, the whole sum paid for his education fell short of £40. The expenditure, there- fore, for a father in George Stephenson's circumstances, was sufficient and appropriate, but nothing more. On Eobert Stephenson's appearance at the Percy Street academy he had to encounter the criticisms of lads who regarded him as beneath them in social condition. 'A thin-framed, thin-faced, dehcate boy, with his face covered with freckles,'* dressed in corduroy trowsers and a blue coat-jacket, the handiwork of the tailor * Such is the description of him given by a Ne-wcastle gentleman who distinctly remembers his first coming to Bruce's school. 1815.] MR. BRUCE'S SCHOOL. .35 employed by the Killingworth pitmen, the new-comer presented many marks for play-ground satire. On his shoulder he carried a bag containing his books and a dinner of rye-bread and cheese. The clattering made by the heavy iron-cased soles of his boots on the school floor did not escape the notice of the lads. Mr. Bruce was on the look-out to see that he was not im- properly annoyed ; but there was no occasion for the master's interference. In Eobert's dark eyes there was a soft hght of courtesy that concihated the elder boys. When they entered into conversation with him, however, they could not refrain from laughing outright. Gruff as their own voices were with ISTorthumbrian 'biu-r,' they were unused to the deep, guttm\al pit-intonations with which Eobert expressed himself. It was no sUght trial to a sensitive child just twelve years old to find liimself the object of ridicule. Puzzled as to what he had said that was ludicrous, and deeply mortified, he tiurned away, and kept silence till the business of school-hours commenced. At first Eobert Stephenson walked to and from school — a distance in aU of about ten miles ; and this labour dis- inchned him for joining in the sports of the play-ground. At dinner he held no intercoiu-se with his schoolfellows ; for while they consumed the more luxurious fare pro- vided for them by Mrs. Bruce, he ate the inexpensive provision put into his satchel by Aimt Eleanor, or par- took of the frugal fare of an uncle's family. Gradually, however, he became a favourite with the lads. But it soon became clear that Eobert Stephenson was not strong enough to bear the long walk each night and morning. He was hable to catch cold, and the tendency it had to strike at his lungs made his father apprehensive D 2 36 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. III. that tubercular consumption miglit attack liim. At this time, too, the boy was afflicted with profuse niglitly perspirations, to obviate whicli the doctors made him sleep on a hay mattress. A step more hkely to do good was taken by George Stephenson, who piurchased for the boy a donkey, whicli was for years the pride of Long Benton. Eobert had for a long time been in pos- session of a dog and a blackbird, which he used to aver were the cleverest inhabitants of the village. His new acquisition gave him lively satisfaction, and he was prouder of it than he was in after life of any horse in his stable. To spare his ' cuddy,' he used, in fine weather, to walk and ride to school on alternate days. John Tate (in 1860 the foreman blacksmith at the colliery,) the son of George Stephenson's old fi^iend, Eobert Tate, formerly the landlord of the Killing- worth ' Three Tuns,' was in early boyhood the fami- liar companion of Eobert Stephenson. The two lads had many a prank together. Shortly before Eobert left Eutter's school, they were out birds'-nesting, when Eobert fell from a high branch of a tree to the ground, and lay for a minute stunned. On recovering his con- sciousness, he experienced so much pain on moving one of Ms arms that he nearly fainted. ' My arm is broken, John Tate,' the Httle fellow said quietly ; ' you must carry me home.' Luckily John Tate had not far to carry him. In due course the broken arm was set ; but throughout the operation, and indeed from the time when he told John Tate to carry him home until he was asleep, he did not utter a cry of pain. A child of eleven years who could evince such fortitude was clearly made of the riujht stuff. 1815.] THE RIVAL SAFETY-LAIilPS. 37 The first half year of Eobert Stephenson's career at the Percy Street academy was an eventful one with his father. It saw the invention of the Geordie safety- lamp, and the outbreak of that contest between Sir Humphry Davy and the Northumbrian engine-wright, in. which the latter unquestionably displayed the greater dignity and moderation. George Stephenson's first lamp was tried on October 21, 1815. In the Northumbrian coal fields three lamps are used more than any of the others which inventors have contrived for the protection of the miner, — Dr. Clanny's lamp of the year 1813, and the lamps invented two years later by the scientific rea- soner Sir Humphry Davy, and the practical mechanician George Stephenson. The principle in each of these last-named lamps is identical, but the two originators arrived at it by very different processes. To decide on the respective merits of these lamps is no part of this work. Each has its supporters ; and the partizans of a particular kind of ' safety-lamp ' are scarcely less vehe- ment and uncharitable in their zeal, than are the de- fenders of a particular school of rehgious opinion. In the mines where ' the Clanny ' is used, nothing but ' the Clanny' has a chance of trial, or a good word. The same is the case with ' the Davy ' and ' the Geordie.' One thing, however, is certain. An efiicient and luminous safety-lamp is still to be invented. It is amusing to hear the virtuous indignation of those who, never having visited the narrow passages of a coal mine, vehemently condemn the fool-hardiness and perversity of miners who prefer the candle to the lamp. So dim a ray is emitted by ' the Davy ' or ' the Geordie,' it is far fi'om won- derfid that underground toilers should regard them as 38 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. HI. obstacles to industry rather than as agents for the pre- servation of Hfe. With regard to George Stephenson and his invention, the time has come for the final sweeping away of a fiction. The true nobility of the elder Stephenson is only insulted by those who would surround it with the vulgar glare of melodramatic heroism. Amongst the many anecdotes by which indiscreet eulogists have hoped to exalt the fame of a remarkable man, is the story that George Stephenson, to test the worth of his lamp, took it on the memorable night of October 21, 1815, into the foulest part of a foul mine, at the peril of instant destruction. Had such a risk been necessary to pre- serve the hves of his fellow-creatures, such conduct would have entitled him to endless praise for self- sacrificing intrepidity. But as he knew there was no need to incur such danger, the act attributed to him would have deserved no commendation. Wilfully and dehberately to encounter extreme peril, Avith the full knowledge that it is needless, is the part of a fool — not of a hero. Whatever may be George Stephenson's claim to be regarded as the latter, he certainly had nothing in common with the former. The important experiment, which has been so greatly misrepresented, was made on a certain insulated quantity of gas, and under cir- cumstances that precluded the possibility of serious disaster. Mr. Nicholas Wood, the well-known writer on Eailroads, at that time the 'viewer ' of the colliery, assisted at that trial, and says, ' the box, or cabin, in which the lamp was tried was not of such dimensions as would, if an explosion had taken place, have produced the effect described ; as only a small quantity of gas was 1816.] THE SAFETY-LAIkIP CONTROYEESY. 39 requii'ed, and we had had sufficient experience not to employ more gas than was necessary : at most, an ex- plosion might have burnt the hands of the operator, but would not extend a few feet from the blower.' To George Stephenson one of the best consequences of his invention was the quarrel which it provoked between his friends and the supporters of Sir Humphry Davy. The coal-owners of the district formed themselves into two parties. A newspaper war was waged, in which the ad- vocates of Stephenson were altogether victorious. The partizans of Sir Humphry gave him as a reward for his invention £2,000, awarding to George Stephenson 100 guineas for the lamp they professed to regard as a clumsy contrivance, if not an imitation. This award was officially communicated to George Stephenson by his dogged, but honest, opponent, Mr. Buddie. To make head against this demonstration of Sir Humphry's friends, George's supporters got up another testimonial, amounting to £1,000. A part of this sum was expended on a silver tankard* which, together with the balance of the money, was presented to the inventor of ' the Geordie,' after a public dinner given at the Assembly Eooms at Newcastle. The chair was taken by George's * The tankard was inscribed the presen-ation of liiinian life in — 'This piece of plate, piu-chased situations formerly of the greatest with a pai-t of the sum of £1,000, a danger, was presented to him at a subscription raised for the remime- General Meeting of the Subscribers, ration of Mr. George Stephenson for Charles John Brandling, Esq., in ha-v-ing discovered the fact, that in- the chair, January 12, 1818.' Among flamed fire-damp will notpass through the numerous pieces of ' presentation tidies and apertm-es of small dimen- plate ' on Eobert Stephenson's side- sions, and having been the Jirst to board in after days, Th£ Tankard apply that principle in the construe- was always the most prized, tion of a safety-lamp, calculated for 40 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. III. hearty patron, ]\[i\ Brandling, of "Gosfortli Hall ; and of course George, as the chstinguished guest of the night, had to return thanks for the honour done him. In his palmiest days George Stephenson was not an orator, although when he spoke on subjects which he tho- roughly comprehended he expressed himself in a plain, sensible, and terse manner, which carried conviction of his sincerity and of the truthfulness of his narration. Sorely did he stand in need of eloquence when he stood up in the Newcastle Assembly Eooms, and ad- dressed a company of wealthy merchants and enhght- ened gentlemen. His speech he had learnt by heart, having composed it and written it out with great care. Fortunately, this interesting document, which ought to be committed to the custody of the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Institution, has been preserved, and a fac-simile is given in the Appendix. The speech ran thus : — Sir, — In Receiving this valuable present which you and the Gentleman of this Meeting has bean pleas'd to present me with this day I except with Gratitude But permit me to say valuable as this present is and gratefull as I feal for it I still feal more by being honour'd by such and highley respectable meeting the Gentlemen of which having not only rewarded me beyond any hopes of mine for my endeavours in construting a safity Lamp but has supported me in my claims as to priority in my invention to that of that distinguished Pholosipher S H Davy. For when I conseder the manner that 1 have been brought up and liv'd the manner of which is known to many of the Gentleman present and when I consider the high station of S H. Davy his high Charactor that he holds among society and his influence on scientific men and scientific bodys. all of which Sir lays me under a Debt of Gratitude to the Gentlemen of this meeting which Gratitude shall remain with me so long 1818.] GEOEGE STEPHENSON'S ORATORY. 41 as ever I shall live. I shall conclude, sir, with my heart felt thanks to the Gentlemen of this meeting for their gi-eat reward thare support in my struggle with my competitor and hear I beg leave to thank in particular E Brandling, Esqr. which I trust the Grentleman of this meeting will give me Credit for. for I beleive this meeting knows well the active part he has taken in my behalf And I hear do thank him publicly for it.* Keeping close to tlie letter of this programme, lie acquitted himself creditably, but at a family gathering where the great event of the dinner was discussed in all its bearings, he confessed that his embarrassment whilst he delivered the oration was so great, that his face seemed to him ' all on fire.' ' Oh, Grace,' he said to his sister- in-law Grace Henderson, who had become the wife of Bartholomew Twizell, ' if thou could but ha' seen ma meeting so many gentlemen at the 'Sembly Eooms, thou maught ha' lit a canle at ma face.' On this, Jane, another married sister-in-law, laughed, and made a joke at his rise in hfe. ' Noo thou 'U be for having a bra' ruffle to th' shirt, and then thou '11 be looking doon on a' th' own frien's.' ' No, Jane,' he answered slowly and seriously, ' thou '11 nivar see no change in ma.' * It has been tliought right to matically nor spell con-ectly, but retain the faults of ortbogi-aphy and bad to rely on bis secretary. Whilst grammar to be found in this and he was braking the ballast engine at other of George Stephenson's writ- WUlington Quay, he borrowed a ings incorporated in this work. It gi'ammar of Mr. John Dobson, still is desirable that everything relating a distinguished architect at New- to such a man should be known, his castle. He could not, however, master weakness as well as his strength. It its secrets, and in a few days brought is a fact to be pondered over, that the book back, saying, ' I oonder- with his powerful intellect and re- stond tha vow'ls, but I canna gat solute will, George Stephenson to hold o' tha verbs.' the last could neither write "ram- 42 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. III. At the narration of tliis story nearly three years since, more than one of George's liumble kin who were present bore testimony, tliat ' he never did change — he was always the same — ^riches made no difference in him towards his poor relations.' Whilst George Stephenson steadily progressed in his professional career, his son continued his attendance at Bruce's school. He did not figure conspicuously in the Percy Street play-ground, but at home he displayed no less physical than mental energy. Every evening his father kept him hard at work over the tasks set him at school, and over plans of steam-engines and other mechanical contrivances. The neighbours sometimes thought George was an ' o'er strict father,' and pitied the poor boy who was kept so close to his books. Eobert, however, had leisure for amusement. Every autumn he and his friends stripped of fruit the best trees in Captain Eobson's orchard. Like his father, too, the boy excelled in athletic sports, throwing the hammer and putting the stone with skill and force. In throwuig the hammer — a favourite sport with JSTorthumbrian workmen — the thrower stands with his legs w4de apart, when, putting his arms behind his back, and grasping the hammer by the handle with both hands, he casts it forwards between his legs. Apart from the mus- cular force employed, the knack greatly consists in let- ting the hammer go at the right moment. Eelmquished too soon, the missile strikes the ground close at the player's feet ; retained after the proper moment, it is apt to rise up into the thrower's face. In his sixteenth year, Eobert was engaged at this pastime, and made the mis- take of keeping the hammer too long in hand. The 1816.] SCHOOL-LIFE AND EDUCATION. 43 consequence was that the ponderous implement, weighing a little under 28 lb., rose, struck him on the forehead, and laid him flat and perfectly stunned upon the ground. John Tate mtnessed the accident ; but on the following day he saw Eobert throwing the hammer with as much resolution as ever. Eobert's schoolfellows at the Percy Street academy failed to detect in him any remarkable signs of talent, and some of them stiU express their astonishment at his subsequent scientific acquu'ements and professional acliievements. Before leaving Eobei't Stephenson's school-life, we may remark, that his father's experiences and difiiculties were the measure of what he thought requisite for the instruction of his son. The subtler influence of letters and the more valuable results of cultm^e were matters about which George Stephenson thought httle. Learn- ing he regarded in a strictly utilitarian sense, as an engine necessary for the achievement of certain ends. His ambition was to be a skilful engineer, and a per- fect man of business ; and in his efibrts to achieve this ambition he found two perplexing obstacles in his ignorance of mathematics and his inabihty to write with facility, or logical exactness. What he desired to be himself, that he also wished his son to be, Eobert Stephenson should be an engineer and a director of labour ; but he should not have his bravest exertions baffled by defective knowledge. In this spirit George caused his son to learn French, because it would be useful to him in business. Up to the time when he left Bruce's school, Eobert did not exhibit any marked enthusiasm for the pursuits 44 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. III. in which his father was most warmly interested. Possibly George Stephenson was too urgent that he should pro- secute the study of mechanics, and by continually goaduig him to Avork harder and harder ' at his buiks ' gave him a transient distaste for subjects to which he was naturally inclined. As a member of the Philosophical and Literary Society of Newcastle, Eobert brought home standard popular works and encyclopa3dic volumes treating of natural science and of inventions. These books his father read and compelled him to read ; but the labour went veiy much against the boy's grain. The earliest ' di\awing ' by Eobert Stephenson's hand of which there is any record, was that of a sun-dial, copied from Ferguson's ' Astronomy,' and presented by the lad to Mr. Losh, in the year 1816, in token of his gratitude to him as his father's benefactor. Tliis dra-wing set the father and son on another work — the construction of a real sun-dial, which, on its completion, was fixed over George's cottage door, where it still remains, bearing the date, ' August 11th, mdcccxvl' A good story is told of ' the hempy boy,' who dearly loved mischief From the meadow before the West Moor cabin he sent up his enormous kite, reined in by copper "wire instead of string, the copper Avire being in- sulated by a piece of silk cord. Anthony Wigham's cow, peacefully grazing in the meadow, was first favoured with a smart dose of electricity, one end of the copper wire being brought down to the top of the animal's tail. Standing at his cottage window, George Stephenson watched the discomfiture of liis neighbour's cow in high glee ; but when tlie operator, ignorant whose eyes were upon him, reUnquished the torture of the 'coo,' and proceeded to 1816.] PLAY AND MISCHIEF. 45 give Ills father's pony a fillip with the subtle fluid, George rushed out from his cottage with upraised whip, exclaim- ing, 'Ah! thou mischeevous scoondrel — aal paa thee.' It is needless to say that Eobert Stephenson did not wait to ' be paid.' 46 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON, [Cn. IV. CHAPTEE IV. ROBERT STEPHENSON, THE APPRENTICE. (iETAT. 15-20.) Robert Stephenson leaves Scliool — He is apprenticed to Mr. Nicliolas Wood— George Stepliensou lays do-wn the Hettou Collieiy Railway — Father and Sou — Robert's Economy in his personal Expenses — The ' Three Tuns' — The Circumfereutor — George Stephenson's increasing Prosperity — His Second Maniage — He builds the ' Friar's Goose Pumping Engine ' — He embarks in a small CoUieiy Speculation — The Locomotive Boiler Tubes of the Messrs. James — Explosion in the KiUingworth Mine — George Stephenson's First Visit to Mr. Edward Pease — Robert Stephenson and his Father survey the Stockton and Darlington Line — Robert Stephenson's First Visit to London — His delicate State of Health — Survey for the Second Stockton and Darlington Act — Robert Stephenson goes to Edin- burgh — Professor Leslie's Testimonial — Letters wi-itten at Edin- burgh by Robert Stephenson to Mr. Longridge — Robert Stephenson accompanies Professor Jamieson on a Geological Excursion — George Stephenson's Letter to his friend I^ocke — Robert Stephenson and his Father visit Ireland — Robert Stephenson's Letters £i-om that Countiy. LEAVING school in the year 1819 — the year in wliich his father commenced the construction of his first hne of railway, the Hetton Colliery hne — Eobert Ste- phenson entered on his duties as apprentice to Mr. Nicholas Wood, the mining engineer, who was at that time the viewer of the KiUingworth and other adjacent collieries. During his apprenticeship, he had therefore to concern himself with the internal working of the 1819.] HABITS OF ECONOMY. 47 mines to which his father, was engine-wright. The father and son now came closer together, and strength- ened the firm league of confidence and afiection wliich bound them throughout life. There was between them far less difference of age than usually exists between father and son, George Stephenson being only twenty-two years his boy's senior. When Eobert Stephenson was a young man, his father was still only at the entrance of middle life ; indeed, the latter was, in some respects, a young man even to the last, anxious for fresh know- ledge, capable after a struggle of rehnquishing old errors, and moreover endowed with high animal spmts. Eobert Stephenson was apprenticed to Mr. Nicholas Wood for three years, and during his apprenticeship he manifested that quiet resolution and genuine modesty which characterised liim even when he became the leader of his profession. He worked very hard, and hved with careful economy. George Stephenson saw clearly that the only chance he had of reaping a rich harvest from his own and his son's intellects, lay in saving and putting by out of his yearly earnings, until he should be in a pecimiary position to embark in business as a manufacturer as well as an operative engineer. He knew well that the inventor without capital makes others rich, whilst he himself starves and is neglected. His great object, therefore, was to accumulate funds in order that he might enter into business as a manufacturing engineer. At this period of his Hfe Eobert never spent a penny on any article whatever, until he had put to himself Sydney Smith's three questions — Is it worth the money? Do I want it ? Can I do without it ? Once every fortnight 48 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. IV. ]\ir. Wood, as head viewer, used to descend the KilUng- worth ijdne in discharge of his regular duties. The hour at which he ' left bank ' was nine o'clock, punc- tual to the minute, and Eobert always accompanied his master. At mid-day, when the mornuig's work was over, Eobert and the under viewer, hot and fatigued, used to enter the 'Three Tuns' — a small, thatched, three-roomed beer-house, long since puUed down — and take refreshment. When herrings were in season, the ordinary repast of each was 'a herring, a penny roll, and a glass of small beer.' Young gentlemen, serving their pupilage under distinguished engmeers, would some- times do well to think of Eobert Stephenson's two-penny- halfpenny meals. About two years before Eobert Stephenson's death, a workman of Washino;ton viUaj^e found in a collection of old stores a circumferentor, or mining compass. It was unusually large — even for a cn-cumferentor made forty years since. The brass stand and measuring-plate had long been obscured by corrosion ; and it was not till the latter had been well scoured and pohshed that it revealed the inscription, ' Eobert Stephenson fecit.' The workman, on reading these words, brought the instrument to the works of Eobert Stephenson and Co., Newcastle, and left it with Eobert Stephenson's friend and partner — the late Mr. Weallens. At his next visit to Newcastle, Mr. Stephenson's attention was directed to the instrument, when at the sight of his long-forgotten work, he exclaimed with emotion, ' All, that circumferentor was measured off at Watson's Works, in the High Bridge.* I made it when I was i. e. the Ilicli Biitlefe of Newcastle. 1819.] GEORGE STEPHENSON'S SECOND MARRIAGE. 49 quite a lad — when I was Wood's apprentice — when I had but httle money, and could not afford to buy one.' Whilst Eobert Stephenson was serving his apprentice- ship^ events were being crowded into his father's hfe. In 1819, George Stephenson began to lay down the Hetton Colliery Eailway, which was finished in 1822. He could now afford to indulge in romance. Elizabeth Hind- marsh, his first love, was still unmarried. When her father drove the young brakesman from his door, she had vowed never to have another husband, and that vow she kept. The time was now come for her constancy to be rewarded. The poor brakesman had made himself ' a man of mark,' and — a more important matter still in the estimation of some of his canny north-country friends — had made himself a ' man of substance.' ' The grand alhes,' in their conduct towards their agent, showed a liberahty becoming their rank, wealth, and name. In the same way that, years before, they had given him two out of every six working days, allowing him to devote them to the service of Messrs. Losh, Wilson, and Bell, so they now also permitted him to act as engineer to the Hetton Coal Company, for the construction of the Hetton Eail- way, without making any diminution in his salary. Thus during the three years in which he was laying down the Hetton line, George Stephenson had three concurrent appointments. His savings were by this time consider- able, and were invested at good interest and on good security. Mortgage on land at five per cent, interest was at that time George's notion of a sufficiently profit- able and safe investment, and on such terms he had for some years lent £1,300 to a gentleman in the neigh- bourhood of Darhngton. So George Stephenson (no VOL. I. E 60 LIFE OF EGBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. IV. longer a poor brakesnican) again paid his addresses to the woman whose love he had won twenty years before ; and he married her in the same church where he had wedded his ' old maid ' bride, Fanny Henderson. . The ceremony took place in tlie parish church of Newburn on March 29, 1820, the bridegroom's son, Eobert, being one of the attesting witnesses.* As soon as the wedding festivities were at an end, George Stephenson went back to his work and his cottage at Killingworth. Still pursuing his prudent course, he made no diiTerence in his plan of hfe ; nor, to her lasting honour be it said, did Mrs. Stephenson wish liim in any respect to alter it. Never did woman more cordially devote herself to the interests of her hus- band and husband's child. Entering the Killingworth cottage, which 'Aunt Eleanor' had left to marry an honest and well-reputed workman, she gave a beauty and completeness to her husband's life which it had previously wanted. Of this excellent lady mention will be made in subsequent pages. Possibly his step-mother's tastes turned Eobert Stephenson's attention to music. He purchased a flute, and acquired so much profi- ciency on the instrument, that he was permitted to act as flutist in a band, which, instead of an organ, took part in the rehgious services of Long Benton Church. * Copy of the record of George year One thousand eight hundred Stephenson's second marriage, in and twenty, the Newburn Register : — 'By me, J. Edmonson, vicar. ' George Stephenson, of the parish ' In presence of — of Long Benton, widower, and Eliza- ' Thomas Ilindmarsh. beth Hindmarsh, of this parish, spin- ' Robert Stephenson, eter, were man-ied in this church by ' George Stephenson. license, with consent of , this ' Elizabeth Hindmarsh.' twcnty-nmth day of Marcli, in the 1820.] THE FRIAR'S GOOSE PUMPING ENGINE. 51 At the same time that George Stephenson was laying down the last rails of the Hetton Colliery Eailway, he was busy in constructing for Messrs. Losh, Wilson, and Bell, a pumping engine, of hitherto unusual dimensions, known as the Friar's Goose Pumping Engine,* which aided in ' the whining ' of the famous Woodside coals. The opening of this mine commenced in 1820, and the first cargo of coals was shipped November 21st, 1824. The cost of winning was about £22,354 ; and George Stephenson's engine, which speedily became famous throughout the Northumbrian coal district, commenced pumping in July 1823. The increase of reputation which the engineer gained by this achievement was of great service to him. He had also another important undertaking on his hands. In conjunction with Thomas Mason, he took a lease of the Willow Bridge coUiery for twenty-one years, the two partners embarking in the undertaking £700 in equal shares. The deed of partnership was signed December 5th, 1820. Another incident of importance marks this period of George Stephenson's career. Anxious to improve the locomotive engines, for which he and Mr. Losh had taken out letters patent, George and his copatentee resolved to introduce into their boilers the tubes recommended by * The following particulars con- the main beam, and one to inside, by ceming the ' Friar's Goose Pumping diagonal spear to quadrant in pit, Engine,' furnished by Mr. Losh, are about 7 fathoms down from surface, valuable : — Three sets of pumps in bottom, each * Friar's Goose Pumping Engine. set 16|- inches diameter, and length Commenced pumping in July, 1823. of sets about 50 fathoms. Average Diameter of cylinder 72| inches ; quantity of water per minute, 1,000 length of stroke, ditto, 9 feet ; length gallons. of pit, ditto,? feet 2 inches. Two sets ' Tyv^a Main Colliery, Aug. 29, of pumps attached to the out end of 18G0.' E 2 62 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. IV. Messrs. William James and William Henry James, giving those gentlemen a share in their patent rights in return for the permission crrantecl them ' to adopt any improve- ments, and the introduction of tubes to their boilers, as contained in the letters patent of William Henry James, son of the said WilHam James, as granted to him in the reign of his present Majesty.' The agreement between Wilham Losh and George Stephenson on the one part, and the Messrs. James on the other, bears date September 1, 1821. These tubes must not, however, be confounded with the multitubular boiler, which ultimately decided the triumph of the locomotive. Almost countless un- successful experiments were made, before ]\Ii\ Henry Booth (with the concurrence of the Stephensons) pro- duced his beautiful arrano-ement. The a^i^reement of September 1st, 1821, is of interest, as it gives a date when George Stephenson was intent on increasing the lieating surface of his boilers by the introduction of tubes, and also preserves the reputation of two other inventors, whose services to the locomotive ought not to be forgotten, although they have been exaggerated by indiscreet friends. Eobert Stephenson's work during his apprenticeship was not only hard but hazardous. On one occasion when he was accompanying his master, ]\Ir, Nicholas Wood, and ]\ir. Moodie, the under-viewer, through the passages of the KiUingworth mine, by the aid of ' the Geordie's ' dim ray, they grew impatient of the darkness, and lighted a candle. The spot was more foul than the viewer supposed, and an explosion instantly ensued. ]\ir. Wood was picked up from the ground bruised, bleeding, and stunned. Eobert Stephenson and Mr. 1821.] THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY. 53 Moodie escaped uiiliurt ; but the alarm of such an escape strongly impressed the former with the value of his father's invention. The lad's apprenticeship had not expired, when he made trial of a safer, but not less laborious, occupa- tion. On April 19, 1821, the same day on which the royal assent was given to the first Stockton and Darling- ton Eailway Act, George Stephenson went over to Dar- lington, accompanied by ]\ii\ Nicholas Wood, for the purpose of sohciting Mr. Edward Pease, the chief pro- jector of the new line, to secure for him the job of making the railroad. In consequence of this interview with Mr. Pease, George Stephenson was employed by the Stockton and Darlington Company to make a careful survey of the route, for which the Act had been obtained. This survey was made in the autumn of 1821, and certain modifica- tions and changes of the hue were proposed by the engineer. To carry out these proposals, a new Act (the second Stockton and Darlington Eailway Bill) was, after renewed opposition, obtained in 1823 ; and George Stephenson was forthwith instructed to form the line in accordance with the new Act, receiving for his salary as the Company's engineer-in-chief £300 per amium. In making the survey of 1821, Eobert Stephenson, then just eighteen years of age, accompanied and assisted his father. Before entering on the survey, Eobert Stephenson made a trip to London. Easy and secure in his circumstances, his father gave him a purse of money and a holiday. It was the first time in his life that he had been more than a day's journey from Killiugworth, and the prospect of 64 LIFE OF EGBERT STEPIIExNSON. [Cn. IV visiting the capital greatly excited him. Having reached London, the tall shght boy, still dressed in ill-fitting coarse garments made by the pitmen's tailor, hastened from place to place. The journal still exists in which he began to take notes of all he saw. Before he had been in town many days the diary was discontinued ; but enough was written to show that he was still unable to spell correctly. He went to St. Paul's, the Custom House, the London Water Works, ' Sommersite ' House, and to an exhibition of a model of an Egyptian tomb sent home by Belzoni, The visit to London was a short one ; and when it was over, Eobert Stephenson returned to Kilhngworth to resume his work in the coal-mines. But by this time he had found the labour of a viewer exliausting as well as perilous. His lungs were weak and manifested symptoms of tubercular disease. He welcomed, therefore, the change to a more healthful occupation now offered to him, and in the early autumn assisted his father and Mr. John Dixon in makmg the survey for the second Stockton and Darlington Eailway Act. He heartily enjoyed the work. Spending the entu-e day in tlie clear balmy air, eating frugal meals of ' bread, butter, milk, and potatoes ' under sheltering hedgerows, and lodging by night in roadside imis, George Stephenson and his assistants made hohday of their toil. Mr. Joseph Pease of Darhngton, then a young man, was a frequent attendant on the party, and remembers well the animation witli which George and Eobert Stephenson conversed at the top of their voices, in a scarcely intelhgible Nortliumbrian brogue, on the diffi- culties of their undertaking. The ' slight, spare, bronzed boy,' as Mr. Pease recalls the Eobert Stephenson of 1821, 1821.] CHANGE OF OCCUPATION. 55 often supported his arguments with a respectful mention of Mr. Bruce's opinions ; and to the authority of the worthy schoolmaster, George Stephenson invariably paid marked, and almost superstitious, homage. When the survey was completed, and the map was plotted, Eobert Stephenson's name was put upon it as ' the engineer,' and no mention was made of his father. This was done at George's particular direction ; and a more affecting instance of paternal devotion it would be difficult to imagine. In consequence of being thus designated engineer, Eobert Stephenson had to make a second visit to London, and this time not for the purpose of inspecting the Tower and St. Paul's Cathedral, but that he miglit be examined by a parhamentary committee on an affair of great com- mercial importance. Before making his first pubhc appearance as engineer of the Stockton and Darlington Eailway, Eobert Stephenson resided for a few months in the university of Edinburgh. Several gentlemen who came in contact with him during the survey for the line had been so struck with his natural force of intellect that they represented to his father the propriety, and indeed the imperative duty, of giving him a college education. George Stephenson could, as far as money went, have well afforded to send him to Cambridge, but it was not his wish to ' make his son a gentleman.' Such were his own words. 'Eobert must wark, wark, as I hae warked afore him,' the father used to say. Finding, however, that Ms son could reside at Edinburgh, and attend the classes for a comparatively small sum, he allowed him to go to that university for one term, a space of time that was, in all, something less than six 56 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cu. IV. months. This permission was accorded in the October of the year 1822, and forthwith Eobert Stephenson started for the Scotch capital. As the date of his residence in Edinburgh has been misstated, so also has the importance of it been exaggerated. To call it by the imposing title of a ' university education ' would be to mislead the reader. Brilliant as the assembly of professors in Edinburgh then was, the educational system of the university was faulty, and the students were allowed to pursue their own courses, without disci- phne, and in some cases without encouragement. Eobert Stephenson certainly worked hard whilst he was at Edinburgh, but his stay there was too short for efficient study. He was, however, resolute in his attendance at lectures, and he even declined to enjoy for an hour the society of Mr. Joseph Pease (who paid him a flying visit) in order that he might be present at the address of the Professor of Natural Philosophy. After the term he accompanied Jamieson on a geological excursion. The students who were permitted to attend the Professor on such trips walked with knapsacks on theh^ backs, and led the same sort of wild vagrant life which Eobert had more than a year before enjoyed during the railway survey. To the last he retained a lively recollection of this expedition ; and as late as 1857, on passing in his yacht an imposing headland of the northern coast, he told his friends that, ' as a student on a tour with Professor Jamieson, a quarter of a century before, he had examined the structure of the cliffs.' ' The Professor,' he added, ' on such occasions mounted a hillock and de- scribed the geological formation of the surrounding rocks, illustrating his lecture by reference to the face of nature 1822.] HIS STUDIES AT EDINBURGH. 57 as his black-board, while we lads stood round the good old man with a j)leasure which I can never forget.' It has been erroneously stated that Eobert Stephenson bore off at Edinburgh ' most of the prizes of the year.' The fact is, that he did not gain a single university prize, in the sense in which an university man would use the term. Professor Leslie, however, was in the habit of present- ing periodically a book to the student attending his class with whom he was most pleased. According to the character of the pupil to whom it was presented, it was sometimes a tribute to moral worth as well as scientific attainments. In the case of Eobert Stephenson, the Pro- fessor's testimonial was awarded in recognition of the ability displayed by the pupil in answering certain ma- thematical questions in the regular weekly examination papers. The following letters written by Eobert Stephenson to his early friend and adviser, Mr. Michael Longridge, during his brief stay at Edinburgh, will give the reader an insight into his life in the university. The first of the three was written soon after his arrival in the capital of Scotland, and whilst he was making a first acquaintance with the Professors. Edinbro' : Nov. 20, 1822. SiK, — Not having received the books, as you intimated, I begin to be apprehensive of their safety. If you have not sent them off yet, I hope you will not be long. I met with very kind reception from Mr. Bald, who introduced me to Dr. Brewster, Professor Jameson, and some other professional gentlemen. He gave me two tickets, one for the Wernerian Society, and one for the Eoyal Society, and desired me par- ticularly to call and have any book out of his library that I might want. Mr. Jameson seems to be a very intelligent man. 58 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Ch. IV. and I think liim and I will soon be friends. My father would likely inform you of my intercourse with Dr. Hope. He seemed much interested about the lamps, and desired me to give him every information relative to them. I remain, Sir, yours sincerely, R. Stephenson. M. Longridge, Esq. The tone of the next letter, penned a fortnight after the preceding epistle, is less cheerful. Sir, — I would have sent my Lectures ere now had they contained anything new. Mr. Jameson's Lectures have hitherto been confined chiefly to Zoology, a part of Natural History which I cannot say I am enraptured with ; nor can I infer from many of his Lectures any ultimate benefit, unless to satisfy the curiosity of man. Natural historians spend a great deal of time in enquiring whether Adam was a black or white man. Now I really cannot see what better we should be, if we could even determine this with satisfaction ; but our limited knowledge will always place this question in the shade of darkness. The Professor puzzles me sadly with his Latin appellations of the various divisions, species, genera, &c., of the animal kingdom. He lectures two days a week on Meteorology and three on Zoology. This makes the course very unconnected. I have taken notes on Natural Philosophy, but have not written them out, as there has been nothing but the simplest parts, and which I was perfectly acquainted with. Therefore I thought I might spend my time better in reading. I shall send you them when he comes to the most difficult parts. Leslie intends giving a Lecture on Saturdays to those who wish to pursue the most abstruse parts of Natural Philosophy. I have put my name down for one of those : he gives questions out every Friday to answer on the Saturday. I have been highly delighted vnth Dr. Hope's Lectures. He is so plain and familiar in all his elucidations. I have received the books all safe. The next letter, written in the April of 1823, marks the time when the writer's brief stay at the university w^as brouiilit to a close, and also indicates with exact- 1823.] HIS STUDIES AT EDINBURGH. 59 ness the subjects to which he directed his attention during the period. Edinburgh : April 11, 1823. Sir, — I wrote home on the 5th, but from yours it appears my father would be set off for London before the arrival of my letter, in which I desired him to send me a bill for £26. I should feel obliged if you will send me it at your first con- venience, as I am rather in want of it at present. The Natural History finishes next Tuesday. The Natural Philosophy on Friday the 18th. Chemistry finishes on the 27th or 28th. I have been fortunate in winning a prize in the Natural Philosophy class, for some mathematical questions given by Professor Leslie relative to various branches of Natural Philo- sophy. I remain. Sir, Yours very sincerely, EoB. Stephenson. Mich. Longridge, Esq. The following letter, written by George Stephenson to his friend WiUiam Locke, during his son's brief sojourn at Edinburgh, -svill be read with interest : — March 31, 1823. Deak Sie, — From the great elapse of time since I seed you, you will hardley know that such a man is in the land of the living. I fully expected to have seen you about two years ago, as I passed throw Barnsley on my way to south Wales but being informed you was not at home I did not call I expect to be in London in the course of a fortnight or three weaks, when I shall do my self the pleasure of calling, either in going or coming. This will be handed to you by Mr. Wilson a friend of mine who is by profeshion an Atomey at law and intends to settle in your neighbourhood, you will greatley oblidge me by throughing any Business in his way you conveniently can I think you will find him an active man in his profeshion. There has been many upes and downs in this neighbourhood since you left you would no doubt have heard that Charles Nixon was (JO LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. IV. throughing out at Walbottle Collery by his partnei'S some years ago he has little to depend on now but the profets of the ballast machine at Willington Quey wich I darsay is verey small many of his Familey has turned out verey badley he has been verey unfortunate in Famaley affairs. If, I have the pleasure of seeing you I shall give you a long list of occurences since you and I worked together at Newburn. Hawthorn is still at Wal- battle I darsay you will well remember he was a great enamy to me but much more so after you left. I left Walbattle Collery soon also after you and has been verey prosperous in my concerns ever since I am now far above Hawthorn's reach. I am now concerned as Civil Engineer in different parts of the Kingdom. I have onley one son who I have brought up in my own profeshion he is now near 20 years of age I have had him educated in the first Schools and is now at Colledge in Edinbro' I have found a great want of education myself but fortune has made a mends for that want. I am dear sir yours truly GrEO. Stephenson. Killiiigwortli Collery. George had, indeed, raised himself thus early to be ' concerned as a civil engineer in different parts of the kingdom.' With a salary of £300 from the Stockton and Darhngton Eaihvay, with a rapidly increasing busi- ness, and with important accumulations, he found himself, in 1823, a made man. He could therefore well afford to defray the expenses of his son's visit to the university of Edinburo;h. Of that visit perhaps the most important result was the commencement of Eobert Stephenson's fiiendship with Mr. George Parker Bidder, late President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Mr. Bidder, wdio had already been for two years studying at the university, was immediately attracted to Eobert Stephenson by the mildness of his disposition, and at the same time by his plain common-sense intellect. During the university term 1823.] JOURNEY TO IRELAND. 61 tliey were nearly inseparable, as in after life they fought their parKamentary battles side by side. To the close of his life Eobert Stephenson's happiest days were spent in his friend Bidder's family circle. With Eobert Stephenson's return from Edinburgh to KiUingworth, the period of his West Moor life may be regarded as closed. On receiving his formal appointment as engineer to the Stockton and Darhngton hne, George Stephenson left Long Benton, and Eobert accompanied his father as assistant m the new undertaking. The construction of the Stockton and Darhno^ton line o did not preclude George Stephenson and his son from making long journeys to various parts of the United Kingdom in the discharge of professional duties. In the September of 1823 they went to t-eland, from which country Eobert wrote with his accustomed energy and confidence to 'Mr. Longridge. Dublin : Sept. 10, 1823. Dear Sir, — We have just arrived at Paddy's Land ' in far Dublin city.' We left London on Monday, at half-past one o'clock, travelled all night, and reached Bristol the next morning, and expected to have got the steam packet to Cork, but we were disappointed on being informed that the Cork packet had broken her machinery a few days before, and was laid up for repair. We were therefore obhged to come ou to Dublin, upwards of two hundred miles out of our way. We leave here this evening in the mail, and shall arrive at Cork to-morrow evening, where we shall probably remain a few days, and then make the best of our way into Shropshire. The concern we are going to at Cork was set fire to by the mob, where the disturb- ance has been for some time. We expect to reach home in the course of a fortnight. WTien we were in London my father called at Mr. Grordon's office, but found he had set off the pre- ceding evening to the North. My father desires to be remem- 62 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [On. TV. bered to him with his sincere respects. We hope by this time we have got our fortunes made safe with the Lord of Carlisle's agents. We have some hopes of some orders for steam engines for South America, in the Columbian States. This, hoivever, depends on the success of PerJdns's neiu enr/ine. My father and he have had a severe scold. Indeed the most of the birkies were embittered at my father's opinion of the engine. He one day stopped the engine by his hand, and when we called the next day Perkins had previously got the steam to such a pitch (equal 15 atmosphere) that it was impossible for one man to stop it, but by a little of my assistance, we succeeded in stopping it by laying hold of the fly-wheel. This engine he formerly called an 8 or 10 horse-power, but now only a 4. I am con- vinced, as well as my father, that Perkins knows nothing about the principle of steam engines. I remain, dear Sir, Yours sincerely, Egbert Stephenson. P.S. — You shall hear from us at Cork. Tlie story of George Stephenson's practical criticism on tlie merits of Perkins' engine is well known. From Cork, Eobert Stephenson wrote to Mr. Long- ridge. Cork : Sept. 16, 1823. Deae Sir, — We left Dublin on the evening of the day we wrote our last, for Cork, in the mail, and we were not a little alarmed, when it stopped at the post office, to see four large cavalry pistols and two blunderbusses handed up to the guard, who had also a sword hung by his side. I can assure you, my father's courage was daunted, though I don't suppose he will confess with it. We proceeded on, however, without being in the least disturbed, except, now and then having our feelings excited by the driver, or some of our fellow-passengers, relating, and at the same time pointing towards the situation, where some most barbarous murder had recently been committed. In one instance, a father, mother, and son had been murdered one evening or two before. As we passed along, everywhere distress 1823.] JOURNEY TO IRELAND. 63 seemed to be the prevailing feature of the country, and this to an incredible degree among the poor. Indeed, numbers of them appeared literally starving. We frequently have read accounts in the English newspapers of the distressed state of Ireland, but how far they fall short of conveying a just idea of it. With regard to the appearance of the cities Dublin and Cork, I must say the former falls far short of the description given of it by some Irishman in the steam packet, as we came over from Eng- land. I asked some of them if it was equal to Edinburgh, and they seemed insulted at the comparison, but I can now say they ought to have felt highly honoured. Dublin excels cer- tainly in size and business, but as to scenery and beauty of building, it shrinks into insignificance. We were very kindly received at the Dripsey Paper Works by Macnay's family, and have just finished our business with them for the present, and intend leaving Cork in the steam packet this day for Bristol. From there we shall make the best of our way to Shifnal in Shropshire, and our business there will probably detain us five or six days. A small boiler will be wanted to send to Ireland. You will receive the order by George Marshall, or some of our people, in a few days. I hope Mr. Birkinshaw will see the plates nicely cut, as we want it neatly finished. The most valuable part of Eobert Stephenson's educa- tion was, however, yet to come. 64 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn, V CHAPTER V. PREPAKATIONS FOR AMERICA. (^TAT. 20-21.) George Stephenson's Rupture with Mr. Losh — The Establishment of the Firm of R. Stephenson and Co. of Newcastle — The Colombian Mining Association — George Stephenson a Chief Agent for the Pro- ject — Robert Stephenson visited with renewed and aggravated Symptoms of Pulmonaiy Disease — Robert Stephenson proposed as Engineer to the ' Colombian Mining Association ' — His Visits to Cornwall and other Places — Newcastle — The London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill — Robert Stephenson accepts the Post of Engineer-in-Chief to the Colombian Mining Association — In London — Preparations and Hard Work — ' Home, sweet Home ' — Letter to ' the North ' — Conduct of ' the Association ' — Liverpool — Sails for South America. IN forming his new connection at Darlington, George Stephenson made the acquaintance not only of Mr. Pease, but also of Mi. Mcliael Longridge of the Bedhng- ton Iron Works, and the influential associates of both those gentlemen ; and by his conduct towards them he gained their respect and confidence. Unfortunately, however, in acting honourably towards his new friends, he was com- pelled to give offence to an old patron. On being asked what rails he would recommend to be laid down on the Stockton and Darlington Eailway, he frankly rephed to the directors — 'Gentlemen, I might put £500 into my pocket by getting you to buy my patent cast-iron rails. But I know them. Take my advice, and don't lay down 1824] THE FACTORY AT NEWCASTLE. G5 a single cast-iron rail.' Of course it was his paramount duty to give this advice to his employers, but his con- demnation of cast-iron rails, and recommendation of malleable bars, not only kept £500 out of his own pocket, but withheld the same sum from the purse of his co-patentee and old employer, Mr. Losh. The latter, not then beheving in the relative inferiority of the cast- iron rails which he and George Stephenson had patented in 1816, was naturally irritated, and imprudently wrote a letter to Mr. Pease reflecting on George's conduct in violent and unjust terms. The contents of this epistle were inconsiderately imparted by Mr. Pease to George Stephenson ; and the consequence was a stormy interview between the latter and Mr. Losh, in which the capitahst accused the engineer of ingratitude, and the engineer re- torted on the capitahst a charge of self-interest and cupidity. The consequence of this was, that the rupture between the elder Stephenson and Messrs. Losh, Wilson, and Bell was final ; and George attached himself to an- other interest. Wliilst he was superintending the construction of the Stockton and Darlington Eailway, George Stephenson induced Mr. Edward Pease, Mr. Eichardson, and Mr. Longridge, to join him in establishing the 'manufactory,' now celebrated, wherever locomotive engines are used, under the name of 'Eobert Stephenson and Co.' It has been already seen how he put Eobert Stephenson's name on the map as engineer of the Stockton and Darlington hne. Li hke manner, now that he was about to embark in a great commercial speculation, he made his son the pro- minent engineer, as well as an actual partner, and was VOL. L F 66 LIFE OF ROBERT STErHENSON. [Cn. V pleased to keep himself in the background. The partner- sliip was formed in 1823, and forthwith the ground was purchased on which the factory of ' Eobert Stephenson and Co.' yet stands — an imposing and extensive mass of building, visible to travellers through smoke and fog, as the train bears them along the superior road of the High Level Bridge. The originators of the factoiy, interested deeply in the Stockton and Darling- ton Eailway, were bent on supplying the new hne with the steam locomotives, which their influence would cause to be adopted in preference to fixed engines. With the commencement of 1824 the factory was at work. George Stephenson, fully engaged with the Stockton and Darlington Hne, thirty or forty miles distant from New- castle, could give but httle personal care to the new factory. Eobert Stephenson was, therefore, called upon to superintend its earhest operations. It was a trying position for a young man, only twenty years of age. To be so trusted was the grandest sort of education — but it was an education fitted only for an able man. He had to supervise the building operations, engage men, take orders, advise on contracts, draw plans, make esti- mates, keep the accounts, and in all matters, great or small, govern the young establishment on his own re- sponsibihty. AU this, however, was mere child's play compared with his next task. A more fascinating scheme than that of the ' Colombian Mining Association ' had not for years roused the imagina- tions of speculators. The proposal was to recommence worKing in Spanish America the gold and silver mines, which, it was averred, had been wrought with great profit 1824.] THE COLOIMBIAN MINING ASSOCIATION. 67 before the Eevolution. The cautiously expressed ophiion of Humboldt, that such operations might lead to suc- cessful results, induced men of wealth and high reputation in the money market to support the project with their names and their gold. The first plan of the projectors was departed from in important particulars ; and when the Company took form as a working power, its title was the ' Colombian Mining Association,' and the at- tention of the du-ectors was concentrated on the mineral wealth of Colombia. Amongst the most sanguine projectors of this specu- lation was ]\'Ir. Thomas Eichardson, the founder of the famous discount house of Eichardson, Overend, and Gurney. Mr. Eichardson was an intimate friend and family connection of Mr. Pease of Darlington. He took shares hi the Stockton and Darhngton Eailway, and became a partner in the firm of 'Eobert Stephenson and Co., of Newcastle.' Frequently coming into contact with George Stephenson, he admn-ed his soundness of judgement as much as he did his genius for mechanical contrivance, and consequently consulted him on the ar- rangements of the ' Colombian Mining Association.' Of course, steam-engines and iron goods would be required in abundance for effectually working the old mines ; and Mr. Eichardson calculated that his influence would obtain large orders for the house of ' Eobert Stephenson and Co.' On George Stephenson, therefore, it eventually' devolved to select miners, artisans, inspectors, and im- plements, and to make heavy shipments of iron and goods for America. Indeed, not only Mr. Eichardson, but the general body of directors, rehed on George's F 2 68 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. V. guidance in all tlie engineering part of their preliminary operations. Although the earher commissions were sent to his father, young Eobert Stephenson had to attend to many of them ; and he did the work in such a manner that Mr. Eichardson formed a yet higher opinion of his energy and capacity. Mr. Longridge, with whom George Stephenson had now, for more than three years, been in communication, also formed the highest estimate of Eobert's abihties. Over- tures were then made through Mr. Eichardson to Eobert Stephenson, soundmg him whether he would hke to ac- company the expedition. The proposal put the young man in a fire of excitement. He was pining to get away fi"om Newcastle. The threatening symptoms of pulmonary disease, which had from childhood made his friends anxious for him, seemed decidedly on the in- crease; and in his secret heart he believed that the harsh winds of Newcastle would, before many years, lay him in a premature grave. In the warm luxurious atmosphere of Colombia, surrounded by the gorgeous beauties of animal and vegetable hfe, which had stured Humboldt from his philosophic calm, he anticipated renewed vigour of mind and body. Moreover, the dreams of wealth, which had fascinated apparently cau- tious and practical men hke Mr. Eichardson, seemed to Eobert Stephenson's young mind no visionary hopes, but realities beyond the reach of doubt. He argued, not unreasonably, the Spaniards, with imperfect appliances and a rude knowledge of their art, extracted from those mines vast revenues, and therefore greater wealth will flow to labourers aided by the latest inventions of science, and having a supply of skilled artisans. 1824.] JOURNEY INTO CORNWALL. 69 It was true ' the works ' had been scarcely estabhshed at Newcastle, and needed vigilant direction. But the principal object for which they had been started — the construction of locomotives — could not be attained until there was a pubhc demand for the commodity ; and even to Eobert Stephenson, not less sanguine than his father as to the ultimate success of the locomotive, it seemed highly improbable that the demand would be either urgent or general for some years. At all events he might with advantage to his health and prospects go to South America for three years. George Stephenson did not at all like the proposal. Not even the annual salary of £500, mth allowances for travelhng expenses, could lessen his disapproval. In the spring of 1824, Eobert Stephenson, at the direc- tion of the Colombian Association, went on a trip to Cornwall, accompanied by his uncle Eobert (the father of the present Mr. George Eobert Stephenson), and made a careful examination of the mining system of that country. The result of this trip was an elaborate report by the uncle and nephew on Cornish mining — its usages, im- plements, engines, and commercial organisation. Writing to his father from Oakhampton, Devonshire, March 5, 1824, Eobert Stephenson said: — As far as I have proceeded on my journey to the Cornish mines, I have every reason to think it will not be misspent time ; for when one is travelling about, something new gene- rally presents itself, and though it is perhaps not superior to some scheme of our own for the same purpose, it seldom fails to open a new channel of ideas, which may not unfrequently prove advantageous in the end. This I think is one of the chief benefits of leaving the fireside where the young imagina- tion received its first impression. 70 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Ch. V. In this same letter he speaks of having inspected the Bristol steam-boats, and especially the ' George IV.,' in which he and his father had crossed from Ireland in the previous year. He mentions also having been at Swansea, where the engine for drawing coals, put up by George Stephenson, was seen working admirably. Speaking of the Neath Abbey Works, he observes : — When I was at Neath Abbey I had the pleasure of being introduced to Mr. Brunton the engineer : he is a very sensible man, but there is not one of them who understands the parallel motion thoroughly. They seemed to doubt me when I told them I had never seen one mathematically true, not even in principle. In the firm and self-reliant tone of this passage may be seen the young man of twenty-one conscious of his power to be a leader of others. Eeturning to Newcastle, Eobert Stephenson found that he could not settle down to his work. He wrote to his father, begging him no longer to oppose his wish to go to Colombia. But now (he wrote) let me beg of you not to sa}'^ anything against my going out to America, for I have already ordered so many instruments that it would make me look extremely foolish to call off. Even if I had not ordered any instruments, it seems as if we were all working one against another. You must recollect I will only be away for a time ; and in the mean time you could manage with the assistance of Mr. Longridge, who, together with John Nicholson, would take the whole of the business part off your hands. And only consider what an opening it is for me as an entry into business ; and I am in- formed by all who have been there that it is a very healthy country. I must close this letter, expressing my hope that you will not go against me for this time. Sorely against his will, Georo-e gave his consent ; and 1824.] PREPAEATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE TO MIERICA. 71 Eobert Stephenson, once more going up to London, took up his quarters (April 27, 1824) at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, and made his preparations for de- partiu-e. It was a terribly wet season, and he walked about day after day m the flooded streets, soaked to the skin, buying implements and stores and engaging workmen. Nor did he confine his attention to the concerns of the Colombian Association. Already he was a man of mark, invited to the tables of wealthy merchants, and carried liither and tliither to give his opinion on engi- neering questions relating to gas works, water works, and marine engines. He examined minutely ]\ir. Brown's * vacuum engine,' which was making as great a stir as Perkins' machine did, until George Stephenson, by the simple apphcation of muscular force, stopped the action of the pretty toy. The ' vacuum engine ' Eobert Ste- phenson significantly described in a letter to his father as ' extremely ingenious, but .' At the same time he busied himself in inventing, for a company of London merchants, a machine for stamping coin, wliich he hoped to see employed in the Colombian mint. The Messrs. Magnays had given him an order for a paper-drying machine. Whilst he was deciding how he should con- struct the machine for stamping coin and the drying ma- chine, he visited the Mint and the ' Times ' Newspaper Office; with which estabhshments he was so pleased that he "svrote his father a long account of them. The Magnays (he wTote) got me an introduction to the ' Times ' printing office, where I was almost as much delighted as I was in the Mint. The facility with which they print is truly wonderful. They were working papers at the rate of 2,000 per hour, which they can hold for any length of time. 72 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Ch. V. The mode they have of conveying the sheet of paper from one part of the machine to the other, is, I think, precisely what is wanted in the drying machine. Hitherto Eobert Stephenson's experience as a mining engineer had been principally confined to coal mines, whereas he was now about to search for the precious metals. That he might be possessed of all the requisite practical information, he took lessons of Eichard Phillips, the Professor of IVIineralogical Chemistry — the Colombian Company paying five guineas for each lesson. At the same time he was acquiring the Spanish language. After staying for a short time at the London Coffee House, he removed to lodgings in No. 6 Finsbury Place South, and there remained till he left London. Li ' the city' he underwent much disappointment. Arrange- ments which had been spoken of as completed had still to be begun. Heavy arrears of labour fell upon the young engineer, in respect of matters about which he ought to have had no trouble whatever. Even about his appointment — the salary and exact character of the position — there were difficulties ; and he had to haggle and insist before he could get any recognition whatever of his engagement with the Colombian Mining Company; and after all his agreement was not with the Company, but with the Company's agents, Messrs. Herring, Graham, and Powles, in their individual capacity. Thus after all Eobert Stephenson sailed from England the agent of the firm, although he was to preside over the engineering affairs of the Association. All this augured ill for the state of affairs in South America. During his protracted stay in London, whilst he was acquiring scientific information, purchasing stores, and 1824.] HIS VISIT TO LONDON. 73 vainly endeavouring to ascertain what his duties would be in South America, Eobert Stephenson wrote to his friend, Mr. Longridge, in March, and again in April. The March letter was written at a time of great distrac- tion and uncertainty, just after his return from Cornwall. The April letter was penned after a brief excursion in the country. Imperial Hotel, Covent Garden : March 9, 1824. Deae Sie, — Your letter the other day gave me pleasure in hearing you were going on (I suppose, of course, at Forth Street) pretty regularly. I wrote to my father this morning, but positively I durst not mention how long it would be before I should be able to reach once more the North. Indeed, I scarcely dare give it a thought myself. I saw Mr. Newburn yesterday, and he informed me it would at least be fourteen days before I could get my liberty. For heaven's sake don't mention this to my father. Joseph Pease will perhaps give him the information : it will, I know, make him extremely dissatisfied, but you know I cannot by any means avoid it. There are some new prospects here in agitation, which I look forward to with great satisfaction. It is the making of a road in Colombia. What a place London is for prospects ! This new scheme of the road or railway is also connected with four silver mines at Mariquita. The road is projected between La Guayra and the city of Caraccas. You may find La Guayra on the coast, I believe, of the G-ulf of Mexico. The climate, from Humboldt, is not quite so salubrious as that of Mexico. Mr. Powles is the head of the concern, and he assures me there is no one to meddle with us. We are to have all the machinery to make, and we are to construct the road in the most advisable way we may think, after making surveys and levellings. Well might Eobert Stephenson say, 'What a place London is for prospects ! ' He had come up to London to settle about going to South America as engineer of the Colombian Minino; Association, and after all the 74 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cu. V. principal promoters of that association now proposed to send liim out on a distinct expedition to another spot, althongli in the same quarter of the globe. Even- tually, as it has already been stated, he went out as the servant of Messrs. Graham, Herring, and Powles ; and it was his intention, when he had attended to their business, to enter on the work of the Mining Company. After many delays the agent of Messrs. Herring, Graham, and Powles, and Engineer-in-chief of the Colombian Mining Company, received orders to proceed immediately to Falmouth, and there take ship to Carthagena. The principal goods and the first lot of miners had already quitted England, and the interpreter to the expedition was already en route for Falmouth. Obeying his instructions, Eobert Stephenson had actually mounted the Falmouth coach, and had loaded it witli extra luggage, to the amount of a £30 fare, when he received orders to descend, to unload the coach, and to start for Liverpool. Of course he complied. On reaching Liverpool he wrote to his father (June 8, 1824), giving an account of his journey from towm that affords a striking picture of the troubles of ' the good old coaching days.' We have arrived safe in Liverpool, after an extremely fatiguing journey. I never recollect in all my travels being so terrified on a coach. I expected every moment for many miles that we should be upset, and if such an accident had happened we must have literally been crushed to pieces. We had 21 cwt. of luggage to remove from London to Liverpool by coach. This may serve to give you a faint idea of the undertaking. This weight was sent in twice. The coach-top on which we came was actually rent ; all the springs, when we arrived at Liverpool, were destitute of any elasticity, one of them absolutely broken 1824.] ARRIVAL IN LIVERPOOL. 75 and the body of the coach resting on the framework, so that, in fact, we rattled into this town more like a stage-waggon than a light coach. On June 12, George Stephenson arrived in Liverpool to bid his son farewell, and took an affecting leave of him on the 18 th. During his stay at Liverpool with his son, George Stephenson, by the hand of a friend, wrote the fol- lowing characteristic and entertaining letter to Mr. Longridge : — Liverpool : June 15, 1824. Deae Sir, — I arrived here on Saturday afternoon, and found Mr. Sanders, Eobert, and Charles, waiting for me at the coach office. It gave me great pleasure to see Eobert again before he sails. He expects to leave the country on Thursday next. We dined with JMr. Sanders on Saturday, and with Mr. Ellis yesterday. He had three men-servants waiting in the en- trance-hall to show us to the drawing-room. There was a party to meet us, and kindly we were received. The dinner was very sumptuous, and the wine costly. We had claret, hock, cham- pagne, and madeira, and all in great plenty; but no one took more than was proper. It is a good custom not to press people to take so much as does them harm. We dined at seven and left at twelve o'clock. Sanders and Ellis are magnificent fellows, and are very kind; Mrs. Sanders is a fine woman, and Mrs. Ellis very elegant. I believe she is niece to Sir James Graham, M. P. ; I must say that we have been very kindly received by all parties. I am teased with invitations to dine with them, but each indulgence cannot be attended by me. What changes one sees ! — this day in the highest life, and the next in a cottage — one day turtle soup and champagne, and the next bread and milk, or anything that one can catch. Liverpool is a splendid place — some of the streets are equal to London. The merchants are clever chaps, and perseverance is stamped upon every brow. There is a Doctor Trail, a clever mineralogist, and some famous mathematicians that we have dined with. I was much satisfied to find that Robert could acquit himself so well amongst them. 76 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Ch. V, He was much improved in expressing himself since I had seen him before ; the poor fellow is in good sj)irits about going abroad, and I must make the best of it. It was singular good- fortune that brought us together at this time, but the weather is very bad ; it has poured with rain for the last three days. To- day I am going over part of the line, but have not been able to commence yet. Eobert will endeavour to write to you before he sails, and desires his kindest remembrance. Grod bless you, Sir ! Believe me to remain Yours sincerely, G.S. As soon as his father had said farewell, Eobert Ste- phenson, before he went on board, wrote a hasty line, fiill of fihal tenderness, to his mother, explaining that he had directed Messrs. Herring, Graham, and Powles to pay £300 per annum, i. e. three-fifths of his salary, to his father. For several years after their estabhshment 'the works' at Newcastle did not pay their expenses. George Stephenson's partners were far from sanguine as to their ultimate success, and George, confident as he was that they would prove a source of great wealth, was often pinched for ready money to meet his share of the capital required to feed them : Eobert Stephenson knew this well, and did his utmost to meet the difficulty. On the evening of that same June 18, on wliich he took leave of liis father, Eobert Stephenson wrote in his log-book : — June 18, 1824. — Set sail from Liverpool in the 'Sir William Congreve,' at three o'clock in the afternoon: wind from the south-east, sea smooth, day beautiful ; temperature of the air towards evening in the shade, 58°. Made some experiments Avith ' Eegister Thermometer ' to ascertain the temperature of the sea at various depths, but failed on account of the velocity 1824.] DEPAKTUEE FOR AMERICA. 77 of the vessel through the water not allowing: the instrument to sink. The temperatm-e of the surface water appeared to be 54° at seven o'clock in the evening — this ascertained by lifting a bucket of water on board and immediately immersing the thermometer. This was considered as sufficiently accurate, as the temperature could not sensibly change in the time occupied by the experiment. Piu-suing the system commenced on that first lovely evening at sea, Eobert Steplienson jotted down in his log-book the mutations of temperature and light, and other natural phenomena, until on July 23, 1824, he records : — Early in the morning saw the Colombian coast, and at two o'clock cast anchor opposite La Guayra ; observed with silence the miserable appearance of the town. The hills behind the town rise to a height that gives a degree of sublimity to the scenery in the eyes of a stranger. Tlie voyage was at an end. 78 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VI. CHAPTER VI. SOUTH AMERICA. (iETAT. 20-24.) La Guayra — Caraccas — Proposed Breakwater and Pier at La Guayra — Survey for Raili-oad between La Guayi-a and Caraccas — Santa Fe de Bogota — Mariquita — Life on the Magdalena — Explores the Countiy — Road between the Magdalena and the Mines — Santa Ana — Descriptions of Scenery — Arrival of the Cornish Miners — Insubordination of Miners — Friends, Pm-suits, and Studies — Inclina- tion and Duty — Disappointment of the Directors — Their Secretary. LANDING in La Guayra on July 23, 1824, Eobert Stephenson had to direct his attention to three important affairs and report thereon to Messrs. Herring, Graham, and Powles — the propriety of constructmg a breakwater before the harbour of La Guayra, the cost and pohcy of building a pier for the same port, and the possibihty of uniting La Guayra and Caraccas by a hne of railway. His reports on these three propositions were full and decisive. Having ascertained the characteristics of the harbour, the natiu-e and dechvity of the bottom of the shore, and the direction and force of the seas at different seasons, he pronounced that the construction of the breakwater would be a dangerous experiment. A correct idea of the seas (he wrote) sometimes experienced in this port cannot well be conveyed by description. One 1824.] PROPOSED PIER AND BREAKWATER AT GUAYRA. 79 circumstance, however, which may give some idea of their force is worthy of remark. It occurred during a storm last year, when a number of ships were wrecked. A large block of stone, upwards of two tons weight, measuring about eight feet long, four feet broad, and one foot thick, was thrown up by the waves four feet above the usual level of the sea, and such was the violence with which it was projected, that on its coming in contact with the other fragments of rocks on the shore, it was divided into two pieces, one of which now lies considerably out of the reach of ordinary seas. It is very remarkable that during the storm to which I have just now alluded, scarcely a breath of wind prevailed, while the sea raged with such violence as to drive every ship in the harbour from her anchors, and several were wrecked on the coast. The cause of this extra- ordinary phenomenon is yet unknown to us. It is not im- probable that it was some branch of the Grulf Stream, modified by the conformation of the coast, the nature of the soundings, and many other circumstances combined, with which we are totally unacquainted. Though he condemned the project of a breakwater, he advised the construction of a pier ; and in support of this counsel he gave returns of the imports and exports of the harbom% the amount annually raised for wharfage of goods, and the insufficiency of the existing pier for the business of the port. The cost of such a pier as he advised (140 yards long and 24 feet wide at the top) would be £6,000, including the fi^eight of workmen and of the necessary machinery to be sent out from England. The principal material of the structure would be the stone of the adjacent mountains, which could be conveyed by a short railroad to the site of the pier. In sinking the blocks of stone, he advised that care should be taken to ' give the pier a gradual slope on the seaward side, so that the waves might be completely broken, and consequently 80 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VI. tlieii' force almost totally extinguished, before reacliing the body of the pier.' Wlien he came to consider the third and most im- portant of the three propositions — the construction of a railway between La Guayra and Caraccas — the ad- vantages likely to follow fi^om the undertaking, and the natural obstacles to the work, caused him much anxious thought. The ground was very different from any on which he had ever seen rails laid. Mounting a mule, he surveyed the road between the two towns, and found it ' a wonderful example of human industry — not of human skill.' The ascents and descents were so pre- cipitous that he wondered how his brute contrived to keep on its legs. To give you an idea (he wrote to his father) of the trouble I have already had in seeking for a new road, and the trouble I shall yet have, would be an impossibility. You may attempt to conceive it by imagining to yourself a country, the whole surface of which, as far as the eye can reach, is thickly set with hills, several thousand feet high, from six to eight times as large as Brusselton Hill. There is a valley, however, which extends the whole way nearly between La Gruayra and Caraccas, up which I think is the only situation we could get a good road ; but even in this valley there are hills as high as Brusselton. I dare not attempt any tuDnelling, because the first earthquake — and there is no knowing how soon it may come — would close it up, or at all events render it useless. This circumstance, you will agree with me, puts tunnelling out of the question. And to make any very extensive excavations with high sides would prove equally fatal on the occurrence of an earthquake. As he rode up the valley of Caraccas, with moun- tains on either side, he saw that to put down a col- liery tramway in Northumberland, and to lead a line of rails through such a ravine, were widely diflerent tasks. 1825.] EAILROAD BETWEEN LA GUAYRA AND CARACCAS. 81 Having thoroughly exammed the proposed Hue, he came to the conchision that, with everything in his favour, he could lay down the contemplated railway for about £160,000. The great risks, however, that would attend the operations made him see that speculators would not embark their money in the affair unless there was a probability of at least a 10 per cent, dividend. The annual goods traffic between La Guayra and Caraccas did not amount to more than 5,571 tons. Therefore, if the road were made and opened, Eobert Stephenson could not see his way to more than £14,180 profit on each year's transactions — an annual revenue that would only pay 10 per cent, on a capital of £140,000. Against the probability that the estimated £160,000 would be exceeded, he put the fact, that large quantities of goods, of which he could get no returns, were annually con- veyed between the two towns. Again, traffic would be augmented by the stimulus which a railway would give to commerce and agriculture. The question admitted of much debate ; but Eobert Stephenson, with that prudence which preserved him in after life from brilhant indiscre- tions, concluded his report with saying : ' I think it would not be prudent at the present moment to commence the speculation.' Whilst he was thus engaged at La Guayra and Caraccas, the miners with whom he had come out from Liverpool went on to Carthagena, and thence along the Eiver Magdalena. As soon as he could get away from Caraccas, he mounted his mule, and, accompanied by a black servant and by Mr. Walker, the interpreter to the expedition, proceeded across the country to Santa Fe de Bogota. VOL. I. G 82 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VI. The journey was one of fatigue and peril. Cut-tliroats and ruffians were numerous in the country; but behig well armed, Eobert Stephenson went his way unconcerned. He was very anxious to reach Mariquita, near which place the principal mines of the Colombian Association were situated ; but the nature of his duties forced him to travel slowly. Messrs. Herring, Graham, and Powles had instructed him to examine the mineralogical charac- teristics of the country in every direction ; and in spite of the care he took to conceal the object of liis journey, it soon leaked out that he was the engineer of a new mining company, and daily he was accosted by strangers, ready to mislead him with false information. More than once he was induced, by misrepresentations, to ride a hundred miles after a mare's nest. On one occasion he spent several days in following a guide, who promised to bring him to a fissm^e in a rock abounding mth quick- silver. On reaching the spot the quicksilver was there ; and he could not account for its presence, till a former governor of the district told him tliat a bullock-wagon loaded -with quicksilver had, some years before, been upset in that spot. On reaching Bogota, however, he wrote to his father on January 19, 1825, expressing great confidence in the mineral wealth of the country. Having reached Mariquita, he forthwith proceeded to examine the mines of the surrounding country. On every side he found workings ; some of which had evidently been deserted because they offered no prospect of gain, whilst the appearance of the others induced a belief that scarcity of labour and capital, during the revolutionary struggles of the country, had been the sole reason for leaving them. 1825.] MARIQUITA. 83 Mariqnita was a spectacle at once imposing and mourn- ful. Two-thirds of its habitations were in ruins. Heaps of rubbish covered sites formerly occupied by palaces. Of the public buildings, none were in a state of repair, except five churches. The convents were untenanted, and m dilapidation. Such was the havoc wrought by earthquakes, stagnation of trade, and disturbed pohtics, that of the population of 20,000 who had once inhabited the city, only 450 persons remained to see the entrance of Eobert Stephenson, and wonder what had brought liim to their ill-starred city. Honda being the extreme point of the Magdalena navigable by craft coming from Carthagena, he hastened to inspect the route between the river port and the city in the interior, to which his men with their ponderous implements and machinery were advancing. The distance between Honda and Mariquita is about twelve miles, and the features of the country can be briefly stated. On leaving Honda the road is for a short distance precipitous, after which it rises gently for about two miles to an extensive breadth of table-land, beautifully covered with dehcate grasses, and studded with groups of trees, some of which are in blossom at all seasons of the year. At points this magnificent plain is bounded by small isolated ridges of alluvial rocks. Some of these rocks are almost perpendicular from their bases up to their irregularly serrated peaks. Onwards the scenery is of increasing loveliness, and before Mariquita is reached, the route passes through groves of palm and coco, orange, cinnamon, and almond trees, pines and mangoes. On the whole, the roads from the Magdalena to the mines in the immediate vicinity of Mariquita (the mines of Santa G 2 84 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Ch. VI. Ana, La Manta, San Juan, and El Christo de Laxas) were good — that is to say, good for Spanish America. A moderate amount of labour would have rendered them passable for wheeled carriages, except at certain points where it was clear that wheels could never run. In these precipitous portions of the route, which mules took two hours to cross, Eobert Stephenson saw at a glance dif- ficulties of which he had not been forewarned, and for wliich he consequently was unprovided. The heavier portion of the machinery could not be moved across country except on wheeled carriages. In due course the first party of miners arrived, but they had to leave the greater part of their machinery on the banks of the Magdalena, and proceed to the mines with only the lighter implements, which could be packed upon the backs of mules. Of course an urgent request was despatched to London that other machinery might be sent out, so constructed, that each large machine could be taken to pieces, smaU enough for transport on mules. But before this message reached the directors, they had shipped off from Newcastle a large quantity of iron goods, which, on being thrown upon shore by the peons at Honda, remained, and to this day probably remain, useless and cased with rust. Eobert Stephenson, however, did not lose heart. Taking his men, and the few implements which they could carry with them, he hastened to the mines, reopened them, explored their workings, and commenced working for ore. The best mines, of which the Association had obtained leases from the Colombian Government, were those of St. Ana and La Manta, adjacent to the village of St. Ana. The distance between Mariquita and St. Ana is about 1825.] SCENERY OF SANTA ANA. • 85 twelve miles ; but those twelve miles comprised the worst portions of the way from the river. After leaving Mari- quita, the miners had to traverse a plain for six miles, when they entered on a broken tract watered by two rivers, which it was necessary to ford. The next six miles lay up the sides of mountains. Often the way ran over bare rocks, through narrow passages worn by the floods of the wet season, and down dechvities so nearly perpendicular that no beast of burden, except a mule, could descend them. Standing on an eastern slope of the Andes, the village of Santa Ana (containing when the miners first reached it about nine cottages) afforded a grateful contrast to the desolate grandeiu- of the city m the plain. Instead of the intense heat of the valley beneath, its temperature was about 75° in the shade, and during the night 6° or 8° lower. A breeze played through the trees ; and the soil, rich as the mould of an artificial garden, yielded fruit and vegetables in abundance. On all sides (Eobert Stephenson wrote to his stepmother) is an immense forest of fine trees, which are always green, no winter being known in these climates. The leaves are always gradually falling, but they are immediately succeeded by fresh green leaves. The ground descends suddenly from the front of our house for above a mile, in which small distance the fall is no less than 800 feet. From the bottom of this descent, the ground rises rapidly to the height of 1,000 feet, forming a mountain ridge which is covered to the very summit with strong trees that are al^fays green. Beyond this small ridge of hills rise others still higher and higher, until their tops are covered with everlasting snows, and where not a spot of vegetation is to be seen, all being white with snow and ice. A grander panorama than that enormous ravine, walled by forests, and crowned with peaks of gleaming whiteness. 86 LIFE OF EGBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VI. cannot be conceived. Clothing the curves of the interior hills were tree-ferns and magnolias, groves of bamboo, acacias, palms, and cedars. Another picturesque feature added charm to the landscape. Fed by the gradual dis- solution of distant snow, a river ran from the cool heights into the hot air of the valley. By tranquil pools peUcans watched for their prey, and overhead, in the branches, parrots and mocking-birds, monkeys and macaws, gave coloiu- and animation to the picture. Flashing with metalHc lustre humming-birds darted from flower to flower, disturbing the clouds of butterflies which floated through the luxurious atmosphere. Amidst such scenery Eobert Stephenson spent more than two years, endeavouring vdth inadequate means to cope with gigantic difficulties, and suffering imder those petty troubles which are more vexatious than greater miseries. In the immediate vicinity of Santa Ana, the mountain- river, falling over ledges of granite, had worn deep basins in the rock. One of these tarns Eobert Stephenson se- lected for a swimming bath. The granite sides of the pit being almost perpendicular, bathers could not walk gradually into the deep water. In the centre, however, was fixed a flat block of stone, the top of which was about thirty-six inches below the surface of the water, the distance between the bank and the stone being at one point not more than three feet. Bathers who could not swim used to jump from the side to this natural table. Unfortunately a sudden fall of rain caused a torrent of water to .raise this ponderous mass of stone, and bear it downwards to the plain. A few days later, a gentleman attached to the mining expedition, Avho was 1825.] THE COENISH MINERS. 87 unable to swim, went to the tarn. Having leaped from the point, where he expected to ahght on the block, the bather in another instant was struggUng in the pool. Fortunately Eobert Stephenson, who was an expert swimmer, came up just in time to plunge into the basin, and catching the sinking man by the back of his neck, conveyed him safe to shore. It was not tni the end of October, 1825, that miners had been collected in sufficient numbers to commence great operations. In that month a strong staff of Cor- nish miners made their appearance, and with them for a time Eobert Stephenson's troubles greatly increased. Proper care had not been taken to select sober and steady men. It was right that Enghsh workmen engaged to encounter the perils of a South American chmate should be weU paid, but the terms on which these miners had been .hii^ed were far too high. Insolent from prosperity, and demorahsed by the long-continued idleness of the voyage, they no sooner entered Honda than they roused the indignation of the inhabitants by excesses which outraged even South American morals. Before Eobert Stephenson made the acquaintance of the men, he received a formal and angry remonstrance from the Governor of Honda with regard to their con- duct. The only thing to be done was to get them to work with aU speed. I have no idea, (wrote Eobert Stephenson from Mariquita to Mr. Ilhngworth, the commercial manager at Bogota,) of letting them Hnger out another week without some work being done. Indeed, some of them are anxious to get on with something. Many of them, however, are ungovernable. I dread the management of them. They have ah-eady commenced to drink in the most outrageous manner. Their behaviour in Honda LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cu. VI. has, I am afraid, incurred for ever the displeasure of the Governor, at all events so far as induces me to despair of being able to calculate upon his friendly cooperation in any of our future proceedings. I hope when they are once quietly settled at Santa Ana and the works regularly advancing, that some improvement may take place. To accomplish this, I propose residing at Santa Ana with them for awhile. There was reason for uneasiness. Eobert Stephenson spoke firixdy to the men, but he saw that his language, though moderate and judicious, merely roused their re- sentment. Scarcely a day passed without some petty ex- hibition of disrespect and hostihty ; and though in 6anta Ana they had fewer opportunities for gross licentiousness, they could not be weaned at once from habitual drunken- ness and indolence. The supervisors or ' captains,' as they were called, accorduig to the custom of the Cornish miners, were the most mutinous. Mere workmen, and altogether ignorant of the science of their vocation, they were incredulous that any man could understand mining operations who had not risen from the lowest employ- ments connected with them. In the Northumbrian coal field, a distich popular a generation since runs — Trapper, trammer, hewer, Under, overman, and then viewer. Tlie Cornish ' captains ' in like manner were strongly in favour of promotion from the ranks, and were reluctant to obey the orders of a mere lad, and, what was worse still, a north-country lad. Their insolence was fostered by the ludicrous respect paid to ' the captains ' by the natives, both Spaniards and Indians, who, misled by the title, re- garded them as superior to the young engineer-in-chief. The 'captains' themselves immediately saw their advantage 1825.] DISCONTENT OF THE MINERS. 89 — and in tlieir drunkenness told botli the workmen and the native population that Eobert Stephenson was merely a clerk, sent out to pay them their wages and see that the expedition did not fail from want of frmds. Quitting Mariqnita, where the riimbhng of earthquakes had not allowed him many nights of unbroken rest, Eobert Stephenson took up his residence on the mountains, the curate of Santa Ana putting a cottage at his disposal. A few weeks passed on, and there were alarming sym- ptoms of a general mutiny of the workmen against his authority. A new arrangement of the men at the dif- ferent mines was the occasion of open revolt. One night early in December, the most dangerous and reckless of the Cornish, party assembled m an apartment of the curate's cottage. Wearied with a long day's work, Eobert Stephenson had retired to rest in the next room, and was roused from liis first slumber by the uproar of the rascals, who, mad with hquor, yelled out their determination not to obey a beardless boy. For more than an hour he lay on his bed hstening to the riot — fearfid that the disturbance might lead to bloodshed, and prudently anxious to avoid personal coUision with the drunken rabble. Of course he knew that their insolent speeches were intended for his ears, yet he remained quiet. He was alone — his opponents were many. If the difficulty became an affair of blows, the weight of evidence would be all against him ; and even if he were killed, he would be beheved to have provoked the conflict by his own rashness. But when the insurgents proposed that the ' clerk ' should forthwith be taught his proper place, he rightly judged that it would not do for him to remam longer in his private room 90 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Ch. VI. when his presence might still the storm, and could not aggravate it. Rising, therefore, from his bed, he walked into the midst of the rioters — imarmed, and with no more clothing on him than his trousers and shirt. At his first appearance there was a low murmur, fol- lowed by a deep silence. Taking up his place in the middle of the room, he drew himself up and calmly sur- veyed them. Silence having had its effect, he said quietly, ' It won't do for us to fight to-night. It wouldn't be fair ; for you are drunk, and I am sober. We had better wait till to-morrow. So the best thing you can do is to break up this meeting, and go away quietly.' Cowed by his coohiess, the men made no reply. For a minute they were silent, and turned their eyes on the ground ; and then, rising from their seats, they stumbled out of the room into the open air, to surround the cottage and pass two or three hours in shouting, ' One and all ! — one and aU! ' thereby declaring that they were one and aU determined on revolt. Thus far master of the position, Eobert Stephenson ht a cigar, and, sitting down in the room, allowed the tipsy scoundrels to see him through the open door calmly smoking. The riot being renewed on a subsequent night, he left his cottage, and, accompanied by two friends, found refuge in the house of a native. It appears remarkable (wrote Eobert Stephenson to JMr. Illingworth, December 8, 1825) that having been all my life accustomed to deal with miners, and having had a body of them under my control, and I may say in my employ, that I should now find it difficult to contribute to their comfort and welfare. They plainly tell me that I am obnoxious to them, because I was not born in Cornwall; and although they are perfectly aware that I have visited some of the principal mines in that 1825.] EEECTION OF COTTAGE. 91 county, and examined the various processes on the spot, yet they tell me that it is impossible for a north-countryman to know anything about mining. Fortunately, Eobert Stephenson had a cordial ally in Mr. Ulingworth at Bogota, who lost no time in sending word that Eobert Stephenson was the head of the expedi- tion, and that the men from high to low were to obey him, and him alone. And in due course these representa- tions were rendered yet more emphatic by letters from the Board of Directors in London. When a better feehng had been estabhshed between the miners and himself, Eobert Stephenson encouraged them to spend their evenings in athletic sports. In cast- ing quoits, hftiug anvils, reaching beams suspended by cords, and throwing the hammer, he had few equals ; and by displaying his prowess in these and similar sports, he gradually gained the respect and affection of his men ; but he was unable to work a complete reformation in their habits. To the last he could never get from any man more than half a day's work each day, and he always had nearly a third of his hundred and sixty subordinates disabled by drink. Having moved from Mariquita to Santa Ana, he had a cottage built for his own habitation. It contained two rooms, the outer and inner walls being composed of flattened bamboo, and the ceilings of smooth reeds, palm-leaves being used for the roof. The entire frame- work was tied together with cords of the tough and pliant bijuco. In this cottage, commanding a view of the ravine, he was so fortunate as to have congenial society. Visitors came from Bogota and Mariquita, and for weeks together he had with him M. Boussingault and 92 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Ch. VI. Dr. Eoullin. The former was an accomplished chemist •and geologist ; and the latter had been invifed by the Government to become Professor of Mathematics in an University which it was proposed to estabhsh in the new repubhc. Under their guidance Eobert Stephenson studied with system and accuracy the higher branches of mathe- matics, and various departments of natural science. Occa- sionally he made excursions to Bogota and Mariquita, to attend the horse-races or the balls ; but such trips were only occasional relaxations, after weeks of work and study at Santa Ana. At this time, also, he took especial pains to rub off the remains of that provincial roughness which had marked him in boyhood. With characteristic simpHcity he begged the few English gentlemen of his acquaintance to correct him whenever he used the diction, idioms, or intonations of north-country dialect. Kno^ving the disposition with which they had to deal, his friends took him at his word ; and though at first their criticisms were frequent and far from pleasant, they never produced in him even momentary irritation. In one of his letters to his mother at this period he speaks of himself as dividmg his time ' between eating and study.' In study he was perhaps intemperate, but in his diet he was habitually sparing and moderate. Occasionally he took wine and spirits, but his usual drink was water. He smoked regularly, but not immoderately. To have a complete picture of Eobert Stephenson's South American hfe, the reader must remember his strong love of animals, and imagine the bamboo cottage of the Andes peopled with four or five monkeys, as many parrots, and a magnificent mule named 'Hurry,' who, as soon as his master's dinner-hour arrived, used 1825.] HIS ENGLISH COREESPONDENTS. 93 to enter the sitting-room, and patiently wait beside the table until he was presented with a loaf of bread. Wliilst he was thus Kving in his mountain-home he received on the whole but few letters from England. During the first twelve months, indeed, of his absence from his native land, he heard frequently from his father, as also from Mr. Edward Pease, Mr. Joseph Pease, Mr. Eichardson, Mr. Longridge, Mr. John Dixon, Mr. Edward Storey, worthy Anthony Wigham of Killingworth, and Mr. Nicholas Wood ; but as time went on, these correspondents became remiss, and Eobert Stephenson learnt what grief it is to pine in a foreign land for one's own country, and at the same time to feel neglected by those at home. During the last twelve months of his stay in Colombia he did not hear once from home, either through the mis- carriage of letters or the neglect of his father and step- mother to write. In a letter to Mrs. George Stephenson in the Jime of 1826, he observes, with a burst of that strong affection which inspired him to the last : — My dear father's letter, which I received a few days ago, was an affectionate one, and when he spoke of his head getting grey and finding himself descending the hill of life, I could not re- frain from giving way to feehngs which overpowered me, and prevented me from reading on. Some, had they seen me, would perhaps call me childish : but I would tell them such feelings and reflections as crossed me at that moment are unknown to them. They are unacquainted with the love and affection due to attentive parents, which in me seems to have become more acute, as the distance and period of my absence have in- creased. The longer he remained in South America the more pamful was his position. A very brief acquaintance with the country satisfied him he was at the head of an enterprise projected by visionary speculators, who had 94 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. \1. no real knowledge of its difficulties. The letters which he received from England during the first year of his absence, showed that the unsoundness of the scheme was kno^vn to the best judges of such matters in London. It is not agreeable to be tied to a losing concern. He felt that no credit could come to him from his connec- tion with the Colombian Mning Association, and he would gladly have ended it. This feeling was strength- ened by his English correspondents. His partners in the concern at Newcastle begged him to return to look after the affairs of the factory, wliich were suffering by his absence. They represented to him that he had no legal agreement with the Company, and that Messrs. Herring, Graham, and Powles would not disapprove his immediate return. But Eobert Stephenson felt that he was bound to stay at the mines. It was true the Company had not a hold upon him in law, but it had in honour; and he resolved to remain, at any cost, till the stipulated three years had expired, or until he had obtained formal per- mission from the directors to leave his post. The following letter, written to Mi\ Lougridge at the close of 1825, when he had hopes of honourable libera- tion from his distasteful engagement before the expiration of the three years, shows his state of mind : — Mariquita : December 15, 1825. My Dear Sir, — About a fortnight ago I received your kind letter, dated July 21, 1825. I was glad to learn your family was in good health, to whom I beg to be remembered in the kindest manner, as well as to my other friends in your part of the world. Your account of affairs in England was to me exceedingly interesting, particularly that part respecting the progress of the railway undertakings. The failure of the 1825.] LETTER TO IMR. LONGRIDGE. 95 Liverpool and Manchester Act, I fear, will retard mucli this kind of speculation ; but it is clear that they will eventually succeed, and I still anticipate with confidence the arrival of a time when we shall see some of the celebrated canals filled up. It is to be regretted that my father placed the conducting of the levelling under the care of young men without experience. Simple as the process of levelling may appear, it is one of those things that requires care and dexterity in its performance. Your advice regarding my leaving this country, should my agreement be transferred to the Colombian Association, I refrained from following, principally from what Mr. Eichardson said in his letter, contained in the same sheet with yours, in which he requested me not to leave the country without the consent of my employers. This I was inclined to think was the most advisable, especially as I have already been so long from England, and that the stay of a few months longer might secure me their interest on my return, and I still entertain hopes of being able to leave this country previous to the expiration of three years, as the agents in Bogota have recently represented to the Board of Directors the assistance that I might be to them in England in arranging such machinery as may be required in this country. What they have sent out is a pretty good specimen of the ideas they have of the difficulties to be encountered in the conveyance of heavy materials. If Mexico presents as many obstacles, and of equal magnitude, as Colombia, I can say at once that a great number of the steam-engines that were being made when I left may as well be made use of at home. Since I wrote to you last about the Isthmus of Darien, things have taken a turn. Messrs. Herring & Co. appear to have relinquished, in a great measure, the idea of embarking largely in making roads, and in consequence have raised a private association, consisting of a few of the most respectable houses in London, who have made such propositions to the Colombian Government as seem to leave little doubt but they will succeed in obtaining the privilege. Their wish is not so much to retain the road, after it is made, altogether to them- selves, as to lend the Grovernment money and supply them with English engineers under a certain interest, and afterwards to share with the Grovernment a proportion of the profits arising from the road. These propositions display liberahty, and are 96 LIFE OF PvOEERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VI. of such a nature as, in my opinion, will induce the acceptance of them. This arrangement put an end to those that had heen entered into by the agents in Bogota, and consequently renders it uncertain whether I shall have to go or not. For the same reason, I suppose, the models that I wrote you about are lost sight of. At all events, I shall visit the isthmus in order to get local information which may be of use to me in England, as I feel quite satisfied that the scheme will go on. We have heard many objections urged against the project, such as the difficulty of procuring European workmen in sufficient numbers, and more especially the nature of the climate, which is said to be ex- tremely bad, from the excessive and continual humidity which reigns more or less throughout the whole year, and gives rise to fever and ague. Much doubt, however, exists on this score. In obtaining the privilege for sending steam machinery to the country for the use of the road, I fear some obstacles have arisen since I wrote you. Congress, I believe, has thrown out some hints that more attention would hereafter be paid to granting monopolies of that description. I have had a good deal of conversation with the house in Bogota. They seem to think it better to mention it to Mr. Powles. I see no advantage in that ; but I shall make such arrangements with R. S. 11 ling- worth, the representative of the house, that, if nothing should be done before I leave, a correspondence may exist between us. I have had so much to do lately that I have not been able to pay any attention to this matter. I have my health just now very well, though I cannot say am so strong as when I left England. The tropical climates are far from being so unhealthy as is generally supposed by those in northern latitudes. The rainy season is the only objectionable part. It occurs twice in one year. The first season of rain at Mariquita commences about the middle of March and continues till the middle of May. The second commences near the 11 th and 12th of October, and is just now terminating. The remain- ing parts of the year are dry and hot, though not unhealthy. Thermometer hot : in the morning 79° or 80°, at mid-day 82° to 84°. During the rainy season it is 2° or 3° lower. I have once seen the thermometer as low as 73°, when I found it uncomfortably chilly. And at this moment it stands at 82°, and not the least sign of perspiration about me, though I have been 1825.] LETTER TO MR. LONGRIDGE. 97 walking. It is extraordinary how soon the human body becomes inured to high temperatures, without suffering much inconve- nience. We have now got a steam-boat in action on the river Magdalena, being the second experiment ; but the boat they have built last has the same fault as the first one — that is, drawing too much water. Much money has been spent in this speculation, chiefly from bad management. The engines are from the United States, where I have heard they have the finest steam-boats in the world; and as the communication from Carthagena to that country is frequent, I have some intention of seeing their steam machinery. It is the best way home, a regu- lar packet being established between New York and Liverpool. I hope soon to be able to give you some more certain details respecting my route home, as I fully expect from what has been said to the Board that I shall be liberated. I wrote to my father and mother about three weeks ago. I hope they have received my letter safe; but much uncertainty is connected with the forwarding of letters here. The post-office regulations are bad. The last letter that Mr. Pease wrote me came to hand open, from having been stuck to others by the melting of the sealing-wax, which almost invariably melts in these climates. Wafers are much preferable. My kind love to my father and mother, and believe me, My dear Sir, Yours most sincerely, Egbert Stephenson. P.S. — May I beg the favour of your attending to the payment of my yearly subscription to the Lit. and Phil. Society ? * I rather suspect it has been neglected. Miclaael Longridge, Esq. Bedlington Iron Works, near Moi-petb, Nortliiunberland. So lie remained, doing liis best, and fighting witli great difficulties. The amount of work he performed in * The Literary and Philosoplaical at Killingworth, and of -wbich Robert Society of Newcastle, from wbicb Stepbenson ultimately became cbief both tbe Stepbensons derived so benefactor, much benefit during their residence VOL. I. II 98 LIFE OF ROBERT STEniENSON. [Cn. VI. the service of his employers was very great. He ex- plored the country far and near ; made assays of speci- mens of ore ; wrote reams of letters and reports, many of which, besides being unexceptionable as business statements, have considerable Hterary merits ; drew out a sketch for an efficient administration of mines ; and in every way strove to earn and save money for the Asso- ciation. All these exertions met with no proper response in London. Instead of supplying him with the machinery for which he had written, the Dkectors sent out fresh cargoes of costly and ponderous apparatus, which could no more be conveyed over bridgeless rivers, and up mountain passes, than they could be wafted from the earth's siurface to another planet ; and to add to his chagrin, the projectors wrote to him, complainuig that he had not already sent home a freight of silver. Some ignorant and self-sufficient persons reported to him the careless speeches and votes of the directors in the most offensive form. In answer to a statement in one of Eobert Stephenson's reports, that the operations at Santa Ana might be accelerated if they had either steam, or water power wherewith to work certain ma- chinery, one of the worthy officials reprimanded the engineer for not avaihng himself of such a noble river as the Magdalena. Of course he could only laugh at a proposition to turn the Magdalena up to the Andes. But when the Secretary undertook to criticise the investigations of M. Boussingault, the geologist and chemist employed by the Company, and presumed to sneer at the ' theoretical services' of the man of science, Eobert Stephenson became indignant. ' These men,' he wrote, 1825.] MISREPRESENTATIOXS IN ENGLAND. 99 ' prate about the superiority of practical men over scien- tific men, being themselves neither the one nor the other.' In his comments on M. Boussingault's proceedings, however, the London Secretary caused as much amuse- ment as anger. In his report, the French savant had mentioned the advisabihty of using 'chiens' in the mines. On this information, the Secretary condemned in the strongest terms the cruelty of employing dogs as beasts of burden. In his next homeward despatch Eobert Stephenson took an opportunity to inform the zealous protector of the canine race that the word chien in French, and Hund in German, was a mining term, signifying a kind of carriage with four wheels, wliich was not known in England by the name of dog, but by tram\ and that in the north of England a somewhat similar sort of carriage was known as a roUey. 100 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Ch. VH. CHAPTEE VII. FKOM SOUTH AMERICA TO NEWCASTLE. (i:TAT. 23-24.) Leaves Santa Ana — Goes up to Carthaprena — Encounters Trevithick — Trevitliick's Peculiarities — Sails for New York — Be- calmed amongst the Islands — Tenible Gales in the open Sea — Two Wrecks — Cannibalism — Shipwrecked off New York — Strange Conduct of a Mate — Is made a Master Mason — Pedestrian Excursion to Montreal — Remarkable Conversation on the Banlcs of the St. Lawi-ence — Returns to New Y^ork — Arrives at Liverpool — Meeting with his Father — Goes up to London and sees the Directors of the Colombian Mining Association — Trip to Brussels — Retm-n to Newcastle — Liverpool. EGBERT STEPHENSON was aware that liis prolonged sojourn in America was highly prejudicial to his interests. Mr. Longridge, who during his absence had undertaken the active management of the affairs of ' Eobert Stephenson and Co. of Newcastle,' wrote urgent entreaties for his return home. His heart told him how much his father needed him. He knew, too, that all liis most influential friends — Mr. Eicliardson, Mr. Pease, and other capitalists to whom he looked for countenance — were of opinion that he might with propriety consult his own advantage, in deciding whether he should quit, or keep at his post. His word, however, was given ; and he kept it. At length the time came when he could honourably start homewards : and as he looked back on the previous 1827.] PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING AMERICA. 101 three years lie was not altogether dissatisfied with their results. From December 30, 1824, to December 31, 1827, the entire expenditure of the Colombian Mining Association had been httle short of £200,000. A large portion of this sum had been wasted by maladministra- tion in London, but the great operations carried on with the remainder had been directed by him — a mere boy between twenty-one and twenty-four years of age. And in everything for which he individually coidd be held accountable the expedition had been successful. Had he worked the mines, as the Spaniards worked them, with the cheap labour of slaves, they would have yielded him as much profit as preceding engineers had extracted from them. As it was, on bidding official farewell to the di- rectors, he was in a position to tell them that their pro- perty, under economical management and with the agency of proper machinery, could be made to pay them a handsome, though not an enormous, dividend. In the July of 1827, Eobert Stephenson wrote his last South American letter to Mr. Longridge. July 16, 1827. Mt Dear Sir, — The period of my departure from this place has at last really and truly arrived, though not longer than a month or two ago I was despairing of being able to get away without incurring the displeasure of the Board of Directors, as they wrote to the principal agent at Bogota, expressing an earnest wish that I would remain in St. Ana, notwithstanding my agreement having terminated, until the arrival of a new superintendent, whom they say they found great difficulty in procuring. Just about the same time I received a letter from Mr. Eichardson, in which he states that the factory was far from being in a good condition, and that unless I returned promptly to England it would not improbably be abandoned. He further stated that the Board had not met with a person to 102 IJFE OF ROr.EKT STEPHENSON. [Cn.YII. succeed me; but uotw-ithstanding this, he supposed I woukl leave at the expiration of my agreement. Tliis induced n\e immediately to advise the agents in Bogota of my intention to leave with all convenient despatch, and of my hope that they would make such arrangements as might seem most expedient to them, respecting the filling up my situation. In answer to my letter, they determined upon coming down from Bogota to St. Ana, and attending the establishment themselves up to the tu'rival of another person from England. In pursuance of this resolution, Mr. Illingworth is now in this place, and it is my intention to leave on the 24th or 2oth of the present month. By the oOth I shall have procured a boat at Honda for my passage to the coast. At present it is my intention to proceed direct to Carthagena, and I still have an itching to visit the Isthmus of Panama, so that I may know something about the possibility, or impossibility of forming a communication between the two seas ; though the very short time that I can stay there will evidently prevent me getting more than a very general idea of such a scheme. From the information I have gathered from one or two gentlemen who have visited that coast, it would appear most judicious to proceed from Carthagena to Chagres by sea, and from the latter place to pass by the main road to Panama, on the Pacific — these being the situations between which a communication is most likely to be effected. It is extraordinar}' that the recent proposals which were made by British capitalists for undertaking this scheme to the Colombian Government did not excite more interest. When they were brought before Congress, they scarcely elicited a consideration ; at leixst nothing was said, or done which the importance of the subject demanded. Some individuals of power connected with the Government were weak enough to imagine that a free com- munication between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans would be productive of serious inconvenience to Colombia. Upon what grounds such an opinion was founded I am not well informed ; but there can be no doubt but that interested views of this kind ^y^\\ in time ftxll to the ground, especially when civilisation has made more advances, and a more intimate intercourse between the inhabitants of the e:vst and west parts of this continent shall be rendered almost, if not absolutely, necessary. From what I have seen of this republic, I feel thoroughly convinced that 1827.] PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING AMERICA. 103 inland communication will ever remain imperfect — nay, probably little better than it now is. Produce in the interior cannot pos- sibly be conveyed to the coa«t, and thence exported to foreign markets, with profitable results ; cultivation will consequently always be confined to the provinces bordered by the sea; I mean, of course, for such articles as are to be exported. What- ever is yielded by the interior will be consumed at home. If, therefore, a connection between the east and west popu- lations of this continent is cut ofif by the natural difficulties presented by the surface, it seems reasonable to conclude that an opening by the isthmus to admit of conveyance by water will become indispensable. This is only contemplating the advantage which such an undertaking would be to Colombia and the other South American powers. But how the magnificence of such a work augments in our ideas when we consider the advantages which would arise from it — how it would influence commerce in every quarter of the earth I The grounds of the proposal made by a number of the most respectable merchants' houses in London, for undertaking the examination and execu- tion of a road, or canal across the isthmus, were objected to, principally from the way in which the capital was to be raised and the parties guaranteed against loss. The cash was to be raised by a joint stock company, which was to be repaid to the parties by the Colombian Government, in bonds bearing a specific interest from the completion of the work. This was, in fact, inviting the Government to make another loan for this specific pui-pose, and, in short, increasing their national debt without appropriate revenues to meet its demands. One would have thought with a young country that this proposal would have met with immediate sanction ; but on the contrary, the Government, seeing the low state of their finances, and the great difficulties they would have in getting the revenue of the republic to cover the expenditure, trembled at the idea of augmenting their inconveniences, which they even at that time knew must sooner or later plunge the whole country into its present difficulties. I cannot well explain the unsettled state of the whole of this country, and the fiuctuatirons of opinion which daily take place among the people. One day we hear of nothing but civil war, another brings forward some displeasing decree from Bolivar, whose character as a disinterested man has lost 104 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VII. ground very much amongst his o^^^l people. The laws in many parts are held in contempt, and a disposition for changing the present constitution is pretty general throughout every depart- ment. A division of the republic into states appears inevitable, but the precise basis upon which such a change is to be accom- plished is yet undetermined, and probably will remain so for a twelvemonth. If the country had not already suffered severely from internal war, or if the effects were not so fresh in the memory of the present generation, I should say that contention in the shape of war would again break out ; but the apathetic disposition of the people, together with the worn-out resources of the nation, will, I think, effectually counteract any such movement. I w^as much pleased to learn from your letter of half-a-dozen dates, the arrangements you had made respecting your little daughter, and I hope she enjoys good health, with the whole of your family. I shall be most happy to relate some travellers' stories to her when I return, but I must be careful in my selection, as, if all were told, it might give her ideas a turn too much towards romance. In the close of your last letter, dated Feb. 2, 1827, you men- tion that the calisthenic exercises have just come into fashion. This puzzled me not a little. T could not find for the life of me any signification for the new-coined word, and therefore I am as ignorant of the kind of exercise which has become fashionable amongst the ladies as I was before I left England, and I suppose I must remain so until I return. I was delighted to hear you were studying Spanish, but I am afraid (on my part only) our conversation in that beautiful language must be very limited — ' pero quaudo nos vemos lo probaremos.' Quedo su afectuoso amigo, Egbert Stephenson. Michael Longridge, Esq. Bedlington Iron Works, Morpeth, Northumberland. The Association having notified to him tlie appointment of his successor, Eobert Stephenson, after being enter- tained at a pnl)Uc dimier, by his coadjutors of all ranks, 1827.] DEPARTURE FROM SANTA ANA. 105 quitted Santa Ana, and with his friend Charles Empson, who had been his constant associate in his American labours, proceeded to Carthagena to take ship. He had much wished to visit the isthmus before his return to Ensr- o land, but the delay which such a trip would occasion caused him to dismiss all thought of making it. At Carthagena he was joined by Mr. Gerard, an employe of the Association, who was bound for Scotland, having under his charge two httle boys, named Monteleagre. Another addition was made to the party in the person of Trevithick, whom Eobert Stephenson accidentally met in an hotel. Without funds and without credit, Trevithick, after undergoing inde- scribable hardships in exploring the isthmus, had made his way foot-sore and almost starved to Carthagena. A strange reverse had come over his fortunes since the time when the Peruvians received him with the honours of a conqueror, and, in anticipation of the fabulous wealth which it was expected would flow to them from his genius, had shod his horses' hoofs with silver. An instructive study was that rude, gaunt, half-starved ' Cornish giant ' — eager for fresh knowledge, liberal, daring, self-reliant, and original in all questions pertaining to his own profes- sion, but on all other subjects untaught and unobservant. There is no doubt that the original and daring views of Trevithick with respect to the capabilities of the locomo- tive made a deep impression on Eobert Stephenson. As there was no suitable vessel about to start without delay from Carthagena for a British port, Eobert Stephen- son decided to take passage on a ship bound for New York, and thence to proceed to London, or Liverpool. The entire party, including Trevithick, quitted the un- Avholesome little town of Carthngena, where yellow fever 106 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VII. Avas raging, and set out for New York. The voyage was eventful. At first the weather was serene, and for several days the ship was becalmed amongst the islands. From the stillness of the atmosphere the sailors predicted that on clearing off from there they would learn that a fearful storm had raged in the open ocean. A few de- grees farther north, they came upon the survivors of a Avreck, who had been for days drifting about in a dis- mantled hull, without provisions and almost without hope. Two more days' sailing brought tliem in with a second dismantled hull full of miserable creatures, the relics of another wreck, whom hunger had reduced to cannibalism.* The voyage was almost at an end, and they had made • As it has been a matter of question whether civilised men in re- cent times have ever been driven by liuuger to cannibalism, the curious and the incredulous will like to have before them Robert Stephen- son's account of an occurrence which seafaring men, who dare to teU the truth, will admit to be by no means a solitary instance of such horror. ' We had,' Robert wi'ote from New- castle on March 1, 1828, to his friend Mr. Illingworth, at Santa Fe de Bogota, ' very little foul weather, and were several days becalmed amongst the islands; which so far was extremely fortunate, for a few degi-ees farther north the most tremendous gales were blowing ; and they appear (from our subsequent information) to have wrecked eveiy vessel exposed to their violence, of which we had two appalling ex- amples as we sailed north. We took on board the wrecks of two crews who were floating about in dis- mantled hulls. The one had been nine days without food of any kind, except the carcasses of two of their companions who had died a day or two previous from fatigue and hun- ger. The other crew had been driven about for six days, and were not so dejected, but were reduced into such a weak state that they were obliged to be drawn on board our vessel by ropes. A brig bound to Havannah took part of the unfortunate crews, and we took the remainder, having met us near where they were taken up. To attempt any description of my feelings on witnessing such a scene would be useless. You will not be surprised to know that I felt somewhat uneasy when I recollected that I was so far from England, and that we might also be wrecked.' Farther particulars of this tragedy, it may be added, have been obtained from Robert Stephenson's fellow- passengers. 1827.] A STORM AT SEA. 107 land, when about midnight the vessel struck and instantly began to fill. The wind blew a hurricane, and the deck was crowded with desperate people, to whom death within gunshot of land appeared more dreadful than perishing in the open sea. The masts and rigging were cut away, but no good was gained by the measure. Sur- rounded by broken water, the vessel began to break up, whilst the sea ran so high that it was impossible to put off the boats. By morning, however, the storm lulled, and with dawn the passengers were got ashore. Eobert Stephenson and his companions naturally pushed forward in the scramble to get places in the boat which was the first to leave the sinking ship ; and they had succeeded in pushing their way to the ladder, when the mate of the vessel threw them back, and singled out for the vacant places a knot of humble passengers who stood just behind them. The cliief of the party was a petty trader of Carthagena. He was, moreover, a second-class passenger, well known to be without tliose gifts of fortune which might have made it worth a mate's while to render him especial service. On the return of the boat, Eobert Stephenson had better luck, and by 8 o'clock a.m. he was landed, safe and sound, on the wished-for shore. Not a life was lost of either passengers or crew : but when Stephenson and his com- panions found themselves in New York, they had lost all their luggage, and almost all their money. A col- lection of mineral specimens, on which he had spent much time and labour, was luckily preserved : but he lost a complete cabinet of the entomological curiosities of Colombia, and the box containing his money, on which his fellow-travellers were dependent. 108 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cu. VII. Fortunately, lie found no difficulty in obtaining money in New York. He was therefore in a position to pro- ceed homewards without delay ; but as he was in America he determined to see a little of the country, and to pay a visit to Canada before crossing the Atlantic for Great Britain. At New York Trevithick bade him farewell; but Mr. Gerard, the two Monteleagres, and Mr. Empson, agreed to accompany him on a pedestrian excursion from New York over the border to Montreal. This arrangement made, Eobert Stephenson said fare- well to the captain in whose ship he had made the un- fortunate passage from Carthagena,and on parting with him asked if he could account for the mate's conduct when the passengers were leaving the vessel. ' I am the more at a loss to find the reason for his treatment of me,' he observed, ' because on the voyage we were very good friends.' ' Well, sir,' answered the captain, ' I can let you into the secret. My mate had no special Hking for Mr. , indeed, I happen to know he dishked him as strongly as you and the rest of the passengers disliked him. But Mr. is a freemason, and so is my mate, and freemasons are bound by their oath to help their brethren in moments of peril, or of distress, before they assist persons not of their fraternity.' The explanation made so impressed Eobert Stephenson that lit forthwith became a mason, — the master, wardens, and members of the St. Andrew's Lodge No. 7, constituted under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, presenting him (September 21, 1827*) with a document under their seal, in which he is * They had most probably held one or more Lodges of emergency for the purpose of passing him through the several degrees. 1827.] LETTER FROM NEW YORK. .109 styled ' a master-mason of good report, beloved and es- teemed among us.' The master-mason then started for his Northern excur- sion. A conservative from his cradle, Kobert Stephenson, during his residence in Colombia, had seen the worst side of repubhcan institutions. The corruption of the Colom- bian Government was excessive. From high to low, the bribe and the dagger were regarded as necessary ele- ments of pohtical existence. Of course the venality of the governing classes and the servihty of the mob were produced by the system that preceded the revolution, quite as much as by the revolution itself. But however they may be accounted for, young Stephenson, naturally averse to liberalism in pohtics, saw the worst vices of corrupt despotism openly defended and practised by the champions of popular opinions. It was natural that he should leave South America with yet stronger opinions in favour of vigorous monarchical government. Wliat he saw in North America did not tend to modify his On entering New York (he wrote to Mr. Illingworth) we felt ourselves quite at home. All outward appearances of things and persons were indicative of English manners and customs ; but on closer investigation we soon discovered the characteristic impudence of the people. In many cases it was nothing short of disgusting. We stayed but a short time in the city, and pushed into the interior for about 500 miles, and were much delighted with the face of the country, which in every direction is populated to a great extent, and affords to an attentive observer a wonderful example of human industry ; and it is gratifying to a liberal-minded Englishman to observe how far the sons of his own country have outstripped the other European powers which have transatlantic possessions. 110 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VII. We visited the Falls of Niagara, which did not surprise me so much as the Tequindama. Their magnitude is certainly pro- digious ; but there is not so much minute beauty about them as the Salta. After seeing all that our time would permit in the States we passed over into Canada, which is far behind the States in everything. The people want industry and enterprise. Every Englishman, however partial he may be, is obliged to confess the disadvantageous contrast. Whether the cause exists in the people or the system of government I cannot say — perhaps it rests with both. The expedition was made on foot, Eobert Stephenson and his companions having with them no apparel save what they wore and one change of Hnen. A picture, painted in 1828, represents the young man as he ap- peared en route from New York to Montreal, habited in the variegated poncho which he ordinarily wore in Colombia, and holding in his hand a straw paramUtta hat with an enormous brim. One feature of the rural population of the State of New York greatly dehghted him. Their hospitahty was only bounded by their means. Unknown, and appa- rently poor, wherever the pedestrians halted they were welcomed to bed and board, and could only rarely in- duce their entertainers, who usually were httle farmers, or storekeepers, to accept payment for their services. Often after receiving them for the night, a farmer brought out his light wagon, and drove them ten or fifteen miles on their way, and then said good-bye to them, declining remuneration for his entertainment, his time, and the wear of his hickory springs. At Montreal he threw aside his Colombian dress, and, equipping himself in the ordinary costume of an English 1825.] LIVERPOOL AND MAXCHESTER RAILWAY BILL. Ill gentleman, went into the best society of the city. After attending a succession of balls and routs given by the colonial dignitaries, he returned to New York, and with his four companions and a servant took his passage to Liverpool in a first-class packet — 'the Pacific' At Liverpool he found his father settled in a comfortable house, and superintending the construction of the railway then in progress between that place and Manchester. The years of Eobert Stephenson's absence had been years of stern trial to George Stephenson, turning his hair prematurely white, and biting deep fines in his countenance. On September 27, 1825, more than twelve months after Eobert's departure for America, the Stockton and Darlington Eailway was opened with proper ceremony. The fine fiad been worked witfi satisfactory results, but stiU the employment of locomotives on its rafis was regarded as fittle more than an interestmg ex- periment. It was not tiU the Liverpool and Manchester fine was near completion that the real struggle for the use of the locomotive commenced. Jn the meantime George Stephenson had hard work to maintain his position in the engineering world. The defeat of the Liverpool and Manchester Eailway Bifi in the June of 1825 — a defeat due in a great degree to serious mistakes made by the engineer's assistants in taking the levels for the proposed fine — had for a time a most injurious efiect on his prospects. Writing to Eobert, November 1, 1825, Mr. Longridge observed — Eailways stiU continue the fashion, though I am sorry to add that your father has not that share of employment which his talents merit. It is expected the Liverpool and Manchester Bill will pass this session ; perhaps an Amended Act will after- 112 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VII. wards be procured. The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway Bill will not be brought iuto parliament until another year. Your father has been emplo3^ed by the party who oppose this railway, and in examining the line has found greater errors in the- levels than were committed by his assistants in the Liverpool Eoad. Robert ! my faith in engineers is wonderfully shaken. I hope when you return to us your accuracy will redeem their cha- racter. I feel anxious for your return, and I think that you will find both your father and your friend considerably older than when you left us. Of the letters which Robert Stephenson received from England whilst he was in Colombia, the majority contained words that caused him hvely uneasiness for his father, who w^as strugghng hard to recover ground which had been lost chiefly through the blunders of his subordinates. In 1826 permission was obtained to lay down the Liverpool and Manchester line, and George Stephenson was appointed engineer-in-chief to the under- taking, with a salary of £1,000 a year. It was said by his enemies, and was also thought by some of his friends, that his success in getting the post was only the forerunner of his ruin. Whilst the result of the attempt to make the hne across Chat-Moss was a matter of doubt, George Stephenson was generally regarded as being on his trial ; and he well knew that in accordance with the success or faiku-e of that attempt, he would be proclaimed a man of stupendous genius, or an ignorant and impudent quack. With his own profession George Stephenson set himself right sooner than with the public at large. On February 28, 1827, Locke, writing to Eobert Stephenson, said — Since I last wrote you, many circumstances, at that time highly improbable, have occurred ; and that shade which was unfortu- nately cast on the fame of your father has disappeared, and 1827.] RETUEN TO ENGLAXD. 113 the place which he must often have reflected on with pain is now such a scene of operations as sheds lustre on his character, and will no doubt immortalise his name. All our Directors are unanimous in placing the utmost confidence in him, which is certainly the best proof of their good opinion. Before Eobert's arrival in Liverpool at the end of November in the same year, the shade had indeed passed from George Stephenson's fame, and the father and son were able to exchange words of triumphant con- gratulation as well as of affection. It was a happy meeting. If the events of the preceding three years had whitened George Stephenson's locks, and given him at forty-six years of age the aspect of advanced hfe, his head and heart were stiU young. On the other hand, his son had changed fi^om a raw Northumbrian lad into a poUshed gentleman, having, at an age when many young men of the upper ranks of Enghsh hfe are still shu-king college lectures and lounging about clubs and theatres, reaped the advantages of extended travel, continued mental exertion, and intercourse ^vith men widely differing in rank, nationahty, and experience. The friend who had shared the perils and trials of Eobert's American life became a guest in George Stephen- son's house at Liverpool. When the young men awoke on the morning after their arrival they found on their dressing-tables two handsome watches, whicli had been placed there whilst they were asleep. In this manner George Stephenson made good a part of the losses they had sustained through the shipwiTck. Eobert Stej)henson had too much business on his hands to think of making a long stay at Liverpool. With all speed he went up to London, and had an interview VOL. I. I 114 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VII. with the Directors of the Colombian Mining Associa- tion, who received him with gratifying expressions of respect. Though he had ceased to preside over their interests in South America, they pressed him to con- tinue to give them counsel as to their future operations. In London he was quickly immersed in business, in- specting machinery, and entering into contracts for the house of 'Eobert Stephenson and Co.' In connection with a contract and negotiations entered into with a foreign house he found it necessary to visit Brussels in December 1827. The journey was purely one of business; an excursion to Waterloo being almost the only diversion he permitted himself during the trip. Christmas Day he spent in London ; but with the new year he was in Newcastle, which for the next five years was his head-quarters, superintending the factory, and originating, or developing, those improvements in the structure of the locomotive which raised it to its present efficiency from the unsatisfactory position it held at the opening of the Stockton and Darlington line. The following letter, written to Mr. Longridge from Liverpool on New Year's Day 1828, will show how oc- cupied the writer's mind was with the possibihty of im- proving the locomotive. Liverpool : January 1, 1828. My Dear Siii, — On my arrival here last Thursday I received your letter containing the notice of the Darlington meeting on the 5th instant, which I will attend at your request. I had hoped that my father would accompany me to the north this time, hut he finds that all his attention must be devoted to this road * alone. I have just returned from a ride along tlic line for seven e. tlie Livei-pool and Mancl)est(!r Railwn 1827.] RETUEN TO NEWCASTLE. 115 miles, in which distance I have not been a little surprised to find excavations of such magnitude. Since I came down from London, I have been talking a great deal to my father about endeavouring to reduce the size and ugliness of our travelling- engines, by applying the engine either on the side of the boiler or beneath it entirely, somewhat similarly to Grurney's steam- coach. He has agreed to an alteration which I think will considerably reduce the quantity of machinery as well as the liability to mismanagement. Mr. Jos. Pease writes my father that in their present complicated state they cannot be managed by 'fools,' therefore they must undergo some alteration or amendment. It is very true that the locomotive engine, or any other kind of engine, may be shaken to pieces ; bul such accidents are in a great measure under the control of engine- men, which are, by the by, not the most manageable class of beings. They perhaps want improvement as much as the engines. There was nothing new when I left London, except a talk that the Thames Tunnel was about to be abandoned for want of funds, which the subscribers had declined advancing, from the apparent improbability of the future revenue ever being ade- quate to paying a moderate interest. There are three new steam-coaches going on with, all much on the same principle as Grurney's. Very shortly after my arrival at Newcastle I shall have to set off to Alston Moor to engage some miners, both for the Colombian and the Anglo-Mexican Association. The New Year therefore opened with an abundance of business for the young engineer. 116 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Ch. YIII. CHAPTER VIIL RESIDENCE IN NEWCASTLE. (JETAT. 24-25.) State of the Locomotive in 1828 — Efforts to improve tbe Loco- motive — The Reports of Messrs. AValker and Rastrick — A Premium of £500 offered by the Directors of the Livei-pool and Manchester Railway for the best Locomotive — Mr. Henry Booth's invention of the Multitubular Boiler — Conmiencement of the ' Rocket' Steam Engine — A Tunnel across the Mersey — Survey for a Jimction Line between the Bolton and Leigh and Liverpool and Manchester Railways — Sun-ey for Branch Line from the Livei"pool and INIan- chester Railway to Warrington — Robert Stephenson's Love Affairs — His Access to Society in Livei-pool and London — Miss Fanny Sanderson — Proposal that Robert Stephenson should live at Bed' lington — Mr. Richardson's Expostulations — No. 5 Greenfield Place — The Sofa a la mode — Marriage. THE great and immediate work before Eobert Stephen- son, when at the opening of 1828 he once more took up his residence in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was to raise the efficiency of the locomotive so that, on the com- pletion of the Liverpool and Manchester hne, it should be adopted by the directors as the motive power of their railway. At that time the prospects of the loco- motive were most discouraging. The speed of live or six miles per hour attained on the Killingworth and Darlington lines by no means justified an enthusiastic support of the travelling engines. It was true that they had not been built with a view to speed, Init for the 1828.] QUESTION OF THE USE OF LOCOMOTIVES. 117 purpose of obtaining cheap carriage for coals. Indeed, not many years before, the problem had been to make them move at all. But progression having been accom- phshed, the next thing was to increase their powers. No engineer questioned the possibihty of improving the locomotive ; but improvement comes slowly, when each experiment leading to it costs several hundreds of pounds. No railway company could be asked to pay for costly trials. That they would use the new machine when inventors and manufacturers had made it a serviceable power was all that could be expected of the directors of railways. As for the pubhc at large, there was amongst all ranks a general opposition to the new method of conveyance. Dishke to novelty, and suspicion of a system not perfectly understood, com- bined to make enemies for the locomotive. So far was this the case that, notwithstanding the commercial suc- cess of the Stockton and Darhngton Eailway, the Bill for the Newcastle and Carhsle line was obtained in 1829, only on condition that horses, and not locomotives, should be used in workinsj it. The proprietary of the Liverpool and Manchester Eailway shared largely in feelings which were almost universal with the less enlightened multitude. In October 1828, a deputation of the directors visited Dar- hngton and the neighbourhood of Newcastle to inspect the locomotives, and come to a conclusion as to the advisabihty of emplojdng them between Liverpool and Manchester. 'By this journey,' says Mr. Booth, the treasurer and historian of the Company, ' one step was gained. The deputation was convinced, that for the immense traffic to be anticipated on the Liverpool and 118 LIFE OF nOBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. VIII. Manchester line, horses were out of question. The de- batable ground being thus narrowed, how was the re- maining point to be decided ? Was a capital of £100,000 to be invested in stationary engines, or were locomotives to be adopted ? ' Wliilst this question was under discussion, and for. several months preceding the October trip just mentioned, Eobert Stephenson had been racldng his brains to settle another and much more important matter — How to im- prove the locomotive ? how to increase at the same time its power and speed ? It was as clear to him, as it had been to his father, that above all things it was requisite to increase in the locomotive the capability of rapidly generating steam. Sufficient heat, with adequate means for rapidly applying that heat to the water, was the desideratum. Eventually the multitubular boiler and the steam-blast of the ' Eocket ' gave the required conditions ; but previous to their attainment, Eobert and his father made numerous failures in attempting to build a really satisfactory travelhng engine. To increase the heatmg surface, they introduced into the boilers of two engines made for the St. Etienne Eailway small tubes that contained water ; but the scheme was futile — the tubes soon becoming furred with deposit and burning out. In other engines they with the same object inserted two flues, each with a separate fire. On this principle was constructed ' The Twin Sisters ' — the name being suggested by the tubes. A third method adopted was to return the tube through the boiler. A fourth plan — in which may be perceived a nearer approach to the multitubular system — was adopted in a boiler made, at tlie_ beginning of 1828, 1828.] THE MULTITUBULAR BOILER. 119 with two small tubes branching off from the main flue. The sketch for this last engine was sent from Liverpool by George Stephenson to his son on January 8, 1828, and in the postscript the sanguine father says — ' The small tubes will not require to be so strong as the other parts of "the boiler, and you must take care that you have no thick plates and thin ones, as is often the case with those which come from Bedhngton. You must calculate that this engine will he for all the engineers in the kingdom — nay^ indeed, the world — to look at.' During his residence at Liverpool, George Stephenson had the great advantage of close personal intimacy with Mr. Booth, the treasurer of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Mr. Booth was not only an enthusiastic advo- cate of the locomotive, but he had a strong natural taste for mechanics, and would probably have distm- guished himself had he made engineering a pursuit instead of a pastime. As it is, the multitubular boiler, as a practical agent, must be attributed to him, what- ever may be the merit due to such claimants as M. Seguin and Mr. Stevens. Mr. Booth was consulted on all the plans introduced by the Stephensons, and his name continually appears m the letters which passed between the father and son. Writing to Eobert, on January 31, 1828, George, referring to the experiment then in hand, says — ' With respect to the engine for Liverpool, I think the boiler ouo;ht not to be lonsrer than eight feet. The engine ought to be made light, as it is intended to run fast. Mr. Booth and myself think two chimneys would be better than one, say eight inches in diameter and not to exceed fifteen feet.' In conclusion the father adds — ' I trust the locomotive engine will be pushed. 120 LIFE OF KOBERT STEPHENSON. [Cn. YIII. Its answering is tlie most important thing to you, and recollect what a number we shall want — I should think thirty.' On April 15, 1828, George Stephenson, still sanguine as to the result of the boiler with diverging tubes, wrote to Eobert — I am quite aware that the bent tubes are a comphcated job to make, but after once in and well done it cannot be any com- plication in the working of the engine. This bent tube is a child of your own, which you stated to me in a former letter. The interior of a watch looks complicated, but when once well fit up, there needs very little more trouble for one hundred years, and I expect the engine you are fitting up will be some- thing similar to this watch Avith respect to its working parts. Five days later George Stephenson, with regard to this same engine, wrote a letter to his son, which is important, as it bears on a question that has been a subject of much w^arm controversy amongst engineers. Liverpool : April 20, 1828. Dear Egbert, — I duly received yours dated the 16th inst. I do not think there can be much difficulty in cleaning the refuse matter of the fire from the locomotive-engine boiler. I would make the nozzle pipe that goes in from the blast to be a kind of grating rather than of a conical shape, and to project about two feet into the fire. The grating to be on the upper side. The nozzle piece to be made with a flange, fitting very nicely to the plate at the front of the fire to prevent the escape of air, and kept on by a bolt and cotter, or two screw-bolts. This nozzle piece could easily be taken out at any time and the fire cleaned at the hole. This I think may be done while the engine is working upon an easy part of the road. It appears to me it will be found better to feed one time with coke and the next with coal. I think the one would revive the other. I do not think there can be so much difficulty in firing on this plan as on the old one. 1828.] USE OF COKE FOR BOILERS. 121 If you wish me to see the boiler tried before it is put into its seat I will endeavour to come. If this new engine is found to answer, it will be the bestway to alter all the Darlington engines to the same plan. By doing so the last engine will not be found too heavy for the road. This engine with the bent tubes, like other attempts made in that year to improve the locomotive, was a failure. Time was running short ; the period for opening the new line was fast approaching, and yet George Stephenson and his son had not hit on the way to build such an engine as should sweep the ground from under the advocates of stationary machines. Writing from Liverpool to Mr. Longridge at the close of the year 1828, Eobert communicated the success attend- ing the result of his new boiler made to burn coke. Liverpool Railway Office : Dec. 1, 1828. My Deak Sib, — It was arranged that I should leave this place to-morrow, but the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester have resolved to-day that my father and I are to meet the deputation which was recently in the north, and enter into detailed calculations relative to the much-contested question of locomotive and stationary engines. Since I wrote you last we have had my new boiler tried at Laird's Boiler Manufactory in Cheshire. You are probably aware that this boiler was made to burn coke. The experiment was completely successful — indeed, exceeded my expectations. Six of the directors went the other day to witness a second experiment. They were all per- fectly satisfied. The enemies to the locomotives .... said the experiment had answered to the fullest extent. The boilers were shipped to-day in the steam-boat via Carlisle, from which place they will be forwarded to Newcastle I have had two letters from Forman about the locomotive engine, and he has given us the order at last, but nothing can be done to it until I reach the manufactory. I am really as anxious to be at Newcastle again as you can be to see me. I cannot say that I like Liverpool. Do not answer 122 LIFE OF ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Cu. VIII. 's letter until I see you, as he has left me one also, full of such close queries on engineering- that I rather hesitate giving him the information in such an offliand manner as he calculates upon. I am much pleased that you are interesting yourself in the suit of Locomotive versus Stationary. It is a subject worthy of your aid and best wishes ; but you must bear in mind, wishes alone won't do. Ellis has got settled, and I have got up a proposal in my father's name, which is now before the directors of the Canterbury Eailway Co. I expect at a general meeting next Thursday, which will be held at Canterbury, they will decide upon it. I cannot explain it fully in a letter, and therefore defer it till I see you. I have thanked Mr. Booth as you requested. In January 1829, ]\Ii\ James Walker, then of Lime- house,ancl 'Mi\ James Urpeth Eastrick, then of Stourbridge, Avere commissioned by the Liverpool and Manchester Eailway directors to visit Darlington and the Newcastle country, and report to them on the advantages and disadvantages of the locomotive system. ]\Ir. Walker and Mr. Eastrick were practical engineers of high reputation ; and they conscientiously discharged the duties which they undertook. The task assigned them was not to argue on the possibihty or probability of speedy improve- ments in the locomotive. They were to inspect the travelling engines, observe their capabihties, and judge them as they were, not as they might or Avould be. On the Stockton and Darlington line the two commis- sioners found locomotives travelling at paces varying between four and six miles an hour. An engine weighing, with its tender, fifteen tons, would drag twenty-three and a half tons' weight of carriages, containing forty-seven and three-quarters tons of goods, at the rate of five miles per hour. So much, and no more, could the locomotive of 1829.] LOCOMOTR^E AND STATIONARY ENGINES. 123 1829 accomplish. Of coiu-se Messrs. Walker and Eastrick well knew that the locomotive was in its infancy. Still they had to concern themselves with the present, and not the future. On March 9, they dehvered in their separate reports, which recommended the adoption of stationary engines.* Eobert Stephenson strongly disapproved the reports He saw in them an obstacle raised to the success of the locomotive, upon which the extension of the railway system depended. Writing to a friend on March 11, two days after the delivery of the hostile reports, he said — 'The report -of Walker and Eastrick has been received, but it is in favour of fixed engines. We are preparing for a counter-report in favour of locomotives, which I beheve still wiU ultimately get the day, but from present appearances nothing decisive can be said: rely * In his summary of tliese reports traffic both tcays. But -witli