The Stephenson family

George Stephenson was born on June 9, 1781, in the mining village of Wylam, Northumberland, England. He went to work as a horse-driver in a coal-mine at an early age and without formal schooling. At nineteen George was put to work on a steam engine. Now he had time to learn reading and writing. In 1814 Stephenson made a design of the Blocher, one of the first railroad locomotives. But George couldn’t build it because he had no money. In 1815 he patented an engine with a steam blast*, by which exhaust steam was redirected up the chimney. The new design increased the engines power and made the locomotive truly practical. In the same year Stephenson also invented a safety lamp for miners.

In 1822 he was commissioned to build a steam locomotive for a railroad line to be built from Stockton to Darlington. His son, Robert, assisted him in survey work for the tracks, and on Sept. 27, 1825, the railroad was opened for public traffic. In 1823 George Stephenson established a locomotive works in Newcastle. George and Robert then cooperated in the construction of a railway connecting Liverpool and Manchester. In 1829, the railway company held a competition to find a suitable locomotive for the line; George and Robert won the contest with the Rocket, an engine with a multi-tubular boiler**. George Stephenson died in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on Aug. 12, 1848.

Robert Stephenson was George’s only son. He was born in Willington Quay, Northumberland, on Oct. 16, 1803. He studied mathematics at Bruce’s Academy in Newcastle upon Tyne and later attended Edinburgh University. He managed the Newcastle locomotive works and in 1833 was appointed chief engineer of the London and Birmingham Railway, the first railway into London. He directed several major engineering works, but he is best known for his long-span railroad bridges***. Robert died in London on Oct. 12, 1859.

George Robert Stephenson (1819–1905), a civil engineer**** educated at King William College on the Isle of Man, entered his uncle George Stephenson's employ in 1837 during the construction of a railway from Manchester to Leeds. He helped Robert build the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence River in Canada and served as a consultant and designer on independent projects in England and abroad. Upon Robert's death in 1859, George Robert became director of the Newcastle locomotive works.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in Portsmouth, England, on April 9, 1806. At the age of 19 he was appointed resident-engineer*** when work on the Thames Tunnel began. Later he served as engineer at the Bristol Docks and also designed several other docks in England. In 1833 he was appointed chief engineer to the Great Western Railway. His introduction of the broad-gauge railway, with tracks 7 feet (2 meters) apart, made possible high speeds that helped stimulate rail progress. Brunel was responsible for building railways in Great Britain and Italy and served as an adviser on projects in Australia and India.

The younger Brunel's outstanding contributions to marine engineering were his three ships, each the largest in the world at its launching date. The Great Western (1837), a wooden paddle vessel****, was the first steamship to provide regular transatlantic service. The Great Britain (1843) was the first large vessel driven by a screw propeller. The Great Eastern (1858) achieved fame by laying the first successful transatlantic cable. During the Crimean War, he designed a complete prefabricated hospital building that was shipped in parts to the Crimea and a floating armored barge that was used in warfare. Isambard Brunel died on Sept. 15, 1859, in London.