Britain Unlimited covers 250 Great British people and what made them famous

Who was George Stephenson? Railway Engineer and Pioneer of Steam Traction. Date and Place of Birth: 9th June 1781, at High Street House, Wylam-on-Tyne, Northumberland, England. Family Background: Second of six children to Robert Stephenson, a colliery fireman, and Mabel Carr. Four families would have lived at High Street House. Education: Rudimentary learning at local night school. Chronology: 1789: Family leave High street House and George works on a farm but is soon back again working at the Wylam colliery with his father (aged eight) driving gin horses and moving coal. 1802: Now married, he moves to Willington Quay near Wallsend. 1803: Birth of his son Robert. 1804: Promoted to Brakesman and moved to Moor Cottage, Killingworth 1805: Death of his wife. Accepts a post at a spinning works in Angus, Scotland. 1812: Becomes engine-wright at Killingworth Colliery. 1814: Builds his first Engine the eight-ton "Blucher" which was slow and unreliable on the wooden colliery tramroads. Undaunted he set his mind to not only improving the locomotives but also the trackways. 1815: He invented a miner's safety lamp (contemporaneously with the more famous one by Sir Humphrey Davy). This lamp preferred by Tyneside miners was nicknamed the "Geordie Lamp", a name which has passed into history for the fiercely proud local people. He received a public testimonial of £1,000 pounds for this invention, an immense sum for one from such a poor background. 1818: Joins with his partner Edward Pease of Darlington and obtains an Act of Parliament to allow the construction of a passenger railway from Witton Colliery to Stockton on Tees. 1821: Surveys the proposed railway from Stockton to Darlington. 1822: (23rd May) Laying of the first rail. 1825: (27th September) Railway complete and is opened. The "Locomotion" Engine, built by Stephenson pulls the first train at speeds of up to fourteen miles per hour, a then unheard of speed. 1826: Appointed engineer for the proposed Liverpool and Manchester railway. 1830: At the Rainhill Trials in Manchester his new Engine "Rocket" wins the competition to pull several wagons. It achieved speeds of up to 30 miles per hour. The other competitors fail to complete the course. (15th September) Opening of the Liverpool to Manchester railway. 1831: Begins offering his services as an engineer to various railways in the north and midlands of England and gave advice on the laying of the East and West Coast Main Lines between London and Scotland. 1835: His fame had now spread abroad and he began advising King Leopold of Belgium and the Spanish government amongst others, on how to build railways there. 1838: Moved to Tapton House in Derbyshire as he had now become a wealthy man. Despite being in semi-retirement his ideas flowed apace and he designed model houses for miners and opened new coal mines. 1845: Death of his wife. NOTE: His Son Robert, born in 1803 at Willington Quay, took over his father's locomotive works and made several engineering projects in his own right such as the Conway Bridge in 1848, the high level bridge at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1849 and the Britannia Tubular Bridge in 1850. He was later to become an M.P. and buried in Westminster Abbey. Marriage: 1802 to Frances Henderson. (died 1805). 1820 to Elizabeth Hindmarsh. (died 1845). 1848 to his housekeeper. Places of Interest: DERBYSHIRE: Tapton House, Chesterfield. GREATER MANCHESTER : George Stephenson, Museum, Rochdale. NORTHUMBERLAND: George Stephenson's Birthplace, Wylam. (National Trust - One room where the entire family lived for several years is on view). Dial Cottage, Great Lime Road, Killingworth. YORKSHIRE: National Railway Museum, York. Date and Place of Death: 12th August 1848. Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. Age at Death: 67. Site of Grave: Holy Trinity Church, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England.