George Stephenson was a British civil and mechanical engineer and was known as the 'Father of Railways'.
He was born on the 9th June 1891 in Wylam, Northumberland. George was illiterate until the age of 18 and paid to study at night school to learn arithmetic, reading and writing.
In 1801, he started work as a 'brakesman' controlling winding gear at Black Callerton Colliery, south of Ponteland. A year later, after marrying, he moved to Willington Quay, east of Newcastle, and continued his work as a brakesman. After the birth of their first son, Robert, the family moved to Dial Cottage and George continued as a brakesman at Killingworth Pit.
After the loss of his wife and daughter, and a short period of work in Scotland, George returned to West Moor. In 1811, the pumping engine at High Pit, Killingworth was not working properly, and he offered to improve it. His work was so successful that he was promoted to enginewright for all collieries in Killingworth and became an expert in steam-driven machinery.
George Stephenson was aware of the explosions caused in mines by naked flames. In 1815, he started working on a safety lamp. At the same time, Humphrey Davy was working on a similar solution. A month before Davy presented his design, later to be known as the 'Davy Lamp' to the Royal Society, Stephenson had trialled his lamp in the Killingworth Colliery. Stephenson's work at first was not acknowledged because of his initial illiteracy and background. In 1833, a House of Commons committee eventually supported George's invention, the 'Geordie Lamp'.
In 1814, Stephenson designed his first locomotive, called 'Blucher' for hauling coal on the Killingworth waggonway. It is believed that he built 16 locomotives mainly for use at Killingworth and for The Hetton Colliery Railway.
Stephenson was hired to build the 8-mile long Hetton Colliery Railway. This was a combination of gravity on downward inclines and locomotives for level and upward sections.
George Stephenson was also associated with other railway projects - 'Stockton and Darlington Railway', 'Liverpool and Manchester Railway' and 'Stephenson's Skew Arch Bridge'.
