66 Facts About Robert Stephenson

Robert Stephenson FRS HFRSE FRSA DCL was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives.

Robert Stephenson has been called the greatest engineer of the 19th century.

Robert Stephenson designed the High Level Bridge and Royal Border Bridge on the East Coast Main Line.

Robert Stephenson eventually worked on 160 commissions from 60 companies, building railways in other countries such as Belgium, Norway, Egypt and France.

Robert Stephenson was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1849, and served as president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Institution of Civil Engineers.

Robert Stephenson's death was widely mourned, and his funeral cortege was given permission by Queen Victoria to pass through Hyde Park, an honour previously reserved for royalty.

Robert Stephenson was born on 16 October 1803, at Willington Quay, east of Newcastle upon Tyne, to George Stephenson and Frances, usually known as Fanny.

Robert Stephenson was twelve years older than George, and when they met she was working as a servant where George was lodging.

George had received little formal education but was determined that his son would have one and so sent the eleven-year-old Robert Stephenson to be taught at the Percy Street Academy in Newcastle.

Robert Stephenson became a member of the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society and borrowed books for him and his father to read.

The route was changed, Overton carried out another survey and an Act received Royal Assent on 19 April 1821; Pease and George Robert Stephenson met for the first time in Darlington that same day, and by 23 July George had been appointed to make a fresh survey of the line.

Robert Stephenson had not completed his apprenticeship, but he was showing symptoms of tuberculosis, and his work was hazardous; he was down West Moor Pit when there was an underground explosion.

Robert Stephenson advocated the use of steam locomotives, Pease visited Killingworth in the summer of 1822, and the directors visited Hetton colliery railway, on which George had introduced locomotives.

Robert Stephenson first helped William James to survey the route of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and then attended classes at Edinburgh University between October 1822 and April 1823.

Robert Stephenson surveyed the route and designed the Hagger Leases branch, which was planned to serve the collieries at Butterknowle and Copley Bent.

On 18 June 1824, Robert Stephenson sailed on the Sir William Congreve from Liverpool for South America with a contract for three years.

Robert Stephenson investigated building a breakwater and pier at the harbour, and a railway to Caracas.

Robert Stephenson travelled overland to Bogota, arriving on 19 January 1825.

The mines were another 12 miles from Mariquita, and Robert Stephenson set up home at Santa Ana in a bungalow.

Robert Stephenson travelled to Cartagena to see if he could walk across the Panama Isthmus, but this proved too difficult.

Robert Stephenson caught a ship to New York; en route this picked up shipwrecked survivors that were so weak they had to be winched aboard, before the ship he was on sank in another storm.

Everyone was saved, but Robert Stephenson lost his money and luggage.

Robert Stephenson noticed that one second-class passenger was given priority over first-class passengers in the lifeboats: the captain later said privately that he and the passenger were Freemasons and had sworn an oath to show such preference to each other in times of peril.

Robert Stephenson was impressed and became a Freemason in New York.

Robert Stephenson returned to New York, caught the packet Pacific across the Atlantic and arrived in Liverpool at the end of November 1827.

Robert Stephenson had built the Experiment locomotive with sloping cylinders instead of the vertical ones on previous locomotives.

In March 1828 Robert Stephenson wrote to a friend saying he had an attraction to Broad Street in London as Frances Sanderson lived there.

Robert Stephenson introduced her to his father in August 1828, and she accepted his proposal of marriage at the end of that year.

Robert Stephenson spent so much time in London the following year that his partners accused him of neglecting his business.

Robert Stephenson had not wished for a long engagement, but it took some time until a suitable house was found at 5 Greenfield Place in Newcastle, and Robert Stephenson and Fanny married in London on 17 June 1829.

Robert Stephenson designed the locomotive for the trials during the summer of 1829.

Robert Stephenson burnt fuel at more than three times the rate of Rocket before her boiler ran dry.

Robert Stephenson took on too much work that was delegated to inexperienced and underpaid men.

George recommended the route via Coventry, rather than an alternative via Oxford, but it was Robert Stephenson that did most of the work; that same year Robert Stephenson joined the Institution of Civil Engineers as a member.

Robert Stephenson stood as the engineering authority when a bill was presented to Parliament in 1832, and it was suggested during cross-examination that he had allowed too steep an angle on the side of the cutting at Tring.

Robert Stephenson drew up plans and made detailed work estimates, dividing the line into 30 contracts, most of which were placed by October 1835.

George had been invited to advise King Leopold on the Belgian State Railway and was decorated with the Order of Leopold; Robert Stephenson returned with his father two years later to celebrate the opening of the railway between Brussels and Ghent.

Robert Stephenson's wish was that Robert remarry and have children, but he stayed single for the rest of his life.

Robert Stephenson grew to dislike the house on Haverstock Hill after the death of his wife.

Robert Stephenson moved to Cambridge Square in Westminster to be nearer to London's gentlemen's clubs, but soon afterwards the house was damaged by fire and he lived in temporary accommodation for ten months.

Robert Stephenson sent assistants to the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway in Ireland to observe, but advised against its use as the failure of one pump would bring traffic to a stop.

Robert Stephenson retired to Tapton House, near Chesterfield, and married his housekeeper early in 1848.

George had been the President of the newly formed Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and Robert Stephenson took over that role until 1853.

Conder attended the inquest at Chester: he recounts that Paisley was so agitated he was nearly unable to speak; Robert Stephenson was pale and haggard and the foreman of the jury seemed determined to get a verdict of manslaughter.

Robert Stephenson had been prepared to admit liability but was persuaded to present a defence that the cast-iron girder could only have fractured because the tender had derailed from a broken wheel.

Robert Stephenson was supported by expert witnesses such Locke, Charles Vignoles, Gooch and Kennedy, and a verdict of accidental death was returned.

Robert Stephenson never used long cast-iron girders again, and a Royal Commission was later set up to look at the use of cast iron by the railway companies.

Robert Stephenson was inspired by this and with William Fairbairn and Eaton Hodgkinson designed a wrought-iron tubular bridge large enough for a train to pass through.

The first Conwy tube was floated into position in March 1848 and lifted the following month, allowing a single line railway to open on 1 May The second tube was lifted into position that October; on these days Brunel was with Robert Stephenson supporting his friend.

The first train crossed the Tyne on a temporary wooden structure in August 1848; the iron bridge was formally opened by Queen Victoria in September 1849, Robert Stephenson having been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June.

At the celebratory dinner Robert Stephenson sat beside the Queen; he had just been offered a knighthood, but had declined.

Robert Stephenson entered Parliament as a member of the Conservative Party, holding strong protectionist Tory views and opposed to free trade.

Robert Stephenson spoke against educational reform, saying workmen needed only to learn how to do their jobs, although he made donations to educational organisations.

Robert Stephenson had become a member of the in 1846, and the following year had accompanied Talabot and Alois Negrelli to look at the feasibility of a Suez canal.

Robert Stephenson advised against a canal, saying it would quickly fill up with sand, and assisted in the building of a railway between Alexandria and Cairo, with two tubular bridges that he had designed.

Robert Stephenson spoke in Parliament against possible involvement in a Suez canal scheme in 1857 and 1858.

Robert Stephenson had moved to 34 Gloucester Square in 1847; when in London he would socialise at the Athenaeum and Carlton clubs, delaying returning home until late.

Robert Stephenson found that he attracted the unwelcome attention of inventors and promoters; if he was too ill to be at Great George Street they visited him at home in Gloucester Square.

Robert Stephenson joined the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1850, becoming its first member not from an upper-class background.

Bidder stayed on as resident engineer, Robert Stephenson returning in 1851,1852 and 1854.

In 1855 Robert Stephenson was decorated Knight of the Legion of Honour by the Emperor of France.

Robert Stephenson fell from the slipway into riverside mud, but continued without an overcoat until the end of his visit.

In late 1858, Robert Stephenson sailed with some friends to Alexandria, where he stayed on board Titania or at Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo.

Robert Stephenson dined with his friend Brunel on Christmas Day before returning to London, arriving in February 1859.

Robert Stephenson was ill that summer, but sailed to Oslo in the company of George Parker Bidder to celebrate the opening of the Norwegian Trunk railway and to receive the Knight Grand Cross of the order of St Olaf.

Robert Stephenson's death was deeply mourned throughout the country, especially since it happened just a few days after the death of Brunel.