Tarquin O’Flaherty continues his account of the rise of steam railways in the UK, and the role the cotton industry played.
At the behest of the Colombian Mining Co., a London company, Robert Stephenson spent three years (1824-1827) in South America. During this period, William James, who had earlier carried out a survey of the proposed Liverpool-Manchester line with the aforementioned Robert, was so distracted by other demands of business that he spectacularly failed to produce the results of this survey to his backers, who were largely cotton manufacturers. This became such a bone of contention that James was eventually dismissed and George Stephenson hired in his place.
In the 18th century, most cotton used in England had come from either Turkey or the West Indies. The cotton arrived at the port of London and was then delivered laboriously by wagon to the Lancashire mills. With the astonishing growth of business in Liverpool and Manchester this supply was barely adequate, and an alternative source of supply was sought in America. The great advantage of this abundant new source was that the cotton now arrived directly at the port of Liverpool and could be shipped by river or canal to Manchester. This gave the carriers, the watermen, an almost absolute monopoly over transport. Exorbitant fees were charged, cotton was stolen, (the weight made up with water) and bales of cotton were left for weeks at a time on the docks, awaiting the pleasure of the boatmen. All of these shenannigans contributed to greatly increased costs to the cotton industry and hurried along their increasing interest in railways.
From the absolute beginning, the railways met with fierce opposition. Landowners refused permission to have something cross their property which would cause cows to abort, women to faint, and the land to be suffocated with noise and smoke. It would panic sheep, cause horses to drop down dead and birds to fall out of the sky. Posters were placed in strategic spots showing half-starved, out of work horses as a result of the new ‘Iron Horse’ (an English term, by the way, as is the word ‘railroad’).
When George Stephenson carried out his new survey, he had to do it by stealth. Gangs of youths, encouraged by the anti-railway propaganda, pelted his team with stones. Others simply came and harangued the surveyors for ‘doing the devil’s work’. Equipment was mysteriously smashed and individuals intimidated. Undoubtedly, the bargees, the watermen, whose monopolies were under threat, were behind a great deal of this abuse, as were.to a lesser degree, the ‘turnpike’ or toll road keepers. Eventually, the only way the work could be completed was by doing it at night or by employing their own people to create diversions (fires, gunshots, explosions, etc).
In May, 1824, George Stephenson was appointed engineer on the Liverpool-Manchester line. This necessitated a move to Liverpool. At the same time he was asked to consult, survey and advise on many other real or proposed lines all around the country. He was also building new and improved locomotives, whilst still overseeing the completion of the Darlington line. In a word, Stephenson was becoming a successful, and very busy businessman.