We conclude Tarquin O’Flaherty’s discussion of George Stephenson, Trains and the industrial revolution and their impact on the politics of the day. (You can find the previous 20 pieces by searching ‘Trains’ in the ‘Search’ box, right.)
In the meantime – while Robert Stephenson was working on theBirmingham-London railway, – (Isambard Kingdom) Brunel was building the Great Western Railway with a much wider gauge of 7 feet (2.1 metres) than that of Stephenson’s 4 foot 8 and a half inches. (1.45 metres) Brunel was convinced that a wider gauge would lead to faster trains. This led to endless problems ( the Battle of the Gauges) before a nationwide standard gauge was settled on.
George Stephenson slowly took a back seat and began to take a keen interest in bee keeping, growing grapes, and entertaining old friends from his early days. He was in regular demand as a speaker and consultant whilst he lived in well deserved high old style with his second wife of 25 years, Elizabeth, at Tapton House in Derbyshire. Elizabeth died in 1845. Stephenson eventually married again, this time to his housekeeper Ellen Gregory in 1848. Sadly, within six months, Stephenson, at the age of 67, contracted pleurisy and died. He is buried alongside his second wife Elizabeth at the church of the Holy Trinity, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
Young Robert Stephenson, by comparison achieved such an enviable reputation in British engineering circles that he was accorded the ultimate honour of being buried in Westminster Abbey. Both he and Brunel died within a few days of each other, Brunel in September and young Robert on the 12th of October, 1859.
George Stephenson had been a hard taskmaster and a possessive one. All of his pupils had had great difficulty breaking with him, and then only on acrimonious terms. His own son Robert had found it necessary to spend time in South America just to allow himself to emerge from his father’s shadow. His pupils nevertheless were George Stephenson’s legacy to us all. A group of astonishingly talented engineers who helped create our modern world.
George Stephenson’s highly original mind, his unflinching belief in himself and the railway system transformed all of our lives. We have a lot to be grateful for.