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LIFE

OF

GEORGE STEPHENSON.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY YEARS.

ABOUT eight miles west of Newcastle-on-Tyne stands the colliery village of Wylam, consisting of a number of mean cottages, situated on the north bank of the river Tyne. The Newcastle and Carlisle railway runs along the opposite bank; and the traveller by that line sees only the usual signs of a colliery in the unsightly pumping-engine surrounded by heaps of ashes, coal-dust, and slag; while a neighbouring iron-furnace, in full blast, throws out dense smoke and loud jets of steam by day, and lurid flames at night. These works form the nucleus of the village, which is almost entirely occupied by coal miners and iron-furnace men.

There is nothing to interest one in the village itself. But a few hundred yards from its eastern extremity stands a humble detached dwelling, which will be interesting to many as the birthplace of George Stephenson, the Railway Engineer. It is a common, two-storied, red-tiled building,

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portioned off into four labourers' apartments. The house is known by the name of High Street House, and was originally so called because it stands by the side of what used to be the old riding Post Road or Street, between Newcastle and Hexham, along which the Post was carried on horseback within the memory of people still living. At an earlier period, this road used to be so unsafe that the Judges, when on circuit, were escorted along it by a considerable body of armed men, as a protection against the freebooters who infested the district. A sum of money, denominated "dagger money," was annually contributed by the Sheriff of Newcastle, for the purpose of providing daggers and other weapons for the escort; and it is a curious fact that this tribute still continues to be paid in broad gold pieces of Charles the First's coinage, though the necessity for it has long since ceased.*

The lower room in the west end of the humble cottage referred to, was the home of the Stephenson family; and there George Stephenson was born on the 9th of June, 1781. The apartment is now, what it was then, an ordinary labourer's dwelling, its walls unplastered, its floor of clay, and the bare rafters are exposed overhead.

Robert Stephenson, or "Old Bob," as the neighbours familiarly called him, and his wife Mabel, were a respectable couple, careful and hard working. They belonged to the ancient and honourable family of Workers-that extensive family which constitutes the backbone of our country's greatness-the common working people of England. A tradition is, indeed, preserved in the family, that old Robert Stephenson's father and mother came across the Border from Scotland, on the loss of considerable property there: Miss Stephenson, daughter of Robert Stephenson's third son John, states that

*Notes and Queries, December 27th, 1856.

a suit was even commenced for the recovery of the property, but was dropt for want of means to prosecute it. Certain it is, however, that Robert Stephenson's position throughout life was that of a humble workman. After marrying at Walbottle, a village situated between Wylam and Newcastle, he removed with his wife Mabel to Wylam, where he found employment as fireman of the old pumping-engine at that colliery. The engine which he "fired" has long since been removed: as an old villager said of it, "she stood till she grew fearsome to look at, and then she was pulled down."

Mabel Stephenson was the only daughter of Robert Carr, a dyer at Ovingham. Her family had dwelt in the neighbourhood of Newcastle for generations. The author, when engaged in tracing the early history of George Stephenson, casually entered into conversation one day with an old man near Dewley, a hamlet close adjoining Walbottle. Mabel Stephenson, he said, had been his mother's cousin; and all their "forbears" belonged to that neighbourhood. It appears that she was a woman of somewhat delicate constitution, nervous in temperament, and troubled occasionally, as her neighbours said, with the "vapours." But those who remember her concur in asserting that "she was a rale canny body." And a woman of whom this is said by general consent, in the Newcastle district, may be pronounced a worthy person indeed. It is about the highest praise of a woman which Northumbrians can express. The meaning of the word "canny" with them is quite different from that which it bears in Yorkshire or the Scotch Lowlands. To be "canny," amongst the Scotch, is to be somewhat innocuous and rather soft; in Yorkshire, it means sly and knowing, with an assumed simplicity of manner; but in Northumberland, it means goodness itself—something closely approaching to perfection. Applied to a woman, it "caps" every other compliment, and is a climax to them all.

The Northumbrian people, generally, exhibit many striking and characteristic qualities, inherited most probably from the hardy and energetic Northmen who settled in such numbers. along the north-eastern coasts many centuries ago. Taking them as a whole, they are bigger and hardier men*,—more enterprising, energetic, and laborious,-and of more marked individuality, than the inhabitants of our more southern counties. They are rougher in manner and more difficult to polish; but they are full of shrewdness and mother wit, and possessed of great strength of character, of which, indeed, their remarkable guttural speech is but a type. The name Stephenson or Stevenson is said to signify, in the Norse tongue, the son of Steeve, or the strong; and certainly the subject of this story exhibited, in a remarkable manner, the characteristic quality of his family.

George Stephenson was the second of a family of six children. The family bible of Robert and Mabel Stephenson, which seems to have come into their possession in November, 1790, contains the following record of the births of these children, evidently written by one hand and at one time:

"A Rechester of the children belonging Robert and Mabel Stepheson—

"James Stepheson Was Born March the 4 day 1779

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George Stepheson Was Born June 9 day 1781

"Elender Stepheson Was Born April the 16 day 1784
"Robert Stepheson Was Born March the 10 day 1788
"John Stepheson Was Born November the 4 day 1789
"Ann Stepheson Was Born July the 19 day 1792." †

As the wages earned by Robert Stephenson as fireman,

*Their tenacity of life would seem to be greater. The locomotive engineer of a large railway informs me, as the result of a long experience, that the north-country engine-drivers and stokers usually recover from injuries to body and limb, which to south-country workmen are almost invariably fatal.

Of the two daughters, Eleanor married Stephen Liddell, afterwards employed in the Locomotive Factory in Newcastle; and Ann married John Nixon, with whom she emigrated to the United States. John Stephenson was accidentally killed at the Locomotive Factory in January, 1831.

when in full work, did not amount to more than twelve shillings a week, it may be inferred that, even with the most rigid economy, there was very little to spare for the clothing, and nothing for the schooling, of the children. As an aged neighbour, who remembers them well, says of the parents— "They had very little to come and go upon-they were honest folk, but sore haudden doon in the world."

Robert Stephenson was a slender man, of attenuated frame. He was an exceedingly amiable person, and was long remembered for his curious love of nature as well as of romance. He was accustomed, while tending his engine fire in the evenings, to draw around him the young people of the village, and to feast their imaginations with his wonderful stories of Sinbad the Sailor, and Robinson Crusoe, besides others of his own invention. Hence he was an immense favourite with all the boys and girls of the place, and "Bob's engine-fire" was always their favourite resort. Another feature in his character, by which he was long remembered, was his strong affection for birds and animals of all sorts. In the winter time, he had usually a flock of tame robins about him; and they would come hopping familiarly round the engine-fire, to pick up the crumbs which he saved for them out of his slender dinner. In summer time, he went bird-nesting in his leisure hours; and one day he took his little boy George to see a blackbird's nest for the first time. Holding him up in his arms, the boy gazed with wonder into the nest full of young birds-a sight which he never forgot, but used to speak of with delight to his intimate friends, when he himself had grown an old man.

While a boy at Wylam, George led the ordinary life of working-people's children. He played about the doors; went bird-nesting when he could; and ran errands to the village. In course of time he was promoted to the office of carrying his father's dinner to him while at work; and he helped to

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