STEPHENSON, GEORGE (1781-1848), English engineer, was the second son of Robert Stephenson, fireman of a colliery engine at Wylam, near Newcastle, where he was born on June 9, 1781. In boyhood he was employed as a cowherd, and afterwards he drove the "gin-horse" at a colliery. At 14 he became assistant fireman to his father at a shilling a day, and at I7 he was appointed plugman, his duty being to attend to the pumping-engine. As yet he was unable to read, but stimulated by a desire to study the inventions of Boulton and Watt, he attended a night school and made rapid progress. In 18or he became brakesman, in 1802 engineman at Willington Quay, where he took up watch and clock cleaning in his spare time. In 1804 he moved to Killingworth, where in 1812 he was appointed engine-wright of the High Pit at a salary of f r oo a year. It was here in 1815 that he devised his miner's safety lamp, at the time when Sir Humphry Davy was also producing his lamp, a coincidence which led to much con troversy.
In 1813 Stephenson was authorised to build a "travelling engine" for the tramroads between the Killingworth colliery and the port 9 mi. away on the plan of one already running at Wylam. The en gine, which was named "Blucher," ran a successful trial on July 25, 1814, and in 1822 he persuaded the directors of the Stockton and Darlington railway (then in construction) to use steam in stead of animal traction. At the opening of this railway on Sept. 27, 1825, therefore, the first public passenger train in the world was drawn by Stephenson's locomotive "Active," which was subse quently renamed "Locomotion." His connection with the Stockton
and Darlington led to his employment on the Liverpool and Man chester railway, whose track he carried successfully over Chat Moss. When the line was nearing completion he persuaded the directors, who favoured haulage by fixed engines, to give the loco motive a trial. They offered a prize of £500 for a suitable machine, and in the Rainhill trials in October, 1829, Stephenson's engine, "The Rocket," was chosen. (For a description see Steam Engine.) On September 15, 1830, the railway was formally opened, the eight engines employed having been built at the works started at Newcastle in 1823 by Stephenson, his cousin Thomas Richardson, and Edward Pease. Stephenson was engineer of the Grand Junc tion, London & Birmingham (with his son Robert), Manchester to Leeds, Derby to Leeds, Derby to Birmingham, and Birmingham to York railways; but he strongly disapproved of the "railway mania" of 2844. He was also consulted about the construction of railways in Belgium and Spain. The last years of his life were spent in retirement at Tapton House, Chesterfield, in farming and horticulture, and there he died on Aug. 12, 1848.