STEPHENSON, Robert, English civil engineer: b. Willington Quay, near Newcastle, 16 Oct. 1803; d. London, 12 Oct. 1859. He was the son of George Stephenson (q.v.). In 1822 he studied at Edinburgh University. The elder Stephenson having shortly after this en gaged in the locomotive manufactory at New castle in conjunction with Pease, Robert became his apprentice in 1823, but his health giving way after two years, he accepted an engage ment to examine the South American mines, returning to England in 1827 by way of the United States and Canada. Not long after his return he assisted his father and Henry Booth in the construction of the locomotive (the 'Rocket") which gained the prize of L500 offered by the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad for the best railway engine. The next great work on which he was engaged was the construction of the London and Birmingham Railway, the first railway into London, of which he was appointed engineer. The first sod of the line was cut at Chalk Farm in June 1834, and the railway opened to the public in September 1838. Much of his atten tion was given to the superintendence of the manufactory at Newcastle, and he made fre quent professional journeys abroad, laying out lines of railway in Switzerland, Germany and other parts of the Continent and likewise in Canada, Egypt and India. One of the most
brilliant proofs of his engineering skill is dis played in the system of railway bridges and viaducts constructed under his directions. Among these may be mentioned more especially the high-level bridge at Newcastle, the Vic toria bridge at Berwick, the tubular bridges, of which he was the inventor, as exemplified in those over the Conway and the Nile, and the still more wondrous erections of the Britan nia bridge over the Menai Straits, and the Victoria bridge over the Saint Lawrence. He introduced the tubular girder system in the building of wrought-iron bridges. He took a considerable interest in public affairs, and from 1847 represented the borough of Whitby in Parliament. He served a term as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and his re mains lie in Westminster Abbey. Consult Smiles, 'Lives of the (Vol. III, 1862).