George Stephenson

George Stephenson was well known as the builder of the first public railway in the world and he was called the “Father of Railways”.

George was born in 1781 and he was the second child of Robert and Mabel. They were very poor and couldn’t read or write. Robert worked hard, but he could not support(??) his family. Where could he get the money to send George to school? And as a result, George had to work when he was only a small child. At 17, George became an engineman at a local colliery(??). Just at the same age, George realised the value of education and paid to study at night school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. He worked and studied very hard.

In 1802, George married Frances (Fanny) and had a family. In order to support his family, he not only had a job as a worker, but also made shoes and mend clocks in his free time. In 1806, Stephenson’s first wife, Fanny died. His only son, Robert was brought up by George and his unmarried sister Eleanor.

In 1820, George married Elizabeth Hindmarsh, a farmer’s daughter. George and Elizabeth had no children, and she died in 1845. In 1848 George married for the third time to Ellen Gregory who had been his housekeeper. Six months after his wedding, George died at Tapton House in , Derbyshire.