Late great engineers: Robert Stephenson

In an early biography of the Stephenson father-and-son engineering dynasty, Samuel Smiles recalls the great railway and civil engineer Robert Stephenson doubting whether the public would be interested in reading about the life of his father George. “If people get a railroad,” he is reported to have said, “it is all they want; they do not care how or by whom it is done.”

And yet, the son co-operated in the production of a book that became a Victorian best seller and helped forge the unbreakable association between the name Stephenson and railway engineering. Although often attributed to his father, arguably the most famous locomotive ever built – Rocket – was designed by the son. It’s a common confusion arising from the fact that, as David Ross says in his 21st century double-header biography of the two men, to write about one without reference to the other is ‘impossible’. But for all the locomotives and railway line surveys, ultimately, Robert Stephenson’s legacy is founded on his prowess as a bridge-builder, most notably the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait in North Wales.