Early Life
He was born on the 16th of October, 1803, at Willington Quay, east of Newcastle Upon Tyne, the only son of George Stephenson and his wife, Fanny. At the time, George and Fanny were living in a single room and George was working as a brakesman on a stationary colliery engine. In 1804, the family moved to a cottage in West Moor when George was made brakeman at West Moor Colliery. In 1805 Fanny gave birth to a daughter who died after a few weeks. The next year Robert’s mother died of tuberculosis. George then went and worked in Scotland for a short time, leaving the infant Robert with a local woman. However, George soon returned to West Moor, and his sister Nelly came to live at the cottage to look after Robert.
George had received virtually no formal education and he was determined that his son would have the education that he lacked. At a young age, George expected Robert to read books that were extremely difficult and learn how to read technical drawings. Father and son studied together in the evenings, improving George’s understanding of science as well as Robert’s. They also built a sundial together, which they placed above the front door of their cottage. The cottage subsequently became known as Dial Cottage and is preserved today as a monument to them. Because of his great aptitude for engineering, George was promoted in 1812 to be an enginewright at Killingworth Colliery, a skilled job with responsibility for the maintenance and repair of the colliery machinery. His wages were therefore much improved. Robert was sent to a two-room primary school run by Mr and Mrs Rutter in Longbenton, near Killingworth until the age of eleven. George's success in locomotive engineering gave him the ability to enroll Robert in a private academy. He was then sent to Doctor Bruce’s Academy in Percy Street, Newcastle. This was a private institution and Robert would have been studying alongside the children of well-off families. Surprisingly his fellow pupils failed to see any remarkable signs of talent. Whilst at the Academy, Robert became a reading member of the nearby Literary and Philosophical Society. Robert had minimal education compared to today's engineers, but proved to be a very successful engineer.
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