3-071-119 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Street House, Wylam, [Northumberland], the birthplace of George Stephenson, 1881. 'However humble the origin of many of England's greatest men, they have invariably had mothers of remarkable character, or of devoted earnestness in promoting the welfare of their sons. The father and mother of George Stephenson were of lowly estate; but Mrs. Stephenson was always spoken of by those who knew her as "a canny body," which in the north means all that is nice and clever and good and reliable. She was Mabel Carr, a native of Ovingham, and the daughter of Robert Carr, a dyer. The Carrs were people of substance, and their family tombstone is seen in the old churchyard close by that of Thomas Bewick, the famous wood engraver. Mabel's husband, Robert, was an ordinary working man, and they lived at Wylam, about eight miles from Newcastle, in a cottage called High-street House, where George was born, on June 9, 1781'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.