3-071-120 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Century of George Stephenson, Father of Railways: George Stephenson throwing the hammer, 1881. 'His wages at the Dolly Pit, where he was engine-man [aged 18], were one pound a week, and the first guinea he saved was out of his amateur shoe work. He could turn his hand to anything. He mended clocks as well as shoes, and "doctored" engines also; and he could "throw the hammer" in the local games further than anybody'. Illustration published in a special supplement to celebrate the centenary of Stephenson's birth. George Stephenson (1781-1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Pioneered by Stephenson, rail transport was one of the most important technological inventions of the 19th century and a key component of the Industrial Revolution. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.