Robert Stephenson - London, UK
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N 51° 31.656 W 000° 08.002
30U E 698841 N 5712394
This impressive bronze statue resides outside Euston Station in London
Waymark Code: WM62MM
Location: United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/22/2009
Views: 15
Robert Stephenson:
In 1833, the famous British Civil Engineer Robert Stephenson was given the post of Chief Engineer for the London and Birmingham Railway, the first main-line railway to enter London, and the initial section of the West Coast Main Line.
Robert Stephenson FRS (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.
Robert Stephenson, the only son of George Stephenson, was born on 16th October, 1803. The following year the family moved to Killingworth where George became an enginewright at the local colliery. Robert's mother died of consumption at Killingworth in 1806.
Robert went to the local village school at Long Benton. George Stephenson's growing success as a locomotive engineer meant that he could afford to pay for Robert to have a private education. Between 1814 and 1819 Robert attended the Bruce Academy in Newcastle. Robert also became a member of the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society.
In 1819 Robert was apprenticed to Nicholas Wood, the manager of Killingworth Colliery. Three years later he joined his father to help him survey the Stockton & Darlington line. The following year Robert attended Edinburgh University where he met another student, George Bidder. The two men became close friends and were to work together on several different railway projects during the next twenty-five years.
In 1823 Robert Stephenson joined with George Stephenson and Edward Pease to form a company to make locomotives. The Robert Stephenson & Company, at Forth Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, became the world's first locomotive builder. To gain further experience, Robert went to Columbia in South America in 1824 where he worked at gold and silver mines. While in Columbia Robert Stephenson met the inventor, Richard Trevithick, and provided the funds that he needed to get back to Britain.
After three years in South America, Stephenson was recalled to England and began work on the Rocket locomotive. Robert's abilities as an engineer was illustrated by the success of the Rocket at the Rainhill Trials in October, 1829. During this period Robert and George Stephenson were kept busy producing locomotives for the Bolton & Leigh Railway and the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. This included locomotives such as the Northumbrian and the Lancashire Witch.
In 1833 Robert Stephenson was appointed chief engineer of the London & Birmingham line. This was the first railway into London and involved solving difficult engineering problems such as the Blisworth Cutting and the Kilsby Tunnel.
The London & Birmingham line was completed in 1838. For the next few years Stephenson was involved in constructing railways all over the world. He also built bridges, including those that crossed the Tyne at Newcastle and the Menai Straits. The Britannia Bridge at Conway was made up of two huge, rectangular, wrought iron tubes. Stephenson constructed a similar bridge over the St. Lawrence at Montreal, Canada (1854-59). For many years, this was the longest bridge in the world.
In the 1847 General Election Stephenson was elected as the Conservative MP for Whitby. Stephenson did not take an active role in the House of Commons and usually only contributed to debates on engineering issues.
Stephenson never enjoyed good health and early in 1859 he was advised to retire from business and politics. He took a yachting cruise but when he arrived in Norway his condition deteriorated and he was rushed back to England. Robert Stephenson died on 12th October, 1859.
Carlo Marochetti
The bronze statue was sculpted by Carlo Marochetti.
Baron Carlo (Charles) Marochetti (1805-1867) was a sculptor, born in Turin, but raised in Paris as a French citizen. His first teachers were François Joseph Bosio and Gros in Paris. Here his statue of A Young Girl playing with a Dog won a medal in 1829, and his Fallen Angel was exhibited in 1831. Between 1822 and 1830 he studied chiefly in Rome. From 1832 to 1848 he lived in France.
This bronze equestrian statue of Richard the Lionheart brandishing his sword by Carlo Marochetti stands outside the Palace of Westminster in London.In Paris, he made a panel representing the Battle of Jemappes for the Arc de Triomphe, the altar in the Church of the Madeleine and the tomb of Vincenzo Bellini in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. While living in Paris, he also created the equestrian statue of Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy which stands in the Piazza San Carlo in Turin.
He followed the French king Louis-Philippe into exile in the United Kingdom after the fall of the July monarchy in 1848.
He lived in London for the greater part of his time till his death in 1867. Among his chief works were statues of Queen Victoria, Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde (erected 1867 in Waterloo Place), and Richard the Lionheart. The equestrian statue of Richard the Lionheart was displayed in the Great Exhibition, and a bronze copy was made in 1860 to be displayed in front of the House of Lords, where it remains in the 21st century.
His statue of Robert Stephenson (installed 1871) still stands in the forecourt of Euston Station. He made a bust of William Makepeace Thackeray for Westminster Abbey. He also created the marble recumbent effigies for the tomb of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore in Windsor Great Park.
Marochetti was created a baron by the King of Sardinia and was also a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He died in 1867 in Passy, Paris.
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