Lives of the Engineers
With an Account of their Principal Works; Comprising Also a History of Inland Communication in Britain

Spanning from the Roman to Victorian period, this three-volume work (1861–2) provides detailed biographies of Britain's most notable engineers.

Samuel Smiles (Author)

9781108052948, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 August 2012

544 pages, 69 b/w illus.
21.6 x 3.1 x 14 cm, 0.68 kg

A political and social reformer, Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) was also a noted biographer in the Victorian period. Following the engineer's death in 1848, Smiles published his highly successful Life of George Stephenson in 1857 (also reissued in this series). His interest in engineering evolved and he began working on biographies of Britain's most notable engineers from the Roman to the Victorian era. Originally published in three volumes between 1861 and 1862, this work contains detailed and lively accounts of the educations, careers and pioneering work of seven of Britain's most accomplished engineers. These volumes stand as a remarkable undertaking, advancing not only the genre, but also the author's belief in what hard work could achieve. Volume 3 includes a revised version of Smiles's biography of George Stephenson (1781–1848), as well as a biography of his equally famous son, Robert (1803–59).

Preface
1. The colliery districts of the north
2. Wylam colliery and village
3. Jolly's Close, Newburn
4. Sobriety and studiousness
5. Self-improvement
6. Various expedients for facilitating coal-haulage
7. Frequency of colliery explosions
8. The Killingworth mine-machinery
9. The Bishop Auckland coal-field
10. Insufficiency of the communications between Liverpool and Manchester
11. The Liverpool and Manchester bill before Parliament
12. George Stephenson appointed engineer
13. Robert Stephenson mining engineer in Colombia
14. The railway finished
15. The London and Birmingham railway projected
16. Projection of new lines
17. George Stephenson's views on railways and coal-traffic
18. Robert Stephenson's career
19. George Stephenson surveys a line from Chester to Holyhead
20. George Stephenson's life at Tapton
21. Characteristics of the Stephensons
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: History of engineering & technology [TBX]