Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Stephenson, George Robert
STEPHENSON, GEORGE ROBERT (1819–1905), civil engineer, born at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 20 Oct. 1819, was only son of Robert Stephenson, brother of George Stephenson of railway fame [q. v.]. He was thus a first cousin of Robert Stephenson [q. V.]. At the age of twelve he was sent to work with underground viewers and surveyors at the Pendleton collieries, near Manchester, where his father was chief engineer. He was then trained for two years in the colliery workshops and was given charge of one of the engines used for drawing wagons up an incline. Owing to his father's improved circumstances a better education was then designed for him, and he was sent to King William's College, Isle of Man. In 1837 his father died, and he was obliged to set to work again. Thereupon his uncle George employed him in the drawing-office of the Manchester and Leeds railway, where he remained until 1843, when he was appointed engineer to the Tapton collieries. Shortly afterwards his cousin Robert made him resident engineer on the new lines of the South Eastern railway, of which Robert was engineer-in-chief. He superintended the construction of the Maidstone and the Minster and Deal branches ; the surveys and construction of the North Kent line ; the conversion into a railway of the long canal tunnel between Strood and Higham, and the completion of the line to Gravesend ; the laying out and partial construction of the Ashford, Rye and Hastings line, and the design of the iron swing-bridge at Rye, one of the earliest of its kind for railway purposes : the laying out of the line from Red Hill to Dorking, and other work. He remained with the South Eastern Railway Company until his cousin Robert's resignation. His activities were not confined to the South Eastern system. In 1845 he laid out an abortive line between Manchester and Southampton, and he constructed the Waterloo and Southport railway near Liverpool. He was engineer-in-chief of the Ambergate, Matlock and Rowsley, the Grantham, Sleaford and Boston, and the Northampton and Market Harborough railways (the last opened in 1855). He was a persistent advocate of a line from the north to London for the. sole purpose of mineral traffic. With George Parker Bidder [q. v.] he constructed railways for the Danish government in Schleswig-Holstein and laid out lines in Jutland ; and in 1860, as consulting engineer to the provincial government of Canterbury, New Zealand, he built the line from Lyttelton to Christchurch, and designed breakwaters for Lyttleton harbour, which were executed in accordance with his plans. In 1864 he was joint engineer-in-chief with (Sir) John Hawkshaw [q. v. Suppl. I] for the East London railway. Stephenson was associated with Ms cousin Robert in the design and construction of the Victoria tubular bridge across the St. Lawrence, completed in 1859, and he built the large railway bridge across the Nile at Kafr Zayat and many smaller fixed and swing bridges at home and abroad. With Robert Stephenson and Bidder he wrote a joint report (London, 1862) to the corporation of Wisbech on improvement of the River Nene; he reported with Sir John Rennie [q. v.] on the River Ouse from Lynn to the Middle Level sluice; and was responsible for the diversion of the river from Lynn to the sea, through Vinegar Middle Sand. For Said Pasha he built at Alexandria a huge bathing palace of iron and glass, the materials alone costing 70,000l.
In 1859, owing to the death of his cousin, he became proprietor of the locomotive-works at Newcastle-on-Tyne, with extensive collieries at Snibston and Tapton. He thereupon gradually relinquished his private practice and personally controlled these works until 1886, when the firm (Robert Stephenson & Co.) was registered as a private limited liability company. Later it was formed into a joint-stock company, of which Stephenson was a director until 1899.
He was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 24 May 1853, became a member of the council in 1859, and was president in 1875–7. His presidential address (xliv. 2) was his only contribution to its 'Proceedings,' apart from his share in debates; but he actively fostered the welfare of the institution and helped the extension of its premises in Great George Street in 1868 by presenting his interest in premises at the rear of No. 24.
Stephenson was an enthusiastic yachtsman, and a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. By giving prizes and in other ways he endeavoured to improve the design of the rowing and sailing vessels in use in the Kyles of Bute. His efforts for the general welfare of the district were acknowledged by the freedom of the royal burgh of Rothesay, which was conferred upon him in 1869. Keenly interested in the volunteer movement, he was a lieutenant-colonel of the engineer volunteer staff corps. He wrote, in addition to the presidential address and the reports already mentioned, a pamphlet in the form of a letter to the president of the board of trade on 'High Speeds' (London, 1861), a protest against what he considered excessive speeds on railways. Jointly with J. P. Tone he issued a pamphlet, 'The Firth of Forth Bridge' (London, 1862), in which the bridging of the Forth about 4 miles above Queensferry was advocated.
He died on 26 Oct. 1905 at his home, Hetton Lawn, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham. He married (1) in 1846 Jane (1822-1884), daughter of T. Brown of Whickham, co. Durham; and (2) in 1885 Sarah (d. 1893), younger daughter of Edward Harrison, of co. Durham. He had a family of six children. A life-size portrait in oils by J. Lucas, as well as a three-quarter length portrait, belongs to his son, Mr. F. St. L. Stephenson.
[Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. clxiii. 386; Engineer, and Engineering, 3 Nov. 1905; The Times, 31 Oct. 1905; private information.]