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Bronze statue of Stephenson, presented in late middle age with pensive expression, rolled-up plan in hand and a huge toga-like scarf over his shoulder which commentators described as a 'Northumbrian plaid'. He stands on top of a tapering rostral pedestal which rests on a plinth of rusticated blocks. At the corners of the base there are four over-life-size reclining figures, half-Greek hero, half-contemporary worker: a plate-layer with a model of Stephenson's 'fish-bellied rail'; a miner with Stephenson's patent safety-lamp; a blacksmith with a small anvil; and a locomotive engineer leaning on a relatively up-to-date model of a locomotive. There appears to have been some uncertainty amongst contemporaries as to whether these were 'emblematic' of Stephenson's career, or 'typical of the new class of operatives created by the invention of the locomotive'.

Following his death in 1848 Stephenson was comemorated by two major statues, both unveiled in 1854: one by John Gibson in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, which showed him as a severely classical Archimedes-like figure; the other by E.H. Baily as a succesful man of the world in contemporary frock coat in the Great Hall of Hardwick's Euston Station (now in the National Railway Museum, York). In addition, a monument was proposed but never executed for a site in Derbyshire, where Stephenson lived at the end of his life.(2) However, Stephenson's own home-town was slow to erect a large-scale monument. There had been a number of abortive, temporary or smaller monuments on Tyneside. In 1849, for instance, there was an idea to have statues of Stephenson and George Hudson, the notorious 'Railway King', at either end of the High Level Bridge but this came to nothing when Hudson's business operations suddenly collapsed. In 1850 giant images of George and his engineer son Robert were temporarily displayed when the Central Station was opened and a year later Robert Stephenson presented a bust of his father by Charles Moore, dated 1832, to the Literary and Philosophical Society. Early in 1858 work was also started on the Stephenson Memorial School at Willington Quay. However, it was only in August 1858 at a meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in Newcastle presided over by Robert Stephenson and the industrialist William Armstrong that serious steps were taken to erect a large-scale monument in Newcastle. Two factors probably prompted action at this particular moment ten years after Stephenson's death. Firstly there was a desire to celebrate Newcastle's sudden emergence as a leading manufacturing centre in the 1850s. Secondly a new idea was emerging of Stephenson being someone who was worthy of respect less for his feats as an engineer and railway surveyor than as the classic example of the self-made man. Certainly the succesful publication of Samuel Smiles's 500-page 'Life of George Stephenson, Railway Engineer' in July 1857 seems to have brought a new urgency to the project(3) and it is noticeable that in committee meetings as well as at the inauguration much emphasis was put on Stephenson being 'the architect of his own fortunes'.(4) As Lord Ravensworth, son of Stephenson's former leading patron, said, 'Great as were the genius and skill of Stephenson and wonderful as were the results which had been brought about by his industry, it was not for these alone that they were desirous of erecting a monument to his memory. The life of George Stephenson would prove to after ages what could be done with perseverance and industry'. Speakers repeatedly claimed the purpose of the monument was to provide an incentive to 'the efforts of those who move in a lower station in life'. 'He stands there before you as you knew him in life - an earnest, simple, thoughtful man, thinking of the duties of his station'.(5) It was said that as a young man Stephenson 'might have smoked, or drank, or played at quoits after he completed his daily task of brakesman at Killingworth Collery; but, while he performed his duties to the engine at the pit, he did not forget what was due to himself. Without any profit in a pecuniary way at the moment, he laboured in his leisure hours to master those simple arts .. of reading, writing and arithmetic'.(6) Nor, supposedly, was he resentful towards those more fortunate than himself: 'generous man that he was, he never failed to acknowledge the value of [the assistance he received from patrons]'. Given this emphasis on Stephenson as an exemplar of self-help, the monument's site was regarded as particularly appropriate. It was near the newly-completed Newcastle Central Station but also close to the Literary and Philosophical Society, where in 1815 Stephenson had demonstrated what was perhaps his only true invention, a miner's safety lamp. More important, it was en route to Robert Stephenson's locomotive factory in South Street which would mean workers there would be able to glance up at the statue each day on their way to and from work and, as one speaker put it, say 'There stands the monument of a great and good man, and he was one of us!'(7) A formal meeting to establish a public subscription for a memorial was held in the Town Hall on 26th October 1858. It was chaired by Lord Ravensworth who made a point of tracing what he called the extraordinary 'Now and Then' of Stephenson's career. 'Now he is a farmer's boy at 2d a day; then he is the owner of landed estates and large personal property. Now he mends the watches of brother coal-miners; then he sits among railway magnates, the greatest of them all..'(8) By April 1859 'upwards of £4,500' had been subscribed. The sculptor John Graham Lough, always a favourite candidate for the job, was then asked to submit a model for inspection, despite the objections of the 'Gateshead Observer' and the Newcastle architect Thomas Oliver, both of whom would have preferred a competition.(9) Apart from his merits as a sculptor, what especially recommended Lough, it seems, was that he had lived and worked in the neighbourhood earlier in his career and, like Stephenson, was a self-made man.(10) In addition, there was already a twice life-size statue of James Losh by Lough of 1836 on the staircase of the nearby Literary and Philosophical Society. Lough's design was a variant of one he had submitted earlier, unsuccesfully, in the competition for the Nelson Monument in Trafalgar Square, which in turn was much indebted to Giovanni Bandinelli and Pietro Tacca's Monument to Ferdinand I in the Piazza della Darsena, Leghorn (1599-1623).(11) Robert Stephenson, George's son, a key figure in all discussions relating to the Stephenson Monument, made an attempt to persuade the Committee to modify the design. He wanted the pedestal to take the form of a globe which, he claimed, would symbolise 'the world-wide extension of the railway system'. The Committee, however, decided to stick with the design Lough had submitted. In the autumn of 1859 when Lough's model was publicly exhibited, the 'Gateshead Observer' was unimpressed: 'some of the details may be open for criticism - as, for instance, the too "classic" aspect of the "pitman" and his companions'.(12) However, on the whole it met with approval, and in March 1861 a review of progress on the project in the 'Builder' particularly commended the treatment of the four subsidiary figures, at the time 'still in clay'. 'This step towards reality is an admirable one. The figures will tell their own story to the multitude, and require no gloss.'(13) Relatively little comment was made on the monument as such at the inauguration on 2nd October 1862. On the other hand, the ceremony was an elaborate, carefully orchestrated affair, extensively reported. It was preceeded by a procession of workers carrying technical models, flags and banners sporting slogans such as 'Peace promotes Industry', 'By hammer in hand, all Arts do stand', 'May Honest Industry ever be fairly rewarded' and 'The name of Stephenson universally known'. The workers came from various engineering firms in the neighbourhood, Stephenson's, Crowley Millington, Hawks Crawshay, Hawthorn's, Thompsons, Abbott's and Armstrong's as well as the North Eastern Railway Company. The Volunteers and two mutual aid societies, the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of Foresters were also represented.(14) Ten thousand people took part and a further one hundred thousand (almost as many as at the Queen's coronation) looked on: figures which a photograph taken at the time seems to confirm.(15) To the satisfaction of the authorities, there was no crowd trouble. Indeed, as one speaker commented, the occasion with its extraordinary spectacle of 'countless thousands of industrious persons' parading through the streets bore eloquent testimony to the fact that Newcastle was now 'the centre of a large mining, manufacturing, and commercial district'. A report says that a Mr Currie from Robert Stephenson's Locomotive Works organised the procession and the special trains which were needed to bring workers in from outlying parts. The day was rounded off with various amusements in the evening, a promenade soirée at the new Town Hall, a ball and musical entertainment in a nearby park and a series of gas-lit tableaux at the Theatre Royal, illustrating episodes from Stephenson's early life.(16) Afterwards, several music hall songs commemorated the inauguration: 'George Stephenson was as great a man / As any in the North; / Ye'll find his Monument stannin' now / In a place it's near the Forth.'(17) Sadly, since 1971 the statue has been particularly obscured by Westgate House, which juts out over Westgate Road.

George Stephenson (1781-1848), the builder of the first successful steam locomotive, was born in extreme poverty in a cottage near Wylam, Northumberland. In his twenties he became an engineman at various pits in the Newcastle area and in 1815 invented a safety lamp (the 'Geordie' lamp) for use in mines. At around this time he also developed a type of steam locomotive for use on colliery tram lines which was the basis of the world's first passenger railways, the Stockton-Darlington (1825) and the Manchester-Liverpool (1830) for which he was the surveyor. Later in life he surveyed many thousands of miles of railways and died a wealthy landowner near Chesterfield. Probably the North East's most famous son (his face is on the current £5 note) he was dubbed the 'Father of Railways' in his lifetime although there have always been those who contend that he does not entirely deserve such a title.(1)

circa

raw year

Condition

At risk

Inscriptions

Signatures

Base and pedestal

Grit stone

800cm high x 500cm square

Each subsidiary figure

Bronze

250cm high

Statue of Stephenson

Bronze

210cm high

Corrosion, Deterioration

Main plinth is dirty and water stained. Four supporters are weathered

Abrasions, cracks, splits

Sculpture's pedestal has some splits at joints

Accretions

Supporters have red painted eyes; main figure is a very dirty black