A grandson's 19th Century quest to uncover the truth about one of the pioneers of the locomotives is told against the backdrop of the famed Chicago World's Fair. Plus, life of the man and the history of Shildon.
Timothy Hackworth Young faces a challenge
Samuel Smiles book of the life of George Stephenson, published in its thousands, had claims and plaudits for the contribution of that one man alone. It was prefaced with: ‘In preparing the original work for publication, the author enjoyed the advantage of the cordial co-operation and assistance of Robert Stephenson', who continued to furnish corrections and additions for insertion in the successive editions of the book called for by the public.’ Adding…’to insure as much accuracy and consistency of narrative as possible, the author submitted the MS. to Mr. Stephenson, and had the benefit of his revision of it previous to publication.’ Robert Stephenson obviously had Samuel Smiles in his pocket.
So much so that Timothy Young found his words were used to decry the contribution of his grandfather:‘The importance of the contraction of the blast-pipe at the point of its opening into the chimney, was greatly overrated by Mr. Hackworth.’ Even in footnotes, no stone was left unturned so as to further play down his contribution.
Timothy Young found that Smiles, as author of Stephenson’s aggrandisement, had commented: “The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honour.” It epitomised the life of Timothy Hackworth and the town, Shildon, that was the 'cradle of the railway'.
Two pamphlets now complete the story in the book. A memoir of Hackworth published after his death, and a history of the town that grew up as the Stockton and Darlington Railway flourished and prospered.