Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century — John Shaqi
Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth CenturyJoy, James Richard
History
Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century
Joy, James Richard
England -- Biography
1. How did England join with the rest of Europe in undoing
the work of Napoleon?
2. Give the chief events in the early life of Canning.
3. Why did Canning authorize an attack on Denmark?
4. What was his relation to the Peninsular War?
5. What was his "lost opportunity" of 1812?
6. How did he set forth his plans when he became foreign
secretary in 1821?
7. What interference in the affairs of Europe did the
Holy Alliance attempt?
8. How did Canning defend his recognition of Spanish-American
independence?
9. What part did England play in the liberation of Greece?
10. What were the personal qualities of Canning?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GEORGE CANNING. Frank H. Hill.
POETRY OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN. Edited by Charles Edmonds.
IV
STEPHENSON AND THE RAILWAY
[GEORGE STEPHENSON, born, Wylam, near Newcastle, June 9, 1781;
died, August 12, 1848; driver lad in a colliery; at fourteen,
assistant to his father as fireman of colliery engines; at
seventeen, engineman; at eighteen, learned to read in night
school; 1812, enginewright at Killingworth colliery; 1814,
operated his locomotive, "My Lord"; 1822, engineer of Stockton
and Darlington Railroad (opened 1825); engineer of Liverpool and
Manchester Railroad (opened 1830); produced locomotive "Rocket,"
capable of thirty miles an hour.]
In a bare room of a laborer's tenement in the colliery village of
Wylam, in Northumberland, on the 9th day of June, 1781, was born
a babe to whose mind and hand England was to owe as much in
future years as to any high-born minister of the crown. Indeed,
one might trust the world to give a verdict in favor of George
Stephenson, the founder of the steam railway as against his
sovereign, King George III. himself.
The father, the "old Rob" of the village boys, was the fireman of
the pumping engine at the colliery hard by. His father before
him--the Stephensons were no pedigree-hunters, and traced their
line no farther- -was a Scotchman who, so far as anything was
remembered of him, had come into the north of England as a
gentleman's servant. Robert was a favorite with the village
children, to whom he gave the freedom of the fire-room, and was
a boon companion of his own houseful of boys and girls, kindling
their fancy by his headful of tales, and sharpening their
observation of the beauties of nature by making them the
companions of his walks a-field, where the birds and other living
things were the objects of his peculiar interest and love.
As soon as little George was old enough to "take notice" he must
have discovered the railway which ran before his father's door,
and his earliest responsibilities were connected with the
oversight of his younger brothers and sisters lest in their play
they should fall under the wheels of the cars or the hoofs of
the horses that supplied the motive power. The road was a wooden
tramway along which coal cars were dragged from the mines to
tidewater.
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