The next was the multitubular boiler, by means of which the generation of steam was greatly accelerated, in consequence of the increased surface exposed to the action of the heat.[4]
I will now revert to 1826, the time when I was asked my opinion as to the value of railways, and I said, in the most decided terms, to Lord Lowther, that I thought very highly of them, that they must succeed and eventually supersede every other mode of transport for passengers and goods. Being quite convinced of this, with which opinion my brother George cordially agreed, I set about projecting lines to those places where I thought they were most applicable; that is, where there was actually a large and constant traffic, and where a more facile means of locomotion would be attended with an increased trade. Next to the Liverpool and Manchester, I selected the London and Birmingham line, whilst my brother, in company with the late Jonas Jessop and William Chapman, chose a direct line, from the termination of mine at Birmingham, to Liverpool, so that the two lines together would have considerably reduced the distance between London, Birmingham, and Liverpool. My line proceeded by Aylesbury, Banbury, Bicester, Kenilworth, and Warwick, to the higher part of Birmingham; and my brother’s from thence by Stafford and Runcorn—with a bridge across the Mersey at that place—to Liverpool. Thus London, Birmingham, and Liverpool, the three largest and most important commercial towns in the kingdom, would have been connected together in the shortest possible distance and with the least expensive works practicable. The project, upon the whole, was well received, but the public were not quite prepared for such an undertaking; in fact, it was in advance of the time, and for a while fell to the ground. Canals had not fallen into disrepute, and Mr. Telford, who succeeded my father in carrying into effect the great improvements proposed by him for the Birmingham Canal, suggested a continuation of this (through the very district which my brother, Jessop, and Chapman had proposed to carry their railway), to connect it with the Bridgewater and Mersey canal to Liverpool; this was accordingly executed, and, as regards a commercial speculation, failed entirely, as it was soon superseded by railways. The fact was, that Telford, having been bred in the old school, and having seen the triumph of canals, could not, or would not, believe in the efficacy of railways, or that they would ever succeed; and, indeed, he laughed heartily when he had succeeded in supplanting my brother’s line of railway from Birmingham to Liverpool by a canal. He had a strong prejudice against railways, which he maintained until his death, in 1835. He had just finished his great work the Holyhead Road, with the great connecting suspension bridges of Conway and Bangor, and of which, with good reason, he was justly proud, and could not bear the idea of their being superseded by any other system of locomotion. Although an able engineer in many respects, he was not much of a practical mechanic, and very likely conscientiously thought that railways would not succeed. He had done his work well in his own department, and was too old to learn anything new. He died at a good old age, much respected and beloved by those who knew him, and leaving numerous monuments behind him of his engineering talents.
Another important line of railway which I proposed at this time was one between London and Brighton, and I employed two very experienced and competent surveyors, Messrs. Edward Grantham and Jago, who had frequently been employed by my father to make surveys in various parts of England, particularly in the region between London and Portsmouth, and the Weald of Kent, so that they had a thorough knowledge of the district. After examining the country myself, I directed that the line should commence at Kennington Common, and proceed from thence by Clapham and Streatham to the lower end of Croydon; from thence up Smitham Bottom valley to the hill at Merstham, which was to be pierced by a tunnel; from thence to Redhill, Horley, and the valley to the Cinder Banks at the base of the ridge of hills called Tilgate Forest, where there was to be another tunnel; from thence, skirting the left side of the valley near Balcombe, to the valley of the Ouse, which was to be crossed by a viaduct, and thence to Hayward’s Heath, between Lindfield and Cuckfield, where it passed through another ridge of hills by a deep cutting; it then proceeded direct to the Southdown hills, near Clayton Hill, which was to be pierced by a tunnel; thence down the valley to Brighton, where it terminated at the upper end of the town on the right side of the valley. This line extended from Kennington Common to Brighton. The country is very rugged, having three lofty ridges of hills running east and west, which it was necessary to pass through, as there are no leading valleys or gaps to facilitate the passage without going a long way round, which would have defeated my object. This line might have been shortened nearly a mile by going direct from Tilgate Forest to Cuckfield, but the works would have been much heavier, and could scarcely have been justified at the time, as the public were not prepared for such expensive operations. I also employed Mr. Vignolles to survey another line from Nine Elms, Vauxhall, by Dorking, Horsham, and Shoreham; from thence along the coast to the west end of Brighton. This line, upon the whole, was easier of execution than the other, but it was five miles longer, which I considered objectionable, as my object was to lay down the shortest possible line between the two termini, so as to render all future competition out of the question. By this time I was so fully convinced of the ultimate success of railways, both for speed and economy, that I announced in the prospectus, that when the railway system had been introduced into France, the journey from London to Paris might be made by this route in twelve hours; however, at this period no passenger railway had been completed, and therefore my statement was considered only as a rough guess, which might never come to pass, and therefore a company could not be formed. At the same time I employed competent persons to make the survey for a coast line from Brighton to Worthing, Arundel, Chichester, Havant, Portsmouth, Southampton, Salisbury, and thence to Warminster, with the intention of extending it hereafter to Bristol.
The Manchester and Liverpool Railway was opened with great ceremony, when the Duke of Wellington, then Premier, and Mr. Huskisson, the President of the Board of Trade, attended. Unfortunately, the latter most able Minister was killed, by being run over by one of the locomotives. Poor Huskisson was standing between the two lines of rails, with the Duke and several others, when the engine came up unexpectedly; he lost his presence of mind, and took a wrong step, which ended in a death universally deplored by the nation, as well as by his numerous friends.
The success of the Manchester and Liverpool railway having been established, the next thing was to extend the line to Birmingham, and a company was immediately formed for the purpose, with Mr. George Stephenson as engineer. About the same time another line was projected by his son Robert, from London to Birmingham, pursuing pretty nearly the line of the old Grand Junction or Paddington Canal; this line was longer than mine, led over much more difficult country, and did not pass through the same number of towns and population, although it touched the important city of Coventry.
My line commenced at Blackwall, and pursued the route of the Regent’s Canal, nearly similar to the line of railway which my father had formerly laid down.
There were two strong parties, one of which supported Stephenson’s line, and the other mine; but ultimately Stephenson’s party was the strongest, he carried his line by one or two votes, and the present London and Birmingham railway was executed.
The route to Liverpool was unnecessarily long, and therefore a new line was started to shorten the distance, called the Trent Valley Line, which commenced at Rugby, and joined the Birmingham line at Stafford, thus cutting off the angle at Birmingham, and saving a considerable distance. This line was strongly opposed, but was carried, it is said, by the influence of the late Sir R. Peel, and was executed, I believe, at the cost of three millions. If my own and my brother’s line had been carried out, this would have been unnecessary, as a branch to Stafford would have sufficed for that and other towns, and Birmingham would have been upon the main line. It is singular, also, that Telford’s canal, which supplanted our line, has been absorbed by the adjacent railways.
Having now, in a rather rambling manner, brought my professional diary so far, I must revert again to some incidents connected with my private life. On the death of Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Humphry Davy was unanimously elected President of the Royal Society in the year 1820, and I had the honour of being elected Fellow, 1823.
I was elected member of the Travellers’ Club, 1822. This club was formed in the year 1818, for the express purpose of associating travellers together, and for promoting travelling. It was enacted that no person was eligible to become a member unless he had travelled on the Continent, in a direct line, 500 miles from London, and great things were expected from it; but although it was the first travelling club established in London, and contained amongst its members the most distinguished travellers, it shortly degenerated into an ordinary club, and nothing has ever emanated from it towards extending our knowledge of the globe, or in publishing the travels of the numerous able men who belonged to it. Sir Arthur de Capel Brooke, who was a member of it, and who travelled a good deal himself, particularly in the north of Europe, going as far as the North Cape, and who published an interesting account of his journey, spoke to my brothers, myself, and numerous other travellers on the subject, proposing to establish a new club, composed of none but distinguished travellers; he suggested that this, in the first instance, should be nothing more than a dining club, to meet once every month, saying that travellers meeting together in this social manner would communicate to each other their various voyages, and would stimulate each other to further discoveries; that although a mere social club in the first instance, in time some good would result, and that in the end a regular scientific society might be established for the promotion of geography. He accordingly collected together all the distinguished travellers of the day, naval, military, and civil, and a most delightful society it was; the result clearly proved Sir Arthur Brooke’s sagacity, for from the Raleigh Club was originated the Royal Geographical Society. I am not quite certain with whom the idea first originated, but I recollect that at one meeting, when, amongst others, the late distinguished traveller and Secretary to the Admiralty, Sir John Barrow, was present, an animated conversation took place, to the effect that the Raleigh Club had been in existence many years, and a very agreeable club it was; but, except amusing each other with our adventures, we had done nothing towards promoting our original intention, which was to stimulate discovery in foreign lands, and to extend the knowledge of geography throughout the world. I think Sir John Barrow then said, “Why cannot we establish a real geographical society, and read papers, and publish transactions, like other scientific societies?” The idea caught at once: the whole of the members then present applauded it, and resolved to carry it into effect. A committee was appointed, and every member, I think, of the club joined. A general meeting was then called, members soon joined, and Sir John Barrow was appointed first president; a council and vice-presidents were chosen, a house was taken in Waterloo Place, Colonel Jackson was chosen secretary, a royal charter was applied for and obtained, and the society was duly instituted, under the name of the Royal Geographical Society. This society, like all others in their infancy, had a good deal to contend with; it went on well for a time, but at length it began to languish. It required some man of weight and influence to devote his time to it, to enlist the Government heartily in the cause, and to make it understand that it was its interest, on the part of the public, to promote the Society by every means in its power. Fortunately, at that time the Society had in Sir Roderick Murchison the very man most competent to undertake this arduous office. He worked hard; he convinced the Government of the utility of the Society, and the many advantages that would be afforded by its existence, as it could collect information upon all geographical subjects, at far less expense than could be obtained by any Government establishment; it would, moreover, stimulate travellers to increased exertions, and accumulate a fund of geographical information—knowledge that is so important to a commercial country like our own.