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The Industrial Revolution and Social Progress, 1750-1909
Scientific Progress after 1815
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Scientific Progress after 1815
We turn to the second of our two periods - from 1815 to the early years of the twentieth century. There is, to begin with, the revolution in the ways and methods of communication through the development of steam and the introduction of electrical power - changes which dwarf those effected by the canals and by better roads in the previous century. First and foremost came the introduction of railways. The locomotive engine had already been invented in 1814 by Stephenson, but it could only convey coals - for which purpose it was used - at three miles an ftour. The first railway of any length had been projected in 1818 but the proposal had been thrown out in Parliament (Partly because it threatened to pass near a duke's fox coverts). However, in 1821 the Stockton and Darlington Railway was authorized, and four years later opened for traffic, whilst in 1827 came the first use of the locomotive on rails in Scotland. But not much attention was attracted before the building of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Public interest in this was first stirred by the difficulties met with in the construction of the line; then by a race between four different kinds of locomotives, in which Stephenson's " Rocket", going at the finish at thirty-five miles an hour, was successful; and finally by the opening of the line in 1829 in the presence of the Duke of Wellington, the prime minister (The opening was marred by a sad accident. An ex-cabinet minister, Huskisson, who had quarrelled with Wellington, was present. He advanced to speak to the Duke and effect a reconciliation, when an engine approached along the rails on which he Was standing. Huskisson was rather clumsy, failed to get into a carriage on the other line, and was caught by the engine). Fifteen years later, in 1844, came the great railway mania in Great Britain, when numerous railway companies were started and an immense extension of line laid down. By 1850 nearly all the big lines had been established (With the exception of Chatham and Dover (1860), the Midland (1863), and the Highland Railway (1865)).
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Chronology
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