Editing George Stephenson (section)

==Legacy==
=== Influence ===
[[File:John Lucas-George Stephenson.jpg|thumb|A Portrait of George Stephenson by painter [[John Lucas (painter)|John Lucas]]]]
Britain led the world in the development of railways which acted as a stimulus for the [[Industrial Revolution]] by facilitating the transport of raw materials and manufactured goods. George Stephenson, with his work on the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, paved the way for the railway engineers who followed, such as his son Robert, his assistant [[Joseph Locke]] who carried out much work on his own account and [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]]. Stephenson was farsighted in realising that the individual lines being built would eventually be joined, and would need to have the same gauge. The [[standard gauge]] used throughout much of the world is due to him. In 2002, Stephenson was named in the [[BBC]]'s television show and list of the ''[[100 Greatest Britons]]'' following a UK-wide vote, placing at no. 65.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/aug/22/britishidentityandsociety.television|title=The 100 greatest Britons: lots of pop, not so much circumstance|date=22 August 2002|website=The Guardian}}</ref>

The Victorian self-help advocate [[Samuel Smiles]] had published his first biography of George Stephenson in 1857, and although attacked as biased in the favour of George at the expense his rivals as well as his son, it was popular and 250,000 copies were sold by 1904. The [[Band of Hope]] were selling biographies of George in 1859 at a penny a sheet, and at one point there was a suggestion to move George's body to [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2002-08-22|title=The 100 greatest Britons: lots of pop, not so much circumstance|url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/aug/22/britishidentityandsociety.television|access-date=2021-08-04|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Davies|1975|pp=288–290}}<ref>{{cite book|title=The Rocket Men: George and Robert Stephenson|editor=Jones, Robin|year=2013|publisher=Morton's Media|isbn=978-1-909128-27-9|page=23}}</ref> The centenary of George's birth was celebrated in 1881 at [[Crystal Palace, London|Crystal Palace]] by 15,000 people,{{sfn|Davies|1975|p=295}} and it was George who was featured on the reverse of the Series E [[Banknotes of the pound sterling|five pound note]] issued by the [[Bank of England]] between 1990 and 2003.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/about/withdrawn_notes.aspx | title=Notes recently withdrawn from circulation | publisher=Bank of England | access-date=24 December 2013 | archive-date=10 November 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110075747/http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/about/withdrawn_notes.aspx | url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Stephenson Railway Museum]] in [[North Shields]] is named after George and Robert Stephenson.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/stephenson/about-us.html | title=Join the railway revolution (about us) | publisher=Stephenson Railway Museum | year=2014 | access-date=20 March 2014 | archive-date=7 May 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507011826/http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/stephenson/about-us.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Memorials===

[[File:George Stephenson - geograph.org.uk - 2315455.jpg|thumb|right|Stephenson's statue in Chesterfield]]
[[George Stephenson's Birthplace]] is an 18th-century [[historic house museum]] in the village of [[Wylam]], and is operated by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]]. Dial Cottage at [[West Moor]], his home from 1804, remains but the museum that once operated there has closed.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/222809 |title=NZ2770: Dial Cottage (George Stephenson's Cottage), Westmoor |website=Geograph |year=2001}}</ref><ref>https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/7267455114/ Flickr image taken inside Dial Cottage in 1994.</ref>

[[Chesterfield Museum]] in [[Chesterfield, Derbyshire|Chesterfield]], Derbyshire, has a gallery of Stephenson memorabilia, including straight thick glass tubes he invented for growing straight [[cucumber]]s. The museum is in the [[Stephenson Memorial Hall]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/346754|title=SK3871: Stephenson Memorial Hall |publisher=[[Geograph]]|access-date=13 May 2011}}</ref> not far from both Stephenson's final home at Tapton House and Holy Trinity Church within which is his vault. In Liverpool, where he lived at 34 Upper Parliament Street, a City of Liverpool Heritage Plaque is situated next to the front door.

[[Stephenson College, Durham|Stephenson College]], founded in 2001 on the [[Durham University]]'s [[Queen's Campus, Durham University|Queen's Campus]] in [[Stockton-on-Tees]] (relocated to Durham in 2018), is named after him. Also named after him and his son is [[George Stephenson High School]] in Killingworth, Stephenson Memorial Primary School in [[Howdon]], the [[Stephenson Railway Museum]] in [[North Shields]], the [[Stephenson Locomotive Society]], the Stephenson Centre, an SEBD Unit of Beaumont Hill School in Darlington, and the Stephenson Building, home of the school of engineering at [[Newcastle University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncl.ac.uk/alumni/news/item/stephenson-building-redevelopment/|title=New Stephenson Building gets ready to welcome students|date=8 September 2023|website=Newcastle University|access-date=14 February 2024}}</ref> His last home in Tapton, Chesterfield is now part of Chesterfield College and is called Tapton House Campus.

As a tribute to his life and works, a bronze statue of Stephenson was unveiled at [[Chesterfield railway station]] (in the town where Stephenson spent the last ten years of his life) on 28 October 2005, marking the completion of improvements to the station. At the event a full-size working replica of the ''[[Stephenson's Rocket|Rocket]]'' was on show, which then spent two days on public display at the Chesterfield Market Festival. A statue of him dressed in classical robes stands in Neville Street, Newcastle, facing the buildings that house the [[Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne]] and the [[North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers]], near [[Newcastle railway station]]. The statue was sculpted in 1862 by [[John Graham Lough]] and is listed Grade II.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.northumbria.info/Pages/stephenson.html |title=George Stephenson Monument  |website=northumbria.onfo}}</ref>

From 1990 until 2003, Stephenson's portrait appeared on the reverse of Series E £5 [[Banknotes of the pound sterling|notes]] issued by the [[Bank of England note issues|Bank of England]]. Stephenson's face is shown alongside an engraving of the ''Rocket'' steam engine and the [[Skerne Bridge]] on the Stockton to Darlington Railway.<ref name="bankofengland">{{cite web|url=http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/denom_guide/index.htm|title=Withdrawn banknotes reference guide|publisher=Bank of England|access-date=17 October 2008|archive-date=10 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610131654/http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/denom_guide/index.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Stephenson's profile is carved in the facade of Lisbon's Victorian railway station.

North-western [[Milan]] has the street Via Giorgio Stephenson in his honour.

===In popular culture===
Stephenson was portrayed by actor [[Gawn Grainger]] on television in the 1985 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''[[The Mark of the Rani]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/markrani/detail.shtml | title= The Mark of the Rani | publisher=[[BBC]] | access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref>

[[Harry Turtledove]]'s [[alternate history]] short story "[[A Different Flesh#The Iron Elephant|The Iron Elephant]]" depicts a race between a newly invented steam engine and a mammoth-drawn train in 1782. A station master called George Stephenson features as a minor character alongside an American steam engineer called Richard Trevithick, likely indicating that they were analogous rather than historical characters.