STEPHENS 



5547 



STEPHENSON 



mandy, as Prince William, the rightful heir, 

 was drowned in the White Ship while coming 

 overseas. On the death of King Henry in 1135, 

 Stephen hastened from Normandy to England, 

 laid claim to the throne and was crowned king 

 in Westminster Abbey. After Matilda, with 

 her half-brother, the Earl of Gloucester, landed 

 in England, revolts broke out, Stephen was im- 

 prisoned and Matilda acknowledged queen. 

 The war was renewed and lasted for nearly 

 seventeen years, plunging England into misery. 

 Peace was made in 1153, by which Stephen was 

 to retain the kingdom until his death, but was 

 to be succeeded by Matilda's son, Henry of 

 Anjou, first of the Plantagenet line. See 

 HENRY [England]. 



STEPHENS, ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1812- 

 1883), an American lawyer and statesman and 

 Vice-President of the Confederate States of 

 America. He w r as born near Crawfordsville, 

 Ga. Stephens entered Franklin College, now 

 the University of 

 Georgia, with the 

 view of becoming 

 a minister, an 

 educational so- 

 ciety defraying 

 his expenses. *In 

 1834 he passed a 

 law examination, 

 was admitted to 

 the bar and also 

 taught school to 

 repay his helpers 

 for his education. 

 From 1836 to 

 1842 he was a 

 member of the 

 state legislature. He was strongly opposed to 

 secession in 1861, but remained loyal to his 

 state when Georgia seceded. Stephens was 

 elected to the Provisional Congress, and was 

 later chosen Vice-President of the new govern- 

 ment, but was often at variance with President 

 Davis on questions of states' rights. 



In February, 1865, he headed the unsuccessful 

 peace commission which conferred with Presi- 

 dent Lincoln at Hampton Roads (see HAMP- 

 TON ROADS CONFERENCE). He left Richmond 

 before the war ended, and after the downfall 

 of the Confederacy was arrested and impris- 

 oned for six months at Fort Warren, in Boston 

 harbor. In 1866 he was elected to the United 

 States Senate, but was not permitted to take 

 his seat, so he turned his attention to writing 

 the first volume of his War Between the States. 



ALEXANDER H. 



STEPHENS 



One of the great leaders 

 of the Confederate States of 

 a America from 1860 to the end 

 of the War of Secession. 



Being in reduced circumstances, he taught law 

 classes in 1871, and also served as editor of the 

 Atlanta Sun, which was published chiefly to 

 defeat Horace Greeley for the Presidency. He 

 was elected governor of Georgia in 1882 by 

 60,000 majority, but died before the end of his 

 term. 



Consult Trent's Southern Statesmen of the Old 

 Regime. 



STEPHENSON, ste'venson, the family 

 name of two British engineers, father and son, 

 both of whom made valuable contributions to 

 the development of England's railway system. 



George Stephenson (1781-1848), the elder 

 Stephenson, won the name of "founder of rail- 

 ways." He was born at Wylam, near New- 

 castle. After working on a farm he assisted 

 his father as fireman in a colliery. His interest 

 in original re- 

 search lead to his 

 invention of a 

 miner's safety 

 lamp and to 

 working out the 

 idea of applying 

 steam power to 

 locomotive e n - 

 gines. His prin- 

 ciple was con- 

 cretely illustrated 

 in a locomotive 

 engine that was set to work in 1814 to operate 

 on a colliery tramway. An improved engine 

 was completed the following year and con- 

 tinues, with Watt's steam engine, to serve as 

 the present-day model in locomotive construc- 

 tion. 



Stephenson was appointed chief engineer of 

 the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1821, 

 and three years later engineer of the Liverpool 

 & Manchester Railway, which was formally 

 opened in 1830 (see RAILROAD). This railroad 

 purchased his famous, yet crude, locomotive, 

 The Rocket, which attained the then amazing 

 speed of twenty-nine miles per hour. Before 

 long his reputation was so great that he was 

 consulted on every large engineering project 

 of his time. The opening of the Liverpool & 

 Manchester Railway was a triumph for him, 

 for it had been attended with many difficulties, 

 and its success marked the real beginning of 

 the British railway system. 



Robert Stephenson (1803-1859), the son of 

 George Stephenson, was born at Wallington 

 Quay and died in London. He received an ex- 

 cellent education and on leaving school at- 



GEORGE STEPHENSON 

 The first "railroad man." 



