Life of Richard Trevithick with an Account of his Inventions: Volume 1 – Classic Review

In the history of steam locomotion, Richard Trevithick holds a central position. The journey of his locomotive in February 1804 is the first documented use of a railway steam engine. Aside from this, his life demonstrated an extraordinary vision of what could be achieved by machines.

His son Francis wrote this early biography of the engineer, titled The Life of Richard Trevithick, With an Account of His Inventions. E & F N Spon of London published the two volume work in 1872.

The life of Richard Trevithick by his engineer son

Francis Trevithick was a prominent railway engineer in his own right, spending much of his working life with the London and North Western Railway. One of Francis’s aims was to gather together as much of Richard’s remaining correspondence along with interviewing as many people who knew or actually worked with him. As many of the events were even then almost three quarters of a century in the past, this presented a stern challenge. In some cases Francis interviewed the children of Trevithick’s collaborators such as Thomas Ellis Jnr of Tredegar Iron Company.

The biography was published in two volumes. This review covers the first volume where most of the South Wales interest lies. It starts with an account of the development of the low pressure steam engine, focussing on the experience of their use in Cornwall, Trevithick’s home county. Subsequently, the chapters are then arranged in broad chronological order which is appropriately suspended at times so as not to destroy the narrative flow of an explanation of specific works and developments. The final chapter brings the story to 1815 and the design of an extraordinary ‘recoil engine’.

An engineering visionary in a challenging world

The picture which emerges is a world of fierce rivalry and jealously guarded reputations. Trevithick’s main opponents were the advocates of low pressure (or atmospheric) steam power led by James Watt. Watt strenuously attempted, along with powerful establishment allies, to destroy Trevithick’s work. This even extended to an attempt to get high pressure engines outlawed by Parliament!

Even allowing for a natural bias towards his father, the engineering vision of Trevithick is extraordinary. Francis points out that at the time of the 1804 locomotive, Richard was planning a mobile dock engine which would combine loading/unloading with a fire engine capability. Moreover, some of Trevithick’s concepts did not exist even in 1872!  One criticism which Francis did level at his father was the fact that he tended to load one innovation upon another to the extent that they were over-ambitious and failed.

In Summary

The book is a fascinating mix of documentary evidence and interview reports held together by commentary and analysis by Francis. An extraordinary glimpse into the life and times of an engineering visionary.

Note: In consideration of the unique nature of the books in the Classic Reviews I am not giving a Good/Not so Good roundup which is a feature of normal book reviews.

Outline Contents

• Early Cornish Engines.
• Richard Trevithick, Sen
• Smeaton and Watt
• Early Life 0f Trevithick
• Plunger- Pole Pump and Water-Pressure Engine
• High-Pressure Whim-Engine
• Camborne Common Road Locomotive
• Patent Of 1802, and London Locomotive
• Tram and Railway Locomotives.
• Partnership, And Early High[1]Pressure Engines
•  High Pressure Steam Dredger
• Thames Driftway
• Iron Tanks
• Ships of Wood and Iron
• 1805 1805 Propelling Vessels By Steam
• Recoil Engine and Tubular Boiler

Related reviews

A Description of the Faults or Dykes of the Mineral Basin of South Wales by George Overton
Diaries of Sir Daniel Gooch, Baronet by Daniel Gooch
Merthyr Tydfil Tramroads and their Locomotives by Gordon Rattenbury and M.J.T. Lewis