Description:Following much speculation about various railway schemes, Professor Eric Richards writes that in June 1824 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company initiated ‘the first overt and clear-cut challenge to the canal interests’. The Company employed the engineer George Stephenson (1781-1848) and began producing a prospectus for a new railway. Richards describes the ‘feverish bustle’ over railway projects at this exciting time, something which is reflected in a letter written by James Loch to Mr. Fenton, an estate agent on the Leveson-Gower estates, at the beginning of June 1824.
Speculation, and what Richards describes as ‘contagious rumour’ surrounding the development of railways had existed since the beginning of the 1820s. In the letter featured above Loch refers to a ‘project of a railway from Birmingham onwards’ which he had heard rumours about for some time.
The purpose of Loch’s letter was to find out more information about developments with the railways. He asks Fenton to ‘learn’ about ‘who are the more active promoters of the measure’, and also about ‘the proposed capital’.
Loch’s letter reveals that he was interested in the advantages of the railway for the public. He writes ‘what are the advantages…for the publick, both in point of economy and saving of time’. Enthusiastic about developments in inland transport which may benefit the Leveson-Gower interest, Loch was eager to learn more about the railways.
For in-depth contextual analysis of correspondence relating to the development of inland transport during this period, see Professor Eric Richards The Leviathan of Wealth: The Sutherland Fortune in the Industrial Revolution (Routledge, 1973) which has formed the basis for interpretation of the letters featured here.
For biographical information about George Stephenson, see M. W. Kirby, ‘Stephenson, George (1781–1848)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26397]