Robert Stephenson (1803–1859) was a railway and civil engineer born on 16 October 1803 at Willington Quay, near Newcastle upon Tyne, the only son of George Stephenson (1781–1848), colliery and railway engineer. He was educated at Bruce's academy at Newcastle upon Tyne. On leaving school in 1819 Stephenson was apprenticed to Nicholas Wood, viewer of Killingworth colliery. In 1821 he assisted his father in the survey of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and then in 1822 spent six months studying natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history at Edinburgh University. On leaving Edinburgh, Stephenson settled in Newcastle upon Tyne to manage Robert Stephenson & Co at Forth Banks Works, the locomotive building establishment which his father had founded there in 1823 to build stationary and locomotive engines. The locomotive ‘Rocket’ was built under his direction and went on to win the Rainhill locomotive trials, held in October 1829, to determine the best means of propulsion on the Liverpool and Manchester line. He was responsible for surveying the line of the proposed London and Birmingham Railway and was appointed Chief Engineer. The railway was the world's first intercity passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives From 1838 until the end of his life he was engaged on railway work, not only in Great Britain, but all over the world; railways were constructed either under his own direct supervision or under his advice which later became the trunk lines of the countries in which they were laid down. Stephenson’s designs became the dominant type of locomotive in Great Britain. Notable among Stephenson locomotives was the long-boilered engine in which all wheels were placed ahead of the firebox so that there was no restriction on its size. Unsuitable for main line express service, the type was remarkably successful in the carriage of heavy freight where a reservoir ofsteaming capacity could be used with advantage. Stephenson was also successful at bridge building, he built the high-level bridge over the Tyne at Newcastle, the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick and the Britannia Bridge over the Conwy and the Menai Strait. Stephenson also proposed the great Victoria Bridge over the St Lawrence River at Montreal, which was begun in 1854 and completed in 1859 after his death. On 30 July 1847 Stephenson was elected MP for Whitby. He represented the town until his death. He died at his home at 34 Gloucester Square, London, on 12 October 1859 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Edwin Clark (1814–1894) was born at Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, in 1818 to father Josiah Clark, grocer, and his wife, Ann, née Rose. Edwin Clark was mathematical master at Brook Green, and then a surveyor in the west of England. He went to London in 1846 and formed the acquaintance of Robert Stephenson, who appointed him superintending engineer of the Menai Strait Bridge, which was opened on 5 March 1850. Edwin's younger brother, Latimer Clark (1822–1898), worked under him as an assistant engineer during Menai Strait Bridge project. In that year he published The Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges (3 vols., the third an atlas). In August 1850 he became engineer to the Electric and International Telegraph Company, and three months later he took out the first of several patents for ‘electric telegraphs and apparatus connected therewith’. From then on he divided his time between electric and hydraulic engineering. On 4 February 1856 he took out a patent for ‘suspending insulated electric telegraph wires’, but most of his patents were for improvements in dry docks and floating docks, in the methods of lifting ships out of the water for repairs, and for constructing piers. He was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 3 December 1850, and contributed many papers to their Proceedings, being awarded a Telford medal in 1866 for his paper ‘On the hydraulic lift graving dock’, and a Watt medal in 1868 for those on ‘The durability of materials’. Two years' residence in Buenos Aires, Paraguay, and Uruguay, provided material for his Visit to South America (1878). He was married to Eliza (b. 1826/7). Edwin Clark died at his home, Cromwell House, Marlow, on 22 October 1894.

Sir William Fairbairn was born at Kelso, Scotland, in 1789. He was the son of a farmer. His initial schooling was at the local parish school where he learnt to read and studied arithmetic. He later studied book keeping under the guidance of his uncle. The family moved frequently to farms in North Scotland, North Yorkshire and Tyneside. In 1803, while living in Knaresborough, Fairbairn took his first job working on a bridge being built by John Rennie. He was injured in an accident. Later that year, the family moved to a farm belonging to Percy Main colliery, near Newcastle upon Tyne. Fairbairn began working at the colliery and, in 1804, he was apprenticed to John Robinson, a millwright. Fairbairn's technical ability led to him being appointed to look after the engines at Percy Main colliery. Here he became acquainted with George Stephenson. Fairbairn later worked with Stephenson's son Robert on the Britannia and Conway bridges over the Menai Strait. In March 1811, Fairbairn finished his apprenticeship and found work as a millwright in Newcastle. In December that year, he moved to London where he met Alexander Tillotson, the founder of the Philosophical Magazine. Tillotson was building a steam shovel and employed Fairbairn in its construction. By June 1816 he had moved again to Manchester and started to work on a replacement for the Blackfriars Bridge across the River Irwell. Following a disagreement with his employer, Fairbairn left the project and entered into a partnership with James Lillie, with whom he had previously worked as a millwright. Fairbairn and Lillie's first job was to supply machinery to a cotton mill. Their success in this venture meant that the company expanded rapidly, diversifying into the erection of watermills and the construction of light iron steam ships. A heavy loss in the cotton mill project resulted in Fairbairn and Lillie dissolving the partnership in 1832. Fairbairn concentrated on building light iron ships, initially in Manchester. He moved the business to Millwall, London, in 1835, entering into a partnership with an old pupil, Andrew Murray. In 1844 he abandoned the partnership and left Millwall to return to Manchester. The decline of the cotton industry in Manchester meant that Fairbairn's skills as a millwright were in low demand. He diversified into other areas of engineering and began working with John Hetherington on the Lancashire Boiler. Fairbairn also experimented with the properties of iron, and introduced a riveting machine into the boiler making process, to counteract the effects of a strike by his workforce. As well as designing and manufacturing boilers, Fairbairn was interested in safety at work, particularly the prevention of accidents caused by machinery. He initiated a boiler inspection service in response to the high numbers of people being killed or injured as a result of boiler explosions. This led to the establishment of the Manchester Steam Users’ Association in 1854, the same year that Fairbairn was elected president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Fairbairn was also president of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society from 1855 to 1860. He was an authority on mechanical engineering and published many works, including a handbook for engineers in 1856, an examination of the properties of iron in 1861, and a treatise on mills between 1861 and 1863. Having turned down a knighthood in 1861, Fairbairn became a Baronet in 1869. He lived in Ardwick from 1840 until his death in 1874.