The father of high pressure steam power was born at the village of Illogan in Cornwall, England, on April 13, 1771, the only boy after five older sisters. His father, also Richard, was a mine "captain," as mine managers were called. In 1760 Richard, Sr., had married Anne Teague of Redruth. Her family included several more mine captains.

While the village schoolmaster thought the younger Richard disobedient, slow, obstinate and spoiled, the positive sides of these qualities emerged in independent thought, technical planning, persistence, and the loyalty of his workers and friends. His uninspiring record as a student and lack of formal training in engineering mattered less as he began work in the mines. There his talent and interest in engineering gainied early notice. First employed as a mine engineer in 1790 at age nineteen, he was being called on as a consultant by 1792.

Richard Trevithick's locomotive around...