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Middlesborough
Historical and geographical information
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Introduction
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to other pages are in dark blue.
Headlines of the history of the
Middlesbrough are in brown.
References and citations are in turquoise.
Contextual history is in purple.
This webpage about the Middlesbrough has the
following section headings:
- The
Farndales of Middlesbrough
- Middlesbrough,
an overview
- Timeline
of Middlesbrough
- Stainton
- Links, texts and
books
The Farndales of Middlesborough
The
following Farndales were associated with Middlesborough: Richard de Farndale (FAR00016);
John Farndale (FAR00070);
John Farndale (FAR00076);
Matthew Farndale (FAR00121);
Issabel Farndale (FAR00122);
William Farndale (FAR00125);
John Farndale (FAR00168),
labourer in Middlesborough; George Farndale (FAR00215);
Joseph Farndale (FAR00228);
Henry Farndale (FAR00229);
Jane Farndale (FAR00251);
George Farndale (FAR00271),
tile maker, ironstone worker and then brick-layer of Middlesborough; Ann
Farndale (FAR00278),
servant in Middlesborough (Nunthorpe); William Farndale (FAR00283);
Elizabeth Farndale (FAR00284);
Richard Farndale (FAR00288);
Joseph Farndale (FAR00299),
Cartwright and then Joiner in Middlesborough; John H Farndale (FAR00302), Miner
of West Hartlepool who was killed aged 37 by a fall of iron stone at the Poston
Mines, Ormsby, Middlesborough; William Masterman Farndale (FAR00312),
Customs officer of Middlesborough (also referred to as a Tide Waiter of
Cleveland Port); George Farndale (FAR00333); Annie
Maria Farndale (FAR00334);
Joseph Farndale (FAR00350B),
police sergeant in Middlesborough; George Farndale (FAR00350C);
John William Farndale (FAR00454);
John W Farndale (FAR00472);
Maria J Farndale (FAR00485);
William George Farndale (FAR00492),
Clerk of Middlesborough who went to USA in 1907; Mary Jane Farndale (FAR00508);
Arthur Edwin Farndale (FAR00532);
William Leng Farndale (FAR00539);
Edith Emily Farndale (FAR00546);
John Farndale (FAR00582);
Annie Elizabeth Farndale (FAR00649);
Robert William Farndale (FAR00662);
James Farndale (FAR00669);
George W Farndale (FAR00678);
Henry Farndale (FAR00681A);
Sarah Elizabeth Farndale (FAR00693);
Arthur E Farndale (FAR00706);
Clara Farndale (FAR00713);
Alfred Farndale (FAR00721);
Dorothy Farndale (FAR00762);
Ethel Farndale (FAR00777);
Bernard Farndale (FAR00783);
Albert Farndale (FAR00820);
Ethel Farndale (FAR00831);
William H Farndale (FAR00840);
Violet Farndale (FAR00849);
James Farndale (FAR00863);
George T Farndale (FAR00871);
Rubina Farndale (FAR00873);
George T Farndale (FAR00888);
Frederick Farndale (FAR00898);
Ronald Farndale (FAR00925);
Lillian Farndale (FAR0933);
Rosalie Farndale (FAR00961);
Doreen Farndale (FAR00972);
Marion Farndale (FAR01028);
and Michael Farndale (FAR01032).
Middlesborough
Middlesbrough
lies near the mouth of the River Tees and north of the
North York Moors. Until the early 1800s, the area was rural farmland in the
historic county of Yorkshire. The town was a planned development which started
in 1830, based around a new port with coal and later ironworks added. Steel production
and ship building began in the late 1800s, remaining associated with the town
until the post-industrial decline of the late twentieth century.
The
earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name is Mydilsburgh.
Some believe the name means "middle fortress", as it was midway
between the two religious houses of Durham and Whitby. It might also be an Old
English personal name (Midele or Myhailf) combined with burgh meaning town.
Middlesbrough Timeline
686
In 686, a monastic cell was consecrated by St. Cuthbert at the
request of St. Hilda, Abbess of Whitby. The cell evolved
into Middlesbrough Priory. The manor of Middlesburgh
belonged to Whitby Abbey and Gisborough Priory.
The area was settled by the Norsemen. Names of Viking origin are abundant
in the area – for example, Ormesby, Stainsby, Maltby and Tollesby were once separate villages that belonged
to Norsemen including Orm, Steinn, Malti and Toll. They are now suburbs of
Middlesbrough.
1086
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1923: No mention of Middlesbrough by that
name occurs in the Domesday Survey, nor is there anything to show how its name
arose except vague traditions of a Roman settlement. It is never called a manor
till the 16th century; in the 11th century it was probably included in the
manor of Acklam.
1119
In 1119 Robert Bruce, Lord of Cleveland and
Annandale, granted and confirmed the church of St. Hilda of Middleburg to
Whitby. The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1974: Robert de Brus, founder of the priory of Guisborough,
granted the church of St Hilda of Middlesbrough, with consent of his wife Agnes
and Adam his son, to the abbey of Whitby, with land in Newham, on condition
that there should be monks serving God and St. Hilda in the church of
Middlesbrough, who might be sufficiently maintained by the revenues of that
church, the surplus being received by the mother church of Whitby.
1366
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1923: There is no record of mining
operations carried on in the parish by the monks, but in 1366 Isabel de Fauconberg, widow of the overlord of Middlesbrough, had as
dower 'one third of the toll of Middlesbrough and one third of the profit
arising from marl, mines of slate, iron, &c., so that she may take profit
of mining at will, and from the court of Middlesbrough for search of the River
Tees.’
1452
The importance of the early church at "Middleburg",
later known as Middlesbrough Priory, is indicated by the fact that, in
1452, it possessed four altars.
1537
Up until its closure on the Dissolution of the
Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1537, St Hilda was maintained
by 12 Benedictine monks, many of whom became vicars, or rectors, of
various places in Cleveland.
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1923: Down to the 16th century the land of the parish
belonged for the most part to two great religious houses. The church of
Middlesbrough itself was granted by Robert de Brus to form a cell to Whitby
Abbey, and a few monks lived here down to 1534. The Priors of Guisborough had a
considerable amount of land in all the vills of the
parish and a grange at Ayresome in the township of Linthorpe. Both Guisborough Priory and Byland Abbey owned
fisheries in the River Tees.
1791
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire,
A History of the County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory
of Middlesbrough, 1923: In 1791 there must
have been disused gravel-pits in the township of Middlesbrough. When on the
partition of the estate of the Hustlers their land here was assigned to Richard
William Peirse, Thomas Hustler retained the privilege of taking gravel and sand
from the Middlesbrough quarry or gravel-pit, paying Mr. Peirse 1d. a cart-load.
1801
In 1801, Middlesbrough was a small farm with a population of just 25.
During the latter half of the nineteenth century, however, it would experience
rapid growth.
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1923: The population of the place at that time must have
been very small. At the beginning of the 19th century the township was a dreary
and swampy expanse, containing four farm-houses, with
a population of twenty-five persons. The church was in ruins and the churchyard
unenclosed, though it was still occasionally used as a burial place. The
township of Linthorpe appears to have been in rather
better case. Here the new village of Newport, an outport
of Stockton-on-Tees, had come into being.
1828
The influential Quaker banker, coal mine owner and Stockton and
Darlington Railway (“S&DR”) shareholder Joseph Pease sailed up the River Tees to find a suitable new site downriver of Stockton
on which to place new coal staithes.
Joseph Pease and a group of Quaker businessmen bought the Middlesbrough
farmstead and associated estate, which then comprised some 527 acres of land,
and established the Middlesbrough Estate Company.
Joseph Pease was a Quaker, born on 22 June 1799 into a wealthy family. He
initially worked in the wool factories at Darlington owned by his father,
Edward Pease who also partnered George Stephenson in his engine factory at
Walker, Newcastle, and was a board member of the Stockton & Darlington
Railway where he became known as the ‘Father of the Railways’.
Joseph became treasurer of the Stockton & Darlington Railway at the
age of 25. With the railway in need of expansion and a more convenient port
necessary to export the harvest of the Durham coalfields, the company sought a
site for a terminus on the lower Tees. Further up, the river was treacherous
and almost unnavigable, only small craft of shallow draught capable of reaching
Stockton and Yarm. The new port was to be called Port Darlington. In the face
of heavy opposition from Stockton and Yarm industrialists, who knew a new port
lower down the river would steal much of their business, it was Joseph Pease
who became prime mover in lobbying parliament to grant the necessary Act for
the Middlesbrough Railway Extension.
The Tees Navigation Company was about to
improve the river and proposed that the railway delay application to
Parliament, but, despite opposition, at a meeting in January 1828 it was
decided to proceed. A more direct northerly route from Auckland to the
Tees had been considered since 1819. This was 6 miles shorter via the route of
the S&DR, and named the Clarence
Railway in honour of the Duke of Clarence, later King William
IV. Two members of the management committee resigned, as they felt
that Stockton would be adversely affected by the line, and Meynell, the
S&DR chairman, stepped down from leadership. The Clarence Railway was
approved a few days later, with the same gauge as the S&DR. The route
of the Clarence Railway was afterwards amended to reach Samphire Batts, later
known as Port Clarence, and traffic started in
August 1833.
The S&DR received permission for its branch on 23 May 1828 after
promising to complete the Hagger Leases Branch and to build a bridge across the
Tees at least 72 feet (22 m) wide and 19 feet (5.8 m) above low
water, so as not to affect shipping.
1829
Middlesbrough had a population of 40 inhabitants in 1829.
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1923: … the population of Middlesbrough was forty. It
seems, therefore, that the tradition of the single house which stood in the
township in 1828 is not quite correct. It was in the latter year that the
Stockton and Darlington railway was extended, largely owing to the exertions of
the Pease family, to the Middlesbrough side of the Tees. Edward and Joseph
Pease, with several other Quaker men of business, realized the value of this
tract of riverside ground as the site of a new coaling port and purchased 500
acres on which to erect their staiths and lay out the
town. The purchasers, who styled themselves the 'Middlesbrough Owners,' were
Thomas Richardson, Henry Birkbeck, Simon Martin, Joseph Pease, jun., Edward
Pease, and Francis Gibson. Their success was phenomenal. The first of many
ships loaded with coal left Middlesbrough and passed out to sea in 1830.
1831
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1923: The parish of Middlesbrough included in 1831 the
townships of Middlesbrough and Linthorpe, and covered 2,300 acres. … The population of the parish in
1831 was 383, of the township 154, an increase directly attributed to the
extension of the railway. During the next few years it
increased in much larger proportion, and a movement was set on foot in 1836 for
building a new parish church of St. Hilda. Money was readily contributed for
the purpose, and in 1840 the church was consecrated.
Middlesbrough, about 1831
1832
Joseph was elected to Parliament in 1832, representing South Durham, and
became the first Quaker to sit in the Commons. He campaigned against corruption
and slavery while fervently supporting human rights and religious freedom. He
proposed and carried a clause in the Metropolitan Police Bill prohibiting the
common pastimes of bull and bear baiting, and also sat
on many committees dealing with industry. Re-elected in 1835 and 1837 he
eventually resigned from parliament in 1841 because of heavy business commitments.
1834
By the middle of 1834 Port Clarence had opened and 28 miles (45 km)
of line was in use. The S&DR charged the 2 1⁄4d per ton
per mile landsale rate for coal it carried the 10
miles (16 km) from the collieries to Simpasture
for forwarding to Port Clarence, rather than the lower shipping rate. By
July 1834, the Exchequer Loan Commissioners had
taken control of the Clarence Railway.
1840
A partnership was founded in 1840 by Henry Bolckow
and John Vaughan.
With his five sons and his brother Henry, Joseph Pease formed a business
called Pease & Partners. By 1840 when Middlesbrough showed signs of
stagnating, it was clearly in his interest as one of the Owners and as a
director of Pease & Partners to attract alternative industry. The move he
made was to offer Henry Bolckow and John Vaughan land
on easy terms and give them letters of introduction when they started their
iron business.
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1923: It was at about this time also that
Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow and John Vaughan, the
founders of Middlesbrough's most important industry, took up their residence
here. In the iron-works which they established in
Middlesbrough in 1841 they manufactured various kinds of steel and wrought-iron.
The
Iron and Steel industry dominated the Tees area since Iron production started
in Middlesbrough during the 1840s.
1841
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire,
A History of the County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory
of Middlesbrough, 1923: … the newly made town, the population
of which was now more than 5,000, entered on the preliminary stage towards
incorporation. By the Middlesbrough Improvement Act of 1841 commissioners were
appointed to provide for the lighting, watching and
cleansing of the streets and the general improvement of the town. It then
consisted of the township of Middlesbrough and a piece of land of about 15
acres called Bell's Enclosure. The commissioners had power at the same time to
establish a market for green stuff, fish, bacon, butter
and butchers' meat. The farmers of the rich Cleveland valleys made great use of
this from the first.
1844
Joseph Pease was fond of the Cleveland coast. Shortly after retiring from
parliament, in 1844 he bought several fishermen’s cottages on the seafront at
Marske, demolished them then used the site to build Cliff House where his
family spent their summers.
1846
In 1846, Bolckow and Vaughan built their first blast
furnaces at Witton Park, founding the Witton Park Ironworks. The works used
coal from Witton Park Colliery to make coke, and ironstone from Whitby on the
coast. The pig iron produced at Witton was transported to Middlesbrough for
further forging or casting.
1850
In 1850, Vaughan and his mining geologist, John Marley discovered iron
ore, conveniently situated near Eston in the Cleveland Hills. Unknown to anyone
at the time, this vein was part of the Cleveland Ironstone Formation, which was
already being mined in Grosmont by Losh, Wilson and
Bell.
1851
Middlesbrough had grown to a population of 7,600 in 1851.
To make use of the ore being mined at Eston, in 1851 Bolckow
and Vaughan built a blast furnace at nearby South Bank, Middlesbrough, to make
use of the ore from nearby Eston, enabling the entire process from rock to
finished products to be carried out in one place. It was the first to be built
on Teesside, on what was later nicknamed "the Steel River". The firm
drove the dramatic growth of Middlesbrough and the production of coal and iron
in the north-east of England in the nineteenth century.
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1923: The first of the Middlesbrough blast furnaces was
made in [1851], and the production of pig-iron in this district
gradually increased till in 1900 it produced one-third of the total output of
Great Britain; well over a million tons were shipped from the port in 1908.
Middlesbrough is the centre both for the smelting of iron and the manufacture
of steel, and the export of these is mainly responsible for the increasing
importance of the port.
Pig
iron production rose tenfold between 1851 and 1856 and by the mid 1870's
Middlesbrough was producing one third of the entire nations Pig Iron output. It
was during this time Middlesbrough earned the nickname "Ironopolis".
Ironopolis
1853
As the railways pushed east beyond Redcar, Pease & Partners expanded
into ironstone mining. In 1853 they opened the Hutton Lowcross mine near
Guisborough. Soon, they owned Upleatham, Skinningrove and Hob Hill (Saltburn)
mines, between them annually producing almost a million tonnes of ore.
On 21 January 1853, Middlesbrough received its Royal Charter of Incorporation, giving the town the right to have a mayor, aldermen and councillors.
The Victoria County History – Yorkshire, A History of the
County of York: Volume 3 Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Middlesbrough,
1923: In 1853 a royal charter was granted
by which Middlesbrough became a borough, and the powers of the Improvement
Commissioners were vested in a corporation under the title of the mayor,
aldermen and burgesses. The first mayor was Mr. Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow, one of the two men who had contributed so largely
towards the prosperity of the town. The corporation took as its motto 'Erimus,' and the subsequent record of Middlesbrough has
been one of almost unchecked expansion.
Henry
Bolckow became mayor, in 1853.
Middlesbrough was made a municipal borough in 1853.
“By
the provisions of its Charter, the Corporation was authorised to have a Common
Seal, which could also be used as a Coat of Arms, and its design was entrusted
to W Hylton Longstaffe, the Town Clerk of Gateshead.
There can be little doubt that he was the author of that name who wrote “The
History and Antiquities of Darlington”, which was published in 1854, and the
artist who sketched and described the remains of the Middlesbrough Priory which
came to light in 1846 with the demolition of the Middlesbrough Farm House. As the basis of the Borough Seal, Longstaffe borrowed the blue lion from the arms of Robert
de Brus of Skelton, the 12th century founder of the Middlesbrough Priory. To
this, he added ships and anchors to highlight the town’s importance as a
seaport, while his use of black in certain details was to denote the
significance of coal in relation to its industries. As far as a motto was
concerned, he took further inspiration from the de Brus family, whose own motto
was, in the Latin, “Fuimus” (“We have been”),
denoting their former glory. Looking positively to the future, Longstaffe opted for the Latin “Erimus”
(“We shall be”).”
1857
1859
It was from Marske that one afternoon in 1859 Joseph Pease’s brother,
Henry took a stroll over the sandbanks to discover the old village of Saltburn.
Returning breathless, he stated his intention to build a new town on top of the
cliff. With some help from Joseph and the Stockton & Darlington Railway, he
succeeded, naming it Saltburn by the Sea.
1861
Middlesbrough had grown to a population of 19,000 in 1861
1864
In 1864 Bolckow, Vaughan & Co Limited was
incorporated into an English ironmaking and mining company with capital of
£2.5M, making it the largest company ever formed up to that time. Its assets included
iron mines, collieries, and limestone quarries in Cleveland, County Durham and
Weardale and had iron and steel works extending over 700 acres (280 ha) along
the banks of the River Tees.
1867
On
15 August 1867, a Reform Bill was passed, making Middlesbrough a new
parliamentary borough, Bolckow was elected member for
Middlesbrough the following year.
1868
Vaughan died in 1868. The Institution of Civil Engineers, in their
obituary, commented on the relationship between Vaughan and Bolckow:
"There was indeed something remarkable in the thorough division of
labour in the management of the affairs of the firm. While possessing the most
unbounded confidence in each other, the two partners never interfered in the
slightest degree with each other's work. Mr. Bolckow
had the entire management of the financial department, while Mr. Vaughan as
worthily controlled the practical work of the establishment."
1871
Middlesbrough had grown to a population of 40,000.
The
1871 census of England & Wales showed that Middlesbrough had the second
highest percentage of Irish born people in England after
Liverpool. This equated to 9.2% of the overall population of the district
at the time. Due to the rapid development of the town and its
industrialisation there was much need for people to work in the many blast
furnaces and steel works along the banks of the Tees. This attracted many
people from Ireland, who were in much need of work. As well as people from
Ireland, the Scottish, Welsh and
overseas inhabitants made up 16% of Middlesbrough's population in 1871.
1875
By 1875, eight and a half million tonnes of ironstone, limestone, coal and coke were being transported, most of which was used
in Teesside’s iron industry.
In 1875, Bolckow, Vaughan & Co opened the Cleveland Steelworks in Middlesbrough beginning the transition from Iron production to Steel and by the turn of the century, Teesside had become one of the major steel centres in the country and possibly the world.
1889
When elected county councils were created in 1889,
Middlesbrough was considered large enough to provide its own county-level
services and so it became a county borough, independent from North Riding
County Council.
1900
In
1900, Bolckow, Vaughan & Co had become
the largest producer of steel in Great Britain.
The
population reached 90,000.
1909
Newport Road, 1909
1914
In
1914, Dorman Long, another major steel
producer from Middlesbrough become the largest company in Britain employing a
workforce of over 20,000.
1929
By
1929 Dorman Long was the dominant steel producer on Teesside after taking over Bolckow, Vaughan & Co and acquiring its assets. The
steel components of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932) were engineered
and fabricated by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough. The company was also
responsible for the New Tyne Bridge in Newcastle. The
importance of the area to the steel trade gave it the nickname "The Steel
River", referring to the River Tees and the
transition from Iron to Steel.
1968
The
borough of Middlesbrough was abolished in 1968 when the area was absorbed into
the larger County Borough of Teesside.
1974
In
1974 Middlesbrough was re-established as a borough within the new county of
Cleveland.
1996
Cleveland
was abolished in 1996, since when Middlesbrough has been a unitary authority
within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire.
Stainton
Stainton is a village in Middlesbrough.
Stainton is one of the few areas within the boundaries of modern day
Middlesbrough to have been named in the Domesday Book of
1086. It has been a settlement since pre-Saxon times.
Its name reveals it to have been an area of Scandinavian residence.
Stainton Church dates
back to the 12th century. The Stainton Inn pub, on
Meldyke Lane, was first licensed in 1897, celebrating
its centenary in 1997. Stainton Quarry straddles Stainton Beck, between the
villages of Stainton and Thornton in Middlesbrough. A footbridge joins it to
Kell Gate Green on the other side of the beck. These countryside sites provide
three hectares of community-run open green space for local people
The parents of the navigator Captain James Cook, James
Cook and Grace Pace, were married in the Stainton parish church on
10 October 1725, and the parish register survives.
Links, texts and books