OF THE 
 
 CLEVELAND IRON TRADE.
 
 " GAZETTE " STEAM PRINTING AND PUBLISHING OFFICES, 
 MIDDLESBROUGH-ON TEES.
 
 PIONEEES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CLEVELAND IRON TRADE, 
 
 BY 
 
 J. S. JEANS., 
 
 AUTHOR OF "WESTERN WORT-HIES," ETC. 
 
 MIDDLESBROUGH-ON-TEES : 
 H, G. REID, "GAZETTE" PUBLISHING OFFICES, 
 
 1875,
 
 .771/4-5
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 THE extraordinarily large and rapid growth 
 of the Cleveland Iron Trade, and the vast 
 population chiefly dependent upon it, has 
 awakened an interest which extends beyond 
 the district immediately concerned. The 
 fact that the make of Cleveland Iron now 
 amounts to 1,999,491 tons annually being 
 more than a third part of the whole make of 
 England, and fully double the annual pro- 
 duction of Scotland invests it with a national 
 importance. To supply some definite know- 
 ledge of the men who have created this great 
 industry, is the purpose of this volume. 
 
 The following chapters originally appeared 
 as a series of articles in the Newcastle Weekly 
 Chronicle, and a strong desire was expressed 
 by many to possess them in a more permanent 
 and convenient shape. Before reproducing 
 them in book -form, the facts were carefully
 
 VI. PREFACE. 
 
 verified, but it is obviously no easy matter to 
 secure in the circumstances, perfect accuracy. 
 The aim has been to give a full and faithful 
 sketch of the men who have chiefly come to 
 the front in the creation and development of 
 the staple trade of Cleveland, without going 
 outside the functions of the biographer and the 
 historian. 
 
 No doubt, some names deserving of mention 
 have been omitted ; and opinions may differ 
 as to the relative positions assigned to the 
 various pioneers. The time has not yet 
 come for doing justice to the newer works 
 and workers ; the introduction of wire, nail, 
 tube, and other manufactures, on which the 
 future prosperity of the district must 
 largely depend. No attempt at classifica- 
 tion has been made, and it is hoped that the 
 book will be accepted as an honest endeavour 
 to preserve some reliable and tangible record 
 of the inner life of the Cleveland district, and 
 the lives of the men who have helped to raise 
 it to the position which it now occupies.
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 PREFACE .... . V. 
 
 I. CHARLES ATTWOOD . 1 
 
 II. H. W. F. BOLCKOW, M.P. . . 47 
 
 III. JOHN VAUGHAN . . . 67 
 
 IV. ISAAC WILSON . . ... 84 
 V. JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. .... 94 
 
 VI. EDGAR GILKE3 . 117 
 
 VII. JOSEPH PEASE . . . 128 
 
 VIII. W. R. I. HOPKINS ... . 149 
 
 IX. ISAAC LOWTHIAN BELL . 164 
 
 X. WILLIAM BARNINGHAM . . . 178 
 
 XI. DAVID DALE . . .196 
 
 XII. BERNHARD SAMUELSON, M.P. . . 216 
 
 XIII. CHARLES MARK PALMER, M.P. . .. 235 
 
 XIV. JOHN GJERS 253 
 
 XV. JEREMIAH HEAD . . . 268 
 
 XVI. EDWARD WILLIAMS . . . 282 
 
 XVII. JAMES MORRISON . 298
 
 I-CHAELES ATTWOOD, 
 
 IT would be difficult to find, in the -whole 
 range of industrial biography, a more re- 
 markable career than that which it is here 
 our province to trace. Belonging to, and 
 living chiefly in the memory of a past gene- 
 ration, Charles Attwood is less known, and 
 still less understood and appreciated, than he 
 deserves to be, by the children and children's 
 children of those whom he has outlived. 
 Many of the reminiscences here recorded will 
 have seen the light of publication for the 
 first time, and many facts that clear up what 
 have hitherto been little else than vague 
 traditions, will here, also, initiate their exis- 
 tence on paper. In tracing the lines of Mr. 
 Attwood's biography, we are cultivating a 
 field of surpassing promise and ripeness. 
 Science owes him much more, probably, 
 than his successors will ever be willing; to 
 acknowledge. In the troubled arena of 
 politics he has also fought and left his mark 
 a mark that it will be difficult to efface. His
 
 2 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 many-sided and versatile character may be 
 approached and estimated from several diff- 
 erent points of view ; but his career almost 
 naturally divides itself into two parts the 
 scientific or industrial, and the political. We 
 prefer to deal first with the former phase, as 
 more germane to the aim and scope of the 
 present work. 
 
 Mr. Attwood belongs to a family that had 
 long occupied a leading position among the 
 ironmasters of South Staffordshire. His 
 grandfather began the manufacture of iron 
 in that county about the middle of the last 
 century. At that time, the iron trade of 
 Staffordshire was of extremely limited extent. 
 Scrivener, in his work on the " Iron Trade," 
 estimates the total quantity of pig iron made 
 in England and Wales in 1740 at 17,350 tons, 
 or less than the annual production of a single 
 large-sized Cleveland blast furnace at the 
 present day. In Staffordshire the staple of 
 the pig iron was made up into nail rods and 
 bars. It was in this branch of the trade that 
 the Attwood family were chiefly engaged, 
 although they had previously become steel 
 manufacturers, on a scale that was considered 
 at that time of day, to be exceptionally large. 
 Indeed, the steel manufacture of Great Britain 
 was then the monopoly of a few families. The 
 grandfather of Mr. Attwood, with his three 
 sons, took a leading place among the monopo-
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 
 
 lists. The bulk of the steel was made from 
 the iron obtained from the ore of Dannemora 
 in Sweden, called Oregrund iron. There were 
 four firms in Great Britain that monopolised 
 the Dannemora iron for steel-making pur- 
 poses, and it may be interesting, at this time 
 of day, to state that these firms were the Att- 
 wood family which included the father of 
 the subject of our sketch the Walkers of 
 Rotherham, the Cooksons of Newcastle, and 
 the Harveys of Bristol. It was in this trade 
 that the Cookson family laid the foundations 
 of their fortune, and the Harveys also 
 amassed immense wealth in it, until in an 
 evil hour they founded the Ebbw Vale Works 
 in South Wales, where they lost much of what 
 they possessed. As for the Attwoods, they 
 continued to stick to the steel trade, which, 
 however, was becoming less of a monopoly 
 than it had previously been. The Sheffield 
 firms were getting possession of the field with 
 their cheaper steel, made from Russian and 
 from second class brands of Swedish iron; 
 and competition with them could only be 
 maintained by fighting them with their own 
 weapons and on equal terms. This the Att- 
 woods hesitated to do, although young Charles, 
 who had been brought up to the steel trade, 
 and had studied it closely, thought that the 
 Dannemora ore could still be used with more 
 advantage. Full of this faith, he would have
 
 'i PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 liked to be allowed to carry on the works on 
 his own account. " Don't be such a fool, 
 Charles/' said his relatives. " Can't you see 
 the trade is shrivelled up ? We haven't half 
 the trade we used to have. These Sheffield 
 people, with their cheap steel, are beating us 
 out of the field." " Which," said young Att- 
 wood, "they will continue to do, so long as 
 you charge cent, per cent, profit, while they 
 are content with five-and-twenty." Charles 
 persevered in his suit, assuring his father that 
 he saw how to make their works compete with 
 the Sheffield firms, but he could not get his 
 own way, and he had to look out for " fresh 
 fields and pastures new." 
 
 About the year 1810, we find Mr. Attwood 
 acquiring a share no more than a tenth in 
 a small window or crown glass manufactory at 
 Gateshead. In this concern he worked 
 vigorously, and was enabled in 1813, after 
 buying out all his partners, to carry it on 
 as his own exclusive property. Meanwhile, 
 he felt that the manufacture of glass was in 
 anything but a perfect state, and set himself 
 to improve it. He was so successful, that he 
 patented an invention enabling glass, in- 
 stead of being in colour, as Mr. Attwood has 
 himself put it, " something like a goose's 
 egg," to assume the smooth and transparent 
 consistency it now retains. It was three years 
 before he was able to bring his process to
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 5 
 
 the degree of perfection he desired. During 
 those years he worked most assiduously. He 
 had an office in London, to which the greater 
 part of his glass was shipped for sale ; and he 
 had just attained the threshold of complete 
 commercial success the works having passed 
 entirely into his own hands, and his new pro- 
 cess being remunerative when be became 
 involved in one of the most disastrous lawsuits 
 that ever disgraced the annals of the Court of 
 Chancery, and that is saying much. " It 
 is," says Mr. Attwood himself, " a curious 
 tale. One day 1 was sitting in my London 
 office it was in the autumn of 1813 when 
 a strange man entered and asked if I was 
 Mr. Attwood. Upon my replying in the 
 affirmative, he handed me a note and a piece 
 of parchment, which was a summons to appear 
 in the Court of Chancery at the suit of 
 ' Barber versus Banner.' I said, * I never 
 knew or heard of any such people in my life.' 
 He said, * Oh ! just put it into the hands of 
 your solicitors, and you will see it's all right.' ' 
 Mr. Attwood followed his strange monitor's 
 advice, and found that he had unwittingly be- 
 come involved in a law-suit of long standing, 
 and of almost interminable complication. The 
 principals to the suit Barber and Banner 
 had bought a small glass bottle work at Gates - 
 head, which they ultimately converted into a 
 manufactory of ground glass. Barber, who
 
 6 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND moN TIIADE. 
 
 was a solicitor in Newcastle, was a speculative 
 and unscrupulous man. He soon ruined his 
 partner Banner, and, having been threatened 
 with a prosecution for forgery, suddenly dis- 
 appeared, Meanwhile, Banner was declared 
 bankrupt, and his assignees, thinking, perhaps, 
 there was little or nothing to be got, failed to 
 realize the estate. The works, however, were 
 carried on by other parties until they were 
 joined by Mr. Attwood ; and the bankrupt's 
 representative, finding meanwhile that there 
 was something in the business after all, 
 brought a suit to recover the profits for up- 
 wards of 20 years, under a decree of the Court 
 of Chancery, ordering an account between him- 
 self and the two original partners. The case 
 stood in this position when Mr. Attwood be- 
 came involved in its meshes. It was a question 
 whether the case would not hold out until the 
 account was rendered, and whether the works 
 would not follow the title of the buyers. In 
 the flush of prosperity. Mr. Attwood deter- 
 mined to fight out the case to the last. His 
 first counsel was that Mr. Bell who took up 
 a foremost position at the Chancery bar in 
 the earlier half of the present century. But 
 the case " dragged its weary length along," 
 year after year, until Mr. Bell having become 
 old, addressed Lord Eldon one day, and said, 
 ' I am sorry to inform your lordship that I 
 do not purpose to practise any longer in your
 
 CttAllLES AttfTOOD. 7 
 
 lordship's court." " Why," said his lordship, 
 " how's this surely a precipitate decision ?" 
 " Well, your Lordship, I'm an old man." 
 "So am I," said Eldon. "But," said Mr. 
 Bell, " I'm an infirm old man/' " And so, 
 also, am I," said the Chancellor. "Well," 
 said Mr. Bell, driven at last into a corner, 
 "the real fact is, that, I've made enough money 
 and wish to retire." "Aye," replied his 
 Lordship, " but you have the advantage of me 
 there." Mr. Bell having retired from the 
 management of his case, Mr. Attwood had to 
 look out for another leading counsel, lie 
 procured the services of Mr. Peps, afterwards 
 Lord Chancellor of England, whose patience 
 also became exhausted before the suit was ter- 
 minated. " We must get a hearing," he said 
 one day, addressing Mr. Attwood, " or this 
 case will last as long as your grandchildren." 
 At last, after twenty-eight parties involved in 
 the case had been gathered together from all 
 parts of the world after nine years of cease- 
 less and costly litigation, and after exhausting 
 the time, means, and patience of more than 
 one party to the suit it came before the 
 Court for final judgment. Vice-Chancellor 
 Leach, who has attained some notoriety, from 
 having been selected by George the Fourth to 
 prosecute Queen Caroline, declared, in dis- 
 missing it, that it was a most melancholy 
 case and a disgrace to the records of the
 
 8 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 court. To Mr. Attwood it meant little short 
 of absolute ruin. His patent, which should, 
 and under other circumstances would have 
 made him one of the richest men in the 
 country, was only of fourteen years' duration. 
 Three of those years had been spent in bring- 
 ing it to perfection. Other nine had been 
 frittered away in a vexatious and costly litiga- 
 tion, which completely unhinged his prospects, 
 and created a gnawing sense of insecurity. 
 When the trial terminated, he found that the 
 parties from whom he should have recovered 
 his costs were mere men of straw. He was 
 thus the poorer by thousands of pounds. 
 With only two years of his patent unexpired, 
 he could not hope to do great things. So far, 
 therefore, as he himself was concerned, he 
 jogged along until his patent rights had 
 lapsed, when Mr. Chance of Birmingham, Mr. 
 Hartley of Sunderland, and other firms up and 
 down the country took up the principle and 
 worked it out with highly profitable results. 
 Briefly stated, Mr. Attwood's patent consisted 
 in the use of pure soda, pure lime, and pure 
 sand, unmixed with the Scotch kelp and 
 Spanish barilla that were formerly used 
 exclusively in the manufacture of English 
 window glass. 
 
 It is impossible to resist the temptation to 
 relate another reminiscence of Mr. Attwood's 
 connection with the glass trade, which led to
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 9 
 
 an encounter between himself and Sir Robert 
 Peel, who was then Secretary of State for 
 Ireland. A statutory enactment having pro- 
 vided that a duty of 250 per cent, on its prime 
 cost should be imposed on all glass entering 
 Ireland, Mr. Attwood resolved to take advan- 
 tage of the short intervening space, before the 
 Act became law, to get as much stock as 
 possible into the sister country free of duty. 
 Simultaneously with this, the Dumbarton glass 
 makers then the largest in the kingdom 
 shipped immense quantities from the Clyde, 
 so that by the time the Act came into opera- 
 tion there was something like a three years' 
 stock, upon which no duty could be charged. 
 Mr. Attwood had previously consulted some 
 of the most eminent legal men in London, as 
 to whether there was any risk in what he had 
 done ; and the answer he got that there was 
 a standing order against the repeal or altera- 
 tion of any fiscal bill passed in the same 
 session of Parliament gave him increased 
 assurance in the course he adopted. But the 
 Irish Ministers did not relish the turn that 
 affairs had taken, and one of them Mr. Fitz- 
 gerald surreptitiously introduced into the 
 Irish Customs Act a clause, which provided 
 that the duty on glass should take retrospec- 
 tive effect. This provision was tagged on to 
 the end of a Bill dealing with quite another 
 subject, and it was no doubt expected that it
 
 10 1>IOXEEHS OF T1JK CLEVELAND 1ROS' TRADE. 
 
 would pass unnoticed and unchallenged. It 
 did so in the ] louse of Commons, but Mr. 
 Attwoocl, wroth at finding himself so com- 
 pletely and unfairly ' ; sold," buckled on his 
 armour, and resolved to measure weapons 
 with the ministers. Having heard from Ire- 
 land that his cargoes, which had beer, arriving 
 very fast, were all confiscated by the Com- 
 missioners of Customs, and would not be given 
 up until the Bill making them amenable to 
 this huge impost had received the royal 
 assent, he waited upon Sir Robert Peel with 
 the view of uttering a remonstrance. " I 
 cannot," said Mr. Attwood, " allow 20,000 to 
 be taken out of my pocket by a fraud of this 
 kind." " Well," replied the secretary, " there 
 seerns to me to be no remedy for it. I can- 
 not help you." With that he bowed Mr. Att- 
 wood to the door, evidently annoyed, or at 
 any rate not prepossessed by the high ground 
 and unvarnished terms which his visitor had 
 chosen to assume. It went against his grain 
 to be beaten, and so Mr. Attwood, after pon- 
 dering in his heart, the most likely means of 
 checkmating the move of the Government, 
 took the coach and drove down into County 
 Wicldow, where he took the opinion of Lord 
 Plunkett, some time Attorney General, and a 
 man of profound legal acumen. His lordship 
 distinctly affirmed " that a retrospective 
 duty could not be imposed in the Queen's
 
 CMARLES AtTWoOt). 1 1 
 
 courts." Armed with this opinion, Mr. Att- 
 wood once more waited upon Peel. He 
 found the secretary stiffer and sterner than 
 before. He would listen to nothing, and in- 
 sisted that the duty should be paid. At last 
 Mr. Attwood said ** we are advised that it 
 cannot be imposed in the Queen's courts, and 
 we mean to try it there." " You can do as 
 you like/' said Peel, " We will be prepared to 
 meet you." Moving to the door, Mr. Attwood 
 added, " Before I go, I may just tell you that 
 I hold in my hand the written opinion of 
 Lord Plunkett, that the duty is illegal." 
 " Wait a minute," said Peel, who became much 
 agitated for Lord Plunkett and he were 
 enemies and rivals, and he was doubtless 
 afraid that it might lead to a vote of censure 
 " Perhaps you will allow me to see that 
 opinion." " Certainly, sir," said Mr. Attwood, 
 who placed the document in the Secretary's 
 hands, and watched his fingers nervously try- 
 ing to untie the red tape ; " you can have it 
 to sleep over if you like." Having glanced 
 at the paper, Peel retorted, with more urbanity 
 of manner, '* This is a case of great impor- 
 tance. I could riot ive you an answer on it 
 
 V 
 
 just now." Mr. Attwood replied that he 
 might do so at his leisure, and retired. Be- 
 fore nine o'clock next morning, however, he 
 received a note, with Mr. Secretary 1'eel's 
 compliments, to the effect that "Her Majesty's
 
 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Government have resolved not to enforce the 
 duties on window glass imposed under the 
 recent Act of Parliament." Next session, 
 much to Mr. Attwood's disgust and loss, Peel 
 and Fitzgerald brought in a bill to repeal 
 altogether the duty on window glass, and after 
 lying for many months on the open quays at 
 Dublin, his large stock had to be disposed of 
 at a great sacrifice. 
 
 In the month of May, 1828, Mr. Attwood 
 made a discovery which has a reflex influence 
 of some little account on the industrial annals 
 of Cleveland. The date is firmly impressed 
 in Mr. Attwood's mind, because he was com- 
 ing down from London to Northampton for 
 the purpose of meeting a favourite blood 
 mare of his own the first he had entered 
 for a race which was to take part in the 
 " Oaks " of that year. The mare was to come 
 from Manchester, and Mr. Attwood, travelling 
 from London in the mail coach for it was in 
 the pre-railway days expected to meet her 
 at Northampton. Here he slept during the 
 night, finding that his mare had not arrived ; 
 and next morning he got up at six o'clock, 
 with the object of having a walk through the 
 town. Chance led him in the direction 
 of the Castle, in the yard of which there was 
 a low wall, built of a curious kind of stone. 
 After carefully examining this stone, Mr. Att- 
 wood became convinced that it was iron ore,
 
 CHARLES ATT WOOD. 13 
 
 identical in kind with that now found in Cleve- 
 land. He had previously met with the same 
 description of ore. During all the years he 
 lived in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, he 
 was on the outlook for minerals, having been 
 trained to a knowledge of metallurgy and 
 mineralogy ; and the late Mr. John Clayton 
 was accustomed to show him specimens of 
 stone obtained from the Whitby district, that 
 was occasionally used in the furnaces of the 
 Tyne Iron Company, at Lemington. Mr. 
 Clayton told them with reference to this 
 peculiar stone " We get it by little vessels 
 that go down the coast about Whitby in the 
 summer time, and when the tide recedes, 
 these vessels, lying upon the sand, are filled 
 with blocks of ironstone that are washed off 
 the cliffs on to the beach." The quantity of 
 stone thus obtained was very fragmentary and 
 precarious ; and having been informed by Mr. 
 Clayton and others, that the Whitby stone 
 made bad iron per se, he took little further 
 interest in it. But he knew the deposition 
 of the stone thoroughly. He was aware, that 
 in all the other ironstone-bearing districts of 
 Great Britain the mineral was found in nodular 
 bands, whereas, here in Cleveland, it lay in 
 rock masses. He also believed that there was 
 an enormous quantity of this oolitic or Cleve- 
 land stone ; and when he found it cropping 
 up in Northamptonshire he resolved in his
 
 14 PIONEERS O.F THE CLEVELAND IRON TBADK. 
 
 mind whether it could not be turned to good 
 account. Northampton is about half-way be- 
 tween Staffordshire and London. There was 
 a splendid highway the whole distance com- 
 mencing with the Kiver Trent in Staffordshire, 
 and then via the Grand Junction Canal to the 
 Metropolis. It struck Mr. Attwood that as 
 the heavy laden boats or barges navigating 
 the canal came back empty, it might suit the 
 purpose of the canal company to allow them 
 to be charged with this ironstone as back 
 freight, in which case it could be delivered in 
 Staffordshire for a very small cost. Mean- 
 while, however, the important problem 
 " where docs this stone come from ?" pre- 
 sented itself for solution. lie made inquiries 
 about Northampton, and found no one who 
 could at all throw light upon his question. All 
 that day until sunset he walked to and fro in 
 the neighbourhood, and as he came home he 
 passed through a ploughed field about a mile 
 from the town. As is the custom in the 
 country, the hind or ploughman was unyoking 
 his horses, leaving the plough in the furrow. 
 Following the track of the plough, he dis- 
 covered that it had been turning over iron- 
 stone along its entire course. He asked the 
 "yokel" about it, but could get no satisfactory 
 idea as to what it was, or to what extent it 
 was known to be disseminated throughout the 
 district, He had no difficulty, however, in
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 15 
 
 recognising it as identical with the stone he 
 had seen in the Tyne, brought from Whitby. 
 lie concluded, therefore, that it would be 
 found, niore or less abundantly, scattered over 
 the country between Northampton and Cleve- 
 land. With these conclusions in his mind, he 
 wrote to his brother-in-law in Staffordshire 
 Mr. William Matthews, a well-known iron- 
 master " You can get oolitic ironstone here 
 at Is. per ton. I think it will be worth your 
 while looking after it, for your Staffordshire 
 ironstone is very dear." Mr. Matthews wrote 
 back " Even if you could guarantee me the 
 stone at Is. per ten it is worth nothing, for the 
 Canal Company charge 35s. per ton for the 
 carriage of iron to London, and it would not 
 pay me to allow one-hall' that rate." Thus 
 repulsed and disappointed, Mr. Attwood took 
 1:0 further notice of the discovery he had made 
 in Northampton. The matter had indeed 
 almost entirely passed from his memory, 
 until one day in the spring of 1830, he was 
 riding from Thirsk across the Hambledon 
 Moors, to the training stables of some Arabian 
 horses which he intended running in the 
 " Oaks" of that year. On his way, he observed 
 that the country roads were mended with the 
 same oolitic ironstone that he had found at 
 Northampton. The coincidence struck him at 
 once, and confirmed him in the impression that 
 the iron ore extended the length of Whitby,
 
 16 
 
 and thence near to Stockton and Middles- 
 brough. Addressing a country man whom he 
 met, he asked, " Can you tell me where this 
 stone comes from ?" " Down that lane, sir," 
 was the reply, pointing in the direction in- 
 dicated. Instead, therefore, of going to the 
 training grounds, Mr. Attwood determined to 
 devote the morning to find out, if possible, 
 the formation of this deposit. He turned 
 his horse's head down the lane, and after 
 following its course for about a mile and a- 
 half, he came to a limestone quarry, used for 
 agricultural purposes, where there was a con- 
 siderable quantity of it collected. The stone 
 had evidently been disinterred in building these 
 limekilns, and was thrown aside as useless 
 rubbish. Again, it occurred to Mr. Attwood, 
 whether his discovery could not be turned to 
 advantage. The railway system was then in 
 its infancy. Between Darlington and Stock- 
 ton there was a line worked entirely by 
 horses. But between Manchester and Liver- 
 pool the system had been tried on the present 
 modern scale, and tried successfully. It there- 
 fore seemed to Mr. Attwood, that railway 
 facilities would soon become extensively 
 developed in England, and bring into close 
 and easy contact mineral districts, otherwise 
 too remote to be worked in conjunction and 
 inter-dependence. In view of such a proba- 
 bility, he began to attach great importance to
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 1 7 
 
 the discovery at Thirsk which could so soon 
 be brought into practical co-operation with 
 the Durham coal-field, although it could not 
 be opened out at that time. Another link 
 was soon afterwards added to the chain this 
 time, also, in an accidental manner. Mr. Att- 
 wood had some shooting quarters behind 
 Haltwliistle, where he was accustomed to 
 spend some time every year. His brother- 
 in-law, Mr. Matthews, was as fond of grouse- 
 shooting as himself, and generally joined him 
 at llaltwhistle in the season. In August of 
 this same year, 1830, after they had finished 
 their shooting campaign together, and when 
 Mr. Matthews was talking about returning to 
 Staffordshire, Mr. Attwood said, "Do you re- 
 member me writing you three years ago about 
 a rock of ironstone I found at Northampton, 
 and which I thought might be made of some 
 value to you in Staffordshire ?" "I recollect 
 perfectly," was the reply. " Then," said Mr. 
 Attwood, " I found that same rock close at 
 hand here, and rely upon it, it will be brought 
 into connection with the coal-field before long, 
 and give rise to quite a new iron trade." Mr. 
 Attwood then proposed that his brother-in- 
 law should accompany him to Thirsk, and see 
 the stone for himself. Mr. Matthews at once 
 consented. They slept at Thirsk all night, 
 and went on together next morning to the 
 training ground, stopping by the way to look 
 c
 
 18 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 in upon the quarry where Mr. Attwood had 
 found the ironstone. Mr. Matthews was much 
 struck with the discovery, and filled his 
 shooting-jacket pockets with specimens of 
 the stone, which he intended to take with him 
 to Staffordshire for the purpose of analysis. 
 
 We are now approaching the beginning of 
 the end of this part of our narrative. Mr. 
 Attwood waited for the railway system to 
 bring the Durham coal-field and the Cleve- 
 land ironstone together, satisfied that when 
 that union had been completed there would be 
 an immense impetus given to the Northern 
 iron and coal trades. While he lived in Lon- 
 don he became a subscriber to the first geo- 
 logical map that was ever published. It was 
 drawn up by William Smith, the geologist 
 a relative of Professor Philips, the miner- 
 alogist, of Oxford, and the discoverer of the 
 regular order of superposition of the British 
 strata. Smith had prepared a complete 
 geological map of England, but it was too 
 bulky a thing for general use, and it was 
 therefore determined to carry out a scheme 
 of publishing separate geological maps for 
 each county. Geology was then less under- 
 stood and appreciated than it is at the present 
 day, and after twelve county maps had been 
 published the scheme had to be abandoned 
 for want of adequate support. But, fortunately, 
 the map of Yorkshire was one of the twelve
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 19 
 
 indeed, it was the very last published and 
 a wonderful map it is for the accuracy of 
 its outlines. Mr. Attwood instructed his 
 nephew to make out a copy of Smith's map on 
 a small scale, and added, " We will go next 
 week and trace this ironstone from Scar- 
 borough to the Tees ; and as soon as we come 
 to Middlesbrough we shall find its main seam 
 either here (putting his finger on Eston Nab), 
 or here (pointing to Roseberry Topping). 
 The bed is in the lias limestone formation, 
 and wherever it is laid bare under the oolitic, 
 all the way down to the mouth of the Severn, 
 that bed exists." Mr. Attwood's nephew 
 prepared the map as desired. The writer 
 has been permitted to examine it, as well as 
 a copy of the geological survey for York- 
 shire, prepared by Smith, which shows a 
 section of the coast from Scarborough up to 
 the mouth of the Tees. At this time the 
 railway had just been opened from Stockton 
 to Middlesbrough, and Mr. Attwood had made 
 up his mind to acquire a large royalty of 
 the Cleveland ironstone, and commence the 
 manufacture of iron in that district. 
 
 It was at this juncture that circumstances 
 occurred which directed Mr. Attwood's 
 thoughts into quite another channel, and pre- 
 vented him from taking the position which 
 has since, by universal assent, been awarded 
 to Mr. John Vaughan. It was Burns who 
 wrote
 
 20 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 " The best laid schemes o' men and mice 
 Gang aft agley ;" 
 
 and so it was with the plans of Mr. Attwood. 
 Before he had time to carry out his contem- 
 plated examination of the Cleveland hills, he 
 was waited upon by a man named Walton, 
 who had formerly owned a small freehold 
 estate in Weardale, of which he was a native, 
 but at that time kept a public-house in or 
 near Newgate Street, Newcastle. Walton, 
 while working some lead mines in Wear- 
 dale, came upon a peculiar mineral of which 
 he knew nothing, but knowing Mr. Att- 
 wood to be a mineralogist, he brought the 
 stone under his notice. Mr. Attwood at 
 once pronounced it to be a very rich and 
 peculiar quality of iron ore a carbonate of 
 iron which was not known to exist anywhere 
 in Great Britain except Cornwall, although 
 it had been found in abundance among the 
 Styrian and Carinthian Alps from the time 
 of the Romans. In order to have his impres- 
 sions fully verified, Mr. Attwood advised 
 Walton to send the mineral to Dr. Fyfe, of 
 Edinburgh, the eminent chemist, for the pur- 
 pose of analysis. Walton did so, and Dr. Fyfe's 
 assay fully bore out the opinions of Mr. Att- 
 wood, who, having ascertained that a rail- 
 way was then in course of formation which 
 would connect the Bishop Auckland coal-field 
 with Weardale, determined to turn his views
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD, 21 
 
 for the time being in that direction. The 
 district had access with the Tyne by the Wear- 
 dale, Stanhope, and Tyne Railway the first 
 line constructed by Stephenson which was 
 worked, not by locomotives, but by horses 
 and inclined planes. Having revolved in his 
 own mind the all-important question of rail- 
 way facilities, Mr. Attwood said to Walton, 
 " You know Weardale very well ; do you think 
 there is much of this stuff"? " " Yes," he re- 
 plied, " I'm of opinion that there's a very large 
 quantity of it; but it has hitherto been 
 thrown out of the mines as useless." " Then, 
 we'll go through the valley and see what 
 quantity of it can be got ; it's a stone of some 
 value." With Walton as their guide, Mr. 
 Attwood and his nephew made a tour of the 
 lead mines, and found that large quantities 
 of the " rider ore" had been cast out of the 
 mines as rubbish, its tendency being injurious 
 to the lead with which it is found in combina- 
 tion. Mr. Attwood knew that if he could 
 obtain a sufficient quantity of this ore, he 
 would be able to produce the best iron made 
 in Britain ; while he also knew that the Cleve- 
 land ore made a very inferior quality of iron. 
 He did not like the idea of making bad iron, 
 no matter what its commercial results might 
 be, so he elected to throw in his lot with the 
 Weardale ores, saying to his nephew and him- 
 self, " We'll let Cleveland alone in the mean-
 
 22 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 time ; it will keep perhaps long enough." 
 These circumstances led to the abandonment 
 of the proposed survey of the Cleveland hills, 
 and involved, as its necessary corollary, the 
 loss of prestige Mr. Attwood would undoubt- 
 edly have gained had he followed up his dis- 
 coveries and intentions. 
 
 The next matter that claimed Mr. Attwood's 
 attention was the acquisition of a lease for 
 working the ''rider ore" of Weardale. He 
 ascertained that the lead mines of Weardale 
 had been held for many generations by the 
 Blackett family, which subsequently merged 
 in that of Beaumont. And it may be noticed, 
 en passant, that two centuries previously a Mr. 
 Edward Blackett, the owner of the few lead 
 mines worked in the district at that remote 
 period, had been known to have worked Wear- 
 dale iron ore, which was made into iron and 
 steel by a small colony of Germans on the 
 Derwent. The works were carried on at 
 Shotley Bridge, near Consett where their re- 
 mains may be traced to this day ; while the 
 descendants of these German steelworkers 
 may still be identified in the neighbourhood 
 by their queer-sounding names. In those days 
 the art of making iron and steel with coal or 
 coke was quite unknown. Charcoal was the 
 only fuel used, and as the supply of wood in 
 the district became scarce, the steel works 
 were abandoned. Returning from this digres-
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 23 
 
 sion, we find that a gentleman of the name of 
 Pearson, an agent of the Bishop of Durham, 
 had taken, on speculation, a lease of the iron 
 ore in the manors of Stanhope and Wolsingham, 
 at a merely nominal rent, a number of years 
 previous to Walton's discovery. Mr. Pearson 
 had only one child a daughter, who married 
 the late Mr. George Hutton Wilkinson, some 
 time recorder of Newcastle, and through her 
 the lease reverted to her husband and family. 
 But by them the value and character of "the 
 iron ore in Weardale appeared only to be 
 guessed at. Most of those to whom Mr. Alt- 
 wood spoke on the subject were quite incred- 
 ulous of the existence of such ore. One old 
 man knowingly declared, " Nay ; that's no 
 ironstone ; it's only brunt (burnt) stuff." But 
 Mr. Attwood persisted that it was ironstone of 
 the finest quality ; and, unwisely for himself 
 perhaps, made a good deal of noise about it, 
 for when he went to see Mr. Wilkinson about 
 entering into a lease, he found that Mr. Cuth- 
 bert Rippon had been there a few days before 
 him, and had just arranged for the working 
 of all the ironstone in the two manors of Stan- 
 hope and Wolsingham. Under the circum- 
 stances, Mr. Attwood was compelled to make 
 arrangements with Mr. Rippon for a sub-lease 
 of the manor on much less advantageous 
 terms than he could have made with Mr. 
 Wilkinson, had he kept his own counsel.
 
 24 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Having thus established himself in Wear- 
 dale, Mr. Attwood built five blast furnaces at 
 Tow Law, and purchased another, which Mr. 
 Rippon had erected at Stanhope. His ex- 
 pectations as to the quality of iron that could 
 be produced from the so-called "rider ore" 
 were amply verified. No less an authority 
 than Mr. Isaac Lowthian Bell has declared 
 that the iron made at Tow Law is of a very 
 high class so good, indeed, as closely to re- 
 semble in quality the celebrated German 
 " Spiegeleisen." For bar iron purposes it 
 bears a high name, and has, like its prototype 
 in Germany, been found pre-eminently well 
 adapted for the manufacture of the finer kinds 
 of steel an application confined exclusively 
 to the purest descriptions of metal. Mean- 
 while, Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan had 
 built three blast furnaces at Witton Park, 
 relying upon their ability to procure adequate 
 supplies of stone in that district. Herein 
 they were grievously disappointed. They 
 experienced the utmost difficulty in obtaining 
 ironstone sufficient to keep their furnaces 
 blowing, and in their dilemma Mr. Vaughan 
 called on Mr. Attwood, and asked for a supply 
 of his Weardale ores. The latter was un- 
 able to spare any of the " rider ore," which 
 is not found in great beds like the Cleveland 
 stone, but in isolated patches, very irregular 
 and precarious. In the neighbourhood of
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 25 
 
 Consett, however, he had leased a large 
 royalty of clayband ironstone, from which he 
 furnished Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan with 
 occasional supplies. Things were in this 
 state when, one day in the spring of 1850, 
 Mr. Vaughan paid a visit to Mr. Attwood at 
 Tow Law. After some general conversation 
 Mr. Vaughan said, " I've come to sell you 
 some ironstone." "Indeed," replied Mr. 
 Attwood, who could scarcely conceal his 
 astonishment, " I'm sorry to hear that, for I 
 expected you had come to buy some from me. 
 However," he added, " if you can sell me iron- 
 stone cheaper and better than I can work it 
 for myself, I'll be your customer. What can 
 you deliver it for at Tow Law ?" " Six 
 shillings a ton," said Mr. Vaughan. Mr. 
 Attwood at once jumped to the conclusion 
 that the Cleveland ironstone, which he had 
 imagined was yet unknown, had at last been 
 found out. Without expressing his thoughts, 
 however, he asked, " In what part of the 
 country do you find stone that you can deliver 
 at 6s per ton?" In an off-hand way, Mr. 
 Vaughan replied, " On the railway close by 
 Darlington." Mr. Attwood was not to be 
 misled by this ambiguous reply. He went to 
 a drawer, pulled out the geological maps to 
 which allusion has already been made, spread 
 them out before his visitor and said : " Now, 
 I know the geology of Darlington very well ;
 
 26 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 there's no stone to be found thereabouts. At 
 one or other of these places (putting his 
 fingers on the spots indicating Roseberry 
 Topping and Eston Nab) you must find your 
 ironstone." " Mr. Vaughan," said Mr. Att- 
 wood, when relating the anecdote to the 
 writer, "looked at me as if I had been a 
 witch." Admitting the truth of what Mr. 
 Attwood had affirmed, he added, " We've not 
 concluded our arrangements yet ; and we 
 dont want it to be known." " All right," was 
 the reply, " you need not fear me. I advise 
 you to go on, for you've got hold of a good 
 thing." 
 
 Although the events already recorded pre- 
 vented him from taking up the position to 
 which he had looked forward that of being 
 the first to demonstrate the practical value of 
 the Cleveland ironstone Mr. Attwood was 
 not prepared to relinquish altogether his long 
 cherished intention of some day obtaining a 
 footing in the Cleveland district. He, there- 
 fore, about the beginning of 1852, began to 
 look out for ironstone royalties near to Eston. 
 But Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan on the 
 one side, and the Consett Iron Company on 
 the other, had pretty much taken up the first 
 range of hills. Dissappointed thereat, Mr. 
 Attwood still argued " I cannot afford to lose 
 it; I must secure some of this stone before it 
 is all eaten up." At last he was able to con-
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 2? 
 
 elude negotiations for the lease of a royalty 
 of some 5,000 acres near to Guisborough. In 
 this venture he was joined by his partners in 
 the Weardale works the Messrs. Baring, of 
 London. But they, as bankers, knew nothing 
 of the merits of the Cleveland stone, and as, 
 on inquiry, they heard unfavourable accounts 
 of it, they dissuaded Mr. Attwood from 
 attempting its development. This was done 
 much against Mr. Attwood's own inclinations, 
 for he had a strong presentiment that Cleve- 
 land was the place in which to make money 
 rapidly, there being always a ready market for 
 cheap goods, and Mr. Vaughan had told him 
 that his firm could make iron from Cleveland 
 ore for 25s per ton. He had his hands almost 
 full in Weardale, however, and on this account 
 he allowed his own predilections to be over- 
 ruled by the prejudices of his partners. The 
 result was that the Guisborough royalty re- 
 mained almost untouched for a number of 
 years. The trade being in its infancy, the 
 market was restricted ; and most of the new 
 firms who came into the district to build blast 
 furnaces did so by arrangement with the 
 Messrs. Pease, of Darlington, who gave them 
 railway facilities which Mr. Attwood and his 
 partners were not in a position to offer. 
 
 At last, in the year 1870, two blast furnaces 
 each 85 feet in height, were erected at Tud- 
 hoe, (where the Company had previously, in
 
 28 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 1852, established rolling mills and forges) 
 for smelting the Cleveland ironstone. The 
 " make " of these furnaces averages about 800 
 tons per week. The output from the "Wear- 
 dale Company's mines in Cleveland is now at 
 the rate of 400,000 tons per annum. Since 
 they acquired their royalty, the Company 
 have disposed of over 2,000 acres stretching 
 away in the direction of Thirsk, to which Mr. 
 Attwood did not attach much value. But 
 they have still about 3,000 acres of the best 
 stone under lease and the bed is so thick 
 that, as Mr. Attwood has himself put it, " We 
 could almost supply a hundred blast furnaces, 
 if we had them, for as many years." 
 
 In addition to their Tow Law works, where 
 there are five blast furnaces, erected in 1847, 
 and each forty-eight feet in height, the Wear- 
 dale Company have Bessemer works at Tud- 
 hoe, in which a great part of the iron made 
 at Tow Law is converted into steel. This 
 branch of their operations has a most interest- 
 ing history, upon which we may be excused 
 for briefly dwelling, seeing that it has not 
 hitherto been told. Mr. Attwood was the 
 first to take a license from Bessemer, who, at 
 the time he brought out his patent, carried on 
 an establishment at Sheffield. Having heard 
 from the patentee of the new invention, Mr. 
 Attwood made a trial of it, and was favour- 
 ably impressed with the results, although they
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 29 
 
 were not quite perfect. He thought it worth 
 while, however, to see his partners, and elicit 
 their opinion as to taking a license. The 
 reply he got was, " Better let it alone ; we 
 don't know anything about it." Just at this 
 juncture a rather curious incident occurred, 
 which, trifling in itself, led, nevertheless to 
 most important results. The manager of the 
 Weardale Company's rolling mills, at Tud- 
 hoe, who had little faith in Bessemer's 
 process, was one day travelling on the rail- 
 way, when he met Mr. William Bird, a lead- 
 ing authority in the iron trade, long resident 
 in London. Bird, who was a friend of the 
 patentee said, " I want somebody who will 
 work steel for Bessemer. Will you under- 
 take it at Tudhoe ?" The manager replied 
 that they would be glad to do so for a fail- 
 price. " Well," retorted Bird, " what we 
 specially require is to make ship plates say 
 about six hundred tons per week. It will re- 
 quire good strong works, and I think yours 
 will suit." " All right," said the other, ''we'll 
 make any quantity you like for 6 per ton." 
 It was ultimately agreed that Bessemer would 
 send ingots from his works at Sheffield to 
 Tudhoe, and that they were to be manufactured 
 into ship plates at the latter works. Mr. 
 Attwood's manager predicted it would be an 
 utter failure. Mr. Attwood himself held quite 
 a different opinion, and stuck to it. At last
 
 30 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 a cargo of twenty tons of steel ingots was 
 delivered at Tudhoe, and Mr. Bessemer 
 appeared in person to watch operations. Mr. 
 Attwood was also present, and took much in- 
 terest in the experiments, which proved so 
 successful that Mr. Bessemer almost in- 
 duced Mr. Attwood to purchase a license 
 to work the new patent. Before doing so, 
 however, Mr. Attwood sent his manager 
 over to Sheffield that he might see the 
 process carried on in Mr. Bessemer's own 
 works. v ' I have altered my views entirely," 
 wrote the manager a day or two afterwards, 
 " Bessemer has now overcome all his diffi- 
 culties, and can make steel of a uniform and 
 workable quality. The thing is now worth 
 looking after." Anxious, however, still 
 further to test the merits of the process, Mr. 
 Attwood went over to Sheffield himself, taking 
 with him twenty tons of Weardale iron. At Mr. 
 Bessemer's works he stayed for a week, closely 
 scrutinising the effects of the new process on 
 his own iron, and was so satisfied with the 
 result that he at once undertook to purchase 
 a license. It was about this time that Besse- 
 mer was threatened with litigation that might 
 have involved the invalidity of his patent. 
 Mushet, a relative of the discoverer of the 
 Scotch " black band" ironstone, had brought 
 out a great many patents, and one of them 
 proposed to deal with the manufacture of steel
 
 CHARLES ATT WOOD. 31 
 
 by a process which in some respects resembled 
 that patented by Bessemer. While this 
 ugly case was pending, Mr. Attwood met 
 Bessemer and told him that his was a pre- 
 carious patent, for, he added, " I see you are 
 under the lash of Mushet, and I don't like the 
 idea of having to pay twice over for my 
 license." " Well," said Mr. Bessemer, " I 
 can assure you it is quite a mistake to say 
 that we are using Mushet's patent ; we are 
 getting iron from Sweden that keeps us 
 safe."' "That may be," said Mr. Att- 
 wood, " but if I go on with this license 
 you must guarantee me against all risk 
 so far as Mushet is concerned." Bessemer 
 gave the required undertaking, but when 
 he saw Mr. Attwood proceeding to lay 
 down a plant costing over 10,000, on a 
 plan furnished by himself the patentee he 
 seemed to be somewhat doubtful about the 
 wisdom of what he had done. Shortly after- 
 wards, however, Mr. Attwood had another 
 visit from Bessemer, whose first news was 
 " All danger is now past, for Mushet has 
 allowed his patent to lapse for want of paying 
 the patent fees." "It is impossible," replied 
 Mr. Attwood, " that he can have been such a 
 fool." "It's nevertheless a fact, though," 
 said the emancipated patentee, "for my agent, 
 having satisfied himself of its accuracy, 
 hurried down to. tell me." Meanwhile, the
 
 32 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Bessemer works at Tudhoe had been finished; 
 and it was found that there was something 
 radically faulty about them. It was one thing 
 to make ingots, but it was quite another thing 
 to forge and roll them. Mr. Attwood could 
 not personally give much attention to the 
 matter, for he was at this time an infirm 
 valetudinarian, and unable to undertake the 
 daily fatigue of travelling between Wolsing- 
 ham, where he resided and Tudhoe a distance 
 of fifteen miles. Experience, however, ulti- 
 mately enabled the more serious faults of the 
 process to be corrected, and it is in success- 
 ful operation at Tudhoe to this day. His 
 process has realised a princely fortune for 
 Mr. Bessemer, while it has entirely revo- 
 lutionised the steel manufacture of Great 
 Britain, enabling steel bars which formerly 
 cost 40 to 50 per ton to be made at 
 a selling price of about 11 per ton, after 
 paying the royalty fee of 2. 
 
 The last phase of Mr. Attwood's industrial 
 career to which we propose to allude is his 
 own invention for the manufacture of steel. 
 He patented this curious discovery about the 
 year 1862. Satisfied of its merits and com- 
 mercial value, he proposed to his partners to 
 take it up and work it on a large scale. They 
 again withheld their consent, remarking com- 
 placently, " Well, we daresay you are right ; 
 but we don't understand your process, and
 
 
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 33 
 
 we have a natural dislike to anything we 
 cannot comprehend." Mr. Attwood replied, 
 " Having made this singular invention, I mean 
 to perfect it, and if you don't care to go along 
 Avith me, I shall do it myself." At that time, 
 however, he was in very feeble health. His 
 medical advisers told him that if he would 
 live for a few years longer he must select a 
 warmer climate. Mr. Attwood reluctantly 
 consented to visit the south, and he spent the 
 most of next summer at Torquay, returning 
 to Wolsingham much benefited by the change. 
 He then arranged with his nephew to go into 
 his new steel manufacture thoroughly. Land 
 was acquired for the purpose, within a short 
 distance of his house at Wolsingham ; but the 
 foundations of the new works had hardly been 
 laid when Mr. Attwood's nephew was pros- 
 trated by paralysis, and in a year more he 
 joined the great majority. It was a severe 
 blow to Mr. Attwood, who had no family of 
 his own, and to whom his nephew was all but 
 a son. He relaxed his interest in his new 
 steel process, and although the proposed works 
 were built, it was on a smaller scale than 
 that originally intended. Part of the first 
 lot of steel rails made by Mr. Attwood's pro- 
 cess was sent to London, where six different 
 railway companies exposed them to the 
 severest tests by putting them down in the 
 lost trying places. These rails are as good
 
 34 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 to-day as they were when first put down. 
 Two years ago, Mr. Attwood said to the rail- 
 way companies " You have already reported 
 favourably on my rails. Why not take a lot 
 of say 200 tons, and let us have a fuller 
 trial ?" In reply to this invitation, the Great 
 Northern Railway Company at once sent an 
 order for 250 tons, and added, " We will take 
 as much more as you like to make. The way 
 in which your rails stand is perfectly wonder- 
 ful." In about three years time, Mr. Att- 
 wood's patent will expire. The merits of his 
 invention will then become more fully known, 
 and the patentee is sanguine enough to expect 
 that firms who have spent a great deal of 
 money in laying down Bessemer plant will 
 discard the one system in favour of the other. 
 It is no secret that Bessemer plates are 
 defective in flexibility, which makes them 
 liable to break in hot weather by the action 
 of the sun's heat. Mr. Attwood thinks he has 
 overcome this difficulty. Some of his more 
 recent orders refer to the application of steel 
 to masts for large steamers. Whatever may 
 be the value of his process, it has been a source 
 of little or no emolument to Mr. Attwood 
 himself, for he has never followed it out so as 
 to make it a great commercial success. It 
 will probably be left for others to reap what 
 he has sown. 
 
 The trial of Queen Caroline in the year
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. OD 
 
 1820 was the first event that drew Mr. Att- 
 wood from the retirement of private life. In 
 common with all his countrymen, Mr. Att- 
 wood's feelings were strongly excited by the 
 result of that trial. He felt that the Queen 
 was the victim of an infamous prosecution, 
 and that she was treated with less than justice, 
 in order to satisfy the caprice of her licentious 
 and abandoned husband. Knowing something 
 of the value of the Italian evidence on which 
 the prosecution chiefly relied to establish 
 proof of the Queen's adultery, Mr. Attwood 
 opened up communication with Mr. Denman, 
 her Solicitor- General. In Mr. Brougham, her 
 Attorney-General, he had little faith, believing 
 that he trimmed to please both George and 
 Caroline, and that his advocacy of the Queen's 
 cause was only half-hearted. In his business 
 relations Mr. Attwood had experienced the 
 mendacity of Italian testimony, and he was 
 prepared to demonstrate to the Queen's 
 counsel the utter rottenness and want of 
 veracity which were characteristic of such evi- 
 dence; but Mr. Denman hesitated to take 
 advantage of his preferred services, and the 
 " non mi ricordo" testimony of Taeodor 
 Mejocchi and his companions, was thus allowed 
 to appear on the record, when it might at the 
 outset have been completely discredited. 
 The trial meanwhile proceeded, and the whole 
 country was roused to a sense of indignation
 
 36 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 at the treatment to which the unhappy Queen 
 was exposed. When the Bill of " Pains and 
 Penalties" was introduced by Lord Liverpool 
 "to deprive her Majesty Queen Caroline 
 Amelia Elizabeth of the title, prerogatives, 
 rights, and privileges of Queen Consort of 
 this realm, and to dissolve the marriage be- 
 tween his Majesty and the said Caroline 
 Amelia Elizabeth," the nation cried "shame!" 
 and excitement bordered on revolution. Both 
 Whigs and Tories were eager partizans of her 
 Majesty ; but, curiously enough, although the 
 question of a divorce had been long enough 
 before the country, the cardinal point involved 
 in the case had hitherto escaped public atten- 
 tion. As her Majesty's Attorney-General 
 afterwards pointed out, it was provided by 
 the Standing Orders of the House of Lords 
 " that the husband who applies for a divorce 
 shall personally attend the House, so that he 
 may be examined before the divorce is granted, 
 in order to show that there is no collusion, 
 that he stands rectus in curia, and that he him- 
 self, having always stood as a kind and faith- 
 ful husband, is entitled to a dissolution of 
 marriage by reason of the infidelity of his 
 wife." George IV. did not come into court 
 with clean hands ; and, therefore, he could 
 not, except by a subversion of the principles 
 that had always guided the House of Lords, 
 and a prostitution of its functions, secure the
 
 CHARLES ATT WOOD. 37 
 
 separation he desired. Carlton House was 
 an asylum for harlots. The King's whole ca- 
 reer, both antecedent and subsequent to his 
 marriage with Caroline was profligate and im- 
 moral in the extreme. Yet there seemed to be 
 a majority of the Lords ready to support the 
 Bill of "Pains and Penalties," and although the 
 feeling in the Queen's favour was gathering 
 strength out of doors, it was fully expected that 
 the divorce would be granted. At this crisis 
 Mr. Attwood threw himself into the agitation. 
 He had not made up his mind that the Queen 
 was all that she should be, but he had abun- 
 dant reason to believe that the King was a 
 bad man, and that he was treating his wife 
 unfairly. Sitting in his office in London one 
 day, revolving the case in his own mind, he 
 was led to pen a glowing and powerful 
 letter to the Times, in which he pointed out 
 that the King had no locus standi by reason of 
 his own misdeeds, and predicted the terribly 
 disastrous consequences that would ensue if 
 the House of Lords exercised their preroga- 
 tive in defiance of old-established orders, and 
 granted a divorce against the universal 
 sympathies of the nation. This letter he en- 
 trusted to a messenger, who assisted him in 
 his laboratory experiments, to take to the 
 office of the " Thunderer," enjoining him to 
 wait and take back the manuscript if it was 
 rejected. The communication was scanned by
 
 38 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 the editor, who at once returned the message, 
 " Tell Mr. Attwood that it shall appear to- 
 morrow." Next day Mr. Attwood's letter not 
 only appeared in leading type in a prominent 
 part of the paper, but there was also an 
 " editorial " homologating all that the letter 
 contained. It was the custom in those days 
 for the leaders of public opinion, both in Par- 
 liament and in the press, to send out spies 
 throughout the city to test the tendencies of 
 the popular feeling in reference to any subject 
 before the country. One of these emissaries 
 in the pay of the Earl of Lonsdale (who then 
 occupied a high place in the counsels of the 
 Conservative party) visited Mr. Attwood on 
 the morning that this letter made its appear- 
 ance. He declared that his master and his 
 friends thoroughly approved of its tone, and 
 that it had set the whole city by the ears. 
 Letter and leader together swayed public 
 opinion to such an extent that when the Bill 
 of "Pains and Penalties" came up for discussion 
 their Lordships refused to pass it, thus pre- 
 venting the succession to the Crown from 
 being transferred into another and an im- 
 proper line. 
 
 Lfuring the ten years that elapsed between 
 1820 and 1830, Mr. Attwood took little part 
 in political life. But circumstances occurred 
 in the latter year that again brought him to 
 the front. The accession of William IV. led
 
 CHARLES ATTVVOOD. 39 
 
 to a general election, and Lord Campbell, in 
 his " Lives of the Chancellors,'' tells us that 
 " before the hustings were erected, suddenly 
 there arose all over the kingdom, in the place 
 of apathy and indifference, a state of almost 
 unexampled excitement." This was caused by 
 the great revolution in Paris, which exiled the 
 elder branch of the Bourbons, and placed 
 Louis Philippe, " the Citizen King," upon the 
 throne. Englishmen seemed to awaken from 
 torpor to the sudden belief that they were 
 slaves. No imported plague ever produced 
 such rapid effects or spread so widely. 
 There was then a great deal of destitution 
 among the agricultural peasantry of the 
 southern counties, which, taken in conjunction 
 with the " new-fangled" doctrines of " liberty, 
 equality, and fraternity" brought over from 
 France, made them discontented and recalcit- 
 rant. They made demonstrations of an 
 aggressive character, and clamoured loudly 
 for greater consideration and justice. Mr. 
 Attwood used to describe this rising as the 
 rebellion of " ash sticks and hazel wands ;" 
 but the Government of Earl Grey took a much 
 more serious view of the matter, and caused 
 many of the ringleaders to be apprehended 
 and cast into prison. Pending their trial, 
 Cobbett announced through his Political 
 Register that it was the intention of the Go- 
 vernment to put thirty of these quiet, simple,
 
 40 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 and honest peasantry to death. This news 
 fired Mr. Attwood's blood. He knew what the 
 agricultural peasantry were. He felt that it 
 would be a flagrant iniquity if the intention 
 of the Government was carried into effect, for 
 they were not now dealing with hardened and 
 dangerous ruffians, but with decent, law- 
 abiding, industrious men, who, in his view, 
 had only too much reason for the riot in which 
 they took part. He determined to make an 
 effort to save the lives of the doomed men. 
 He was impelled to this course by the most 
 tender and loving memories of others of their 
 class. One old man, who had been in his 
 father's employment as an agricultural 
 labourer for fifty-two years, remarked to 
 him at the funeral of his sire, " I shall miss 
 him, Charles, more, perhaps, than you. I 
 have been with him in all the circumstances 
 of life. He was aye a good master to me, and 
 now that he is dead I don't feel that I have 
 anything to live for." It was with such re- 
 miniscences as this, that Mr. Attwood was 
 accustomed to associate the character of the 
 rural peasantry of the south ; and it is little 
 wonder, therefore, that he was full of indigna- 
 tion when he heard of the example that Go- 
 vernment intended to make of the rioters who 
 had been placed upon their trial. On Satur- 
 day afternoon, while musing over their fate, 
 he determined to draw up a petition for their
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 41 
 
 more lenient treatment. No time was to be 
 lost. He composed the petition hastily, but 
 earnestly, hurried into Newcastle, and put it 
 into the hands of Mackenzie, the printer. It 
 was out in the streets in the course of the even- 
 ing, and when it was taken up at ten o'clock 
 it had received no less than 3,800 signatures. 
 Other petitions to the same effect were sent 
 up from other parts of the country, and the Go- 
 vernment w T as thus so far induced to alter its 
 original decision that only one of the rioters 
 was condemned to capital punishment. A 
 number of others were transported, but were 
 allowed a few years later, mainly through the 
 influence of Mr. Attwood's brother, to return 
 to their native land. 
 
 To give anything like an exhaustive account 
 of the political career of Mr . Attwood would 
 be to write a complete history of the agitation 
 that culminated in the passing of the Reform 
 Bill of 1832. Into that agitation he threw 
 himself heart and soul. He was in all the 
 counsels of the Birmingham and North of 
 England Political Unions. He was one of 
 the most effective speakers at many of 
 the monster meetings held up and down 
 the country for the promotion of the ob- 
 jects of the new league. In this cause he was 
 associated with some of the most eminent 
 men of the time. When the Reformers had 
 come within sight of the objects for which
 
 42 PIONEEfiS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 they fought, their Union was allowed to lapse. 
 But the ministry of the Duke of Wellington 
 would not take a warning. They introduced 
 some unpopular measures, and made them- 
 selves otherwise obnoxious. Wroth at the 
 conduct of the Tories, Mr. Attwood and his 
 friends said, " We must re-organize the Union 
 again," and they did so. A great demonstra- 
 tion was to be held in Birmingham to initiate 
 this second campaign. The Duke of Welling- 
 ton rightly feared a serious disturbance and 
 ordered the military to be called out. When 
 this announcement was made, a military 
 friend of the people sympathisingly remarked 
 to Attwood, " We've been ordered to sharpen 
 our sabres, but by G we won't use them." 
 The crisis came at last. The populace of Bir- 
 mingham were about to be charged by the 
 soldiery, when Mr. Attwood and his brother 
 who will be well remembered by veteran 
 Reformers were asked to interpose. " If 
 anybody could pacify the mob of Birmingham," 
 says Mr. Attwood, " it was my brother 
 Thomas." That day, at least, he succeeded 
 in preventing bloodshed, although in subse- 
 quently passing through the streets he was 
 subjected to a gross outrage. At a meeting 
 afterwards held in Newcastle, presided over 
 by Mr. Attwood, one firebrand came forward 
 and asked " if the people were tame and das- 
 tardly enough to allow themselves to be
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 43 
 
 governed by a girl of eighteen ?" This sally 
 was received with a good deal of favour by 
 the meeting, but it called down a rebuke from 
 Mr. Attwood, who said, " I shall go any length 
 in the way of reforming clear and proven 
 abuses, but I shall not go further, and I shall 
 seek to discourage everybody else from going 
 further." " You may say what you like," 
 said the other speaker, who was an Irishman, 
 
 " but I have now got my union, and me 
 
 if I don't baptise it in blood." Mr. Attwood 
 replied, " You may baptise your own union in 
 blood if you will, but you will not baptise 
 mine." Mr. Attwood had pledged himself to 
 reorganise the Union, but finding that reform 
 was now bordering on revolution, he shrunk 
 from the task. " I see," he said, " that there 
 is a growing spirit of Republicanism, and I 
 am not a Republican except in the sense 
 that George "Washington was one." The 
 following night he attended a meeting at 
 Gateshead, where the fiery Irishman again 
 appeared, bearing a number of placards in- 
 tended to foment sedition. Here he again 
 declared that he could not go further with the 
 objects of the Union that he could work 
 no longer with the men who had been his 
 compatriots so long, if such shibboleths as 
 these were to be adopted. He completely 
 won the approval of the audience, and his 
 Irish friend had to beat an ignominious re-
 
 44 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 treat. But from this time forward, Mr. Att- 
 wood was less conspicuously mixed up with 
 political agitations than he had previously 
 been. 
 
 It is a somewhat remarkable fact that Mr. 
 Attwood never sat in Parliament. He was 
 frequently entreated to become a candidate 
 for Parliamentary honours, but only once did 
 he allow himself to be put in nomination. 
 This was in the election of 1832, when he 
 stood for Newcastle in opposition to Mr. John 
 Hodgson Hinde, the Conservative candidate. 
 It was at the last moment that Mr. Attwood 
 was earnestly requested by his party to allow 
 himself to be put forward. He only issued 
 his address on the Saturday night, and the 
 election was to take place on the Tuesday 
 following. At the nomination on Monday, 
 Mr. Attwood obtained the show of hands in 
 his favour, and the result of the poll gave 
 1,200 votes for the popular candidate, and 
 1,500 for Mr. Hinde. 
 
 Although he has been for so many years 
 out of the arena of political strife, Mr. Att- 
 wood has never ceased to take a lively interest 
 in political men and measures, and he forms 
 very pronounced opinions on both. He is a 
 close reasoner, and an original thinker, and in 
 the prime of manhood, he was a fluent and 
 effective speaker. Even now, when he is all 
 but confined to his room, and upwards of
 
 CHARLES ATTWOOD. 45 
 
 eighty years of age, he can talk for hours on 
 the questions of the day. It is a treat of no 
 common order to hear " the old man eloquent" 
 discourse on some favourite theme his eyes 
 glistening with unwonted animation as, in 
 imagination, he " fights his battles o'er again." 
 There is no halting in his speech no want of 
 connection in his thoughts no apparent 
 failure of the memory. He has a wonderfully 
 correct remembrance of names and dates. It 
 is not, however, until he commences to criti- 
 cise the public men of his day that he really 
 approaches his former self. Of Sir Kobert 
 Peel we need hardly say he had the poorest 
 possible opinion ; and it is a curious fact that 
 until the day of Peel's death, he lived in the 
 hope of again measuring weapons with him in 
 the House of Commons or elsewhere. Neither 
 has he much praise for Gladstone, whose 
 speeches, he says, are like lawyers' briefs, and 
 want the touch of genius and absence of severe 
 mental discipline that are characteristic of the 
 true orator. Disraeli, on the other hand, 
 stands high in his esteem less for his political 
 principles than for his rare endowments. 
 
 Little remains to be added. Almost dead 
 to the world for many years past, Mr. Attwood 
 has lived at his finely situated residence at 
 Wolsingham. The last time he took part in 
 any public event was, we believe, on the 
 occasion of the South Durham election of
 
 46 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 1865. Nor does he receive many visitors, for 
 most of his old friends have pre- deceased him, 
 and he is without many near relatives. Yet 
 he -continues withal to be very cheerful, attend- 
 ing regularly to business matters, and doing 
 the bulk of his own correspondence. With 
 the exception of a little deafness, he is in the 
 full use of all his faculties. He may still b 
 said to live, move, and think in an atmosphere 
 of science. He has a very choice collection 
 of geological specimens, in which he takes a 
 great interest. But his steel works at Wol- 
 singham are his chief scientific solace and re- 
 creation. He carries them on mainly as a 
 labour of love, for, he says, " I have as much 
 money as I really want, and I have no desire 
 for more." One who has known him long 
 and intimately remarked to the writer, " If 
 Charles Attwood had cared more about money 
 and less about science he would to-day have 
 been one of the richest commoners in Eng- 
 land." Take him for all in all, Charles Att- 
 wood may be described as a great and a good 
 man one who has been a benefactor to his 
 race, and whose conduct has uniformly been 
 governed by pure, philanthropic, and unselfish 
 motives.
 
 II H, W. F, BOLCKOW, M,P, 
 
 NEXT to practical or experimental knowledge, 
 financial skill and administrative ability are 
 the most essential conditions to success in a 
 great commercial undertaking, no matter 
 what its nature may be. For want of these 
 primary desiderata many promising concerns, 
 that had no end of both theoretical and 
 practical experience behind them, have come 
 to grief. Instances of this fact might easily 
 be multiplied. Not a few newspaper ventures, 
 to borrow an illustration from our own sphere, 
 have gone to the wall because there was not 
 in the management commercial skill com- 
 mensurate with the literary genius that ani- 
 mated their pages, and should have ensured 
 ultimate triumph. And, taking a leap from 
 the Fourth to the Third Estate, we all know 
 that the British Constitution has on more 
 than one occasion almost suffered shipwreck 
 because a weak and incapable Chancellor was 
 at the helm of the Exchequer. It is this 
 necessity for a combination of gifts, seldom
 
 48 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 found united in the same individual that has 
 given rise to the well known aphorism " Two 
 heads are better than one ;" and of more 
 colossal and prosperous undertakings than 
 even Bolckow and Vaughan, it may be pre- 
 dicated with certainty that had one en- 
 deavoured to carry out what it required both to 
 achieve, consummate failure would have been 
 the result. Blending together their varied 
 talents and attainments, Messrs. Bolckow and 
 Vaughan exhibited a rare conjunction of 
 aptitude and fitness for the enterprise on 
 which they embarked. The one had capital ; 
 the other was without, but supplied what was 
 equally valuable and indispensible skilled 
 labour and experience. The one was an adept 
 in the management of figures ; the other had 
 a genius for the government of men. The 
 one knew little or nothing about the scientific 
 and practical details of their enterprise ; the 
 other knew more than most men, and had a 
 capacity for turning his knowledge to good 
 account. Thus it came about that the one 
 supplied the motive power and the other 
 actuated it. In all their relations there was 
 an interdependence which both felt to be 
 necessary to their mutual benefit. It is 
 no limitation of the credit due to Mr. 
 Vaughan, nor yet a reflection on his capacity 
 to say that, without Mr. Bolckow's counsel 
 and co-operation, he could never have taken
 
 H. W. F. BOLCKOW, M.P. 49 
 
 the position he did, so that although different 
 opinions may prevail as to the exact degree 
 of merit and honour attaching to each, (and 
 this is really in itself a matter of little im- 
 portance), all will agree in allowing Mr. 
 Bolckow a prominent position alongside that 
 of his partner, as a pioneer of the North of 
 England iron tade. 
 
 Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow, son 
 of a country gentleman, is a native of Sulten, 
 in Mecklenburg, a Grand Duchy of North 
 Germany, where he was born in the year 
 1806. It is mostly an agricultural country, 
 the chief exports being grain, rape seeds, and 
 other produce of the soil, so that it offers few 
 facilities or inducements for a commercial 
 career. He commenced his career in a mer- 
 chant's office at Rostock, and after having been 
 there for several years, on the invitation of 
 his friend, Mr. C. Allhusen, Mr. Bolckow went 
 to Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 1827, and ultimately 
 joined him in his business of a general com- 
 mission merchant in that town. Although 
 this would have satisfied many men, as a 
 congenial sphere of labour and a promis- 
 ing outlet for capital, Mr. Bolckow, after 
 some years, felt inclined to change for a 
 business occupation of a more steady 
 character, and having made the acquain- 
 tance of Mr. Vaughan, whom he knew 
 to possess a thoroughly practical knowledge 
 
 M
 
 50 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 of iron manufacture, he dissolved partner- 
 ship with Mr. Allhusen, and, along with Mr. 
 Vaughan, decided to establish iron works. 
 On the advice of the late Mr. John Harris, who 
 was the engineer of the Stockton and Dar- 
 lington Railway, they selected Middlesbrough, 
 a place then scarcely known, for their 
 venture. As we have already indicated, Mr. 
 Bolckow was the capitalist, having at his dis- 
 posal a fortune of 40,000 to 50,000, while 
 his partner had not as many hundreds ; but as 
 the one was indispensable to the other, it was 
 agreed that they should go shares in every- 
 thing. On Mr. Bolckow's part it was a bold 
 some might even call it a rash speculation. 
 He was in a safe, if somewhat slow and steady 
 line of business at Newcastle ; the industrial 
 resources of the Cleveland district had not then 
 been discovered, much less tested and proved ; 
 and of the business on which he was about to 
 embark he knew little or nothing. Nor was 
 there anything about Cleveland, as it was 
 known at that time, offering any special in- 
 ducements for its selection as their future 
 sphere of operations. It had shipping facili- 
 ties, no doubt, and was within easy access of 
 the Durham coal fields ; but the same could 
 be said of Sunderland, Shields, Newcastle, 
 Hartlepool, and some other ports on the east 
 coast, where the firm might, with as much 
 apparent advantage, have " pitched their
 
 H. W. F. BOLCKOW, M.P. 51 
 
 tent." Was it a merely fortuitous chain of 
 events that led to the selection of Middles- 
 brough, or was the choice inspired by a 
 dream of the rich mineral treasures that sur- 
 rounded that insignificant little town ? It is 
 difficult to believe that chance, and chance 
 alone, guided their movements ; and yet we 
 are confronted with the perplexing fact, that 
 whereas they came to Middlesbrough in 1841, 
 the main seam of the Cleveland ironstone was 
 not discovered until eight years later, nor was 
 its adaptibility for blast furnace purposes ac- 
 knowledged until the firm had been nine or ten 
 years in existence. Had it been otherwise, the 
 firm would undoubtedly have turned its know- 
 ledge to practical account before they did. 
 
 In our sketch of Mr. Vaughan's career, we 
 trace the progress of this eminent firm up 
 to the period of the opening of the Eston 
 mines in 1850. That event led almost im- 
 mediately to a great and rapid development 
 of the iron trade of Cleveland. And it is now 
 a well known fact, that it brought about an 
 enormous extension of the trade and popula- 
 tion, as well as the subsequent prosperity of 
 Middlesbrough and the surrounding district, 
 benefiting alike railway companies, land and 
 coal owners, and all classes of the population. 
 The creation of this enormous trade and 
 industry is certainly due to Bolckow and 
 Vaughan, and the importance of it may be
 
 52 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 estimated from the fact, that the quantity of 
 Pig Iron produced from Cleveland Stone is 
 about two millions of tons per annum at present. 
 In 1852 Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan built 
 three blast furnaces at Middlesbrough, and in 
 the following year, they built six furnaces at 
 Eston, only two miles from their mines, to 
 which a branch railway was laid. They had, 
 as far back as 1845, erected four blast furnaces 
 at Witton Park, and ultimately they acquired 
 the Cleveland Ironworks, consisting of three 
 furnaces, and built by Elwon and Company in 
 1854. By this time their operations were on 
 quite a gigantic scale. They continued to 
 multiply their resources until the year 1865, 
 when the works were transferred to a Limited 
 Liability Company, with a capital of two and 
 a-half millions sterling, in shares of nominally 
 100 each. For years past the market value 
 of these shares has fluctuated between 40 
 and 50 premium, and has several times 
 touched the latter figure. The present price 
 of the shares of 35 and including Bonus 
 Shares of 30 is about 115. Mr. Bolckow 
 is chairman of the company, and the general 
 manager is Mr. Edward Williams, another 
 self-made man like Mr. Vaughan, having, like 
 him, commenced life in an ironworks, and 
 possessing much of his shrewdness, energy of 
 character, and ample experience. For the last 
 four or five years this great Company have
 
 H. W. F. BOLCKOW, M.P. 53 
 
 consumed annually between 700,000 and 
 800,000 tons of ironstone, nearly 300,000 tons 
 of coke, 150,000 to 160,000 tons of limestone, 
 and 300,000 tons of coal. Upwards of 230,000 
 tons of pig iron are produced annually, in addi- 
 tion to 80,000 to 100,000 tons of finished iron, 
 30,000 tons of castings, and a variety of 
 general engineering work. The company 
 own about a dozen collieries, from which they 
 raise about 1,000,000 tons of coal per annum ; 
 they farm several thousand acres of land ; 
 they own hematite ironstone mines in Spain, 
 Africa, and Portugal ; and they keep a fleet of 
 steamers conveying the ore between their 
 foreign mines and Middlesbrough. They also 
 own steel works at Manchester of considerable 
 extent. At their Middlesbrough works the 
 company manufacture their own gas, and build 
 their own engines and wagons ; while as a 
 further example of the magnitude of their 
 ramifications, it may be stated that they make 
 the fire bricks used in the construction of their 
 furnaces. Altogether, their works give em- 
 ployment to about 10,000 hands. 
 
 These stupendous results were not attained 
 without passing through the vicissitudes that 
 attend all industrial enterprises to a greater 
 or less extent, and Mr. Bolckow, whose busi- 
 ness it was to provide the means wherewith 
 to carry on the firm, found more than once 
 that the tide of adversity was almost too
 
 54 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 strong for them. Yet through his firmness 
 and determination to carry on their under- 
 takings to a successful issue, they were always 
 able to weather the storm without being 
 swamped, the " uses of adversity" only stimu- 
 lating them to greater displays of energy and 
 fortitude. The most trying crisis happened in 
 1847-48, when trade was unusually depressed. 
 Prices were very low and unremunerative, 
 and the amount of wages paid for the twelve 
 months was only 20,000, or about one-half 
 the amount so spent in each ofthepreceeding 
 years. The quantity of work turned out in 
 that disastrous year was proportionately small, 
 being limited to 4,500 tons. The depression 
 was, however, of short duration, and the firm 
 had, by Herculean exertions, got fairly through 
 this season of adversity, when they were en- 
 couraged to additional enterprise by the event 
 of 1850 the discovery of iron stone, with 
 which Mr. Vaughan's name is indissolubly con- 
 nected. During their struggling days the firm 
 displayed a degree of intrepidity that is seldom 
 paralled even in the often romantic annals of 
 manufacturing firms. They were dismayed 
 by no restrictions or conditions, however 
 stringent. Work fell into their hands that 
 few other firms were bold enough to under- 
 take, from its being so difficult of accomplish- 
 ment ; and they seldom failed to carry out to 
 the letter the most rigorous specifications.
 
 H. W. F. BOLCKOW, M.P. 55 
 
 Respecting one large contract into which they 
 entered with the Board of Ordnance in the 
 year 1855, it was reported that it had been 
 rescinded in consequence of the Cleveland 
 iron not being of the peculiar quality necessary 
 for the purposes of that department. But 
 Bolckow and Vaughan were not the men to 
 let such a tempting bait come to a rival firm 
 if they could avoid it, and they executed the 
 contract to the entire satisfaction of the 
 Ordnance Board. Indeed, it was said by the 
 Mining Journal of that day, that the iron pro- 
 duced by this firm from the oolitic ironstone 
 was so ductile and workable that they could 
 and did execute castings that few firms would 
 be willing to undertake, such as water pipes 
 3 ft. diameter and 12 ft. 4i in. long, D retorts, 
 18i ft. long, cast for the Great Central Gas 
 Company, and the rolling of Barlow's rails, 
 which, from their peculiar form and varying 
 thickness from centre to edge, were con- 
 sidered the most difficult to manipulate of 
 any then made. Barlow's rails have been 
 made at the Middlesbrough works from 17 
 ft. to 20 ft. in length without a flaw. Between 
 1850 and 1855 the firm supplied large 
 quantities of rails for the East Indies under 
 very peculiar, stringent, and difficult specifica- 
 tions, and so certain were they of the quality 
 of their productions that they guaranteed 
 their rails for a certain period of time.
 
 56 
 
 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Among the more extensive contracts of their 
 kind undertaken at the Middlesbrough works, 
 we may mention that for supplying the whole 
 of the pipes to the West Middlesex Water 
 Company, 9 ft. 6 in. long, by 3 ft. diameter ; a 
 like contract for the Southwark and Vauxhall 
 Company, 12 ft. 4^ in. long by 3 ft. diameter; 
 and a contract for the Grand Junction Com- 
 pany's pipes, 12 ft. 4i in. long, by 33 in. 
 diameter. 
 
 It should not be forgotten that the ex- 
 istence of salt at Middlesbrough was dis- 
 covered by Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan, 
 in their attempt to bore for pure water 
 during 1863 and 1864. This discovery may 
 ultimately prove of nearly as much importance 
 to the Cleveland district, as that of the iron 
 stone. In consequence of the disposal of 
 the property and business of the firm to the 
 present company, the further prosecution of 
 this discovery was stopped for some time. 
 The Directors decided, however, a year or two 
 ago, to sink to the salt rock, which was found 
 to be about a hundred feet thick ; and, although 
 doubtless a very arduous undertaking, the salt 
 being at a depth of more than a thousand 
 feet below the surface, it is hoped that it 
 will lead to a successful result, and thus 
 enable this valuable article to be supplied 
 to the numerous chemical manufactories on 
 the Tyne and elsewhere in the north.
 
 H. W. F. BOLCKOW, M.P. 57 
 
 More privileged than his partner, Mr. 
 Bolckow has been spared to enjoy, in health, 
 comfort, and affluence, the ease and honour 
 due to his active and useful life. So far as 
 the actual management of the firm is con- 
 cerned, his labours came to an end when the 
 Limited Liability Company was formed. Since 
 then, however, so far from giving himself up 
 to a life of indolent retirement, he has ex- 
 hibited an increased interest in the affairs of 
 the district which is so much one of his own 
 creation, and sought to supply its more press- 
 ing wants. He was appropriately selected as 
 the first Mayor of Middlesbrough, on the incor- 
 poration of the borough in 1853 ; and two 
 years later, on the 7th April, 1855, he was 
 presented by the Corporation with a full- 
 length portrait (which has since then hung 
 in the Council Chamber), in recognition of 
 his merits and services. For many years 
 afterwards, he occupied a seat at the Council 
 Board, and exerted himself to promote the 
 welfare of the growing municipality. He was 
 elected the first president of the Middles- 
 brough Chamber of Commerce, and up to the 
 present time he continues a useful member of 
 that body. From the first, he has been one 
 of the most indefatigable members of the Tees 
 Conservancy Board, which has done a great 
 deal in the way of improving the navigation 
 of that now important river. Formerly, in-
 
 58 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 deed, the Tees, from Middlesbrough upwards, 
 was a shallow and tortuous stream, that could 
 only be navigated by vessels of a light draught 
 of water, and then only under circumstances of 
 difficulty and danger. In the North Riding 
 Infirmary, and other local charitable institu- 
 tions, Mr. Bolckow has taken a deep interest, 
 having assisted in founding the most of them. 
 Middlesbrough is one of the four new 
 boroughs on Tees-side created under schedule 
 D of the Representation of the People Act, 
 1867. Having done much to procure this re- 
 cognition of the importance of the town, Mr. 
 Bolckow was appropriately selected to become 
 its first parliamentary representative. From 
 the moment that Middlesbrough's enfranchise- 
 ment was secured, it. was allowed, by common 
 consent, and with scarcely a single dissentient 
 voice, that he should be asked to accept this 
 honour, the highest that his fellow-townsmen 
 could confer ; and although his instinctive in- 
 clination to shrink from public notice, and 
 take his place among the workers rather than 
 the leaders of public progress, led him at first 
 to decline the honour, he was afterwards so 
 convinced of his being the free and spon- 
 taneous choice of the people, that he declared 
 his readiness to go to the poll. But this was 
 unnecessary, for there was not a shadow of 
 opposition to his candidature, although in each 
 of the other three new boroughs Darlington,
 
 H. W. F. BOLCKOW, M.P. 59 
 
 Hartlepool, and Stockton fierce and pro- 
 tracted contests took place. In order to 
 qualify himself for a seat in Parliament, Mr. 
 Bolckow had to obtain a special Act, removing 
 the disabilities under which he laboured as an 
 alien. This Act received the Royal assent on 
 the 29th May, 1868, and provided that 
 " William Henry Ferdinand Bolckow shall be 
 naturalised, and shall have, hold, and enjoy all 
 rights, privileges, and capacities whatsoever 
 that he would, could, or might have had, held, 
 or enjoyed if he had been born within the 
 United Kingdom and had been a natural-born 
 subject of her Majesty the Queen." Of his 
 conduct in Parliament we care not now to 
 speak, further than to say that he is regular 
 in his attendance in St. Stephen's, and exhibits 
 in the highest degree that greatest merit of a 
 Parliamentary representative an earnest 
 desire, and the necessary capacity, to advance 
 the interests of his constituents. He has 
 always been true to his professions at the 
 time of his election, to support all measures 
 which in his opinion would be benefical to the 
 country at large, and promote civil and 
 religious liberty. With Marc Antony, he 
 may say " I am no orator ;" he is not even a 
 prototype of Single-speech Hamilton, for we 
 are not aware that he has yet tried to make 
 even one set speech in the House ; but he has 
 none the less acquired an influence, especially
 
 60 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 in commercial circles, that makes him a valu- 
 able unit in the ranks of the Liberal party. 
 
 So far back as 1854, Mr. Bolckow had made 
 up his mind to present Middlesbrough with a 
 public park and recreation ground. The 
 difficulty of obtaining a suitable site, however, 
 prevented him from giving effect to his in- 
 tention until, in 1866, he acquired the ground 
 now forming the Albeit Park, for the sum of 
 18,000, and laid it out at a further cost of 
 about 10,000, so that the total value of the 
 gift was about 30,000. In August, 1868, 
 the Park was formally opened by H.R.H. 
 Prince Arthur, who was Mr. Bolckow's guest 
 for two days. A general holiday was observed 
 on the occasion, and the town wore an air of 
 jubilation such as it has never known since. 
 He received the following letter from the 
 Queen : 
 
 Pension Wallis, Lucerne, August 17, 1868. 
 
 SIR, The circumstances attending the reception of 
 H.R.H. Prince Arthur at the opening of the park at Mid- 
 dlesbrough have been reported to the Queen, and Her 
 Majesty has learnt with great satisfaction how strong a 
 f eeling of loyalty towards herself and the Royal Family 
 was evinced on the occasion. 
 
 Prince Arthur expressed verbally the gratification he 
 derived from the loyal and enthusiastic greeting which was 
 accorded to him, but the Queen is unwilling to leave un- 
 noticed the conspicuous share taken by you in receiving 
 and entertaining His Royal Highness, and has commanded 
 me to return to you Her Majesty's thanks for your mag- 
 nificent hospitality. I have the honour to be, Sir, your 
 obedient, humble servant, 
 
 (Signed) T. M. BIDDULPH. 
 
 H. W. F. Bolckow, Esq.
 
 H. W. F. BOLCKOW, M.P. 61 
 
 In the cause of education, both elementary 
 and technical, Mr. Bolckow has worked with 
 a willing heart and an anxious mind. His 
 experience of the Continent, and especially of 
 his native country, which has long had a 
 better system of education than any other 
 country in Europe, showed him that the 
 English artisan was far from being up to the 
 mark. Compared with the German workman, 
 he stood at a disadvantage, and even the 
 ouvriers of Belgium and France had a training 
 that put him in the shade. Mr. Bolckow saw 
 this to his sorrow, and felt it to his loss. He 
 could not make his workmen amenable to 
 reason and a just preception of their true in- 
 terests so readily as he could have done had 
 they been better educated. Ignorance is the 
 most fertile source of prejudice and super- 
 stition ; and Mr. Bolckow, although uniformly 
 living on terms of amity and concord with his 
 men, often found that their obstinacy and 
 disregard of common sense were obstructions 
 both to his and their progress. He aimed at 
 removing this. With the generation to which 
 he himself belonged h$ could do little good. 
 But he could go to the root of evil, and confer 
 upon the children that which had been with- 
 held from their fathers. Up till the year 1867, 
 Middlesbrough was deplorably short of 
 adequate school accommodation, and it was 
 calculated that not more than a third of the
 
 62 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 children available for that purpose were under 
 educational discipline. At a cost of some 
 7,000, Mr. Bolckow built schools capable of 
 providing for 900 children. This provision 
 went a long way towards fully meeting the 
 requirements of the town. The discipline 
 of the school is of such a character that 
 children of all classes, grades, and habits are 
 admitted. For these munificent gifts to the 
 town, the Corporation of Middlesbrough re- 
 solved to present Mr. Bolckow with a public 
 address, and this ceremony, which took place 
 on the 31st October, 1868, was the occasion 
 of a crowded gathering in the Town Hall. 
 The address set forth that " Under divine 
 Providence, successful in your undertakings 
 beyond the lot of most, you remembered that 
 wealth cannot be more nobly applied than in 
 advancing the condition of those around. 
 This town a town to a considerable extent of 
 your own creation, indeed owes you much : 
 the present generation for your last princely 
 gift, and the future for the knowledge which 
 the schools now in course of erection will 
 afford," In his reply, Mr. Bolckow said: "It 
 has long been my earnest wish to contribute 
 to the physical and intellectual requirements 
 of your rapidly-increasing population, and I 
 arn thankful that divine Providence has en- 
 abled me thus far to accomplish my long 
 cherished intentions."
 
 H. W. F. BOLCKOW, M.P. 63 
 
 We cannot linger over many other interest- 
 ing events in Mr. Bolckow's life ; but we must 
 not omit to mention that he is chairman of the 
 Middlesbrough Exchange Company, Limited, 
 and holds a large stake in the concern. On the 
 22nd November, 1866, he laid the foundation- 
 stone of the Royal Exchange, one of the 
 most important marts of commerce in the 
 North of England. On that occasion he stated 
 that " it had always been his determination 
 for Middlesbrough to become the metropolis 
 of the Cleveland Iron Trade, and he had no 
 doubt that that result would be brought about 
 by the erection of this building." 
 
 In the general election of 1874, Mr. 
 Bolckow again announced himself a candidate 
 for the representation of Middlesbrough 
 declaring his acceptance of the Liberal 
 programme as represented by Mr. Gladstone, 
 with whom he had generally acted. But he 
 was not destined on this, as on the former 
 occasion, to have a "walk over." He was 
 opposed first of all by Mr. John Kane, the 
 Secretary of the Amalgamated Ironworkers 
 Society, an advanced politician, holding the 
 principles of the Land and Labour Repre- 
 sentation League ; and afterwards by Mr. 
 W. R. I. Hopkins, whose candidature was 
 altogether contingent on that of Mr. Kane, 
 as will be found stated elsewhere. Mr. 
 Hopkins is regarded as the leader of the " fit
 
 64 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 though few " body of Conservatives in Mid- 
 dlesbrough, and he was asked to champion 
 their interests in the general election of 1868. 
 Wisely, however, he then refused to involve the 
 borough in the expense and excitement of a 
 contested election, when the result was a 
 foregone conclusion ; and it was only because 
 the Liberal party were apparently divided 
 that he adopted a different course in 1874. 
 The result of the election proved, by the in- 
 fallible test of the Ballot, that Mr. Bolckow's 
 is a real popularity, and that the people of 
 Middlesbrough have a high appreciation of 
 his worth and work. The official state of the 
 poll showed: Bolckow, 3,719 ; Kane, 1,541 ; 
 Hopkins, 996. During the contest Mr. 
 Bolckow addressed numerous public meetings, 
 and it was generally observed that he dis- 
 played an intimate acquaintance with the lead- 
 ing questions of the day, and great felicity 
 in discussing them. 
 
 Of Mr. Bolckow's personal qualities we 
 might speak with less reservation, were we 
 not sure that the subject of these remarks 
 would rather have anything unsaid that 
 savours of flattery and adulation. But after 
 all, the most that can be said of any man, 
 however good or gifted, is contained in that 
 graceful remark used by Lord John Russell 
 in speaking of " Old Pam," his counsellor and 
 friend, " those who knew him best esteemed
 
 H. W. P. BOLCKOW, M.P. 65 
 
 him most ;" and this is true in an eminent 
 degree of Mr. Bolckow. To those who enjoy 
 his friendship he is free, hospitable, and un- 
 reserved ; and to all classes and objects alike 
 that make just claims upon his time and purse, 
 he is generous without the least show of 
 ostentation. For many years he has displayed 
 much taste as a virtuoso. In his noble house 
 at Marton there is quite a unique display of 
 old French, Dutch, and Flemish curiosities, in 
 addition to many rare books and pictures, 
 collected chiefly by himself in London. In 
 variety and excellency, his collection of 
 pictures is not surpassed by any private 
 collection in the country. Not only are 
 great names represented on the walls, but for 
 the most part the best samples of the best 
 artists have been brought together ; several 
 of the pictures have been engraved and have 
 become very popular. 
 
 The following are a few of the leading 
 pictures, most of which possess an historic 
 interest and are of great value : " The sub- 
 siding of the Nile," "Rebecca and Eleazar"and 
 " Rachael," by Goodall ; " Cattle " and " The 
 Ferry," by Rosa Bonheur ; " Ancient Tombs 
 in the Rocks at Lycia" and " The Bay of 
 Naples," by W. Muller ; " Spanish Ladies " 
 and "The Fruitseller," by Jno. Phillip; 
 "Grandmother" and "Roast Pig," by T. 
 Webster; "Homeless" and "The Silken 
 Gown," by Thomas Faed; "Both Puzzled," and 
 
 E
 
 66 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 "The China Merchant," by Erskine Nicol; 
 three Venetian paintings by E. W. Cooke ; 
 " Evening of St. Agnes," by Maclise ; " Snow 
 Storm in Cumberland" and " Noon day's rest," 
 by T. S. Cooper ; " Braemar" (one of Sir E. 
 Landseer's largest and best works) ; " High- 
 land Shepherd," by Ansdell; "The Ballad," 
 by John Faed ; " Harvest " and " The Hill- 
 side Farm," by Linnell, senior ; three paint- 
 ings by Clarkson Stanfield ; " Driving Home 
 the Flock," by David Cox ; " Meeting of the 
 Avon and Severn," by Patrick Naysmith ; 
 " Walton Bridges," by Turner ; " St. Peter's, 
 Rome," by D. Roberts ; " Merry Making in 
 the Olden Time," by Frith ; " The Sick 
 Child," by Sir D. Wilkie ; " The Stirrup Cup " 
 and " The Sign Painter," by Meissonnier ; 
 with equally important samples of Poole, 
 Troyon, Frere, Bisschop, Egg, Eastlake, 
 Calderon, Millais, Gerome, W. Collins, Herr- 
 ing, Sant, etc. ; and a very large and won- 
 derfully executed enamel, with portrait of 
 Clemence Esaure, by Lepec. 
 
 As an indication of the interest taken in 
 Cleveland and its foremost pioneer, it is worthy 
 of note that biographical sketches of Mr. 
 Bolckow, with an admirably executed portrait 
 in each case, have appeared in the British 
 Workman, the Practical Magazine, Home 
 Words, and other publications ; and in a series 
 of articles on important collections, the 
 Athenatum included the noble gallery at 
 Marton Hall.
 
 Ill -JOHN VAUGHAN. 
 
 CANNING said of South America, when he 
 acknowledged its independence, " I called a 
 new world into existence." It was a proud 
 boast, but one which John Vaughan compar- 
 ing great things with small could have made 
 with as much show of reason as the famous 
 English statesman There are few who do 
 not allow his claim to take a foremost place in 
 the ranks of our pioneers. Having only a 
 limited and imperfect education, he had yet 
 an intelligent eye for opportunities, much 
 native tact, and an unbounded capacity for 
 work. With these qualities, he was just the 
 man 
 
 " To burst his birth's invidious bar, 
 Breasting the blows of circumstance, 
 To grasp the skirts of happy chance, 
 And grapple with his evil star." 
 
 And he did so most effectually. Commencing 
 life in what might well be called the humblest 
 walks of social life, he worked his way up to 
 the highest that a merchant or manufac- 
 turer can attain, and died a millionaire. 
 And yet he did not strike a vein of gold, nor 
 did he obtain possession of the philosopher's
 
 68 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 stone. His name is not associated with any in- 
 ventions or processes such as those that have 
 obtained for Neilson, Bessemer, and others, a 
 colossal fortune and a niche in the Temple of 
 Fame. He sought not to win his spurs in any 
 or either of the usual fields of distinction- 
 literature, science, or art. He had great 
 even commanding talent, and by turning 
 it with marvellous aptitude to account, and 
 making the most of it, he has left behind 
 him a name that will not readily perish. The 
 eternal glory of the man is, that he achieved 
 for himself and others, by average resources, 
 that which men of better opportunities could 
 never have established. Let us be just, while 
 we are also generous, to his pleasant memory. 
 It was by hard work, tact, and foresight not 
 by mere luck or chance that he was able to 
 build up his colossal fortune. All the more 
 credit, therefore, to himself ; all the more hope 
 and encouragement to others. 
 
 John Vaughan was born in the cathedral 
 city of Worcester, on St. Thomas's Day, 1799. 
 His father was an ironworker, who depended 
 upon his daily toil for the support of his 
 family. The most we know of him is that he 
 was a man of considerable skill in his business, 
 and of more than ordinary decision of charac- 
 ter. His family were brought up in a respec- 
 table manner, and had the advantage of a good 
 example. John was early taught that
 
 JOHN VAUGHAN. 69 
 
 " Man's but a sodger, 
 And life's but a fecht." 
 
 As a boy he worked in a scrap mill ; as a 
 man he occupied more remunerative and 
 arduous positions such as that of a roller. 
 But at an early age he practically proved that 
 " the child is father to the man." His plodding 
 disposition and inquiring habit of mind, led him 
 while still in his " teens " to take the highest 
 position as a workman, and earn better wages 
 than his neighbours. He graduated in one of 
 the best schools in the kingdom the great 
 Dowlais works in South Wales where he had 
 every possible facility for making himself 
 familiar with all the phases and ramifications 
 of the iron trade. Probably there were few 
 men who had at that time such an exhaustive 
 knowledge of the practice of iron-making. 
 Nor was he long of turning his attain- 
 ments to good account. As " a prophet hath 
 not honour in his own country," he did not 
 succeed in obtaining at Dowlais the promotion 
 he aspired after, and he quitted that establish- 
 ment, about the year 1825, to undertake mana- 
 gerial functions at a small ironworks at 
 Carlisle. Here he became acquainted with 
 and married his first wife. His next appoint- 
 ment was that of manager of the Walker 
 Ironworks, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, which 
 were established about the year 1832, by 
 Messrs. Losh, Wilson and Bell. Originally
 
 70 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 the Walker Ironworks consisted of only one 
 furnace, and it is a somewhat significant fact 
 that this furnace was the first specially built 
 for the use of Cleveland ironstone, which was 
 obtained from mines near Whitby, belonging 
 to a Mrs. Clark. John Vaughan, however, 
 could not have been in any way directly con- 
 cerned with this circumstance; for three 
 years previously he had joined Mr. Bolckow 
 in starting the Middlesbrough works. From 
 this point there is so much unity in the lives 
 of the two partners that they are almost in- 
 separable. For a number of years they were 
 nearly as much part and parcel of each other 
 as the Siamese twins. They had one object 
 or objects in common ; they lived, not 
 together, but next door to each other ; they 
 were continually in each other's company, 
 consulting, controlling, planning, advising, for 
 the same ends. But it is necessary to make 
 a distinction somewhere between two men 
 who, however identical in their lives, had 
 each his own individuality ; and for the sake 
 of continuity, we shall here proceed to carry 
 our narrative up to the point of Mr. Vaughan's 
 lamented decease. 
 
 It was Mr. Vaughan who fixed upon Mid- 
 dlesbrough as the site of the new enterprise 
 which he and his partner resolved to under- 
 take about the close of the year 1839. Being 
 the practical man of the firm, this matter was
 
 JOHN VAUGHAtf. 71 
 
 left entirely in his hands. We are not aware 
 of the precise reasons which actuated his 
 choice. Did he dream of the treasures which 
 these hills contained ? Or did the near prox- 
 imity to coal and shipping facilities offer 
 inducements ? Or had he formed a hypothesis 
 of his own and this seems from the course 
 taken by subsequent events to be the more 
 likely surmise as to the nodules of ironstone, 
 which the disintegrating effects of the weather, 
 left exposed on the bold bluff coast between 
 Whitby and Saltburn ? Here at any rate the 
 firm launched, perchance with "fear and 
 trembling," their little venture, which was 
 originally constructed on a very modest scale, 
 and included only the manufacture of finished 
 iron and its conversion into different kinds of 
 machinery. The Middlesbrough of that day 
 was a village of some 4,600 or 4,800 inhabi- 
 tants. It had two sources of trade the 
 shipment of coal, and a small pottery ; but no 
 ironworks had as yet been built from one end 
 of Cleveland to the other. As one of the 
 Middlesbrough owners, from whom the new 
 firm acquired their site, Joseph Pease, the 
 first Quaker member of Parliament, was one 
 of the first to become acquainted with Mr. 
 Vaughan, and at the request of the latter he 
 gave the firm an introduction to several col- 
 liery owners, in South Durham, couched in 
 the following terms ;
 
 t2 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 2nd day, 12th month, 1841. 
 
 The bearer, Mr. John Vaughan, of the firm of Bolckow 
 and Vaughan, being about to visit the owners of coal, 
 wishes me to recommend him as likely to become an 
 extensive consumer. 
 
 (Signed) JOSEPH PEASE. 
 
 As coal was at that time rather a drug in 
 the market, Mr. Vaughan would probably get 
 a welcome reception from the coal owners, 
 despite the curt, cautious, and not over friendly 
 note of introduction written by his patron. 
 Like all new firms, Messrs. Bolckow and 
 Vaughan, in commencing, had many difficul- 
 ties to encounter, and these were not of 
 merely temporary duration, but lasted over a 
 period of at least eight or ten years, during 
 which Mr. Vaughan appeared to be proof 
 against fatigue and empowered with ubiquity. 
 He threw his whole soul into the success and 
 aggrandisement of the firm, and the operation 
 of his practical experience soon gained it a 
 name for the excellent quality of the work 
 produced. We learn from a local history, 
 that " Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan made 
 the engines in 1843 of the steamer English 
 Rose, the first steamboat built in the port of 
 Stockton." Mr. J. W. Ord, three years later, 
 writes in his history of Cleveland, that " in 
 the ironworks belonging to Bolckow and 
 Vaughan, not only are all sorts of cast and 
 wrought iron executed, but rolling mills are
 
 JOHN VAUGHAN. 73 
 
 in operation for the production of bar iron 
 and rails of every description." 
 ' On the 14th day of February, 1846, the 
 firm commenced the manufacture of pig iron, 
 having erected four blast furnaces at Witton 
 Park, near Bishop Auckland, for that purpose. 
 There were then no blast furnaces nearer than 
 Con sett and Tow Law, and as the railway 
 facilities of the place had only been imper- 
 fectly developed, the firm had often consider- 
 able difficulties in obtaining the supplies of 
 pig iron and fuel necessary for their works. 
 These had by this time attained a considerable 
 bulk the quantity of iron used in 1846 being 
 20,000 tons, while the consumption of coal 
 was 100,000 tons. Mr. I. L, Bell assigns as 
 the reason that induced the selection of Witton 
 Park as site for the new works, the fact 
 that the firm had an offer of a supply of 
 ironstone from the coal-fields near Bishop 
 Auckland ; but, as had happened to their 
 colleagues on the Tyne years before, in these 
 expectations they were disappointed, and 
 were therefore compelled, like them, to have 
 recourse to the use of the Whitby ironstone. 
 It may be interesting to state, that when 
 Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan built the 
 Witton Park furnaces, there were only other 
 ten works of the same class in the North of 
 England. The following table shows their 
 particulars :
 
 74 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Name of Works. Date of Erection. No. of Furnaces. 
 
 Lemington 1800 2 
 
 Birtley 1827 3 
 
 Eidsdale 1835 2 
 
 Hareshaw 1836 3 
 
 Wylam 1836 1 
 
 Consett 1840 7 
 
 Walker 1843 1 
 
 Stanhope 1845 1 
 
 Crook Hall 1845 7 
 
 Tow Law 1845-6 5 
 
 Total 32 
 
 And now we come to what is in many 
 respects the most interesting epoch in the 
 career of Mr. Vaughan his connection with 
 the discovery of the Cleveland ironstone. 
 Many erroneous versions of this matter have 
 been published. It is popularly supposed, 
 indeed, that the very existence of ironstone 
 in the Cleveland hills was unknown until Mr. 
 Vaughan stumbled upon it. The most com- 
 monly accepted, although a most erroneous 
 explanation of the discovery, is that which 
 represents Mr. Vaughan as having quite ac- 
 cidentally and unintentionally stumbled upon 
 a nodule of ironstone while out shooting. 
 There are few fallacies that have not a basis 
 in fact, and this one is no exception to the 
 rule. But in order that Mr. Vaughan's real 
 connection with this discovery may be clearly 
 defined, it is necessary to take a retrospective 
 glance at the ante-iron era in Middlesbrough.
 
 JOHN VAUGHAN. 75 
 
 A great antiquity has been assigned to the 
 actual discovery of the Cleveland ironstone. 
 In his illustrations of the geology of Cleve- 
 land, published in 1829, Professor Phillips 
 says that " ironstone abounds on this coast," 
 and he speaks of ironworks that were estab- 
 lished by the Monks near Rievaulx Abbey, 
 in Bilsdale, and in the valley of Hackness. 
 Again, in his "History and Antiquities of 
 Cleveland," published in 1846, Mr. J. W. 
 Ord says that " Bransdale, Rosedale, and 
 probably some of the other dales, contain 
 quantities of ironstone, although at present in 
 disuse." He adds, " The vast heaps of iron 
 slag, and numerous remains of ancient works, 
 prove that much iron must formerly have 
 been produced there." On the strength of 
 these and other collateral criteria, it has been 
 argued that the Romans on the one hand, and 
 the Monks on the other, were aware of the 
 existence of ironstone in the Cleveland hills, 
 and worked it at a very early period. From 
 this view, however, Mr. John Marley, of Dar- 
 lington, a mining engineer of eminence, em- 
 phatically dissents, thinking it very question- 
 able " whether the Romans or the Monks 
 ever smelted any part of the main bed of 
 ironstone, which has in recent years proved 
 such a source of wealth to the North, because 
 in the various remains of slag and refuse left 
 by them in Bilsdale, Bransdale, Rosedale,
 
 76 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Furnace House in Fryupdale, Rievaulx Abbey, 
 and other places, no traces of the main seam 
 of ironstone have been found, although * dog- 
 ger band ' (or thin clay bands of ironstone) 
 and * nodules ' have been so found along with 
 the charcoal and slag." 
 
 Coming down to more recent times, how- 
 ever, we are confronted by the most unequivo- 
 cal testimony that the knowledge of the 
 mineral wealth of Cleveland is much older 
 than is commonly supposed. In 1811, the 
 late William W. Jackson, of Normanby Hall, 
 had samples of ironstone from his property, 
 near Upsal, sent to the Lernington Ironworks 
 on the Tyne, for the purpose of being tested. 
 The result was not encouraging. " Tell your 
 master," was the reply, " that it is good for 
 nothing." From this time forward, numerous 
 attempts were made to win the Cleveland 
 ironstone to practical account, but failure 
 seems to have attended nearly every effort in 
 this direction. Its value was not understood. 
 One writer says, in 1828, " It has been as- 
 certained to yield 15 per cent, of iron." This 
 is not above one-half the average percentage 
 obtained at the present time. Again we find 
 that on the 18th day of May, 1836, a cargo of 
 fifty-five tons of ironstone was sent from Gros- 
 mont to Whitby, and from thence shipped to 
 the Birtley Ironworks, near Newcastle, by the 
 Whitby Stone Company, which was formed
 
 JOHN VAUGHAN. 77 
 
 for the purpose of developing traffic, including 
 freestone, whinstone, and ironstone, for the 
 Whitby and Pickering Railway. The experi- 
 ment was attended with doubtful results, 
 but it did not deter the company from send- 
 ing a second quantity to the Tyne Iron Com- 
 pany, who, after putting it to the test, returned 
 the cheering intimation that " they were 
 ashamed to see such refuse on the quay !" 
 The next experiment of which we have any 
 record was made by the Devon Iron Company, 
 now defunct, who had blast furnaces at 
 Alloa, near Stirling. It was through Mr. D. 
 Neasham,of the late firm of Neasham and Com- 
 pany, of the Portrack Lane Ironworks, Stock- 
 ton, that a cargo of ironstone obtained near 
 Coatham was sent to the Devon Company. 
 That gentleman received a letter in reply to 
 the effect that there was no iron in the stone ; 
 that it was not even worth trying ; and that 
 he should give himself no further trouble 
 about it. When Mr. J. W. Ord published his 
 work on Cleveland in 1846, he declared the 
 ironstone to be " at present of little value 
 except as ballast, and scarcely of sufficient 
 importance to encourage speculation." 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow the progress of 
 the various efforts to make the Cleve- 
 land ironstone a marketable commodity, for 
 they all began and ended with doubt, difficulty, 
 and discouragement. We have said enough
 
 78 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 to show that as a commercial product the iron- 
 stone was discredited and condemned. Until 
 Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan came upon the 
 field, its application to the purposes of iron 
 manufacture was regarded as all but imprac- 
 ticable so much so, indeed, that when the 
 latter proposed to enter into leases for its 
 developement on the estate of Mr. E. W. 
 Jackson, at Eston, that gentleman said he 
 would not " assist to ruin Messrs. Bolckow and 
 Vaughan and spoil the estate." But the time 
 came and the man ; in what manner we shall 
 see. 
 
 It was in 1846, as already stated, that 
 Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan established 
 their works at Witton Park. The locale was 
 admirably chosen in respect of commanding 
 easy and near access to the coal and carboni- 
 ferous lime-stone measures, as well as to the 
 " vein " or " rider " stone from Teesdale and 
 Weardale. But their supplies of ironstone 
 at the best were irregular and precarious, and 
 they were continually on the alert for more 
 reliable and trustworthy sources. In pur- 
 suance of this aim, they procured some 
 thousands of tons off the coast between Redcar 
 and Skinningrove in the spring of 1848, and 
 having shipped it to Middlesbrough they con- 
 veyed it thence per railway to Witton Park. 
 This is believed to have been the first prac- 
 tical application of the discovery of the main
 
 JOHN VAUGHAN. 79 
 
 seam in the north of the Cleveland measures. 
 On the 7th August, 1848, Messrs. Bolckow 
 and Vaughan made arrangements with Mr. A. 
 L. Maynard, one of the lessors of the iron- 
 stone at Skinningrove, for a supply of iron- 
 stone from that district. It is said that be- 
 fore Mr. Vaughan had issued instructions as 
 to how this ironstone was to be treated, the 
 furnace manager emptied the first few 
 wagons of stone into the refuse heap, as 
 "freestone stuff," although we have heard the 
 statement contradicted. In 1849 the Skin- 
 ningrove mines came into the hands of 
 Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan, and were 
 worked by them until October of the following 
 year, when they were transferred to Messrs. 
 Losh, Wilson, and Bell, of the Walker Iron- 
 works. All the energies of Mr. Vaughan 
 were strained at the time to obtain a cheap, 
 ample, and convenient supply of ironstone. 
 Although the furnace manager reported un- 
 favourably on the first cargo sent from 
 Skinningrove, Mr. Vaughan soon saw for 
 himself that it was greatly superior in yield 
 to the Whitby ironstone, which the firm had 
 previously used to a large extent. Under 
 his auspices, therefore, trial drifts were made 
 in the Upleatham Hills, at Eston, and at 
 Normanby, with a view to the further de- 
 velopment of the mineral ; but the " top 
 seam," which is the most irregular, both in
 
 80 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 thickness and in quality, was the only one 
 then discovered. Although thus disappointed, 
 Mr. Vaughan was neither disheartened nor 
 dismayed. He continued his examination of 
 the Cleveland Hills until, on the 8th day of 
 June, 1850, he stumbled upon the main seam 
 of ironstone. He made this discovery in 
 company with Mr. John Marley, mining 
 engineer of Darlington, whose account of the 
 incident it may be well to quote here. Mr. 
 Marley says : " Mr. Vaughan and myself, 
 having gone to examine the hills for the most 
 suitable place for boring, we decided to ascend 
 to the east, adjoining Sir J. H. Lowther's 
 grounds, and so walk along to Lady Hewley's 
 grounds on the west. In ascending the hill 
 in Mr. C. Dry den's grounds, we picked up 
 two or three small pieces of ironstone. We, 
 therefore, continued our ascent until we came 
 to a quarry hole, from whence this ironstone 
 had been taken for roads, and next, on enter- 
 ing Sir J. H. Lowther's grounds to the west, 
 a solid rock of ironstone was lying bare, up- 
 wards of sixteen feet thick. I need scarcely 
 say that, having once found this bed, we had 
 no difficulty in following the outcrop in going 
 westward, without any boring, as the rabbit 
 and fox holes therein were plentiful as we 
 went. We also examined the place in 
 Lackenby Banks, squared down in 1811 or 
 1812 by the late Mr. Thomas Jackson, of
 
 JOHN VAUGHAN. 81 
 
 Lackenby. The period from the 8th June, 
 1850, till the middle of August following was 
 occupied in completing arrangements for 
 opening out this ironstone, and the first trial 
 quarry was begun on the 13th of August, 
 1850. A temporary tramway was soon laid 
 down, and by the 2nd of September, 1850, the 
 first lot of seven tons was brought down in 
 small tubs to the highway side, from thence 
 carted to Cargo Fleet, and thence again by 
 rail to Witton Park Ironworks, being about 
 three weeks after actually seeing the iron- 
 stone, and by this method 4,041 tons were 
 sent away by the 28th December following." 
 Such is Mr. Marley's plain and simple 
 narrative of a discovery that has led to such 
 splendid results. The extent and value of the 
 Cleveland ironstone having been approxi- 
 mately ascertained, Mr. Vaughan made haste 
 to conclude leases for the working of large 
 royalties at Eston, and as the lessors regarded 
 it as only a doubtful thing at the best, the 
 firm were enabled to do this on the most 
 advantageous terms. It is said that Mr. 
 Vaughan, in making his lease, kept all 
 knowledge of his discovery from the owners 
 of the land, or, at any rate, hinted at the 
 ironstone as being problematical in its extent 
 and suitability. At all events, their royalty 
 payment was not more than fourpence per 
 ton, whereas of late years it has averaged
 
 82 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 sixpence, and is, in some cases, as much as 
 ninepence per ton of 20 cwt. 
 
 Of the subsequent operations of Messrs. 
 Bolckow and Vaughan, as a firm, we have left 
 ourselves so little room to speak here that 
 we must refer them to our sketch of Mr. 
 Bolckow, and this may be done with all the 
 more appropriateness, seeing that in later years 
 the latter exercised more control over the 
 concern than his partner's failing health could 
 allow him to do. We cannot, however, do 
 justice to Mr. Vaughan without speaking of 
 his excellent personal qualities, of his amia- 
 bility in domestic life, of his generosity, his 
 equable and benevolent disposition, and his 
 keen and active sympathy with the interests 
 and instincts of his workmen. No man was 
 more familiar than he with 
 
 " The short but simple annals of the poor," 
 and no one was more ready to extend a 
 helping hand to a case of real distress, or to 
 recognise and reward merit in those under 
 him. One who knew him well has said that 
 " a foul word, or an angry hasty word, never 
 escaped his lips ; not that he did not become 
 excited and vexed when aught went wrong in 
 the works never being satisfied until he 
 himself had put it right, matterless the per- 
 sonal labour or time employed and all the 
 men not only felt his earnestness and power, 
 but tacitly acknowledged their mistakes and
 
 JOHN VAUGHAN. 83 
 
 made amends for the future. Such a master 
 created good and faithful servants. Among 
 the lower class, he was singularly looked up 
 to, yet not servily. Without the slightest 
 presumption on his wealth, or the least 
 affectation of superiority, he was sincerely 
 respected by all grades, and acquitted him- 
 self well in each." When he died, Mr. 
 Vaughan bequeathed to his only son, Mr. 
 Thomas Vaughan, personal property represent- 
 ing about half a million sterling, to his widow 
 he left 3,000 a-year for life, and to her 
 off- spring by her two former marriages no 
 less an amount than 130,000 ; besides 
 the estate and mansion of Gunnergate, with 
 its extensive pleasure grounds and gardens, 
 Cleveland Lodge, and other property. He died 
 in his sixty-ninth year, on Wednesday, Sep- 
 tember 16, 1868. Having fought a good fight, 
 he finished his course in the presence of his 
 son, Mr. Thomas Vaughan, and other sorrow- 
 ing members of his family. 
 
 " God's finger touched him, and he slept !" 
 Tranquilly and happily he passed away, after 
 a long life bordering on the " allotted span," 
 crowded with toil and vicissitude, and crowned 
 with a measure of success which falls to the 
 lot of few men.
 
 IV ISAAC WILSON 
 
 MB. ISAAC WILSON is justly entitled to take a 
 front place in the ranks of the pioneers of 
 the Cleveland iron trade. When he came to 
 Middlesbrough in 1841, it was not the " waste 
 and howling wilderness " that Joseph Pease 
 and those who were concerned with him in 
 the purchase of the Middlesbrough Estate 
 had found it twenty years before. But it was 
 in all respects an uninviting, crude, and 
 needy town uninviting, because it was situ- 
 ated almost in the centre of a huge marsh, 
 and was considered anything but healthy ; 
 crude, because it was in a half- formed, angu- 
 lar, and transition state ; and needy, because, 
 like all newly created communities, its muni- 
 cipal, religious, and educational requirements 
 yet remained to be provided for to a great 
 extent. Mr. Wilson has assisted, more than 
 most of those whose fortunes have been 
 identified with the place, to tone down all 
 rhomboids, odd points, and angles, to foster 
 its industrial capacities, and to lay the foun-
 
 ISAAC WILSON. 85 
 
 dations of its present and prospective success. 
 Born at Kendal, in February, 1822, Mr. 
 Wilson is the scion of an old and highly re- 
 spectable Westmoreland family. He can trace 
 his descent in a direct line back to the time 
 of Anthony Wilson, of Little Langdale, in 
 the parish of Grasmere, who died in 1639. 
 His father Isaac Wilson son of John and 
 Sarah Wilson, of Kendal was born in 1784, 
 and died at Kendal in 1844. His mother was 
 the daughter of John Jowitt, of Leeds, whose 
 family has been well known and highly re- 
 spected in that town for many generations. 
 Mr. Wilson's father followed the trade of a 
 woollen manufacturer in the picturesque 
 little town of Kendal, but as the Lake district 
 is more famed for its scenic beauties and in- 
 vigorating breezes than for its industrial 
 prestige, we are not surprised to find that the 
 manufacturing operations carried on at that 
 time were on a somewhat restricted scale. 
 Accordingly, it behoved the subject of this 
 sketch to look out, when he had attained ma- 
 ture years, for a larger and more promising 
 field of operations. 
 
 Circumstances brought Mr. Wilson into 
 intimate contact with the Messrs. Pease, of 
 Darlington to whom he was related about 
 the year 1841. The late Mr. Joseph Pease, 
 with that eagerness to help forward deserving 
 young men that always characterised him,
 
 86 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 took an interest in his young relative, and 
 proposed to him to settle down at Middles- 
 brough. Coming events were then " casting 
 their shadows before" so clearly, that Mr. 
 Pease looked forward to a great future for 
 Middlesbrough. He pointed out to Mr. Wilson 
 that there was an excellent opening for the 
 erection of works at that town, as it was so 
 near the Durham coal-field and the principal 
 harbours on the north-east coast, in addition 
 to possessing railway facilities that were con- 
 sidered at that time of day exceptionally good. 
 Mr. Wilson came to Middlesbrough on these 
 representations, and, through Mr. Pease, he 
 became intimate with Mr. Richard Otley, who 
 will be remembered as the first secretary of 
 the Stockton and Darlington Railway an 
 office which he held for many years. It so 
 happened that Mr. Otley had then engaged in 
 the business of an earthenware manufacturer, 
 along with the late Mr. Davison. Mr. Wil- 
 son was asked to join the venture. He gave 
 his ready consent, and for several years his 
 attention was almost exclusively bestowed 
 on this business. It is worthy of note, that 
 the Pottery was then the only industrial es- 
 tablishment in the town, except the works of 
 Bolckow and Vaughan, and another small 
 engineering works. To the west of the pot- 
 tery, which is situated between the Ferry 
 Landing and the Docks, within two hundred
 
 ISAAC WILSON. 87 
 
 yards of the river, there was nothing but a 
 few coal-heavers' dwellings, and on every 
 other side the country was either marshy or 
 agricultural land. Even at this comparatively 
 recent date, the pilgrim fathers of Middles- 
 brough were accustomed to shoot snipe and 
 other aquatic fowl, within a hundred yards of 
 the site of the Pottery, while the district 
 known as the Marshes, where there is now 
 quite a congeries of works of different kinds, 
 and where smoke and flame are belched forth 
 from a thousand chimneys, was so "truly 
 rural," that the early settlers used it for re- 
 creative purposes. It is not necessary to be 
 an old man to remember the time when the 
 whole stretch of ground between Gosford 
 Street and Newport exhibited no trace of in- 
 dustrial life. Pviow, it is hardly possible to 
 find anything like the same amount of activity, 
 within a similarly circumscribed area, even 
 in the largest centres of British industry. 
 To adapt the marsh land on the west side of 
 the borough for the construction of works, it 
 was covered with slag obtained from the blast 
 furnaces, that had meanwhile been started in 
 the district, thus giving a solid and sure foun- 
 dation, and converting this waste product into 
 a highly useful commodity. 
 
 But we are anticipating somewhat the 
 proper sequence of our narrative. Mr. Wilson 
 had not long been connected with the Pottery,
 
 88 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 when he and his partners erected ironworks 
 of limited extent on a piece of ground 
 immediately adjoining their earthenware 
 works. The development of this venture 
 was never followed out, and in 1844, Mr. 
 Wilson, who had meanwhile formed an in- 
 timacy with Mr. Edgar Gilkes, joined with 
 him in the partnership which resulted in the 
 establishment of the Tees Engine Works. 
 Under the style of Gilkes, Wilson, and Com- 
 pany these works were carried on until 1865, 
 when they were merged in the concern that 
 has since borne the name of Hopkins, Gilkes 
 and Company. Mr. Wilson has been chairman 
 since the commencement. The operations 
 of the company have all along embraced the 
 manufacture of crude iron, and the production 
 of plates, rails, bar and angle iron, and railway 
 chairs of every specification. But besides 
 being one of the largest, it has also been one 
 of the most prosperous concerns in Cleveland 
 for a number of years. 
 
 In the year 1853, blast furnaces were built 
 at Cargo Fleet, below Middlesbrough, by the 
 firm of Gilkes, Wilson, Leatham and Company. 
 Of this large concern the largest of its kind 
 in the Middlesbrough district, at that time 
 with the exception of Bolckow, Vaughan, 
 and Company. In this concern (which was 
 the second set of furnaces erected in the 
 district), Mr. Wilson was a partner. It was
 
 ISAAC WILSON. 89 
 
 his first introduction to the manufacture of 
 crude iron. In 1858, Mr. Leatham, who was 
 a brother of the present member for Hud- 
 dersfield, and a son-in-law of Mr. Joseph 
 Pease, of Darlington, was removed by death, 
 and his place in the firm was supplied by 
 Mr. J. B. Pease (since deceased), the son-in- 
 law of Mr. Wilson. The style of the firm was 
 now altered to that of Grilkes, Wilson, Pease, 
 and Company, and the works are still carried 
 on under that designation. 
 
 Immediately adjacent to the Tees-side 
 ironworks, there are the Linthorpe works, 
 with six large blast furnaces, carried on by 
 the firm of Lloyd and Company. In this 
 undertaking Mr. Wilson is largely interested, 
 and was one of its original promoters. Mr. 
 Lloyd, whose name gives its style to the firm, 
 came originally to the Cleveland district to 
 fill a responsible position in the National 
 Provincial Bank at Stockton, and through 
 Mr. Thomas Snowdon, whose daughter he 
 espoused, he became connected with the iron 
 trade. 
 
 The bent of Mr. Wilson's mind is so con- 
 stituted that he cannot stand listlessly by 
 while public business no matter how thank- 
 less, difficult, and unremunerative remains 
 to be attended to. From first to last, we 
 should say, that a full third of bis time has 
 been given up to public business, from which
 
 90 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 he could not hope to obtain either honour or 
 reward. He was one of the first commission- 
 ers that had the honour of being elected 
 Mayor of the borough of Middlesbrough, and 
 since the town was incorporated in 1853, he 
 has sat continuously at the Council Board. 
 His counsel is always listened to with deference 
 and respect, and he never shirked his due 
 share of the more onerous and unpleasant 
 minutiae of committee work. 
 
 It is to the interests of the Tees navigation 
 that Mr. Wilson has contributed his most 
 zealous and valuable services. What Sir 
 Joseph Cowen has been to the Tyne, Mr. 
 Wilson has been to the Tees. He was one of 
 the original members of the Conservancy 
 Commission when it was constituted by the 
 Act of 1852, and has for many years held the 
 office of chairman. Through evil and through 
 good report he has struggled to promote the 
 ends for which the commission was formed. It 
 was a difficult, and not unfrequently a dismal, 
 task, for the obstacles to be surmounted were 
 almost appalling, and the resources at the 
 disposal of the Commissioners were very 
 limited. 
 
 The position of affairs in the early history 
 of the commission required the utmost tact 
 and discrimination, and it is worthy of note, 
 that Mr. Wilson was able to maintain the 
 good opinion of all parties at a time when
 
 ISAAC WILSON. 91 
 
 party feeling occasionally ran very high. 
 But he showed in this, as in all other matters 
 to which he put his hands, that he possessed 
 those qualifications in an eminent degree, and 
 his judicious conduct at the helm enabled the 
 somewhat unmixible elements of which the 
 Commission was composed to operate for the 
 timely and judicious development of the trade 
 of the district. Still continuing to preside 
 over the Conservancy of the river, Mr. Wilson 
 has lived to reap some satisfaction for his 
 pains, for the Tees is now in a fair way 
 of realising the end of all his hopes and 
 efforts. 
 
 We have already indicated the interest that 
 Mr. Joseph Pease manifested in his young 
 Kendal protege. That interest was never 
 allowed to flag, until Mr. Pease had the satis- 
 faction of seeing Mr. Wilson serving on the 
 Board of Directors of the Stockton and Dar- 
 lington Railway. His administrative capacity 
 was so conspicuously exhibited, while he 
 occupied this position, that when the sectional 
 management was merged in that of the 
 Central Board, Mr. Wilson was unanimously 
 appointed a director of the North-Eastern 
 Railway. His long experience, and close 
 attention to financial and engineering details, 
 have made him quite an authority on the 
 difficult and comprehensive art of railway
 
 92 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 management, and probably there are none of 
 his co-directors whose opinions carry greater 
 weight. 
 
 Mr. Wilson has always taken an active part 
 in political affairs always on the Liberal 
 side. His popularity in his adopted town 
 was so well established that when Middles- 
 brough became a Parliamentary borough in 
 1867, he was at once mentioned as one who 
 had great claims to be elected the first 
 member. A large and influential deputation, 
 composed from nearly every class in the 
 constituency, waited upon him for this pur- 
 pose, and presented a requisition signed by 
 considerably over 2,000 electors. But he 
 hesitated, probably as much as Donna Inez did 
 in an even mure delicate situation ; and when 
 it was announced that Mr. Bolckow had agreed 
 to go to the poll, Mr. Wilson at once chival- 
 rously yielded up the preference to what he 
 no doubt regarded as the now sitting member's 
 superior claims. The old Greek stoic said, 
 " If I were not Diogens, I would be Alex- 
 ander." If the electors of Middlesbrough 
 had not had the choice of Mr. Bolckow, they 
 would undoubtedly have accepted Mr. Wilson 
 as their representative. At the General 
 Election of 1874, he acted as chairman of Mr. 
 Bolckow's committee, and won golden opinions 
 for the firmness, dignity, and moderation with
 
 ISAAC WILSON. 93 
 
 which he conducted a contest in which strong 
 feeling was roused and great principles were 
 at stake. 
 
 In the year 1847, Mr. Wilson married Anna 
 Dorothy, daughter of Robert Benson, Esq., 
 of Parkside, Kendal, by whom he has had 
 one son and five daughters.
 
 V. -JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 
 
 THOSE who know of Mr. Joseph Dodds in his 
 professional capacity alone may be inclined to 
 wonder at finding his name at the head of 
 this article. But it is not always the men 
 who are put most prominently forward, that 
 are chiefly entitled to prominence. The most 
 indefatigable workers often keep their identity 
 in the background. In commerce, as in 
 politics, and other relations of life, there are 
 often wheels within wheels an imperium in 
 imperio. Thus it is in the case of Mr. Joseph 
 Dodds. Professionally a solicitor, in the 
 enjoyment of a practice probably second in 
 value and importance to none in the North 
 of England, he is, at the same time, a large 
 ironmaster, and a recognised representative of 
 the industrial interests in the House of 
 Commons. On these grounds he is fairly 
 entitled to take his place among the Pioneers 
 of the Cleveland Iron Trade. But when we 
 have said this, we have not said all. The 
 prosperity of a community depends not so
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 95 
 
 much upon the initiation of great projects as 
 upon their successful consummation ; and it is 
 almost a trite reflection that a condition of 
 mere animalism, in which all the grosser 
 attributes of humanity are rampant, is not the 
 state most conducive to permanent and 
 properly-directed success ; nor is it possible 
 for a new community, like that of Middles- 
 brough or Stockton, to overtake all their re- 
 quirements in anything like the ratio in which 
 they arise unless governed by men of zeal, 
 faith, enterprise, and foresight. Such a man 
 is Joseph Dodds. He found Cleveland that 
 is the wide and important district embraced in 
 that name in an infantile condition. It re- 
 quired care, nutriment, and constant attention. 
 Although undoubtedly an infant Hercules, it 
 might have broken down or run to seed under 
 other treatment. As it is, it has had all the 
 advantages that both natural and artificial 
 gifts could bestow. No sooner did an urgent 
 want arise than it was promptly met, and 
 generally to the fullest extent. Joseph Dodds 
 was in all the counsels of the men who had 
 this onerous work on hand. Advising, plann- 
 ing, and suggesting, he is the head and front 
 of many improvements and enterprises that 
 where fathered on others. Probably, there is 
 no great scheme affecting the material pro- 
 gress of the district, that has not had the 
 benefit of his assistance and co-operation in
 
 96 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 one form or another. While fighting, like 
 Hal o' the Wynd " for his ain hand," he has 
 also striven earnestly, laboriously, and consci- 
 entiously to promote the general weal of those 
 by whom he was surrounded. His untiring 
 exertions have met their reward in the attain- 
 ment of a position of affluence, influence, 
 honour and respect, 
 
 Born on the 10th October, 1819, Mr. Joseph 
 Dodds is now in the fifty-fifth year of his 
 age. His father, a farmer near Winston, a 
 village on the banks of the Tees not far from 
 Barnard Castle, is still living, and a hale 
 active man, although over 90 years of age. 
 After receiving his early training at a 
 dame's school in his native village, he was 
 sent to the parish school of Winston, and from 
 thence he was transferred to the Gainford 
 Academy, then under the charge of the late 
 Rev. W. Bowman, M.A. Under this able pre- 
 ceptor he made rapid and distinguished pro- 
 gress, carrying off many academic honours, 
 and excelling particularly in the classics. 
 Leaving Gainford Academy on attaining his 
 seventeenth year, he commenced his business 
 career in the office of the late Mr. Thomas 
 Bowes, of Darlington, from whence he re- 
 moved to Barnard Castle, to take a situation 
 under the late Mr. Weldon of that town. 
 About 1841, he removed to Stockton, at the 
 request of his relative, the late Mr. Matthew
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 97 
 
 Bowser, land agent, Thornaby Grange, who 
 had thrown out inducements as to his kins- 
 man's ultimate succession to the business. 
 Simultaneously with his employment by Mr. 
 Bowser, young Dodds assisted in the office of 
 Messrs. Bayley and Newby, solicitors, Stock- 
 ton ; and in 1846, he was articled to Mr. 
 Bayley, on the understanding that he would 
 ultimately be admitted into partnership with 
 that gentleman. But the death of Mr. Bayley 
 put a period to this prospect ; and Mr. Dodds, 
 after qualifying for the position of an attor- 
 ney and solicitor, commenced practice on his 
 own account, having acquired the connection 
 that belonged to his late master. 
 
 It will thus be seen that it was not until 
 1851 that Mr. Dodds had actually established 
 himself in his profession ; and his connection 
 being limited, his prospects did not point in 
 the direction of rapid or great prosperity. 
 But his was a character, formed by nature, to 
 overcome opposition and impress its sign 
 manual on the community in which he lived. 
 The first official position he held in his 
 adopted town was that of a committeeman, 
 and afterwards honorary secretary of the 
 Stockton Mechanics' Institution, of which, for 
 many years past he has been, and still is, 
 vice-president. In 1852 he was elected a 
 member of the Town Council. He was then 
 only 33 years of age a time of life when few
 
 98 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 men can command the weight and influence 
 necessary to secure their election to civic 
 honours. In 1857 he was elected Mayor of 
 the borough, in preference to the late Mr. 
 William Turnbull, shipbuilder, who was also 
 put in nomination. On the expiry of his year 
 of office as Mayor, he was again elected a 
 member of the Council, and he has since con- 
 tinued, with only one short interval, to retain 
 his seat at the Council board, being still an 
 alderman of the borough. 
 
 On the motion of his friend and client, Mr. 
 H. W. F. Bolckow, M.R, Mr. Dodds was 
 unanimously elected chief clerk to the Tees 
 Conservancy Commissioners, in succession to 
 the late Mr. J. Radcliffe Wilson, town 
 clerk of Stockton. This was in 1858. The 
 first business undertaken by Mr. Dodds, as 
 chief clerk to the Tees Conservancy Commis- 
 sioners, was to solicit through Parliament the 
 Tees Conservancy Act, 1858. This Act is, 
 in one respect, unique. It confers upon the 
 Commissioners powers which, as yet have 
 not been conferred upon any other pub- 
 lic body exercising similar functions, to re- 
 claim, with the sanction of the Board of Trade, 
 portions of the foreshore of the Tees, the pro- 
 ceeds arising from the sale of which are 
 divided between the Queen as owner of the 
 foreshore, the frontager, and the Tees Con- 
 servancy Commissioners in the proportion of
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 99 
 
 one -fourth to each of the former, and two- 
 fourths to the Commissioners. 
 
 Under these powers, originally, we believe, 
 suggested by William Fallows, Esq., of Mid- 
 dlesbrough, and obtained mainly through his 
 indefatigable exertions, upwards of 1,000 acres 
 of valuable land have already been reclaimed 
 from the bed of the river, the sale of which 
 has, or will realise to the Commissioners, 
 upwards of 75,000. Further large tracts 
 of land are now, or shortly will be, in 
 course of reclamation, with the combined 
 result of improving the navigation, and 
 materially augmenting the resources of the 
 Commissioners. The services of Mr. Dodds 
 in obtaining from Parliament these novel and 
 valuable powers, received the special recogni- 
 tion of the Commissioners. The Tees Con- 
 servancy Commission was not then in the 
 prosperous position it has since attained. 
 Originally formed in 1852, this body found 
 themselves hampered, on their foundation, 
 with a debt of something like 80,000, that 
 had been incurred by their predecessors, the 
 old Tees Navigation Company. This was 
 such a dead weight about their necks, that 
 they were unable to undertake any important 
 schemes for the improvement of the river 
 until three years afterwards. Even then the 
 revenue of the Commission was little more 
 than 4,000 per annum, so that it seemed in-
 
 100 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 sufficient to justify the outlay of a large ex- 
 penditure. But without paralysing their pro- 
 gress by further pecuniary embarrassments, 
 they instituted a graduated system of im- 
 provements, which has now made the Tees one 
 of the most important highways in the North, 
 second only to the Tyne. The annual revenue 
 of the Commissioners is now upwards of 
 23,000, being an increase within twenty 
 years of about 600 per cent. The value of 
 the trade of the Tees ports has increased in 
 a corresponding, if not greater ratio. In 
 1864, the value of the goods exported from 
 Stockton was only 5,136 ; last year it was 
 14,989. The exports of Middlesbrough in 
 1864 were only estimated at 390,650 ; last 
 year they reached the enormous sum of 
 2,647,883 ! Within the same period the 
 trade of the Hartlepools has also considerably 
 increased, although to a comparatively incon- 
 siderable extent the value of the exports for 
 1864 being 2,161,600 as compared with 
 2,271,492. The only port on the north- 
 east coast that can at all compare with Mid- 
 dlesbrough as regards the development of 
 the export trade, is Newcastle ; the value of 
 the exports of the latter town having in- 
 creased from 978,472 in 1864 to 3,055,357 
 in 1872 ! It is to the improvement of the 
 Tyne navigation in the one case, and to that 
 of the Tees in the other, that the enormous
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 101 
 
 increase of the shipping trade of both these 
 ports is chiefly due. Having so fur vindicated 
 the importance of this phase of Mr. Dodds' 
 career, we may be permitted to dwell upon it 
 at still greater length. 
 
 When the Tees Conservancy Act of 1852 
 was obtained, no means had been taken to 
 improve the river below Cargo Fleet. The 
 sand banks were continually altering their 
 position, and the stream was always divided 
 into two and sometimes into three channels. 
 The depth in the best water was often less 
 than two feet, and it was generally very crooked 
 and irregular. Great difficulty was ex- 
 perienced by even the smallest craft in navi- 
 gating the channel, and the casualties to 
 shipping were frequent. Under the old Tees 
 Navigation Act, jetties had been constructed 
 for the purpose of driving the channel over to 
 the north ; but these works were only con- 
 structed bit by bit, in order to get rid of tem- 
 porary difficulties as they arose, and their 
 effect was to damage the south channel with- 
 out improving the north. The tonnage of the 
 port of Middlesbrough was gradually getting 
 worse instead of better. The diversion of the 
 Port Clarence traffic to West Hartlepool on 
 the opening of the docks at the latter place 
 gave it a severe blow. Another cause of its 
 decline was the limitation of the exports of 
 coal, which, as blast furnaces were erected in
 
 102 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 the district, was used in the neighbourhood of 
 Middlesbrough for smelting purposes. For 
 the year ending October, 1855, the tonnage 
 of the port did not exceed 290,658 tons. 
 This was lower than the annual tonnage of 
 the port for the previous twenty years. 
 
 It was under these depressing circumstances 
 that the Tees Conservancy Commissioners 
 commenced work. They first directed them- 
 selves to shutting up the north and middle 
 channels, thus guiding the whole of the tidal 
 water through the south channel. Through 
 the Cargo Fleet shoal, which had been a great 
 obstruction to the navigation of the river, a 
 channel was cut 200 feet in breadth, and with 
 a depth of seven feet at low water. About 
 fifteen miles of training walls were erected. 
 Dredging operations were commenced and 
 carried on uninterruptedly. Matters were so 
 far mended that the only important remain- 
 ing barrier to the safe and easy navigation of 
 the river was the state of the bar. But here- 
 in lay a terrible source of danger. For two 
 miles westward of the bar, the sea broke 
 during storms on either side of the channel, 
 and from the overlapping of the gare, stran- 
 gers were unable to detect any smooth water 
 through which to navigate their vessels in 
 safety. To obviate this peril, the Commis- 
 sioners commenced the erection of a break- 
 water, which is still in progress, and in the
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 103 
 
 construction of which over 3,000,000 tons of 
 slag will be used ! The effect of this and 
 other improvements, will be to shut up the 
 lateral channels in which the flowing and 
 ebbing tides waste their strength, to enclose 
 the shifting sand banks within permanent 
 walls, to confine the scouring power to the 
 proper channel, to shelter effectually the 
 lower reaches of the river, and to enlarge the 
 area of the anchoring pools. The depth of 
 water at the bar, which in 1858 was only four 
 feet and now seldom exceeds nine, will be at 
 least 14 feet at low water, and the entrance to 
 the channel will be marked by beacons be- 
 tween which vessels may be run with confi- 
 dence and safety. 
 
 Up to the present time, the Commissioners 
 have expended something like 250,000 in 
 their improvements ; but they have still 
 gigantic schemes in hand or in contemplation, 
 to carry out which they required borrowing 
 powers for another 100,000. Of this sum 
 30,000 will be appropriated to the construc- 
 tion of a graving dock, hitherto a great want 
 on the Tees. The rest will go to the comple- 
 tion of the breakwater, to blasting and remov- 
 ing the Eighth Buoy Scarp, which has narrowed 
 the navigable channel to the extent of 100 to 
 200 feet, and to the completion of dredging 
 operations necessary to secure a depth of 14 
 feet below Stockton Stone Bridge. When all
 
 104 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 these projects shall have passed from the 
 region of speculation into that of fulfilment 
 and fact, the Tees will have become second to 
 no other river in the kingdom for all the 
 purposes and requirements of navigation ; and 
 it may be expected to take the pre-eminent 
 position, as a highway of commerce, to which 
 its merits and achievements entitle it. 
 
 Mr. Dodds has been one of the principal 
 advisers and promoters, of all these and other 
 improvements of a collateral kind, that have 
 taken place in the navigation of the Tees, 
 since he became Chief Clerk to the Commis- 
 sion. His interest in the work was not con- 
 fined to his official duties pure and simple. 
 Outside their limits, he took an active part in 
 " making crooked paths straight and rough 
 places plain." No one was more prominently 
 identified with the rival schemes brought for- 
 ward between 1862 and 1864 for bridging the 
 Tees, and thus connecting the two sides of 
 the river. It will be remembered that Mr. 
 Ralph Ward Jackson, the founder of West 
 Hartlepool, proposed to carry the Durham 
 and Cleveland Union Railway across the 
 river immediately below Cargo Fleet, by 
 means of a chain ferry, while the Stockton 
 and Darlington Railway Company projected 
 a Tees Bridge at Stockton, below the present 
 railway bridge. A monster public meeting 
 was held at Stockton, presided over by Mr.
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 105 
 
 Dodds, at which it was resolved to oppose 
 both schemes. An inquiry afterwards took 
 place into the two schemes, and Mr. Dodds 
 was one of the most important and influential 
 witnesses. The Tees Commissioners and the 
 Stockton Town Council opposed both projects, 
 on the ground that they would jeopardise the 
 shipping interests of the port, and they had 
 ultimately to be abandoned, to the great dis- 
 appointment of their rival promoters. 
 
 The renewed attempt made by the North- 
 Eastern Railway Company, in 1871, to obtain 
 powers to construct a swing bridge across 
 the River Tees, between Stockton and Mid- 
 dlesbrough, was again resisted by the Tees 
 Conservancy Commissioners and the Town 
 Council, and other public bodies of Stockton, 
 South Stockton, and Yarm, and the evidence 
 of Mr. Dodds before the Parliamentary Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons, aided ma- 
 terially in securing the rejection of the 
 scheme. 
 
 Mr. Dodds was one of the chief promoters, 
 if not the original projector, of the proposed 
 new docks at Lackenby, the cost of which was 
 estimated at over 300,000. This is a want 
 which must some day be adequately supplied ; 
 and, taken in combination with the enlarge- 
 ment and improvement of the old Docks at 
 Middlesbrough on which the North-Eastern 
 Railway Company have expended a sum of
 
 106 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 over 100,000 and the improvement of the 
 navigation of the channel, such extensive 
 dock schemes would give to Stockton and 
 Middlesbrough the most complete shipping 
 facilities ; and their ulterior, if not their im- 
 mediate effect, would be to make the Iron- 
 opolis of the North one of the largest shipping 
 ports in the Kingdom. 
 
 Mr. Dodds is also a director and one of the 
 principal promoters of the proposed Cleve- 
 land Extension Mineral Eailway, which has 
 been designed to open out a virgin tract of 
 ironstone between Skelton and Glaisdale, at 
 present entirely excluded from the market. 
 A bill with the same object was rejected by 
 the House of Commons in 1872, but it pas- 
 sed through Parliament in the following ses- 
 sion, and has become law, and the construc- 
 tion of the line will be proceeded with 
 immediately. 
 
 In coming to speak of Mr. Dodds as an 
 ironmaster, it is difficult to furnish anything 
 like a complete inventory of the undertakings 
 in which he is concerned ; but of this there 
 cannot be a doubt, that there are few in the 
 Cleveland district who now hold a greater 
 stake in the trade. His connection originated, 
 we believe, with the formation of the firm of 
 Stevenson, Jaques, and Company, about the 
 year 1864. This company own the Acklam 
 ironworks, which are situated about ten
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 107 
 
 minutes' walk from the Middlesbrough Royal 
 Exchange. They were started with three 
 furnaces, each 70 feet in height, 22 feet 
 diameter of boshes, and with a cubical capacity 
 of 17,000. In 1868, another furnace of the 
 same dimensions was added, so that the works 
 now consist of four furnaces, equal to the 
 production of nearly 1,500 tons of pig iron 
 per week. For several years subsequent to 
 this date, Mr. Dodds does not appear to have 
 sought to extend his connection with the trade 
 to any material extent ; but the recent ple- 
 thora of prosperity with which ironmanufac- 
 turers were visited, and the consequent rapid 
 formation of companies established on the limi- 
 ted liability principle, led to his embarking still 
 more largely in industrial ventures. One of the 
 concerns in which Mr. Dodds is interested to 
 a large extent, and of which he is vice-chair- 
 man, is the Darlington ironworks, carried on 
 until 1872 by Mr. William Barningham, 
 situated at Albert Hill, and Springfield, near 
 Darlington. These works are, with only two 
 exceptions, the largest in the world, and are 
 capable of producing 100,000 tons of iron rails 
 annually. These exceptions are the Dowlais 
 works in Wales, and another establishment in 
 Staffordshire. The North Yorkshire iron- 
 works, South Stockton, were commenced by 
 the firm of Messrs. Richardson, Johnson, and 
 Company, about 1864. They were carried on
 
 108 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 by their proprietors until 1868, when they were 
 acquired for the purpose of making steel on 
 the Siemens -Martin system. After a very 
 large sum of money had been expended in 
 adapting them to this end, the system turned 
 out a complete failure, and the works were 
 stopped. Shortly afterwards they were taken 
 up and re-constructed by a limited liability 
 company, of which also Mr. Dodds is chair- 
 man ; and they have since gone on most 
 prosperously. ' The Tees Bridge Ironworks is 
 another establishment in which Mr. Dodds 
 has a very large stake. We believe, indeed, 
 that he was the founder of the company by 
 which these works were built ; and he is now 
 chairman of the directors. The Tees Bridge 
 works are quite new. There are to be 
 four blast furnaces in all, each 65 feet high. 
 The site of the works is a piece of ground on 
 the estate of Bowesfield, closely adjoining 
 the bridge that crosses the Tees at Stockton. 
 The Bowesfield ironworks at Stockton, is 
 another concern in which Mr. Dodds is one of 
 the largest shareholders, and the Stockton 
 Forge Ironworks, Stockton, are, we believe, 
 entirely his own property, and have been 
 largely extended and improved since they 
 passed into his hands. 
 
 In addition to the Boosbeck ironstone 
 mines belonging to his firm, at which the 
 ironstone has been won, and is now being
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 109 
 
 worked, Mr. Dodds and one or two other 
 gentlemen have secured and are about to 
 commence the development of a large and 
 valuable tract of ironstone at Girrick and 
 Moorsholme, on the route of the proposed 
 Cleveland extension line. Mr. Dodds along 
 with Mr. Hugh Chaytor has leased an exten- 
 sive tract of land around Roseberry, for the 
 purpose of ironstone mining. 
 
 Recognising in common with many of the 
 leading ironmasters of the Cleveland district, 
 the necessity for further developing the 
 wealth of the Durham coal-fields, Mr. Dodds 
 in conjunction with four or five other gentle- 
 men, of whom Captain Swan is, we believe, 
 chairman, has become the lessee of the Bear- 
 park coal royalty, situate upon the Lan Chester 
 Valley Branch of the North-Eastern Railway, 
 within two miles of the City of Durham. 
 This most valuable tract of coal extends to 
 upwards of 2,000 acres, and promises to rank 
 with the best coal royalties of the district ; and 
 to augment very largely the supply of coal. 
 Several coke ovens and workmen's houses have 
 been erected, and the number is intended to 
 be largely increased. We believe that Mr. 
 Dodds is also one of the partners in the 
 Mainsforth Coal Company, whose pits are 
 located near to Ferryhill, and of the Hutton 
 Henry Coal Company, who lately purchased a 
 portion of the estates of Mr. Milbank, M.P., and
 
 110 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 also acquired the adjacent royalties of Marshall 
 Fowler, Esq., the Rev. G. T. Fox, and others. 
 
 1 here are many institutions bearing more 
 or less directly on the iron trade in which Mr. 
 Dodds is interested. He is a member of the 
 Stockton and Middlesbrough Chambers of 
 Commerce, of the Middlesbrough Exchange 
 Company, of the North of England Iron- 
 masters' Association, and of the Freighters' 
 Association, formed some months ago, to take 
 combined action in reference to any question 
 affecting the rates of mineral traffic in the 
 Cleveland district. He was one of the earliest 
 members and original promoters of the Iron 
 and Steel Institute of Great Britain, along 
 with several other north country ironmasters 
 and members of Parliament. 
 
 The new turnpike road between Stockton 
 and Middlesbrough, which reduced the dis- 
 tance between the two towns by three miles, 
 owes its paternity to Mr. Dodds, who, in con- 
 junction with his friend, the late Mr. John 
 bhields Peacock, the esteemed and lamented 
 Town Clerk of Middlesbrough, obtained the 
 act, raised the needful funds, and finally 
 opened the road daring his mayoralty in 
 1858. Before the expiration of the Act, it is 
 confidently anticipated that the remaining 
 debt upon it will be discharged, and a free 
 road presented to the district. 
 
 It is more than usually interesting to recall
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. Ill 
 
 the circumstances under which Mr. Dodds was 
 first elected member for Stockton. His was the 
 very first name mentioned for the seat when 
 the general election of V>8 was foreshadowed 
 by the passing of the Reform Bill. A 
 numerously-signed requisition was ultimately 
 presented, requesting him to stand as a can- 
 didate ; and he had the most encouraging 
 promises of support from the most prominent 
 members of the Liberal party in South Dur- 
 ham. His situation was a delicate and a 
 difficult one. It was well understood that 
 Lord Ernest Vane Tempest was to be a can- 
 didate in the Conservative interest, and Mr. 
 Dodds had long been a friend and adviser of 
 the Vane family. He was almost hand-in- 
 glove with the late Marchioness of London- 
 derry, and with her son the present Marquis 
 of Londonderry, visiting frequently at Wyn- 
 yard Park, and occasionally consulted in 
 arrangements of a business character in which 
 his lordship was interested. His candidature 
 threatened to involve a severance of this 
 connection. But he was not deterred by the 
 prospect of losing an influential friend and 
 client. He boldly resolved to face all con- 
 sequences and fight the battle of his fellow 
 townsmen. The contest was a memorable 
 one. Lasting for four months, or thereby, it 
 was distinguished for its severity and its 
 acrimony, but in the end the Liberal candidate
 
 112 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 was returned by an overwhelming majority. 
 Despite the bolstering, the coaching, and the 
 blandishments of the Tory solicitors for Mr. 
 Dodds is one of the few Liberal solicitors in 
 Stockton the nominee of the noble house of 
 Wynyard was sent to the wall. The victory 
 was dearly purchased and deservedly won. 
 For months Mr. Dodds knew no rest. His 
 naturally excitable and sanguine temperament 
 was strung to the highest pitch of tension. 
 There were many vulnerable points to be 
 guarded, many a possible coup d'etat to be 
 checkmated. Those who were present will 
 not readily forget how he fought in the Re- 
 vision Courts, and before the Boundary Com- 
 missioners. The latter gentlemen were called 
 on to determine whether the Parliamentary 
 boundaries should be co-extensive with those 
 of the Municipal borough, or should include 
 South Stockton, which the Conservatives 
 wished to leave out in the cold. In a speech 
 of more than four hours' duration, Mr. Dodds 
 pleaded for the inclusion of South Stockton, 
 and his plea was ultimately successful. After 
 the election the hon. member was entertained 
 to a grand banquet, succeeded by a crowded 
 and enthusiastic public meeting in the theatre; 
 and the whole expenses of his election, 
 amounting to something like 1,500, were 
 subscribed for and defrayed by the constitu- 
 ency with a promptitude and heartiness that
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 113 
 
 has, probably, no parallel in the electioneering 
 annals of this country, save that of the return 
 of Mr. John Stuart Mill for Westminster. 
 
 At the general election in February, 1874, 
 Mr. Dodds was again asked at an influential 
 meeting of Liberals to represent the Borough, 
 and for a time it was expected, on all sides, 
 that he would be returned without opposition. 
 Ultimately a section of the Conservatives 
 contrary to the advice of their local leaders 
 brought forward Mr. Francis Lyon Barrington, 
 and after a brief contest, in which the Liberals 
 did not deem it necessary to put forth their 
 full strength, Mr. Dodds was triumphantly 
 elected by a majority of 3,223, against his 
 opponent who only obtained 1,425 votes. 
 This decisive result was everywhere received 
 with expressions of satisfaction, and it is 
 believed that so long as Mr. Dodds cares to 
 represent Stockton in Parliament, he will do 
 so unchallenged. 
 
 Little remains to be added. The personal 
 character of Mr. Dodds supplies the key to 
 his success and popularity. Few T men illus- 
 trate to greater perfection the suaviter in modo 
 with the fortiter in re. There is no reserve, 
 affected dignity, or hauteur about his com- 
 position. ' How d'ye do, Dodds/' is a saluta- 
 tion with which he is greeted on 'Change by 
 those who know him least, as well as by those 
 who know him best. His bland, benignant 
 H
 
 1 14 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 manner invites freedom, and yet repels license. 
 His blandness is thoroughly unstudied ; there 
 is nothing of the ars celare artem about it ; 
 it is quite a part, and perhaps the most con- 
 spicuous part of himself. Probably, the 
 greatest pleasure he enjoys is that of entering 
 a ball-room or promenading on 'Change, or 
 acting either as guest or host at a large party, 
 in either of which, or in any other like circum- 
 stance, he dispenses nods, and becks, and 
 wreathed smiles with a profusion, that would 
 to many men be quite an ordeal. He is a 
 fluent and effective, but not a brilliant speaker. 
 His elocution does not take the popular ear 
 by the use of rhetorical tricks. What he 
 has to say, he says plainly, forcibly, and well ; 
 but the higher art of oratory that which 
 has won their fame for Gladstone and Bright 
 he has had no time to cultivate. 
 
 But after all, the most transparent fea- 
 ture of his character is energy. He never 
 knew the luxury of dolce far niente. Mr. 
 Gladstone, at a great public banquet, once 
 spoke of an idle man as the most miser- 
 able being on earth. One can easily fancy 
 that under such circumstances Mr. Dodds 
 would be such a man. For many years 
 he has been accustomed to rise at six 
 o'clock in the morning, and by seven he 
 is hard at work, looking over and reply- 
 ing to his voluminous correspondence. His
 
 JOSEPH DODDS, M.P. 115 
 
 travelling and he travels many thousands 
 of miles every year was always, and still 
 is frequently done during the night. To 
 facilitate his business arrangements, and 
 lose no time that could be otherwise em- 
 ployed, he succeeded some years ago in having 
 a through train put on between Stockton, 
 Middlesbrough, and London. This train has 
 since been known as "Dodds' Express." 
 During the session he habitually runs down 
 to Stockton, either on Friday night or Satur- 
 day morning, goes through the local business 
 of the week during Saturday, and returns to 
 town again on Sunday night or Monday 
 morning ; or, if there is no important debate 
 or division coming on, he attends Middles- 
 brough iron market on Tuesday, and runs up 
 to London by the afternoon train of that day. 
 Allusion has already been made to the in- 
 timate relationship that existed between Mr. 
 Dodds and the chief ironmasters of Cleve- 
 land. He was the constant adviser of Messrs. 
 Bolckow and Vaughan, and he is a trustee 
 under the will of the latter. But his business 
 is not limited to his own immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. Its far-reaching ramifications ex- 
 tend over the whole of the North Riding and 
 throughout the whole county of Durham, as 
 well as portions of Northumberland. Until 
 lately, the firm was carried on by Dodds and 
 Trotter, but the partnership having termi-
 
 116 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 nated, Mr. Trotter withdrew from the business, 
 which is now carried on by Mr. Dodds. 
 
 Shortly before last General Election a 
 movement was set on foot, by a number of 
 political and personal friends, to have the 
 portrait of Mr. Dodds painted, and the 
 requisite funds having been promptly sub- 
 scribed, the work was entrusted to Mr. Jerry 
 Barritt, the painter of the " Queen's Drawing 
 Room, " and other celebrated pictures. 
 
 In 1847, Mr. Dodds married Ann, daughter 
 of Mr. William Smith, of Stockton, by whom 
 he has a family of six three sons and three 
 daughters. The eldest son Matthew Bowser 
 Dodds having taken the degree of B.A. at 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, is now in the 
 business, along with his father, and will 
 ultimately take his place. The second son, 
 Joseph Richardson Dodds, is studying for the 
 church at Cambridge, and took the degree 
 of B.A. in June, 1874. The third son, 
 Frederick Lumley, having gained a scholar- 
 ship in Durham Grammar School, which he 
 held for five years, became an under graduate 
 of Trinity College, Cambridge, and is passing 
 through his studies with marked distinction.
 
 VI. -EDGAR GILKES, 
 
 THERE is probably no one occupying so promi- 
 nent a position in the North of England, 
 whose life, to do it anything like adequate 
 justice, would be more difficult to write than 
 that of Mr. Edgar Gilkes. The writer 
 approaches the task with a fear and diffidence 
 that he has not experienced in relation to any 
 of the sketches that have gone before. It is 
 not that there is any scarcity of materials to 
 work with, for few lives have been more 
 crowded with circumstance. But not many 
 of the events that will come under the notice 
 of the reader are of a kind that will live in 
 story or in song. They are rather the hard, 
 stern, and somewhat commonplace facts of a 
 laborious and useful life, passed in a quiet and 
 unobtrusive manner, and so circumscribed as 
 to area, that the reader who seeks for sensa- 
 tion or sentiment will turn to them in vain. 
 In the economy of human existence it is 
 often found, that while some men who have 
 done little to deserve honour or distinction,
 
 118 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 bulk largely in the public eye, others of more 
 modesty and greater attainments are content 
 to " blush unseen." Those who have " borne 
 the burden and heat of the day " not un fre- 
 quently have their chief recompense in the 
 inward satisfaction " that passeth show " 
 a sense of approval far more pleasurable than 
 the empty applause of the giddy and vulgar 
 throng. Much less of real, earnest, abiding 
 work is obtained from the man who lives in 
 the glare of popular admiration, and makes all 
 the aims of life subordinate thereto, than from 
 the silent, steady, plodding worker who " lives 
 laborious days," who is accustomed to burn 
 the midnight oil, and for whom the lines 
 appear to have been penned : 
 
 " Men my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping some- 
 thing new, 
 
 That which they have done but earnest of the things that 
 they shall do." 
 
 These remarks are not offered by way of 
 justifying the position which we are com- 
 pelled to assign Mr. Gilkes among the 
 pioneers of the Cleveland iron trade. In 
 speaking of him in this capacity, we are in 
 this difficulty, that we cannot lay our hands 
 upon any one great movement or event dis- 
 covery or revolution with which his name 
 has been specially identified. And yet, it 
 would be even more difficult to evolve from 
 the ashes of the " dead past " i single pro-
 
 EDGAR GiLKES. 119 
 
 ject matured in Cleveland that has not in one 
 form or another borne the impress of his 
 sign -manual. He has been a veritable Admi- 
 ral Crichton, unwittingly perhaps, but none 
 the less truly. Few men perhaps no man- 
 have actuated more powerfully the deeper and 
 more essential springs of the society in which 
 he has borne a part for the last thirty years. 
 Traced to its source, we dare say that every 
 public movement initiated in Middlesbrough 
 during that time, will be found more or less to 
 have owed its inspiration to Mr. Gilkes. If a 
 meeting is held to utter a protest against some 
 imperial iniquity, Mr. Gilkes will have been 
 consulted by the promoters as to how it should 
 be got up. If any social or local question 
 requires to be ventilated through the same 
 medium, the chances are ten to one that he 
 has drawn up the resolutions. If an examina- 
 tion of a public school takes place, there again 
 he will be found, hearing if not answering ques- 
 tions. The municipal affairs of the borough 
 have been his special charge and mission 
 since the population grew out of swaddling 
 clothes. On commercial and industrial mat- 
 ters he is equally an authority and no less 
 serviceable. In short, no man is more indis- 
 pensable to that inner and hidden life which is 
 after all the back-bone of prosperity in any 
 community the life that points a constant 
 finger to the everlasting text that " man shall
 
 120 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 not live by bread alone " the life that 
 abnegates the gross, selfish, and materialistic 
 elements that are too prone to germinate 
 among a people eager to be rich, and privi- 
 leged with exceptional opportunities for the 
 attainment of that end. 
 
 Trained as an engineer in Berkshire, 
 Mr. Gilkes, in 1839, came to Shildon, as one 
 of the engineers of the Stockton and Darling- 
 ton Railway. At that time the wide district 
 known as South Durham and Cleveland was 
 in a comparatively embryo state, both as to 
 trade and population. The works at Shildon 
 were also of very limited extent, for the whole 
 rolling stock of the Darlington Railway Com- 
 pany did not exceed twelve locomotives not 
 one of which had a tender like the tenders of 
 to-day, but a water-barrel and a coal wagon, 
 one at each end of the engine two or three 
 hundred wagons, and about eighty carriages. 
 These figures have since been multiplied more 
 than a hundred-fold. In 1843, there was a 
 branch establishment started at Middles- 
 brough, called the Tees Engine Works, for 
 the repair of the rolling stock of the Stockton 
 and Darlington Railway, and Mr. Gilkes came 
 down from Shildon to undertake their man- 
 agement. A year or two later, Mr. Isaac 
 Wilson and Mr. Gilkes entered into a partner- 
 ship for carrying on the works under the firm 
 of Gilkes, Wilson and Company, and from that
 
 DGAR OILKES. 121 
 
 time until the present the works have been 
 among the most extensive and well-known in 
 the North of England. Indeed, it may be 
 said of these works, that they pioneered 
 the engineering trade of the Tees. When 
 they were originated there were only some 
 half a dozen similar establishments between 
 the Tees and the Tyne. These were the 
 Gateshead Ironworks established in 1747 ; 
 the Chester-le-Street Works, founded in 1793 ; 
 the Walker Ironworks, established in 1809 ; 
 the Forth Bank Engine Works, founded by 
 Mr. Robert Hawthorn in 1817 : the HartJe- 
 pool Ironworks, established in 1838 ; and the 
 works of Messrs. R. Stephenson and Company, 
 established at Newcastle in 1823. 
 
 For some years after they were founded, 
 the Tees Engine Works assisted the works of 
 Messrs. R. Stephenson and Company, and 
 others, in making the locomotive engines 
 used in the North of England. At the 
 meeting of the British Association in 
 Newcastle in 1863, it was reported that dur- 
 ing the previous thirty-four years these firms 
 had unitedly produced upwards of 2,400 loco- 
 motives. Probably no one contributed more 
 than the subject of these remarks to develope 
 the locomotive engine. He became early 
 acquainted with both its merits and its imper- 
 fections ; and at the works over which he pre- 
 sided all kinds of locomotives have been built,
 
 122 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 from the crude model furnished by Stephen- 
 son's Rocket, to the splendidly equiped and 
 powerful engine of the present day. 
 
 But in the construction of viaducts and 
 bridges, no less than in the building of locomo- 
 tives, the firm of Gilkes, Wilson, and Company 
 have taken a high position. At one time and 
 another they have erected the Albert and 
 Victoria Bridges in Windsor Park, bridges 
 over the Thames above London, and the 
 singular viaducts over the rivers Deepdale 
 and Beelah, in Lancashire and Westmoreland. 
 These bridges were constructed for the South 
 Durham and Lancashire Union Railway. The 
 Beelah Viaduct is constructed on a plan some- 
 what similar to that of the celebrated Crum- 
 lin Viaduct. It consists of 15 piers, com- 
 posed of hollow columns. The span of the 
 lattice girders forming the roadway is 60 feet. 
 The total length of the viaduct is 1,000 feet, 
 and the greatest depth from the rail to the 
 ground is 1 95 feet. The quantity of materials 
 used in its construction consists of 77 f> tons of 
 cast iron, 303 tons of wrought iron, 12,343 cube 
 feet of memel timber for roadway. Another 
 engineering triumph of this firm is the cele- 
 brated viaduct at Saltburn, which is carried 
 over the valley immediately in front of the 
 Zetland Hotel, at the height of over 200 feet 
 from the ground. In the construction of this 
 bridge the firm were limited as to price, and
 
 they exerted themselves to combine elegance 
 and strength with cheapness. They suc- 
 ceeded so well, that after the bridge was 
 finished it was declared by Sir William Arm- 
 strong, to be the cheapest construction 
 having regard to its height and position- 
 in the world. But the firm of Gilkes, 
 Wilson, and Company have also produced 
 a large quantity of general engineering 
 work, including mill, colliery, and marine 
 engines, for nearly all parts of the kingdom. 
 
 In 1852, Mr. Gilkes commenced the erec- 
 tion of blast furnaces below the dock channel, 
 on what was then a piece of waste ground, 
 liable to the incursions of acquatic fowl. 
 These were the first blast furnaces built in 
 Cleveland after those of the Middlesbrough 
 ironworks, so that Mr. Gilkes is entitled to 
 take a position next to that occupied by the 
 late Mr. John Vaugban as a pioneer of the 
 Cleveland iron trade. The furnaces first 
 built by Mr. Gilkes had a cubical capacity of 
 only 5,500 feet, whereas the last furnaces built 
 at the same works represent 33,000 feet as 
 their cubical contents. At the Tees Ironworks 
 an interesting drawing may be seen exhibiting 
 the graduated growth in height and cubical 
 capacity of the different furnaces erected by 
 Mr. Gilkes no less than five of the original 
 furnaces having been demolished and rebuilt 
 to a greater height within the space of twenty 
 years.
 
 124 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRAt)K. 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to add that Mr. 
 Gilkes projected the Tees Ironworks with the 
 view of cultivating the advantage offered by 
 the discovery of the Cleveland ironstone. 
 But at that time there were only the mines 
 of Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan opened out 
 at Eston. All beyond towards Thirsk on the 
 one hand, and Whitby on the other, was an 
 impenetrable terra incognita. Mr. Joseph 
 Pease had acquired a royalty near to Guis- 
 borough, but it was practically valueless 
 without adequate railway facilities. It was 
 at this juncture that the project for the forma- 
 tion of a railway to Guisborough was formed. 
 The local magnates pooh-poohed the idea. 
 Even those who were likely to be the most 
 directly benefited by having their estates 
 opened up, turned a cold shoulder to the 
 scheme. Mr. Pease foresaw, however, that 
 the district was likely to become a great 
 feeder to the iron trade, and that a large and 
 valuable mineral traffic would thus be de- 
 veloped, so he came forward and offered to 
 guarantee a dividend of 5 per cent, for a 
 certain number of years if the line was pro- 
 ceeded with. Such an undertaking from such 
 a source was the means of the ultimate con- 
 struction of the line, and it is worthy of 
 remark that it has fully justified the sanguine 
 anticipations of its founder. The completion 
 of the Guisborough Railway enabled Messrs.
 
 EDGAR GILKES. 125 
 
 Gilkes, Wilson, and Company to obtain iron- 
 stone from the mines that had been opened 
 up by the Messrs. Pease. Like other con- 
 script fathers of the new industry, they had 
 at first many difficulties to surmount, arising 
 from the ignorance which then prevailed as 
 to the conditions under which the oolitic stone 
 of Cleveland should be smelted, shortcomings 
 peculiar to a new and unknown district, and 
 the competition they encountered from Wales, 
 Staffordshire, and Scotland. But " line upon 
 line, precept upon precept here a little and 
 there a little,'' they overcame all the lions 
 that beset their path, and assisted to place 
 Cleveland on the high industrial eminence it 
 now occupies. 
 
 Before taking leave of the industrial phases 
 of Mr. Gilkes's career, it is only due to his 
 high attainments as an engineer to state that 
 he holds a most honourable place in his pro- 
 fession. Among his intimate personal friends, 
 he reckons many of the most prominent 
 engineers of the day, and although it has not 
 been given to him to take rank with Watt 
 and Stephenson, Bessemer and Arkwright, 
 as the founder of a new invention or industry 
 saving thousands and millions of pounds, or 
 employing armies of artizans, he has in his 
 quiet way contributed a large quota to the 
 perfection of engineering science. 
 
 For more than twenty years Mr. Gilkes has
 
 126 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 been prominently identified with the muni- 
 cipal affairs of Middlesbrough. He sat in 
 the Commission that controlled the embryo 
 borough before it was incorporated ; and when 
 the charter of incorporation was granted, he 
 was one of the first elected to serve at the 
 new Council Board. With only a very limited 
 interregnum, he has continued ever since to 
 be a member of the Corporation, having pas- 
 sed the Mayors chair and worn the alderman's 
 gown. As a member of the Council he has 
 devoted a great deal of his time to municipal 
 affairs, and he is still one of the most enter- 
 prising and active civic legislators of Middles- 
 brough. But the measure of Mr. Gilkes's 
 devotion to the public service is only faintly 
 represented by his work as a member of the 
 Corporation. As we have already indicated, 
 he is connected more or less intimately with 
 nearly every society, association, and institu- 
 tion in the town. He is likewise a borough 
 and county magistrate ; a member of the 
 Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Royal 
 Exchange, and a governor of the North Riding 
 Infirmary. 
 
 Although he has a considerable talent for 
 literature, Mr. Gilkes has not done anything 
 in this way to bring his name into prominent 
 notice. But we do not think it is disclos- 
 ing any profound secret, when we say 
 that he has from time to time produced verses
 
 EDGAR GILKES. 127 
 
 which would have done no discredit to a poet 
 of much greater pretensions, and although 
 fugitive and unrecognised, these verses have 
 in one form or another obtained a place in 
 several high-class periodicals. Of scientific 
 literature his pen has been rather barren, 
 although he has taken a somewhat con- 
 spicious place in the discussions of the 
 local Institution of Engineers, and the Iron 
 and Steel Institute, with both of which he is 
 connected, and has occasionally contributed to 
 the scientific and professional magazines, 
 papers which indicate at once the extent of 
 his information, and the power and precision 
 with which he could express it. We have 
 thus briefly recorded the simple facts of a 
 quiet life which will be best understood in 
 after years, when the hidden facts, seen only 
 by the few and by the eye that sees all things, 
 are revealed in the light of that day which is 
 eternal.
 
 VII. JOSEPH PEASE, 
 
 SPEAKING at a meeting held to promote the 
 candidature of his brother Henry, when the 
 latter first stood as a candidate for the re- 
 presentation of South Durham, Joseph Pease 
 said, " I have not a single drop of coward's 
 blood in my veins." No one who knew the 
 speaker could say otherwise. It is largely 
 due to him and to the family of which he was 
 for many years the recognised and honoured 
 head, that South Durham and Cleveland have 
 attained the position they now occupy. In 
 the ordinary acceptation of the term, Joseph 
 Pease was never an ironmaster ; but it was 
 he, and those who acted with him, that paved 
 the way for the establishment and successful 
 prosecution of the iron trade on the banks of 
 the Tees. Full of sanguine and well-grounded 
 hopes, he was at the same time animated 
 by a spirit of determination and energy 
 that persevered unto the end with whatever he 
 took in hand. It was truly said of him that 
 he could see a hundred years ahead. Not
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 129 
 
 only did he project " enterprises of great pith 
 and moment,'' but he invariably carried them 
 to a successful termination. From his earliest 
 years to the close of his busy career, he was 
 intimately associated with nearly every move- 
 ment tending to the development of the 
 industrial resources of Cleveland. Next after 
 Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan, the town of 
 Middlesbrough owes more to Joseph Pease 
 than to any other man. If to Bolckow and 
 Vaughan Middlesbrough owes its prosperity 
 and status, to Joseph Pease it certainly owes 
 its existence. For him, therefore, we can 
 claim an indisputable right to a place among 
 the pioneers of the Cleveland iron trade. 
 
 Born at Darlington, on the 22nd day of 
 June, 1799, Joseph Pease was the second son 
 of that Edward Pease whose name will live 
 in the industrial annals of his country as the 
 " founder of the first passenger railway in Eng- 
 land." Mr. Pease received his early education 
 at Tatham's school in Leeds, and subsequently 
 Mr. Josiah Forster, of Southgate, near Lon- 
 don, became his preceptor. Under this 
 gentleman Mr. Pease got something more 
 than a sound education. Mr. Forster was a 
 member of the Society of Friends a persua- 
 sion to which his pupil also belonged and 
 with much of the zeal that is characteristic 
 of that austere communion, he engaged in the 
 promotion of religious and political reforms.
 
 130 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 His mantle fell not only on his pupil, but on 
 more than one member of his own family, in- 
 cluding his nephew, the Right Hon. W. E. 
 Forster, with whom Mr. Pease in after life 
 maintained a close and deep-rooted friendship. 
 The business career of Mr. Pease was in- 
 augurated at an early age. While still in his 
 " teens " he entered the office of his father, 
 who at that time carried on, jointly with his 
 brother, one of the largest woollen manufac- 
 turers in the North of England. Young Pease 
 wastrained to a practical knowledge of every de- 
 partment of the trade, and became an expert 
 at sorting, combing, dressing, dyeing, the man- 
 agement of figures, or the routine of general 
 office work. Edward Pease was a strict dis- 
 ciplinarian, and exacted from all in his em- 
 ployment, and especially from his son, the 
 best work they were capable of turning out. 
 Admonished continually that "whatever is 
 worth doing is worth doing well," young 
 Joseph acquired a methodical habit and an 
 aptitude for business which, "if judgment 
 were laid to the line and righteousness to the 
 plummet," were certain in the long run to 
 bring him to the top of the ladder. But 
 while thus diligent in business, and bent on 
 making a name for himself in the commercial 
 world, he never acted the equivocal part of 
 the dog in the manger. It could never be 
 said of Joseph Pease that, having reached the
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 131 
 
 top of the ladder, he drew it up after him, to 
 prevent others from attaining the same goal ; 
 for, on the contrary, he was always ready both 
 to spend and to be spent for the advancement 
 and welfare of others. This, however, by the 
 way. Before pausing to sum up his character, 
 we are called upon to follow the fortunes of 
 the Stockton and Darlington Railway, with 
 the formation and whole history of which 
 Mr. Joseph Pease has been prominently 
 mixed up, and to the judicious management 
 and opportune extensions of which the unique 
 prosperity of the district through which it 
 runs is mainly attributable. 
 
 The Stockton and Darlington Railway was 
 only opened for traffic on the 27th day of 
 September, 1825, but so far back as 1810 a 
 committee was appointed to inquire into the 
 practicability of forming a canal or railway 
 for the better conveyance of goods and mer- 
 chandise between Stockton and Darlington. 
 Both Edward and Joseph Pease the father 
 and uncle of the subject of these remarks 
 were members of that committee, whose 
 labours eventuated in the formation of a line 
 commencing at Witton Park Colliery, and 
 terminating at Stockton, its total length being 
 about 27 miles. Between these two termini 
 there were large and well-developed coal 
 fields ; but so far as the iron trade was con- 
 cerned, it was as yet in the matrix of the
 
 132 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 future. Up to this point Joseph Pease had 
 not interfered, except as a subordinate, in the 
 schemes promoted by his father and uncle. 
 But it was reserved for him to complete the 
 work which they had begun. In 1829 a com- 
 pany of gentlemen became the proprietors of 
 what has ever since been known as the Middles- 
 brough Estate. Young Joseph Pease with 
 whose fortunes from this time forward we 
 have alone to deal was the leading promoter 
 of that company, which also included Messrs. 
 T. Richardson, H. Birkbeck, S. Martin, Edward 
 Pease, jun., and F. Gibson. The purchase 
 only extended to 500 acres of ground, and at 
 the time it was made there was not more than 
 one or two farm-houses on the newly-acquired 
 property. The land was used for agricultural 
 purposes only, so that it was purchased at 
 its then agricultural value, and although we 
 cannot state the exact sum, it must have been 
 comparatively trifling. But Joseph Pease and 
 his partners had no idea of turning farmers. 
 The far-seeing and constructive genius of Mr. 
 Pease taught him to believe that Middles- 
 brough possessed rare facilities for the ship- 
 ment of coal from the South Durham coal 
 field, and he resolved to adapt the estate to 
 this end. There were at that time only three 
 ports on the North-East Coast from which 
 coal was shipped on anything like a large 
 scale. These were Newcastle, Sunder land,
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 133 
 
 and Blyth. The great South Durham coal 
 field was without an adequate outlet. The 
 first shipment of coal at Stockton took place 
 in 1822. In that year, 1.224 tons were ex- 
 ported. In 1828 this quantity had increased 
 to 66,051 tons. There were, however, in- 
 superable obstacles in the way of the develop- 
 ment of the trade. The river Tees up to Stock- 
 ton was only navigable at that time for the 
 smallest craft, which made the passage with the 
 utmost difficulty, and amid constant liability to 
 misadventure. It was Mr. Pease's idea that a 
 shipping port further down the river would 
 be much more suitable for the purpose, and 
 thus attract a much larger share of the trade. 
 He was not disappointed. Returns on which 
 every reliance can be placed show that the 
 opening up of the Stockton and Darlington 
 Railway exercised an important influence on 
 the trade of the former port, the shipment of 
 coals alone having increased from 1833 to 
 
 1840 at the rate of 157'57 per cent, as com- 
 pared with those of 1828. But from 1640 
 Middlesbrough took the position which Joseph 
 Pease had predicted, and the trade of Stock- 
 ton in the shipment of coals began to 
 decline as that of its rival advanced. We 
 find in the shipments of coal from Stockton 
 a decrease of 000*9 per cent, for the years 
 
 1841 to 1844 as compared with the three 
 years immediately preceding, while from 1845
 
 134 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 to 1850 the decrease was still greater, being 
 at the rate of 40'0 per cent. But while Mid- 
 dlesbrough has done much to injure the 
 shipping prestige of Stockton, it is only fair 
 to explain that it has been largely aided in 
 this ungracious work by Hartlepool, which, 
 although only commencing the shipment of 
 coal in 1845, had increased the quantity of its 
 shipments 76'6 per cent, between 1845 and 
 1850. 
 
 The Middlesbrough Estate having been ac- 
 quired by Mr. Pease and his partners, the 
 question naturally arose, how is it to be 
 opened out ? It came into their possession a 
 real terra incognita, inaccessible on fvery hand 
 except by the river, and even there the ab- 
 sence of docks or staithes prevented the 
 possibility of utilising the place for shipping 
 purposes. To many men, in like circum- 
 stances, the acquisition of such an isolated 
 and forsaken territory would have been as 
 bad as the present of a white elephant. But 
 Joseph Pease had a settled and definite aim 
 in view, and with the rationality and wisdom 
 that distinguished most of his undertakings, 
 he made all things subordinate to the realisa- 
 tion of that end. Until it could be penetrated 
 by railway communication the Middlesbrough 
 estate was worse than useless for his purpose. 
 Hence he threw himself into the movement 
 for the construction of the Middlesbrough
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 135 
 
 branch railway. After encountering a great 
 deal of opposition from the " vested interests " 
 of Yarm and Stockton, the Act was obtained 
 in May, 1828, for the extension to Middles- 
 brough of the Stockton and Darlington 
 Railway. In the conflict of opinion and 
 evidence that arose on this measure, Mr. 
 Pease rendered yeoman service to the cause 
 of progress. Although himself a coalowner 
 not then on a large scale his principal op- 
 ponents were, curiously enough, neigh- 
 bouring coalowners, who expected that the 
 opening of the proposed extension would 
 interfere with their monopoly, and otherwise 
 injure their trade. Mr. Pease lived to disabuse 
 their minds of this pernicious idea, and his 
 opponents were not long before they ac- 
 knowledged their error. 
 
 The opening of the Middlesbrough branch 
 railway, which took place in December, 1830, 
 is a red letter day in the history of the 
 metropolis of Cleveland, marking an era 
 upon which all its subsequent progress has 
 more or less depended. The event was 
 marked by a ceremonial in which Joseph 
 Pease, as became his position, took a con- 
 spicuous part. From this time forward the 
 progress of the town was uninterrupted. 
 The coal trade of the port grew larger every 
 year, and employed a constantly-increasing 
 number of hands. From the time that rude
 
 136 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 huts were first run up for the accommodation 
 of the navvies who constructed the line, and 
 the mechanics who built the shipping staithes, 
 the external accretion of the population went 
 on slowly at first, but none the less steadily, 
 until, when the first ironworks were estab- 
 lished by Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan in 
 18iO, Middlesbrough had a population of 
 nearly 5,000 souls. 
 
 The Middlesbrough dock, which had not a 
 little to do with attracting the iron trade to 
 that part of Tees-side, was constructed by 
 Mr. Pease and Mr. Henry Birkbeck, of Nor- 
 wich, along with one or two other capitalists. 
 It was afterwards sold to the Stockton and 
 Darlington Railway Company, on the award 
 of Sir W. Cubbitt, and Mr. Brian Donkin, 
 C.E. The formation of Middlesbrough as 
 the site of a system of docks and the ter- 
 minus of a branch railway, was much opposed 
 by the late Lord Londonderry, and the late 
 Earl of Durham ; and it is probably not too 
 much to say, that the Middlesbrough Branch 
 Railway would never have been carried 
 through the House of Lords, had it not been 
 for the important service rendered by Mr. 
 R. H. Gurney, of Norwich, who being well- 
 known as a hunting man in Leicestershire 
 and his own country, induced a considerable 
 number of Norfolk noblemen and others to 
 come down and support the railway to the
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 137 
 
 new town. Several of the principal streets in 
 Middlesbrough, including Dacre-street and 
 Suffield-street, were subsequently named after 
 the noblemen who supported the Railway 
 Bill in the House of Lords. While speaking 
 of Mr. Pease's services to Middlesbrough, in 
 connection with the Railway and Dock, it is 
 only fair to add that it was owing to his great 
 exertions that the powers of the old Tees 
 Navigation Commissioners were taken from 
 them, and the control of the river vested in 
 the new Tees Conservancy Board. 
 
 Surely no apology is necessary for dwelling 
 so long on the pre-railway history of Mid- 
 dlesbrough and Mr. Pease's early connection 
 with that port. The circumstances above 
 recorded led up to the establishment of the 
 iron trade in the Cleveland district, although 
 their effect and tendency in that direction was 
 rather of a reflex than a direct character. 
 Joseph Pease and his partners forged one end 
 of the chain the leading ironmasters of 
 Cleveland were responsible for the other. 
 Both were accessory to the development of 
 the district ; but the one set only commenced 
 what the other has completed if, indeed, it 
 is possible to speak of the Cleveland iron 
 trade as in any sense complete. Mr. Pease 
 and his co-workers made it their duty, as it 
 was their interest, to stimulate the growth of 
 the new infant Hercules by every means in
 
 138 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 their power. They sought to recommend its 
 advantages for industrial purposes ; they in- 
 creased those advantages in number and value. 
 Above all, they were mainly instrumental in 
 making it a centre of the iron trade. It was 
 on the advice of the late Mr. John Harris, the 
 then engineer of the Stockton and Darling- 
 ton Railway, and Mr. Pease's right hand man, 
 that Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan were in- 
 duced to establish their works at Middles- 
 brough. Mr. Pease offered every encourage- 
 ment to the new firm, providing them with 
 land on easy terms, and letters of introduction 
 which proved of the utmost value in the way 
 of giving their venture a fair start. Through- 
 out the whole of their career, Messrs. Bolckow 
 and Vaughan were on intimate terms with Mr. 
 Pease, and there was between them a reci- 
 procity of feeling and of interest that made 
 the one rely to a large extent upon the other. 
 We have heard it said, too, that there were pecu- 
 niary transactions carried on that reflected 
 equal credit on both proving, as it did, the 
 limitless confidence of the one, and the honour 
 and integrity of the other. It seems strange 
 that Mr. Pease was never himself induced to 
 go into the iron trade as a manufacturer. 
 The most he ever did in this way was to 
 acquire some ironstone royalties of which we 
 shall have to speak presently. He was by 
 inheritance a partner in the engine building
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 
 
 firm of R. Stephenson and Company, of 
 Newcastle. The works were originally founded 
 by the late George Stephenson, Robert 
 Stephenson, Edward Pease, and Thomas Rich- 
 ardson, the moiety held by the latter two 
 gentlemen descending to Joseph Pease, and 
 that held by the former two to the present 
 G. R. Stephenson, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Pease was one of the first to 
 understand the probable ultimate effects of 
 the opening up of the Cleveland ironstone, of 
 which Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan were the 
 initial workers. They were followed in 1851, 
 by the Derwent Iron Company, who opened 
 out the Upleatham Mines on the Earl of 
 Zetland's property ; and in 1853, Messrs. 
 Joseph Pease and his son, the present mem- 
 ber for South Durham, commenced to open 
 out the Button Lowcross or Codhill mines, 
 near Guisborough. To develop this district, 
 an independent company obtained an Act of 
 Parliament for the construction of the Mid- 
 dlesbrough and Guisborough Railway, with 
 branches to Codhill and Roseberry Topping. 
 But such was the fear of railway enterprise 
 in 1851, so soon after the panic, that the line 
 was leased to Mr. Joseph Pease and Mr. J. W. 
 Pease, in order, under their guarantee of a 
 settled dividend, to raise the sum of 70,000. 
 With such vigour were the mines of the 
 Messrs. Pease pushed forward, that in 1856
 
 140 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 they vended 217,253 tons of ironstone. Since 
 then, they have acquired the Upleatham and 
 Skinningrove Mines, and Messrs. J. W. Pease 
 and Partners are now the largest workers of 
 ironstone royalties in Cleveland. 
 
 It may be interesting, in this connection, 
 to give a few figures illustrative of the de- 
 velopment of the district in which Mr. Joseph 
 Pease was the first to plant his foot, not as a 
 discoverer, but as a pioneer. In 1828, the 
 year that witnessed the commencement of the 
 Middlesbrough Branch, there were sent over 
 the Stockton and Darlington Railway 65,046 
 tons for export, and 64,739 tons of coal and 
 coke for landsale. In 1838 the total quantity 
 of coal and coke sent over the line was 
 654,787 ; in 1848, 1,044,202 ; and in 1851, 
 1,458,996 tons. It was in the latter year 
 that ironstone commenced to find a place in 
 the railway company's accounts. The total 
 quantity of ironstone sent over the section in 
 1851 was only 279,607 ; in 1862 this quantity 
 had increased to 975,810 ; and in 1872, it was 
 estimated at something like 4,000,000 tons. 
 In 1851, there were 120,604 tons of limestone 
 sent over the line ; in 1862, there were 
 427,091 tons ; and in 1872 there were close 
 on 1,000,000 tons. The traffic in coal and 
 coke has increased in a corresponding ratio ; 
 and in 1872, the total quantity of mineral 
 traffic sent over the section was, in round
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 141 
 
 numbers, close on eight and a half million 
 tons. It is almost unnecessary to add that the 
 great bulk of this enormous traffic is absorbed 
 by the iron trade of Tees-side. 
 
 The business so long carried on by the 
 firm of Messrs. Joseph Pease and Partners is 
 now one of the largest of its kind in the 
 North of England. In 1830 Mr. Pease first 
 became a colliery proprietor. In that year, 
 be became connected with St. Helen's Col- 
 liery, near Bishop Auckland, along with his 
 brother-in-law, Mr. Henry Birkbeck, of 
 Norwich ; the late Mr. Eichard Hambury 
 Gurney, of Norwich ; the late Mr. Simon 
 Murtin, of Gurney's Bank, Norwich ; and the 
 late Mr. T. Richardson. About the same time 
 he acquired the Adelaide Colliery, near Shildon, 
 and subsequently he became a partner in the 
 South Durham Colliery, which, on the expiry 
 of the lease, was transferred to another com- 
 pany in 1846. His next speculation was the 
 Roddymoor Collieries, near Crook, which have 
 been greatly extended under his management, 
 until they now comprise nine different pits 
 the Emma, the Lucy, the Job's Hill, the Bow- 
 den Close, the Stanley, the Wooley, the 
 Brandon, the Sunnyside, and the Esh. In 
 the Dearness Valley, Mr. Pease became the 
 lessee of a royalty on the property of Lord 
 Boyne, which led to the opening up of that 
 previously inaccessible region by the North-
 
 142 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Eastern Railway Company ; and he also ac- 
 quired another royalty at Hedley Hope, in 
 the neighbourhood of Towlaw, which he carried 
 on successfully for many years. For some 
 time past, the firm of which Mr. Pease was 
 the " head and front " has been producing 
 about 600,000 to 700,000 tons of coke per an- 
 num. They are also largely concerned in the 
 manufacture of fire-clay bricks, and other pro- 
 ductions used in connection with the iron trade. 
 So far as railway management is concerned, 
 Mr. Pease was for the greater part of his life, 
 and down almost to the day of his death, I he 
 most influential member of the Stockton and 
 Darlington Railway. Opinions may differ as 
 to certain conditions imposed by the direc- 
 torate of that line with reference to its 
 government such for example as the pro- 
 hibition of the sale of spirituous liquors in 
 the refreshment rooms, and the excessively 
 stringent precautions against smoking. But 
 even those who are most prone to indulge a 
 sneer at the " Quaker Railway Monopoly," 
 and to affect contempt for the austerity of 
 their conduct, cannot but admit that their 
 management of the line, with which their names 
 are indissolubly connected, has been eminently 
 successful, pecuniarily and otherwise. For 
 many years it has, with perhaps only two 
 exceptions, stood at the top of the railway 
 system of the United Kingdom as a valuable
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 143 
 
 property, in which respect it is improving 
 every year. But that is not all. The Stock- 
 ton and Darlington Railway Board could until 
 1872, when an unfortunate accident happened 
 at Preston Junction, make a claim which 
 could not be made on behalf of any other 
 railway in England similarly circumstanced 
 namely, that hardly a life had ever been lost 
 by an accident for which they could be held 
 responsible. In the whole annals of our 
 mercantile marine, there is only one line that 
 can make a like boast. We speak of the Cunard 
 line, which has sent ships from Liverpool 
 to New York and vice versa, at first twice, and 
 latterly three times-a-week, for a period of 40 
 years, and yet during the whole of that time 
 they have not lost a single life not even a 
 solitary letter. In both cases, this wonderful 
 immunity from misadventure has been due 
 mainly to the skill, care, and foresight of the 
 management which in the one case was pre- 
 sided over by Sir Samuel Cunard ; and the 
 other by Mr. Joseph Pease. 
 
 It is not within the purpose of this sketch to 
 follow Mr. Pease throughout his political career, 
 which was both long and successful. He was 
 the first Quaker sent to the House of Com- 
 mons. Returned to the Reform Parliament 
 in 1832, as the senior member for South 
 Durham, he was, in 1835 and 1837 respec- 
 tively, elected to the same honour without
 
 144 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 opposition. He made his maiden speech on 
 behalf of Mr. Joseph Hume's proposal for the 
 abolition of lighthouses. From first to last 
 he was an uncompromising opponent of job- 
 bery, of corruption, of any and every un- 
 necessary form of expenditure. Conformably 
 with the peculiar tenets of the persuasion to 
 which he belonged, he has always advocated 
 the maintenance of a peace establishment, 
 and set his face against war. Religious 
 equality is another measure now almost com- 
 pletely realised for which he stoutly con- 
 tended. Many a tough battle, both off and 
 on the floor of St. Stephen's, was fought by 
 the Quaker member on behalf of this, at that 
 time, unpopular shibboleth. Whenever any 
 question relating to the slave trade was 
 brought on the carpet, Mr. Pease strenuously 
 exerted himself to procure the abolition of 
 that inhuman traffic. In 1841, finding his 
 too scrupulous attendance on Parliamentary 
 duties incompatible with the proper discharge 
 of his numerous private obligations, he re- 
 solved to relinquish his seat for South 
 Durham, and although pressed to reconsider 
 his decision, he declared it to be unalterable. 
 All testimony agrees in according to Mr. 
 Pease the credit of being a regular attender 
 of the House, a fluent and forcible speaker, an 
 independent and noble-minded man. He 
 was indefatigable in his attention to committee
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 145 
 
 work, and his large commercial knowledge 
 made him equally valuable whether as a wit- 
 ness or as a committee-man. On nearly every 
 committee appointed to deal with questions of 
 an industrial or scientific character he found 
 a place during his career in the House of 
 Commons. Of one important committee, 
 appointed to inquire into the subject of col- 
 liery ventilation, he was elected chairman. 
 That committee was appointed little more than 
 a year after Mr. Pease entered Parliament, 
 but after much research and enquiry they re- 
 ported their inability to lay before the House 
 any particular plan by w T hich accidents in 
 mines might be avoided with certainty, and 
 in consequence, they offered no decisive re- 
 commendations. 
 
 Mr. Pease sat upon a Committee on Church 
 Leases, which reported to the House of Com- 
 mons on the 6th of May, 1836. He seems to 
 have taken a very active part in the cross- 
 examination of the witnesses, and to have 
 possessed very considerable knowledge of the 
 state of things in the county, especially 
 regarding the Dean and Chapter Estates. 
 With respect to the ecclesiastical properties, 
 that Committee reported its conclusions under 
 four heads, viz. : No. 1. The abolition of 
 the injurious system of leases or fines. No. 
 2. The substitution of these for a fee simple 
 tenure. No. 3. The passing of an Enfran- 
 K
 
 146 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 chisement Act. No. 4. The customary con- 
 fidence of renewal by the lessees, to be con- 
 sidered according to local circumstances by 
 the authorities established under the Act, on 
 the principles of enfranchisement laid down 
 by them. These are the very points which, 
 nearly 40 years after, the Lessees of the Dean 
 and Chapter Estate of Durham are still de- 
 manding. 
 
 On Thursday morning, February 8, 1872, 
 Mr. Pease passed over to the great majority. 
 For several years previously, he had taken no 
 active part either in public life or the 
 private business of the firm. In his seventy- 
 third year, he met the shadow feared by man, 
 with confidence and resignation ; and Darling- 
 ton, where he had lived for so many years, 
 was poorer by the loss of a wise counsellor 
 and beneficent friend. Joseph Pease was 
 not without his detractors. No man who as- 
 sumes the prominence which he earned can 
 hope to be. But whatever his failings might 
 be, " they leaned to virtue's side." His was 
 a large-hearted and whole-souled philanthropy 
 that was not to be influenced by any con- 
 siderations of " ancient use and wont." He 
 was an iconoclast ; but, after all, he built 
 up more than he destroyed, and he never 
 destroyed aught that promoted beneficent or 
 utilitarian ends. There was no temporising 
 in his nature. He never approved of half
 
 JOSEPH PEASE. 147 
 
 measures. Vulgarly speaking, he went in 
 for " the whole hog or none." He did this 
 with such unflinching determination and suc- 
 cess that his motives were often impugned, 
 and his character otherwise assailed : 
 
 " All human virtue, to its latest breath, 
 Finds envy never conquered but by death." 
 
 If success is to be accepted as in any sense 
 the test of merit, then was Joseph Pease one 
 of the most meritorious men of his time. He 
 was a speculator, doubtless, but he speculated 
 wisely and well. There was no gambling in 
 his speculations. They were not dependent 
 upon mere chance, or a fortuitous chain of 
 events, although there was a certain risk at- 
 tending them which he never shrunk from 
 undertaking. Need we dwell upon the 
 splendour of his conceptions, and their still 
 more splendid execution ? The enterprises 
 he led, their results, and their rationale, the 
 eminently practical character and tendency of 
 his genius, the impetus which he gave to the 
 railway system these and many other 
 achievements of his useful life will find a 
 permanent place in the history of his native 
 town and county. As for his bounty, if not 
 like that of Juliet, " as boundless as the sea," 
 it was measured only by his means and op- 
 portunities. He was not an indiscriminate 
 giver, but yet there was no really good object 
 that appealed to him in vain. Of the religious
 
 148 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 persuasion to which he belonged, he was long 
 one of the most prominent leaders; while 
 among the Liberal party in South Durham, 
 his counsels were listened to with the utmost 
 deference, and their action was often guided 
 by his advice. Take him for all in all, it may 
 be said of Joseph Pease : 
 
 " He was but words are wanting to say what 
 Say what a Christian should be he was that."
 
 VIIL W. B. I. HOPKINS. 
 
 ARDENT admirers of American institutions, 
 sometimes put it forward as one of the greatest 
 beauties of Transatlantic social life, that a man 
 is not required to have a grandfather. In the 
 old country a different state of matters is 
 allowed to prevail. " Norman blood " is often 
 a better passport to good society, than the 
 " simple faith " which the Laureate has eu- 
 logised, and if it is known that the debutante 
 in fashionable life is of plebeian origin, the 
 damning fact operates as a bar sinister, which 
 can only be atoned for by exceptional talents 
 or conspicuous genius. After all is said and 
 done, it is impossible to gainsay the fact, that 
 the British public " dearly loves a lord." 
 The growth of Democracy, notwithstanding, 
 we have a warm corner deep down in our 
 heart of hearts for old institutions, and hail 
 with constitutional pride the scions of the 
 great families who " came in with the Con- 
 queror/' or whose lineage can even be traced 
 so far back as the period of the Kenassance.
 
 150 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the unexampled 
 growth of many of our modern centres of in- 
 dustry owes little to the fostering care of our 
 " old nobility," whom Lord John Manners 
 would preserve at the expense of " laws and 
 learning, wealth and commerce." It is not 
 unusual for the aristocratic mind to sneer at 
 our captains of industry as parvenu and vulgar, 
 while trade is contemned as demoralising and 
 infra dig. Until very recently, therefore, the 
 pioneers of our industrial progress were drawn 
 almost exclusively from ''the people," and 
 patrician pride long held aloof from contam- 
 ination with the industrial arts. But a 
 change has at last " come o'er the spirit of 
 their dreams ;" and the highest and oldest 
 families in England may now be found asso- 
 ciated with the so-called plebeian element, in 
 the development of our industrial wealth 
 as witness the relation of the Earls of Durham 
 and Dudley with the iron and coal trades of 
 Durham and Staffordshire. Jn this field of 
 enterprise and competition the barriers of 
 rank and caste are gradually being broken 
 down; and the peer elbows the peasant in 
 running the race for wealth a race that is 
 now more than ever open to all comers. 
 
 So far as the North of England iron trade 
 is concerned, it owes not a little to those who 
 could boast of having noble blood in their 
 veins. The Marquis of Londonderry, the
 
 W. R. I. HOPKINS. . 151 
 
 Earl of Durham, and the Earl of Zetland, 
 have all more or less assisted its promotion. 
 But much more closely associated with its 
 development we find the name of Mr. William 
 Randolph Innes Hopkins, who is related to 
 one of the oldest and most aristocratic 
 families in Scotland, his father being a near 
 relative of the late Duke of Roxburghe, and 
 his mother being a member of one of the 
 oldest Border families. His father spent the 
 early part of his life " ayont the Tweed," and 
 it was near Kelso, one of the finest and most 
 historically and physically romantic of the 
 Border towns, where the son was born. 
 Transferring his residence to Darlington, the 
 father built and for many years lived in the 
 mansion of Woodside, afterwards occupied by 
 the late Mr. John Harris, the well-known 
 engineer of the Stockton and Darlington 
 Railway. Mr. Hopkins, senior, took an active 
 interest in the industrial progress of the 
 North, and was early appointed a director of 
 the North -Eastern Railway then known as 
 the Great North of England Railway an 
 office which he continued to fill for many 
 years, and to which his son, the subject of 
 this sketch, was subsequently elected. While 
 residing at his lather's house in Darlington, 
 young Hopkins became apprenticed to Mr. 
 John Middleton, architect, with the inten- 
 tion of ultimately succeeding to a partner-
 
 152 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 ship in his business. Lines and curves 
 were, however, not to the taste of the young 
 architect, and although he subsequently joined 
 the staff of the distinguished Sir Digby Wyatt, 
 in the preparation of the plans for the first 
 Exhibition of 1851, he was not loth to abandon 
 a profession in which eminence and emolu- 
 ment appeared so remote and difficult of 
 attainment. The fact is, that the mind of 
 young Hopkins had a bent towards the more 
 comprehensive and widely-ramified art of 
 engineering, rather than the more exact 
 formulae of architecture ; and in pursuance of 
 this tendency, he came to Middlesbrough in 
 the year 1850, in order to superintend works 
 established there for the manufacture of a 
 commodity known as Warlick's patent fuel, 
 which was then in much request. In this 
 venture, the elder Mr. Hopkins was pecuni- 
 arily interested ; and it was in connection 
 with these works that the son first made the 
 acquaintance of Mr. Gilkes, who afterwards 
 became, and continues still, his partner in the 
 Tees-side Ironworks, and other works " of 
 that ilk." Circumstances arising out of the 
 severe competition between patent fuel and 
 the natural mineral compelled the ultimate 
 abandonment of the venture which originally 
 attracted Mr. Hopkins to Middlesbrough. 
 He w T as the less reluctant to give up the fuel 
 works, seeing that the Cleveland iron trade
 
 W. R. I. HOPKINS. 153 
 
 was then beginning to assume form, and to 
 present the most tempting inducements to 
 capitalists. Forming a partnership with Mr. 
 Snowdon, an engineer who might be called a 
 natural product of the north, inasmuch as he 
 had formerly been an engine-driver on the 
 Stockton and Darlington Railway, Mr. Hopkins 
 made arrangements for going into the iron 
 trade. Both partners had ample means at their 
 disposal for that purpose. Both, too, had a 
 rare combination of experience to carry them 
 through, for Mr. Hopkins was an adept at 
 figures, and was not unfamiliar with the prin- 
 ciples of engineering, and metallurgical 
 science, while his partner was a skilled engi- 
 neer, indigenous to the soil, and knowing 
 more than most men of the resources, facili- 
 ties, and requirements of the district. 
 
 The Tees-side Ironworks were built by 
 Messrs. Snowdon and Hopkins, in 1853. 
 Eight years later the senior partner retired 
 from the concern, which was carried on for 
 some time afterwards under the style of 
 Hopkins and Company, Mr. James Innes 
 Hopkins and Mr. li. Lloyd, having meanwhile 
 joined the firm. Another change afterwards 
 took place, which resulted in the firm of 
 Hopkins and Company being, in the year 
 1865, amalgamated with the firm of Gilkes, 
 Wilson, and Company, of the Tees Engine 
 Works, thus forming the gigantic concern
 
 154 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 of Hopkins, Gilkes, and Company, Limited, 
 with a capital of 675,000, the management 
 of whose affairs remained in the hands of the 
 principals Mr. Hopkins. Mr. Gilkes, and Mr. 
 Wilson. 
 
 The Tees-side Ironworks have been the 
 birthplace of many new and important inven- 
 tions and improvements connected with the 
 metallurgy of iron. As originally construc- 
 ted, they comprised only rolling mills for the 
 manufacture of bar and angle iron. Latterly 
 they embraced also rail mills, and in 1857 
 two blast furnaces were built. The latter 
 erections were 55 feet in height and 16 feet 
 boshes, while each produced about 200 tons 
 of pig iron weekly. In 1867, two additional 
 blast furnaces, each 75 feet in height, were 
 added. In the finished ironworks, there are 
 100 puddling furnaces, two forges, three roll- 
 ing mills, arid two blooming mills, placed in 
 two different establishments in proximity to 
 the blast furnaces. The weekly produce of 
 the four blast furnaces is about 1,300 tons ; 
 while that of the mills being about 1,000 
 tons. About 2,000 hands are employed in 
 the various establishments, and the amount 
 paid in wages and salaries is over 3,000 per 
 week. Among the mechanical improvements 
 that have been originated at these works, 
 engineers attach, perhaps, most importance to 
 calcining kilns, designed by Mr. John Gjers,
 
 W. B. I. HOPKINS. 155 
 
 who was for several years engineer to the firm. 
 These kilns are circular in shape and have 
 wrought-iron shells, but unlike ordinary kilns 
 of this class, the shells are made of the same 
 shape as the interior of the kilns, so that 
 there is merely a uniform thickness of fifteen 
 inches of fire-brick lining at all parts. The 
 shell and lining of each kiln rests upon an 
 annular cast-iron entablature, which is in its 
 turn supported by eight hollow cast-iron pil- 
 lars cast on the base plate. By this arrange- 
 ment a space is left all round the bottom for 
 drawing the charge. The cubical contents of 
 each kiln is about 5,500 feet, and the best 
 testimony to the superiority of Mr. Gjers' 
 invention, to the old square and cumbrous form 
 of kiln formerly in use, is the fact that it has 
 been very largely adopted in the Cleveland 
 district. While employed at the Tees- side 
 Ironworks, Mr. Gjers also devised a new form 
 of hydraulic hoist, which has to a large ex- 
 tent superseded several other kinds of hoists 
 used in the district ; while the new system of 
 water boshes, which the same gentleman was 
 the first to use at the Tees-side Ironworks, 
 not only enabled advantage to be taken of the 
 cooling influence of the water, but renders it 
 possible, from watching the temperature of 
 the water, to tell exactly how the furnace is 
 working, the segments forming separate 
 water tanks.
 
 156 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 It was at the Tees-side Ironworks where the 
 first Danks's rotary puddling machine was 
 erected in this country, and it is worthy of 
 remark that in the subject of mechanical 
 puddling Mr. Hopkins has always taken a 
 lively interest. The experimental Danks's 
 furnace was laid down at these works in the 
 early part of 1872, and its first yield was 
 watched by a large number of gentlemen 
 connected with the iron trade in all parts of 
 the kingdom. In reporting to the Iron and 
 Steel Institute on the results obtained from 
 this machine, Mr. Hopkins declared that his 
 firm were not only satisfied with the economy 
 of fuel and the absence of waste in every 
 way, but they were also perfectly convinced 
 of the superiority of the quality of iron pro- 
 duced. Indeed, Mr. Hopkins demonstrated 
 so effectually the virtues of the mechanical 
 puddler over the ordinary furnace, that it has 
 since been largely adopted in the Cleveland 
 district, and promises, unless something bet- 
 ter meanwhile appears, to become the furnace 
 of the future. 
 
 Besides his large interest in the Tees-side 
 Ironworks, Mr. Hopkins is the principal 
 partner in the Linthorpe Ironworks adjoining. 
 He is largely interested in colliery and mining 
 operations in South Durham and Cleveland ; 
 and he has inherited from his father, a talent 
 for railway enterprise and administration.
 
 W. R. I. HOPKINS. 157 
 
 Although his multifarious engagements have 
 prevented him from taking any very active 
 part in the deliberations of learned and tech- 
 nical societies, he is a prominent member of 
 the Iron and Steel Institute serving on the 
 council of that association and he is con- 
 nected by membership with the Cleveland 
 Institution of Engineers, and the North of 
 England Mining and Mechanical Institute. 
 He was the first secretary of the North of 
 England Ironmanufacturers' Association, in 
 the establishment of which he took a leading 
 part. In this important office he was suc- 
 ceeded, some five years ago, by Mr. John 
 Jones, F.G.S., by whom it is still held. 
 
 Among other offices which he has filled for 
 a longer or shorter period, Mr. Hopkins is a 
 Commissioner of the Tees Conservancy, a 
 borough and county magistrate, a deputy- 
 lieutenant for the North Hiding, a member of 
 the Middlesbrough Town Council, and a mem- 
 ber of the Middlesbrough Chamber of Com- 
 merce. He was elected Mayor of Middles- 
 brough for two years in succession. First 
 appointed to the civic chair in 1867, it was a 
 question with the Corporation which of their 
 number could most fitly represent them 
 during the following year, when it was ex- 
 pected that the new Albert Park, presented 
 to the town by Mr. Bolckow, would be opened 
 by royalty. The choice of the Council
 
 158 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 unanimously fell on Mr. Hopkins, who was 
 accordingly re-elected for another year. Al- 
 though the expectation that the Queen would 
 open the park in person was doomed to dis- 
 appointment, the town was honoured by a 
 visit from Prince Arthur, whom his royal 
 mother deputed to represent her on the oc- 
 casion. The ceremony was attended by great 
 " pomp and circumstance." Middlesbrough 
 celebrated the event by holding high car- 
 nival. No fewer than six committees were 
 appointed by the Corporation to carry out 
 the arrangements, and on every one of 
 them Mr. Hopkins served with zeal and un- 
 remitting attention. It was largely due to 
 his tact and prudence that the event proved 
 so eminently successful, and the very least 
 that can be said about his conduct is, that he 
 justified the choice of his colleagues in ap- 
 pointing him as their representative. Several 
 other municipal events of importance oc- 
 curred during the currency of Mr. Hopkins's 
 mayoralty. Passing over those of minor 
 interest, we are bound to refer to the general 
 election of 1868, in which the newly enfran- 
 chised electors of Middlesbrough which was 
 created a Parliamentary borough under 
 schedule B of the "Representation of the 
 People Act, 1867," were called upon to 
 choose their first representative. So far as 
 the Liberal party were concerned, there was
 
 W. B. I. HOPKINS. 150 
 
 very little difference of opinion as to who the 
 man of their choice should be. But while 
 it was felt that Mr. Bolckow had the first 
 claim to the consideration of the party to 
 whom he belonged, there was also among the 
 local Conservatives a widely diffused opinion 
 that Mr. Hopkins should be put forward in 
 their interest. At that time Mr. Hopkins was 
 in the height of his popularity ; he was a 
 staunch and steadfast member of the Con- 
 servative party in the North Riding ; he was 
 a fluent and effective speaker ; and had the 
 Conservatives not felt themselves in the cold 
 shade of minority, it was quite probable that 
 he would have been put forward as their 
 representative. But in a constituency pos- 
 sessing such thoroughly Liberal instincts as 
 Middlesbrough, a struggle between a Liberal 
 and a Conservative could only have resulted 
 in the ignominious defeat of the latter. On 
 this account therefore, the party remained 
 inactive, although for a long time previous 
 to the election there were those who expected 
 that Mr. Hopkins would contest the borough. 
 As it was, he accorded a tacit support to Mr. 
 Bolckow, with whom he had long been asso- 
 ciated in enteprises projected for the well- 
 being of the town and district, and to whom 
 he was attached by many social and com- 
 mercial ties. In the General Election of 
 1874, Mr. Bolckow was opposed by Mr. John
 
 160 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Kane, of Darlington, and seeing that the seat 
 was in danger of being wrested from Mr. 
 Bolckow at any rate, Mr. Hopkins became a 
 candidate in the Conservative interest. As 
 might have been expected, he suffered defeat. 
 During the many years he sat in the Town 
 Council of his adopted town, Mr. Hopkins was 
 a zealous promoter of municipal reforms. He 
 rendered yeoman service to the movement 
 which resulted in the enfranchisement of 
 Middlesbrough ; he took an intelligent interest 
 in the most trivial minutiae of administration 
 that fell to his lot, whether as a, committee- 
 man, or as a councillor and alderman ; and 
 he exerted to the utmost his not inconsider- 
 able influence in order that Middlesbrough 
 should not only maintain, but improve, the 
 position she had attained as the metropolis of 
 Cleveland. The Royal Exchange was pro- 
 jected while he was secretary of the Iron- 
 masters' Association, and he had a principal 
 hand in the carrying out of that important 
 work. The North Riding Infirmary also 
 claimed him as one of its founders. For re- 
 ligion and education he has done much- 
 striving to uphold the influence of the Church 
 of England, in a community where it was 
 almost in danger of being utterly swamped, 
 between heathenism and infidelity on the one 
 hand, and the " dissidence of dissent " on the 
 other. He and his fellow-labourers in this
 
 W. R. I. HOPKINS. 101 
 
 sphere have been so far successful, that in spite 
 of the overmastering and prescriptive in- 
 fluence of Quakerism, and the less powerful, 
 although perhaps more aggressive tendencies 
 of Wesleyans and other dissenters, the Church 
 of England has at the present moment as 
 much real influence, and is doing as useful 
 and extensive work in Middlesbrough, as 
 any other denomination. 
 
 The highly cultivated taste for the higher 
 branches of architecture which Mr. Hopkins 
 acquired in his early years has never deserted 
 him. Some years ago he added another 
 charm to the many previously possessed 
 by the hill district of Cleveland, in the erec- 
 tion of an almost princely Gothic residence, 
 styled Grey Towers, with a beautiful out-look 
 towards Roseberry Topping, and the fine 
 highland range extending thence to the 
 Hambleton Hills. Built from designs fur- 
 nished by Mr. John Ross, of Darlington, one 
 of the most eminent architects in the North, 
 Grey Towers and its demesnes have been ex- 
 tended year by year, gardens, plantations, 
 greenhouses, and extensive stabling having 
 been added, until now the estate and buildings 
 will compare favourably with any other in 
 the North of England. 
 
 Although few men have done more in a 
 quiet and unostentatious way for the advance- 
 ment of Cleveland, there are few whose
 
 162 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 lives, after passing through the same vicissi- 
 tudes are so barren of materials for biography. 
 To say that he has distinguished himself as a 
 member of the Town Council is to say only 
 that which may be claimed for many less able 
 and less noteable men. To say that he has 
 been on uniformly good terms with his work- 
 men, showing an anxious desire for their 
 welfare, and endeavouring to arrange all 
 difficulties, not by the brutal arbitrament of 
 strikes and locks-out, but by the " easy, art- 
 less, unencumbered plan " of arbitration and 
 conciliation, is to award him a meed of praise 
 due to other men who have been less remark- 
 able in other ways. Nor is it much, perhaps, 
 to say of him, per se, that he has been a 
 liberal giver to good works, an enterprising 
 capitalist, a zealous magistrate, a discerning 
 and tasteful virtuoso, a keen sportsman, a 
 devoted lover and patron of art, that he has 
 taken an active part in local and imperial 
 politics, that he is regarded as a pillar of the 
 Church of England among those of his own 
 communion ; that his gentlemanly and digni- 
 fied bearing have provided for him a passport 
 into society, in which many others, with 
 probably more means, are unfit to mingle, 
 that his sound and temperate judgment on all 
 questions affecting the relations of capital 
 and labour, and especially his extended ex- 
 perience at the North of England Arbitration
 
 W. R. I. HOPKINS. 163 
 
 Board, give great weight to his opinions. It 
 is not any one of these little traits, but the 
 conjunction of the whole that make up the 
 man, and stamp him as one of the most 
 noteable and indispensable of Cleveland's 
 aristocracy. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins has been twice married. His 
 first wife was a sister of Mr. Bolckow, M.P. 
 His second wife is a daughter of the late Mr. 
 Hustler, of Acklam Hall, lord of the manor of 
 Middlesbrough. He has a numerous family. 
 
 It ought to have been stated that Mr. 
 Hopkins has ceased to be a member of the 
 Tees Conservancy Board ; that he was honor- 
 ary secretary of the Ironmasters' Association 
 (Mr. William Gill being acting secretary) ; 
 and, that although, serious mechanical difficul- 
 ties have arisen with Danks's Puddling Fur- 
 nace, the principle has been firmly estab- 
 lished, and the difficulties will be overcome.
 
 IX ISAAC LOWTHIAN BELT, 
 
 THE name of Mr. Isaac Lowthian Bell is 
 familiar as a " household word " throughout 
 the whole North of England. As a man of 
 science he is known more or less wherever 
 the manufacture of iron is carried on. It 
 is to metallurgical chemistry that his at- 
 tention has been chiefly directed ; but 
 so far from confining his researches and 
 attainments to this department alone, he has 
 made incursions into other domains of prac- 
 tical and applied chemistry. No man has 
 done more to stimulate the growth of the iron 
 trade of the North of England. Baron Liebig 
 has defined civilisation as economy of power, 
 and viewed in this light civilisation is under 
 deep obligations to Mr. Bell for the invaluable 
 aid he has rendered in expounding the natural 
 laws that are called into operation in the 
 smelting process. The immense power now 
 wielded by the ironmasters of the North of 
 England is greatly due to their study and 
 application of the most economical conditions
 
 ISAAC LOWTH1AN BELL. 
 
 165 
 
 under which the manufacture of iron can be 
 carried on. But for their achievements in 
 this direction, they could not have made head- 
 way so readily against rival manufacturers in 
 Wales, Scotland, and South Staffordshire, who 
 enjoyed a well-established reputation. But 
 Mr. Bell and his colleagues felt that they 
 must do something to compensate for the 
 advantages possessed by the older iron- 
 producing districts, and as we shall have 
 occasion to show, were fully equal to the 
 emergency, 
 
 Mr. Isaac Lowthian Bell is a son of the late 
 Mr. Thomas Bell, of the well-known firm of 
 Messrs. Losh, Wilson, and Bell, who owned 
 the Walker Ironworks, near Newcastle. His 
 mother was a daughter of Mr. Isaac Lowthian, 
 of Newbiggen, near Carlisle. He had the 
 benefit of a good education, concluded at the 
 Edinburgh University, and at the University 
 of Sorbonne, in Paris. From an early age 
 he exhibited an aptitude for the study of 
 science. Having completed his studies, and 
 travelled a good deal on the Continent, in 
 order to acquire the necessary experience, he 
 was introduced to the works at Walker, in 
 which his father was a partner. He con- 
 tinued there until the year 1850, when here- 
 tired in favour of his brother, Mr. Thomas Bell. 
 In the course of the same year, he joined his 
 father-in-law, Mr. Pattinson, and Mr. R. B.
 
 166 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Bowman, in the establishment of Chemical 
 Works, at Washington. This venture was 
 eminently successful. Subsequently it was 
 joined by Mr. W. Swan, and on the death of 
 Mr. Pattinson by Mr. R. S. Newall. The 
 works at Washington, designed by Mr. Bell, 
 are among the most extensive of their kind 
 in the North of England, and have a wide 
 reputation. During 1872 his connection 
 with this undertaking terminated by his re- 
 tirement from the firm. Besides the chemical 
 establishment at Washington, Mr. Bell com- 
 menced, with his brothers, the manufacture 
 of aluminium at the same place this being, 
 if we are rightly informed, the first attempt 
 to establish works of that kind in England. 
 
 But what we have more particularly to deal 
 with here is the establishment, in 1852, of the 
 Clarence Ironworks, by Mr. I. L. Bell and his 
 two brothers, Thomas and John. This was 
 within two years of the discovery by Mr. 
 Vaughan, of the main seam of the Cleveland 
 ironstone. Port Clarence is situated on the 
 north bank of the river Tees, and the site 
 fixed upon for the new works was immediately 
 opposite the Middlesbrough works of Messrs. 
 Bolckow and Vaughan. There were then 
 no works of the kind erected on that side of 
 the river, and Port Clarence was literally a 
 " waste howling wilderness." The ground on 
 which the Clarence works are built waf
 
 ISAAC LOWTHIAN BELL. 167 
 
 then flooded with water, which stretched away 
 as far as Billingham on the one hand, and 
 Seaton Carew on the other. Thirty years ago, 
 the old channel of the Tees flowed over the exact 
 spot on which the Clarence furnaces are now 
 built. To one of less penetration than Mr. 
 Bell, the site selected would have seemed any- 
 thing but congenial for such an enterprise. 
 But the new firm were alive to advantages 
 that did not altogether appear on the surface. 
 They concluded negotiations with the West 
 Hartlepool Railway Company, to whom the 
 estate belonged, for the purchase of about thirty 
 acres of ground, upon which they commenced 
 to erect four blast furnaces of the size and 
 shape then common in Cleveland. From this 
 beginning they have gradually enlarged the 
 works until the site now extends to 200 acres of 
 land (a great deal of which is submerged, 
 although it may easily be reclaimed), and there 
 are eight furnaces regularly in blast. With 
 such an extensive site, the firm will be able 
 to command an unlimited "tip" for their slag, 
 and extend the capacity of the works at pleasure. 
 At the present time, Messrs.. Bell Brothers 
 are building three new furnaces. The 
 furnace lifts are worked by Sir William 
 Armstrong's hydraulic accumulator, and the 
 general plan of the works is carried out on 
 the most modern and economical principles. 
 As soon as they observed that higher furnaces,
 
 168 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 with a greater cubical capacity, were a source 
 of economy, Messrs. Bell Brothers lost no 
 time in reconstructing their old furnaces, 
 which were only 50 feet in height ; and they 
 were among the first in Cleveland to adopt 
 the Welsh plan of utilising the waste furnace 
 gases, by which another great economy is 
 effected. With a considerable frontage to the 
 Tees, and a connection joining the Clarence 
 branch of the North-Eastern Railway, Messrs. 
 Bell Brothers possess ample facilities of transit. 
 They raise all their own ironstone and coal, 
 having mines at Saltburn, Normanby, and 
 Skelton, and collieries in South Durham. A 
 chemical laboratory is maintained in con- 
 nection with their Clarence Works, and 
 the results thereby obtained are regarded in 
 the trade as of standard and unimpeachable 
 exactitude. 
 
 Mr. I. L. Bell owns, conjointly with his 
 two brothers, the iron -works at Washing- 
 ton. At these and the Clarence Works the 
 firms produce about 3,000 tons of pig iron 
 weekly. They raise from 500,000 to 600,000 
 tons of coal per annum, the greater portion of 
 which is converted into coke. Their output of 
 ironstone is so extensive that they not only 
 supply about 10,000 tons a- week to their own 
 furnaces, but they are under contract to 
 supply large quantities to other works on 
 Tees-side. Besides this, their Quarries near
 
 ISAAC LOWTH1AN BELL. 169 
 
 Stanhope will produce about 100,000 tons of 
 limestone, applicable as a flux at the iron works. 
 Last year, Mr. Bell informed the Coal Com- 
 mission that his firm paid 100,000 a year in 
 railway dues. Upwards of 5,000 workmen 
 are in the employment of the firm at their 
 different works and mines. 
 
 But there is another, and perhaps a more 
 important sense than any yet indicated, in 
 which Mr. Bell is entitled to claim a promi- 
 nent place among the " Pioneers of the 
 Cleveland Iron Trade." Mr. Joseph Bewick 
 says, in his geological treatise on the Cleve- 
 land district, that " to Bell Brothers, more 
 than to any other firm, is due the merit of 
 having fully and effectually developed 
 at this period (1843) the ironstone fields of 
 Cleveland. It was no doubt owing to the 
 examinations and surveys which a younger 
 member of that firm (Mr. John Bell) caused 
 to be made in different localities of the 
 district, that the extent and position of the 
 ironstone beds became better known to the 
 public." Of late years the subject of this 
 sketch has come to be regarded as one of the 
 greatest living authorities on the statistical 
 and scientific aspects of the Cleveland 
 ironstone and the North of England iron 
 trade as a whole. With the Northumber- 
 land and Durham coal fields he is 
 scarcely less familiar, and in dealing with
 
 170 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 these and cognate matters he has earned for 
 himself no small fame as a historiographer. 
 Leoni Levi himself could not discourse with 
 more facility on the possible extent and dura- 
 tion of our coal supplies. When the British 
 Association visited Newcastle in 1863, Mr. 
 Bell read a deeply interesting paper " On the 
 Manufacture of Iron in connection with the 
 Northumberland and Durham Coal Field," in 
 which he conveyed a great deal of valuable 
 information. According to Bewick, he said 
 the area of the main bed of Cleveland iron- 
 stone was 420 miles, and estimating the yield 
 of ironstone as 20,000 tons per acre, it resulted 
 that close on 5,000,000,000 tons are contained 
 in the main seam. Mr. Bell added that he 
 had calculated the quantity of coal in the 
 Northern coal field at 6,000,000,000 tons, so 
 that there was just about enough fuel in the one 
 district, reserving it for that purpose ex- 
 clusively, to smelt the ironstone contained in 
 the main seam of the other. When the 
 Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes 
 visited Darlington in the spring of 1872, they 
 spent a day in Cleveland under the cicerone- 
 ship of Mr. Bell, who read a paper, which 
 he might have entitled "The Romance 
 of Trade," on the rise and progress of 
 Cleveland in relation to her iron manu- 
 factures ; and before the Tyneside Naturalists' 
 Field Club, when they visited Saltburn in
 
 ISAAC LOWTH1AN BELL. 171 
 
 1866, he read another paper dealing with the 
 geological features of the Cleveland district. 
 Although not strictly germane to our subject, 
 we may add here that when, in 1870, the 
 Social Science Congress visited Newcastle, 
 Mr. Bell took an active and intelligent part 
 in the proceedings, and read a lengthy paper, 
 bristling with facts and figures, on the sanitary 
 condition of the town. 
 
 Owing to his varied scientific knowledge, 
 Mr. Bell has been selected to give evidence 
 on several important Parliamentary Com- 
 mittees, including that appointed to inquire 
 into the probable extent and duration of the 
 coal-fields of the United Kingdom. The 
 report of this Commission is now before us, 
 and Mr. Bell's evidence shows most con- 
 clusively the vast amount of practical know- 
 ledge that he has accumulated, not only as to 
 the phenomena of mineralogy and metallurgy 
 : n Great Britain, but also in foreign countries. 
 Mr. Bell was again required to give evidence 
 before the Parliamentary Committee appointed 
 in 1873, to inquire into the causes of the 
 scarcity and dearness of coal. 
 
 In July, 1854, Mr. Bell was elected a 
 member of the North of England Institute of 
 Mining and Mechanical Engineers. He was 
 a member of the Council of the Institute from 
 1865 to 1866, when he was elected one of the 
 vice-presidents. He is a vice-president of
 
 172 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 the Society of Mechanical Engineers, and 
 last year was an associate member of the 
 Council of Civil Engineers. He is also a 
 fellow of the Chemical Society of London. 
 To most of these societies he has contributed 
 papers on matters connected with the manu- 
 facture of iron. When a Commission was 
 appointed by Parliament to inquire into the 
 constitution and management of Durham 
 University, the institute presented a memorial 
 to the Home Secretary, praying that a 
 practical Mining College might be incor- 
 porated with the University, and Mr. Bell, 
 Mr. G. Elliot, and Mr. Woodhouse, were 
 appointed to give evidence in support of the 
 memorial. He was one of the most important 
 witnesses at the inquest held in connection 
 with the disastrous explosion at Hetton 
 Colliery in 1860, when twenty-one miners, 
 nine horses, and fifty-six ponies were killed ; 
 and in 1867 he was a witness for the institute 
 before the Parliamentary Committee appointed 
 to inquire into the subject of technical 
 education, his evidence, from his familiarity 
 with the state of science on the Continent, 
 being esteemed of importance. Some years 
 ago, Mr. Bell brought under the notice of the 
 Mining Institute an aluminium safety lamp. 
 He pointed out that the specific heat of 
 aluminum was very high, so that it might be 
 long exposed to the action of fire before be-
 
 ISAAC LOWTHIAN BELL. 173 
 
 coming red-hot, while it did not abstract the 
 rays of light so readily as iron, which had a 
 tendency to become black much sooner. Mr. 
 Bell was during the course of last year elected 
 an honorary member of a learned Society in 
 the United States, his being only the second 
 instance in which this distinction had been 
 accorded. Upon that occasion, Mr. Abram 
 Hewitt, the United States Commissioner to 
 the Exhibition of 1862, remarked that Mr. 
 Bell had by his researches made the iron 
 makers of two continents his debtors. 
 
 Mr Bell is one of the founders of the Iron 
 and Steel Institute of Great Britain, and has 
 all along taken a prominent part in its de- 
 liberations. No other technical society, 
 whether at home or abroad, has so rapidly 
 taken a position of marked and confirmed 
 practical usefulness. The proposal to form 
 such an institute was first made at a meeting 
 of the North of England Iron Trade, held in 
 Newcastle, in September, 1868, and Mr. Bell 
 was elected one of the first vice-presidents, 
 and a member of the council. At the end of 
 the year 1869 the Institute had 292 mem- 
 bers; at the end of 1870 the number had 
 increased to 348 ; and in August 1872, there 
 were over 500 names on the roll of member- 
 ship. These figures are surely a sufficient 
 attestation of its utility. Mr. Bell's paper 
 " On the develepment of heat, and its appro-
 
 174 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 priation in blast furnaces of different dimen- 
 sions," is considered the most valuable 
 contribution yet made through the medium 
 of the Iron and Steel Institute to the science 
 and practice of iron metallurgy. Since it 
 was submitted to the Middlesbrough meeting 
 of the Institute in 1869, this paper has been 
 widely discussed by scientific and practical 
 men at home and abroad, and the author has 
 from time to time added new matter, until it 
 has now swollen into a volume embracing be- 
 tween 400 and 500 pages, and bearing the 
 title of the " Chemical Phenomena of Iron 
 Smelting." As a proof of the high scientific 
 value placed upon this work, we may mention 
 that many portions have been translated into 
 German by Professor Tunner, who is, perhaps, 
 the most distinguished scientific metallurgist 
 on the Continent of Europe. The same dis- 
 tinction has been conferred upon Mr. Bell's 
 work by Professor Gruner, of the School of 
 Mines in Paris, who has communicated its 
 contents to the French iron trade, and by M. 
 Akerman, of Stockholm, who has performed 
 the same office for the benefit of the manufac- 
 turers of iron in Sweden. The first president 
 of the Iron and Steel Institute was the Duke 
 of Devonshire, the second Mr. H. Bessemer, 
 and for the two years commencing 1873, Mr. 
 Bell has enjoyed the highest honour the iron 
 trade of the British empire can confer.
 
 ISAAC LOWTHIAN BELL. 175 
 
 As president of the Iron and Steel Insti- 
 tute, Mr. Bell presided over the deliberations 
 of that body on their visit to Belgium in the 
 autumn of 1873. The reception accorded to 
 the Institute by their Belgian ,rivals and 
 friends was of the most hearty and en- 
 thusiastic description. The event, indeed, 
 was regarded as one of international impor- 
 tance, and every opportunity, both public and 
 private, was taken by our Belgian neighbours 
 to honour England in the persons of those 
 who formed her foremost scientific society. 
 Mr. Bell delivered in the French language, a 
 presidental address of singular ability, directed 
 mainly to an exposition of the relative in- 
 dustrial conditions and prospects of the two 
 greatest iron producing countries in Europe. 
 As president of the Institute, Mr. Bell had to 
 discharge the duty of presenting to the King 
 of the Belgians, at a reception held by His 
 Majesty at the Royal Palace in Brussels, all 
 the members who had taken a part in the 
 Belgium meeting, and the occasion will long 
 be remembered as one of the most interesting 
 and pleasant in the experience of those who 
 were previleged to be present. 
 
 We will only deal with one more of Mr. 
 Bell's relations to the iron trade. He was, we 
 need scarcely say, one of the chief promoters 
 of what is now known as the North of England 
 Ironmasters' Association, and he has always
 
 170 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 been in the front of the deliberations and 
 movements of that body. Before a meeting 
 of this Association, held in 1867, he read a 
 paper on the " Foreign Relations of the Iron 
 Trade," in the course of which he showed that 
 the attainments of foreign iron manufacturers 
 in physical science were frequently much 
 greater than our own, and deprecated the 
 tendency of English artizans to obstruct the 
 introduction of new inventions and processes. 
 He has displayed an eager anxiety in the test- 
 ing and elucidation of new discoveries, and no 
 amount of labour or cost was grudged that 
 seemed likely, in his view, to lead to mechanical 
 improvements. He has investigated for him- 
 self every new appliance or process that 
 claimed to possess advantages over those 
 already in use, and he has thus rendered yeo- 
 man service to the interest of science, by dis- 
 criminating between the chaff and the wheat. 
 For a period nearly approaching twenty- 
 four years, Mr. Bell has been a member of the 
 Newcastle Town Council, and one of the most 
 prominent citizens of the town. Upon this 
 phase of his career it is not our business to 
 dwell at any length, but we cannot refrain 
 from adding, that he has twice filled the chief 
 magistrate's chair, that he served the statutory 
 period as Sheriff of the town, that he is a 
 director of the North-Eastern Railway, and 
 that he was the first president of the New-
 
 ISAAC LOWTHIAN BELL. 177 
 
 castle Chemical Society. In the general 
 election of 1868, Mr. Bell came forward as a 
 candidate for the Northern Division of the 
 county of Durham, in opposition to Mr. George 
 Elliot, but the personal influence of the latter 
 was too much for him, and he sustained a 
 defeat. In the general election of 1874, Mr. 
 Bell again stood for North Durham, in con- 
 junction with Mr. C. M. Palmer, of Jarrow. 
 Mr. Elliott again contested the Division in the 
 Conservative interest. After a hard struggle, 
 Mr. Bell was returned at the head of the poll. 
 Shortly after the General Election, Mr. Elliott 
 received a baronetcy from Mr, Disraeli. 
 A short time only had elapsed, however, when 
 the Liberal members were unseated on 
 petition, because of general intimidation at 
 Hetton-le-Hole, Seaham, and other places no 
 blame being, however, attributed to the two 
 members and the result of afresh election in 
 June following was the placing of Mr. Bell at 
 the bottom of the poll, although he was only 
 a short distance behind his Conservative 
 opponent Sir George Elliott. 
 
 M
 
 X, WILLIAM BARN1NGHAM, 
 
 THE founder of the great Darlington Iron- 
 works Mr. William Barningham is in many 
 respects a remarkable man. He was born at 
 Arkengarthdale, near Richmond, Yorkshire, 
 on the 6th January, 1826, and is the youngest 
 of a family of eleven sons and two daughters. 
 Although the subject of these memoirs would 
 probably "smile at the claims of long descent" 
 quite as much as "the grand old gardener and 
 his wife;" and albeit, he may think with 
 Spurgeon, that ancient blood has little to re- 
 commend it, seeing that, go as far back as 
 you may, you corne at last to the father of 
 the human race, " who was turned out of a 
 garden for stealing fruit," yet, it is interest- 
 ing to record the fact, that the Barninghams 
 can trace their progenitors through a good 
 many generations. The family of this name 
 were the original proprietors of the village of 
 Barningham, on the Milbank property, south 
 of the Greta, and they have in this capacity, 
 found a place in Whittaker's History. Like 
 other old families, the Barninghams owned a
 
 WILLIAM BARNINGHAM. 179 
 
 crest, obtained from the Herald's Office in 
 North Yorkshire, and bearing the motto 
 " Wonderful are the works of God." This 
 crest has been adopted by the Darlington 
 Iron Company, of which William Barningham 
 was the projector. In searching amid the 
 mists of hoar antiquity many curious remini- 
 scences of the family may be found. Whit- 
 taker relates how one Robert SutclifFe, who 
 held payment of some land from Easby Abbey, 
 offered to make restitution for some injury 
 done to Holy Mother Church, on the condition 
 that five holy abbots proceeded to the burial 
 place of his father and grandfather to pro- 
 nounce absolution. This condition was com- 
 plied with, and one of the abbots who assisted 
 in its fulfilment bore the name of Richard de 
 Barningham. But antiquity apart, we know 
 that the progenitors of Mr. William Barning- 
 ham, were in humble circumstances, as their 
 " forbears " had been before them, and young 
 William was ushered into the world without 
 the proverbial silver spoon. 
 
 In the pretty little village of Arkengarth- 
 dale, William Barningham, like his brothers 
 and sisters before him, got the limited educa- 
 tion that could be afforded him at a free 
 school a school that was built and endowed 
 by one of the family of the well known Grilpin 
 Brown, of Sadberry Hall. When only nine 
 years of age, a circumstance occurred which
 
 180 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 marked an era in the boy's life. His eldest 
 brother the father of Mr. Thomas Barning- 
 ham, managing director of the Darlington 
 Iron Works had come down to the Dale to 
 spend a few days with his parents ; and one 
 morning he sent his youngest brother to the 
 village of Reeth, to inquire for some letters 
 which he expected from Manchester. At that 
 time there was no daily delivery of letters in 
 the Dale. Unless they were sent for to the 
 village of Reeth, letters intended for the 
 residents of the Dale where only delivered 
 once a week by coal carts, or by people who 
 went about the country purchasing farm pro- 
 duce. When, therefore, young William Barn- 
 ingham was employed to call at Reeth for his 
 brother's letters, he got instructions from a 
 number of the Dale folks to execute the same 
 commission for them ; and these commissions 
 became so numerous, that in course of time 
 the boy came to be recognized as a sort of 
 post runner. The postage of a letter from 
 London cost at that time fourteen pence, and 
 this amount had to be handed over by the 
 party receiving the letter before it was given 
 up. For the letters which he undertook to 
 deliver, young Barningham was accustomed 
 to charge fifteen pence, the only remuneration 
 allowed him for his trouble, being a penny per 
 letter. That this was hard-earned money 
 may be judged from the fact that the lad had
 
 WILLIAM BABN1NGHAM. 181 
 
 often to walk as much as twenty to thirty 
 miles a day, and at the end of the week his 
 earnings did not exceed some 3s 6d or 4s. 
 But small as the amount was, it helped to eke 
 out the otherwise scanty earnings of the 
 family, and was probably a good deal more 
 than he could then have made in any 
 other way. In point of fact, the weekly 
 earnings of the boy came to be so much that 
 the postmaster refused to give him the letters 
 any longer, after he had been carrying them 
 for about a twelvemonth. This, to the young 
 messenger, was a crushing and unexpected 
 blow. Other boys of the same age would 
 probably have succumbed to the difficulty, 
 but to his mind it did not appear to be in- 
 superable. He sought the advice of a friend 
 named Anderson, the son of Gilpin Brown's 
 land agent ; and after taking counsel together, 
 they determined to have a petition sent round 
 for signature among the Dale folks to whom 
 the services rendered by young Barningham 
 were a real boon and this petition was so 
 successful, that the postmaster agreed to re- 
 instate the plucky lad in his employment. 
 Facts like these, though apparently trifles 
 light as the thread of the gossamer, are yet 
 subtle and unmistakeable indications of the 
 spirit that was afterwards able to rise superior 
 to much greater difficulties. And, if there 
 are those who are disposed to inquire, as did
 
 182 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IROtf TttADE. 
 
 the mathematical student about " Paradise 
 Lost," what does it prove ? we shall per- 
 haps be pardoned for digressing so far as to 
 add, that the circumstances which first tended 
 in the case of William Barningham to prove 
 that " the child is father to the man," were 
 such as ought to inspire people of a later 
 generation with most fervent gratitude, to 
 those who were made the instruments of their 
 removal Rowland Hill and George Stephen - 
 son. 
 
 In 1839, young Barningham travelled with 
 his mother to Shildon, in search of employ- 
 ment suited to his now more ample capacity 
 and maturer years. They walked from 
 Arkengarthdale to Shildon a distance of 
 twenty-five miles on a Sunday afternoon. 
 On the following day, they left Shildon for 
 Middlesbrough by the old " Sunbeam " en- 
 gine one of the first locomotives built by 
 Hawthorn, and one, too, which will still be 
 remembered with interest by many whose 
 youthful wonder and curiosity it helped to 
 excite. Arrived at Middlesbrough, William 
 found employment with his brother John in 
 a small blacksmith's shop. It was at this 
 shop that all the repairs necessary for the 
 coal staithes at Middlesbrough Dock were 
 executed, and on account of the engine em- 
 ployed to lift the coal wagons at the old 
 staithes being broken, the youngster had to
 
 WILLIAM BARNINGHAM. 183 
 
 work nine days during the first week of his 
 apprenticeship. In his case it could hardly 
 be said that " the wind was tempered to the 
 shorn lamb." 
 
 After he had been employed with his 
 brother for about two years, William Barning- 
 ham began to display a genius for mechanics, 
 which sought every available means of de- 
 velopment. On one occasion, he heard of a 
 number of castings of a mill engine, of the 
 grasshopper pattern, being procurable at 
 Stockton. Thither, accordingly, he went to 
 secure the coveted prize : and having re- 
 ceived it, and returned to Middlesbrough, he 
 proceeded to adapt his castings to the con- 
 struction of a small engine, with only a two 
 inch cylinder. Some of his friends having 
 been made acquainted with Barningham's 
 engineering efforts, a good deal of interest 
 wag taken in the completion of the engine. 
 At last it was determined to give it a sort of 
 public trial. Steam was got up in a boiler 
 that was used by Mr. Cudworth (then a ship- 
 builder at Middlesbrough, but now engineer 
 of the Stockton and Darlington Railway) for 
 steaming the flanks of a ship's side; and the 
 trial was witnessed by Mr. Danby, then the 
 agent of the Stockton and Darlington Rail- 
 way Company at Middlesbrough, and several 
 others. But, on account of the slides not 
 being correctly set, the engine only made
 
 184 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADK. 
 
 half a revolution where she should have made 
 a whole one, and the trial was pronounced a 
 failure. There happened, however, to be 
 close at hand an engineman of the name of 
 Gaiters, who saw what was wrong with the 
 mechanism of the engine, and set the slides, 
 so that it made about 500 revolutions per 
 minute. Young Barningham was now as 
 jubilant with success as he had previously 
 been cast down with disappointment. His 
 engine was shown to all his friends, and 
 regarded as a prodigy of youthful capacity. 
 
 A very short time after this reminiscence, 
 young Barningham resolved on spending a 
 few days at his home in Arkengarthdale, and 
 sent word to his mother that he was coming 
 to assist her to churn by steam. The good 
 old lady was rather bewildered, when her son 
 arrived, to find him endeavouring to fulfil his 
 promise. He got his engine conveyed to his 
 father's house, and had everything necessary 
 to set it in motion except a boiler ; but he 
 was at his wits' end to discover how steam 
 was to be raised. At last, he found about the 
 old Methodist Chapel at Longthwaite, an 
 elbow pipe which he thought might suit his 
 purpose. He got this pipe plugged with 
 wood, and having attached it to the engine, 
 proceeded to get up steam by the aid of the 
 kitchen fire. But when the steam had been 
 got up, it had an effect very different to that
 
 WILLIAM BARNINGMAM. 185 
 
 intended, for the plug was blown out of the 
 elbow pipe, and all the water escaped into the 
 fire, thus completely defeating the plans of 
 the young enthusiast, and compelling him to 
 abandon the novel idea of churning by steam 
 power. 
 
 Leaving his first engine at Arkengarthdale 
 to excite the curiosity and wonder of the 
 natives, young Barningham, on his return to 
 Middlesbrough, set about the construction of 
 a second engine with a four inch cylinder. 
 This second venture was considerably more 
 successful than the first. The engine became 
 the property of Mr. George Chapman, a 
 gentleman who is said to have built the first 
 house in Middlesbrough, and afterwards fell 
 into the hands of Mr. Isaac Sharp, formerly 
 agent to the Middlesbrough Owners. When 
 the youthful builder last heard of his creation, 
 it was employed in driving a turnip chopping 
 machine. 
 
 In September, 1843, and in the eighteenth 
 year of his age, William Barningham left 
 Middlesbrough for France, accompanied by 
 his brother James. At Middlesbrough, the 
 brothers Barningham had rather obtained a 
 celebrity in the manufacture of switches and 
 crossings for railway purposes ; and they ex- 
 pected, no doubt, that they would be able to 
 find remunerative employment of the same 
 kind on the Continent. The Rouen and Paris
 
 186 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IKON TRADE. 
 
 Railway was then in course of construction, 
 by Messrs. Brassey, Mackenzie, and Company, 
 and to Rouen the brothers repaired. They 
 found, however, that Mr. Newman, the engi- 
 neer of the line, had gone on to Paris, a 
 distance of over a hundred miles and 
 they were obliged to follow him there. Tak- 
 ing the boat down the Seine, the brothers 
 found at Paris that they bad undertaken a 
 fruitless journey, Mr Newman having just left 
 for Rouen. "They waited his arrival in Paris 
 for a week, and were then discouraged by hear- 
 ing from him that the whole of the work connec- 
 ted with the line had been let to M. M. 
 Alcard, Buddicombe and Company, of the 
 Chatreux Iron Company, near Rouen. De- 
 termined, however, that they would not 
 abandon their object, they proceeded back to 
 Rouen, and called at the Chatreux Works. 
 Their satisfaction may be imagined when they 
 found that the manager of these works was a 
 Mr. Whalley, who had formerly been manager 
 at the works of Neasham and Welch, Stock - 
 ton-on-Tees. But Mr. Whalley informed 
 them that he saw little probability of being 
 able to do anything for them. The work for 
 which they applied had been let to others a 
 few days previously ; and there was no other 
 railway then under construction in France 
 that afforded any likelihood of employment. 
 James Barningham proposed that they should
 
 WILLIAM BABNINGHAM. 187 
 
 return to England: but William could not 
 brook the idea of failure, and declared that 
 rather than go back again, he would work his 
 way on board a steamer from Havre to Amer- 
 ica. They were not obliged to adopt either 
 alternative. Messrs. Brassey and Mackenzie 
 offered them work in connection with the 
 permanent way department of the new Rouen 
 and Paris line. Their business was that of 
 straightening the rails that had been bent and 
 injured in course of transit from South Wales. 
 At this work they were employed for some 
 six months, when the owners of the Chatreux 
 Works offered them the employment for 
 which they had originally made application, 
 and for six months more they made the 
 switches and crossings for the new line. At 
 the end of that time James Barningham re- 
 turned to England, but he could not persuade 
 William to accompany him. The latter had 
 conceived the idea of making switches and 
 crossings out of rails and railway chairs in 
 separate sections, instead of having them all 
 in one piece. This idea he laid before Mr. 
 John Jones, manager to Messrs. Brassey, 
 Mackenzie, and Company. Mr. Jones was so 
 much struck with the feasibility and advan- 
 tages of the plan proposed, that he built for 
 its author a workshop at a place called 
 Maloney, near Rouen, and put him in charge 
 of several men who had this work in hand.
 
 188 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 The results obtained were so satisfactory that 
 Mr. Barningham was able to realise a net 
 profit of 40 per month. At this time, he 
 was only nineteen years of age, although his 
 appearance conveyed the impression that he 
 was considerably older ; and considering the 
 exceptional position he occupied, he was ex- 
 tremely careful to conceal his juvenility from 
 those with whom he came into contact. 
 After enjoying this run of prosperity for six 
 months, Mr. Barningham found his income 
 gradually falling off, in consequence of the 
 payment of reduced prices, until it only 
 reached 20 per month ; and thinking, prob- 
 ably, that there was little chance of further 
 improving his position by remaining in 
 France, he determined to return to England. 
 Three brothers of Mr. Barningham were at 
 this time employed in Manchester, and to 
 them William suggested the project of open- 
 ing in that city a foundry, specially adapted 
 for colliery work. This foundry was estab- 
 lished and carried on for about eighteen 
 months, but without success, William having 
 lost in the venture a great part of the money 
 he had saved in France. In the course of a 
 visit which he made to the Cleveland district, 
 after the abandonment of the Manchester 
 foundry, Mr. Barningham met Mr. John 
 Harris, engineer and contractor for the main- 
 tenance of the permanent way of the Stockton
 
 WILLIAM BABNINGHAM. 189 
 
 and Darlington Railway, and engineer for the 
 Wakefield and Goole Railway. In conse- 
 quence of an interview between Mr. Harris 
 and Mr, Barningham, it was determined that 
 the latter should come to Middlesbrough and 
 establish works for the manufacture of rail- 
 way switches and crossings. These works 
 were built on the site now occupied by the 
 rolling mills of Hopkins, Gilkes, and Company. 
 Mr. Barningham was at this time about 
 totally destitute of means, but he had met at 
 a temperance hotel, where he resided in Mid- 
 dlesbrough, a Blyth shipowner named James 
 Brown, who took a considerable interest 
 in his plans, and advanced him a sum 
 of 1,000, to enable him to carry on 
 works at Middlesbrough, without requir- 
 ing security for the loan. Fortunately 
 the Middlesbrough Works turned out a suc- 
 cessful undertaking, and in consideration of 
 his kindness, Mr. Brown was admitted into 
 partnership. 
 
 While travelling about the country in 
 search of orders for his works at Middles- 
 brough, Mr. Barningham was struck with the 
 fact that large quantities of worn out iron 
 rails were lying about the works of the Lan- 
 cashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, at 
 Manchester. These rails were then sent 
 back to be re-manufactured at the different 
 works in Staffordshire, Wales, and Scotland,
 
 190 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 where they were made. It appeared per- 
 fectly evident, that to carry these old 
 rails to either of these districts, and bring 
 them back again to Manchester, would repre- 
 sent a heavy cost for carriage. With the 
 object of ascertaining whether this cost could 
 not be avoided, by the establishment at Man- 
 chester of works for the re-manufacture of 
 used-up rails, Mr. Barninghaui waited on 
 Admiral Lows, the general manager of the 
 Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, who was 
 convinced of the practicability and value of 
 the idea, and offered every inducement to Mr. 
 Barningham in order that he might be in- 
 duced to undertake the erection of such works. 
 He even went the length of recommending 
 an excellent site for the proposed works, be- 
 tween the canal and the railway at Pendleton, 
 just outside Manchester ; ;:nd committed the 
 Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company 
 to a contract for the re -manufacture of 4,000 
 tons of rails, and 2,000 tons of railway chairs, 
 when the works should be established. This 
 was the origin of the great Pendleton Iron 
 Works, which have been carried on by Mr. 
 Barningham since that time wish unvarying 
 success. 
 
 After the Pendleton Works had been some 
 time in operation, the attention of Mr. Bar- 
 ningham was attracted to the advantages pre- 
 sented by the new iron making district of
 
 WILLIAM BARNINGHAM. 191 
 
 Cleveland, for the economical production of 
 iron rails. His friend Mr. Brown was the 
 first to call Mr. Barningham's attention to 
 this matter, by quoting from newspapers and 
 other sources paragraphs dealing with the re- 
 quirements of the different railway companies 
 throughout the world. One contract for 
 50,000 tons of rails was advertised by the 
 East India Railway Company ; and the owner 
 of the Pendleton Works, although he should 
 have liked to put in a quotation for this 
 contract, was not in a position to do so. 
 Apart from its limited size, the geographical 
 position of the Pendleton Works unfitted them 
 for carrying on the manufacture of rails on a 
 large scale. Ultimately, therefore, Mr. Bar- 
 ningham resolved on the establishment of 
 works in Cleveland. In pursuance of this 
 resolution, he visited the district, and several 
 sites suitable for his purpose were pointed out 
 to him by Mr. Samuel Chester, late manager 
 of the West Hartlepool Railway. But Mr. 
 Barningham saw no locality so well adapted 
 to his purpose as Albert Hill, Darlington. 
 On the main line between London and the 
 North, and having excellent facilities for 
 reaching shipping ports oh the North-East 
 coast, it was also placed in close proximity to 
 the South Durham blast furnaces, from which 
 the pig iron could be obtained free of any 
 freightage charges. Some time afterwards,
 
 192 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 he met the late Mr. Frank Harker, then 
 manager of the South Durham blast fur- 
 naces, and the late Mr. John Harris, the 
 then engineer of the Stockton and Dar- 
 lington Railway. To these gentlemen Mr. 
 Barningham unfolded his views, taking care, 
 however, to keep them ignorant of his selec- 
 tion of Albert Hill as the site of his proposed 
 works. When he had returned to Darlington, 
 Mr. Harker saw Mr. Henry Pease, one of the 
 then directors of the South Durham Iron- 
 works, and informed him of Mr. Barningham's 
 intentions. Discerning that such works could 
 be worked in profitable conjunction with the 
 South Durham blast furnaces, Mr. Pease en- 
 deavoured to persuade Mr. Barningham to 
 erect his works on Albert Hill ; and the latter, 
 on receiving an offer of 4| acres of land at 
 350 per acre, with an option as to the pur- 
 chase of other eight acres at 300 per acre, 
 agreed to comply with the invitation. It is 
 seventeen years last April since Mr. Barning- 
 ham visited the North to select a site for his 
 proposed new works, and by April of the fol- 
 lowing year, the works were far advanced to- 
 wards completion. The site, however, ap- 
 peared to be so circumscribed, and the pro- 
 jector had such large ideas of further devel- 
 opment that he shortly afterwards purchased 
 the Springfield farm, eight-five acres in ex- 
 tent, for a sum of 11,000 ; and as illustrat-
 
 WILLIAM BARNINGHAM. 193 
 
 ing the enormous increase in the value of 
 property within the last fifteen years, we may 
 add here that ground in the same locality 
 has recently been bought for 1,000 per 
 acre. 
 
 The first contract undertaken by Mr. Bar- 
 ningham, after the Albert Hill Works were 
 completed, was an order for the permanent 
 way of a railway between Calcutta and Port 
 Canning, twenty-one miles in length. This 
 was followed shortly afterwards by a contract 
 for the great bulk of the rails necessary to 
 lay the Eastern Bengal Railway, 160 miles in 
 length. For every railway in India, except 
 the Bombay and Baroada, and the great 
 Indian and Peninsular, the rails have been 
 supplied either in whole or in part by Mr. 
 Barningham ; while no name is better known 
 among the railway interests of America. A 
 great portion of the rails required for the 
 Pacific line, were made at the Albert Hill 
 Works ; and while he had this work on hand, 
 Mr. Barningham became necessarily involved 
 in large financial transactions with the notori- 
 ous Jay Cooke and his friends. In 1867 Mr. 
 Barningham concluded a contract with the 
 Imperial Government of Russia for the supply 
 of 6,000 tons of rails; and some little time 
 afterwards he was asked to supply the rails 
 for the Czar's private railway to Sarscasils. 
 In connection with these important contracts,
 
 194 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Mr. Barningham paid a visit to Russia in 
 1868, and at St. Petersburg he had an inter- 
 view with General MelinkofF, the Minister of 
 Public Works, who strongly advised him to 
 establish ironworks, near to Taganrog, on the 
 sea of Azoff, in Southern Russia. The in- 
 ducements held out to the adoption of this 
 course were so tempting, that Mr. Barning- 
 ham had actually proceeded as far as Moscow 
 with the view of making a survey of the dis- 
 trict round about Taganrog, and ascertaining 
 its rescources for the carrying on of works, 
 as suggested by General MelinkofF; but 
 pressing business necessitated his return to 
 England, before he could carry out his plans 
 in reference to Russia. The project has since 
 been carried out by an Englishman named 
 Hughes, aided by the late Mr. Thomas 
 Brassey, and a handsome subsidy from the 
 Imperial Treasury ; and the works are said to 
 be very successful. 
 
 Enough has been said in the earlier part of 
 this biography to show that Mr. Barningham 
 has always bad a talent for mechanics. He is 
 the patentee of a valuable invention which 
 was highly approved of by the late Mr. 
 Brunei; an engineer of European fame, and 
 has been adopted on the Australian and other 
 railways. It consists in the combination of 
 two railway fishes and two railway chairs, in 
 separate pieces, thus forming a girder from
 
 WILLIAM BARN ING HAM. 195 
 
 sleeper to sleeper. Another novel idea of Mr. 
 Barningham's, although it has not yet been 
 practically adopted, was illustrated for some 
 years on the walls of the Stockton and Dar- 
 lington Railway Station at the latter town. Mr. 
 Barningham proposed to feed blast furnaces 
 by running the trucks filled with the raw 
 material up an incline, and then allowing 
 them to pass over the furnace, dropping their 
 contents into the furnace as they did so, in- 
 stead of distributing the material in barrow- 
 fuls as at present, thus avoiding the cost of 
 hoisting it to the top of the furnace in small 
 quantities. If the idea were practicable and 
 we do not say that it is not it would un- 
 doubtedly lead to a great economy in blast 
 furnace operations ; but no blast ' furnace 
 engineer has yet been induced to make the 
 attempt.
 
 XL DAVID DALE. 
 
 THE name of Mr. David Dale will always be 
 associated more, perhaps, than any other 
 with the Board of Arbitration and Con- 
 ciliation, established m 1869, for the set- 
 tlement of disputes arising in connection with 
 the North of England iron trade. Of that 
 highly useful tribunal he was one of the 
 original and most active promoters, and since 
 its formation he has been its first and only 
 President. But there are many other phases 
 in Mr. Dale's career closely interwoven with 
 the development of the iron trade of Cleve- 
 land. Railway management has received a 
 large share of his attention. Mining enter- 
 prise has likewise been indebted to his labours. 
 His financial talents have repeatedly been 
 called into requisition in almost hopeless 
 cases of emergency ; and at the present time 
 he occupies a position of prominent usefulness 
 and influence subordinate to none in the dis- 
 trict with which he is connected. 
 
 Mr. Dale was born in British India. His 
 father was judge of the City Court of Moors-
 
 DAVID DALE. 197 
 
 hadabad, in the East India Company's Bengal 
 service. His grandfather was the brother of 
 that David Dale who founded the New 
 Lanark Mills, near Glasgow, and of whom his ' 
 grandson, Robert Dale Owen, has recently 
 recorded many interesting reminiscences in 
 the Atlantic Monthly. While he was yet an 
 infant the subject of this biography left India 
 in the company of his father and mother, but 
 the former died on the voyage home. Arrived 
 in England, Mrs. Dale took the route to New 
 Lanark, intending to sojourn for a time with 
 her husband's friends there. An accident to 
 the mail coach when within a few miles of 
 Darlington, caused her such serious injuries 
 that she was unable to proceed further. 
 Friendless and alone, she had no private 
 house to fall back upon, and was therefore 
 necessitated to put up at the King's Head, in 
 Darlington, where she met with so much 
 kindness and attention from some of the 
 " Friends," as induced her shortly after- 
 wards to return and settle in that town. 
 Thus it was, in a purely accidental way, that 
 Mr. Dale became connected with Darlington. 
 Commencing his business career in the 
 office of the Stockton and Darlington Kailway 
 Company, under the late Mr. Macnay, Mr. 
 Dale had been accustomed from his earliest 
 years to understand and deal with the special 
 requirements of the Cleveland district. He
 
 198 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 showed such conspicuous business aptitude 
 that when little more than twenty years of 
 age, he was appointed secretary to the Mid- 
 'dlesbrough and Guisborough section of the 
 Stockton and Darlington system. After oc- 
 cupying for six -years a secretarial position, 
 he entered into partnership with Mr. W. 
 Bouch, and became part lessee of the Shildon 
 Locomotive Works, at the village of that 
 name, distant about six miles from Darling- 
 ton. Under an arrangement with the Board 
 of the Darlington and Stockton section, the 
 working of that line was done by contract 
 with Messrs. Bouch and Dale, carrying on 
 business as the Shildon Works Company. 
 This was an undertaking of a very respon- 
 sible and extensive kind, the heavy mineral 
 traffic of the Darlington section requiring 
 much skill and care in its management. But 
 it was also a prosperous enterprise, as, indeed, 
 it could hardly fail to be under the control of 
 two gentlemen so eminently qualified to carry 
 it on. Mr. Bouch is an engineer of large 
 experience and exceptional attainments. Lo- 
 comotive engineering owes to his ingenuity 
 many improvements of the most valuable 
 kind. He has patented a new application of 
 reversing gear, which enables an engine to be 
 drawn up while running full speed without 
 knocking off steam ; and this device, when 
 exhibited by Mr. Stephenson at tlte last Paris
 
 DAVID DALE. 199 
 
 Exhibition, attracted much attention from the 
 engineering profession. Another invention 
 of Mr. Bouch's is a patent steam retarder, 
 which acts as an efficient brake, by admitting 
 steam on each side of the piston. Both of 
 these improvements and several others that 
 owe their paternity to the same gentleman 
 are now applied to all the engines built for 
 the Stockton and Darlington system. It was 
 Mr. Bouch's business under the co-partnery 
 agreement to look after the practical working 
 while Mr. Dale attended to financial arrange- 
 ments and correspondence. The Shildon 
 Works grew and prospered to such an extent, 
 that their locale had to be removed a few 
 years ago from Shildon to Darlington. The 
 new works have been built on a very extensive 
 scale. They give employment to over 1,000 
 hands, not only in the maintenance of the large 
 stock of locomotives belonging to the Dar- 
 lington section, but in the building of many 
 new engines to keep that stock up to the 
 highest point of efficiency. Three of the 
 last passenger engines built have each two 
 cylinders 17 inches diameter and a stroke of 30 
 inches. They work at a boiler pressure of 140 
 Ibs. per square inch. The driving wheels are 
 7 feet diameter, and the maximum speed at- 
 tainable is 70 miles an hour. Owing to their 
 enormous size and power, these engines have 
 been styled " Gmx's Babies." The arrange-
 
 200 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 ment under which Mr. Dale became connected 
 with the Shildon works terminated three or 
 four years ago, and now the locomotive man- 
 agement is conducted under rather different 
 conditions, although the Darlington section 
 still depends upon these works for all their 
 locomotive power. 
 
 Mr. Dale's connection with the iron trade of 
 the North of England commencedin 1857. On 
 the stoppage of the Northumberland and Dur- 
 ham District Bank in that year, the Derwent 
 Iron Company, to whom the Consett Iron Works 
 belonged, became insolvent. Mr. Dale was 
 then appointed, in conjunction with Mr. J. W. 
 Pease, M.P., and the late Colonel Stobart, of 
 Etherley, one of the inspectors under whose 
 control the Consett works were to be carried 
 on by Mr. Jonathan Richardson on behalf of 
 the creditors. The affairs of the company 
 were in a very involved condition ; and as 
 Mr. Dale was the really responsible inspector, 
 (his colleagues being simply consulted on 
 matters of the utmost moment), his appoint- 
 ment was anything but a sinecure. The 
 office, however, was not one of long duration. 
 The arrangement made with Mr. Richardson 
 was superseded on the purchase of the works 
 at Consett by the Derwent and Consett Iron 
 Company, of whom Mr. Allhusen, of New- 
 castle, Mr. Jonathan Priestman, and Mr. 
 Joseph Hawks were the managing directors.
 
 DAVID DALE. 201 
 
 Owing, however, to the Derwent and Con sett 
 Iron Company being unable to complete their 
 purchase, the works again came into the 
 market after about two years possession by 
 that proprietary, and the present company 
 was then formed in April, 1864, with a capital 
 of 400,000, divided into 40,000 shares of 
 10 each, Mr. Dale and Mr. Priestman being 
 appointed managing directors. Of this amount, 
 only 295,318 was paid for the works, 
 plant, and royalties owned by the old com- 
 pany. Considering the immense extent of 
 the concern, the purchase was a decidedly 
 cheap one, although none of the eighteen 
 furnaces then built were adapted to the modern 
 requirements of the trade ; and they have all 
 been since demolished. In September, 1866, 
 the company purchased the adjoining works 
 of the Shotley Bridge Iron Company, and 
 thereupon created 6,000 additional shares of 
 10 each, making 60,000 additional capital. 
 In September, 1872, 9,200 additional shares, 
 of the nominal value of 10 each, were al- 
 lotted to the then proprietors out of the 
 revenue of the company, 7 10s per share 
 being paid at once on each new creation of 
 capital. 
 
 It would be impossible to find in the whole 
 industrial experience of this country, a greater 
 contrast than that presented by the Consett 
 Iron Works under their past and present
 
 202 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 management. The undertaking was originally 
 one of the most gigantic of its kind in the 
 United Kingdom, for there are no ironworks 
 even at the present day that can boast of so 
 many as eighteen blast furnaces. The rock 
 upon which the Derwent Company split would 
 appear to be that of developing their concern 
 too rapidly. They experienced the fate that 
 proverbially attends " vaulting ambition " 
 they " o'erleaped themselves and fell on 
 t'other side." Their case was by no means 
 singular. The Ayrshire Ironworks, in Scot- 
 land, " fell from its high estate," from kindred 
 causes, and the plant, etc., which originally cost 
 close on 100,000, had to be disposed of in 
 liquidation for the miserably inadequate sum 
 of 20,000. Both of these concerns came to 
 grief in the same panic ; but both had un- 
 doubtedly internal and probably insurmount- 
 able elements of weakness, apart from the 
 final crash that laid them prostrate. Under 
 the new regime the Consett works have en- 
 joyed a large and uninterrupted run of pros- 
 perity. From the formation of the company, 
 in 1864, until the 30th June, 1870, the divi- 
 dends of the company averaged 10 per cent, 
 after defraying the cost of building six large 
 blast furnaces out of revenue, and making 
 other considerable improvements and ad- 
 ditions to the works. Since 1870. the divi- 
 dends paid to the shareholders have been
 
 DAVID DALE. 203 
 
 even higher. At the present time it is 
 unquestionably one of the most substantial 
 and flourishing concerns in the North of 
 England. The company own large coal 
 royalties, from which they raise sufficient to 
 supply the whole of their own blast furnaces, 
 mills, and forges, and leave a considerable 
 surplus for sale. They are also exceptionally 
 well off as regards the supply of other 
 minerals. Their predecessors the Derwent 
 Iron Company formerly owned the cele- 
 brated Stanhope Limestone Quarries, which 
 were sold to the Stockton and Darlington 
 Railway Company, subject to the supply of 
 the Consett works, for many years, at a very 
 low figure. In like manner, the Derwent 
 Company owned the Upleatham ironstone 
 mines in Cleveland ; and these were disposed 
 of to Messrs. J. and J. W. Pease and Partners, 
 on the formation of the new proprietary, 
 under similar conditions. More than any 
 other firm in the Cleveland district, the 
 Consett Iron Company make use of the 
 hematite ores of Cumberland and Westmor- 
 land, this quality being the most suitable for 
 the manufacture of ship plates, which is the 
 staple produce of these works. The increasing 
 scarcity of the Cumberland hematite, has led 
 the Company within the last two years, to enter 
 into arrangements for the acquisition and 
 development of large hematite royalties at
 
 204 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Bilbao, in Spain, in conjunction with the 
 Dowlais Iron Company and the celebrated 
 Prussian gunmaker, Mr. Krupp, of Essen. 
 
 The Consett Company give employment to 
 between 5,000 and 6,000 work people. They 
 have now six blast furnaces in operation, each 
 capable of producing 450 tons of pig iron per 
 week. It was at these works that Whitwell's 
 patent fire-brick hot blast stoves were first 
 fitted up, and it will be remembered that the 
 patentee, at the Dudley meeting of the Iron 
 and Steel Institute, read a paper containing 
 much interesting information as to the re- 
 sults obtained from the use of his stoves at 
 Consett. The crude pig iron manufactured 
 at Consett is almost entirely used in the mills 
 and forges adjacent. In the puddling depart- 
 ment there are 150 furnaces, two forge en- 
 gines, five steam hammers, and all other 
 necessary appliances for the turn out of a 
 large quantity of work. In their speciality 
 of ship plates the Consett Iron Company 
 make more than any other individual firm in 
 the country. Four out of the five rolling 
 mills in operation are exclusively engaged on 
 ship plates, the fifth being adapted for rails. 
 From 1,200 to 1,300 tons of plates can be 
 made here weekly, while the production of 
 rails varies from 600 to 800 tons per week. 
 The company have a large continental and 
 American connection ; while their plates are
 
 DAVID DALE. 205 
 
 known to, and more or less used by almost 
 every shipbuilder in the British empire. The 
 wages paid at Consett is something like 
 360,000 per annum, all told ; and the value 
 of the sales at the Co-operative Stores carried 
 on in connection with the works is nearly 
 20,000 per annum. The Company own 
 1,500 workmen's cottages on their property, 
 and the education of the rising generation 
 has been provided for by the erection of 
 schools capable of accommodating 1,300 to 
 1,400 children. The manufacture of coke is 
 extensively carried on, near to the iron- 
 works, the company having upwards of 
 560 coke ovens, from which they not 
 only supply their own furnaces, but serve 
 several works in the Cumberland district, and 
 the locomotives on the Northern railways. 
 The total output of coal from the company's 
 collieries is about 12,000 tons per week. 
 Taken as a whole, the Consett Company's 
 Works are the largest in the North of Eng- 
 land with perhaps three or at the most four 
 exceptions. 
 
 When the proneness to take advantage of 
 the Limited Liability Act was so rampant in 
 1866, a project was initiated for the amalga- 
 mation of the three important shipbuilding 
 and engineering firms of Richardson, Denton, 
 Duck, and Company, South Stockton ; Den- 
 ton, Grey, and Company, Hartlepool ; and
 
 206 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Thomas Richardson and Sons. Hartlepool, 
 under the designation of Richardson s, Den- 
 ton, Duck, and Company. The object of this 
 amalgamation was twofold. It was under- 
 taken, in the first place, with a view to the 
 more advantageous and extended working of 
 the firms forming the triumvirate ; and in 
 the next place it was designed to take ad- 
 vantage of the Limited Liability Act. Mr. 
 Dale was appointed vice-chairman of this 
 huge undertaking, which, however, was not 
 found to work so satisfactorily in combination 
 as was expected ; and it was, therefore, soon 
 resolved into its original separate elements. 
 In this connection it may be observed that, 
 along with Mr. Robert Fletcher and Mr. 
 Nicholson, of Manchester, Mr. Dale, who has 
 had no previous connection with the concern, 
 was elected one of the liquidators of that ill- 
 started venture Pile, Spence, and Company 
 (Limited) which, after giving promise of 
 great things, and securing the confidence and 
 means of hundreds of gullible shareholders, 
 closed its career like a " flash in the pan," 
 and involved many of its too confiding vic- 
 tims in absolute ruin. Among other local 
 concerns with which Mr. Dale is identified, 
 mention may be made of the Weardale and 
 Shildon Water Works Company, of which he 
 has been vice-chairman for several years. 
 He is also associated with two or three smaller
 
 DAVID DALE. 207 
 
 concerns of an industrial character, either as 
 shareholder or director. 
 
 Since its formation in 1868, Mr. Dale has 
 acted as honorary treasurer of the Iron and 
 Steel Institute of Great Britain. At the 
 time of its formation he was one of its most 
 zealous advocates, and as a member of the 
 committee appointed under the resolution 
 that decreed its formation, he has done much 
 to make it a success, although we believe he 
 has not as yet contributed any papers to its 
 proceedings. 
 
 Under the Mines' Regulation Act of 1872, 
 a Board required to be created in each 
 mining inspection district, consisting of three 
 colliery owners, three colliery or mining en- 
 gineers, and three workmen, along with the 
 Government Inspector. The duty of the 
 Board is to appoint examiners and to define 
 the subjects and character of the examination 
 for certificates entitling their holders to be 
 managers of collieries or mines under the Act, 
 which provides that every mine and colliery 
 must now be under the control of a certifica- 
 ted manager. When the Board for South 
 Durham and Cleveland was formed in the 
 early part of the present year, Mr. Dale was 
 at once appointed president, a position 
 not more honourable than onerous in its 
 nature. A new motive power, no matter how 
 simple its mechanism may be, is generally
 
 208 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 somewhat difficult to get into full and proper 
 working order ; but in this case the Board 
 started on its career with the promise of a 
 high degree of usefulness and efficiency, and 
 without the operation of any disqualifications 
 or trammels likely to interfere with the ful- 
 filment of its high functions. 
 
 About four years ago Mr. Dale was ap- 
 pointed managing director of the Stockton 
 and Darlington Railway. In our sketch of 
 the late Mr. Joseph Pease, we spoke of the 
 importance of this section, not only on its 
 own merits, but as a feeder to the more com- 
 prehensive system of the North-Eastern 
 Company, in which it is now absorbed. The 
 traffic in minerals is larger than that of any 
 other system of corresponding extent in the 
 world ; and the revenues of the company are 
 proportionately great. But, more than this, 
 the system is quite a monopoly throughout 
 its entire length. Between Benfieldside 
 and Saltburn-by-the-Sea the two termini of 
 the line there is no alternative route. All 
 the coal and coke from the South Durham 
 coal-field, and all the limestone from Forcett, 
 Stanhope, and other parts of Weardale 
 is carried into the Cleveland district by this 
 railway, while the great bulk of the iron and 
 ironstone sent out of Cleveland must traverse 
 the same route. In his management of the 
 Darlington section, Mr. Dale has stuck pretty
 
 DAVID DALE. 209 
 
 closely to the somewhat hard and fast line 
 laid down by his predecessors. Its manage- 
 ment is still a mild sort of despotism. 
 The austere and rigorous habits and prin- 
 ciples of the communion that has so long 
 dominated over it may still be seen and felt. 
 The first passenger railway in England is 
 undoubtedly somewhat behind, or at any rate 
 out of harmony with the times. Querulous 
 travellers and "jolly good fellows" may 
 look hopefully forward to the time when 
 an administration shall arise that knows 
 not the Quakers when bitter beer and 
 brandy galore shall be accessible at every 
 refreshment room. After all, however, the 
 primary duty of a managing director is 
 towards the shareholders, and under Mr. 
 Dale, the dividends of the Stockton and 
 Darlington section have not come to grief. 
 
 Opinions may differ as to the principles which 
 govern the application of arbitration in 
 the settlement of trade disputes ; but there 
 is no room for doubt as to the immense good 
 which the use of that system has effected in 
 the North of -England. Arbitration is by no 
 means a new thing. Its merits and rationale 
 had been foreshadowed by speculative philos- 
 ophers long before its use was fafrly resorted 
 to in this country. As a means of arranging 
 trade difficulties and disputes, it was first suc- 
 cessfully applied by Mr. Mundella, M.P., to 
 
 M
 
 210 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IROK TRADE. 
 
 the hosiery and other trades of Nottingham, 
 and by Mr. Rupert Kettle, County Court 
 Judge of Worcestershire, to the building 
 trades of Wolverhampton. But the system 
 was yet in its infancy when it was determined 
 to apply it to the iron trade of the North of 
 England. This was in the early part of 1869. 
 The idea of setting up such a tribunal as a 
 permanent mode of settling trade difficulties 
 was first broached at a meeting of the North 
 of England iron trade, the original suggestion 
 emanating from Mr. Dale. On the first Mon- 
 day in March, 1869, the Board was formally 
 constituted. Its object was declared to be "to 
 arbitrate on wages, or on any other matters 
 affecting their respective interests that may 
 be referred to it from time to time by either 
 employers or operatives, by conciliatory 
 means to interpose its influence to prevent 
 disputes, and to put an end to any that may 
 arise." The constitution of the Board pro- 
 vides that it shall be composed of one em- 
 ployer and one operative from each works 
 joining it ; and both employers and operatives 
 must select their representatives at meetings 
 to be held in December of each year. There 
 is a standing committee consisting of four 
 employers and four operatives, in addition to 
 the president and vice-president, to which all 
 questions are in the first instance referred for 
 investigation. This committee endeavour to
 
 DAVID DALE. 211 
 
 settle matters coming before them, but have 
 no power to make any award. It was unani- 
 mously resolved that Mr. David Dale should 
 be appointed the first president of the Board, 
 the vice-president being chosen from among 
 and by the operatives. It would be a mis- 
 take to say that since its establishment the 
 Board has worked with unvarying smoothness, 
 that it has realised all the expectations of its 
 promoters, or that it has prevented entirely 
 the occurrence of trade disputes. But it is 
 simple justice to say that its inauguration 
 ushered in a millennium of peace and goodwill 
 between employers and employed, compared 
 with the chaotic and demoralizing state of 
 matters that previously existed. In the iron 
 trade of the North of England, the principle 
 of arbitration found itself face to face with 
 elements that it had never before encountered. 
 There were many thousands of workmen 
 guided by and dependent upon its application. 
 Within a month after it was established it was 
 resolved to call in Mr. Rupert Kettle to de- 
 termine a claim for increased wages upon 
 which the Board itself was unable to agree. 
 Mr. Kettle's decision was accepted as satisfac- 
 tory, and after his award had been delivered 
 he was presented with a handsome testi- 
 monial. But when the next case of difference 
 arose, Mr. Thomas Hughes, the late member for 
 Frome, and the author of " Tom Brown's
 
 212 PIONEERS OP TttE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 School Days," was asked to undertake the 
 duties of arbitrator. In his case, as in the 
 case of Mr. Kettle, all the data necessary 
 to lead to a just and sound conclusion were 
 supplied. The employers produced their con- 
 tract books and the terms of their specifica- 
 tions, while the workmen pointed to the 
 wages paid in other districts, and furnished 
 collateral arguments in support of their 
 claim. The first awards of Mr. Hughes were 
 satisfactory to both sides ; but his last 
 award was received by the workmen with 
 intense dissatisfaction ; and at the meet- 
 ing at which it was announced, he was 
 so roughly handled, and treated with so much 
 disrespect, that he vowed he would never 
 again undertake a similar duty. This is 
 probably the ugliest phase of the Board's 
 career. Although there have been oc- 
 casional strikes at individual works, there 
 never has, since a Court, of Arbitration was 
 established in the district, been a general and 
 concerted strike. It is scarcely necessary to 
 add that this happy change in the relations of 
 employer and employed has been productive 
 of equal benefit to both. The masters can 
 now book contracts with the assurance that 
 wages in certain departments will remain un- 
 altered for a definite period, and that in these 
 departments, also, there is no likelihood of 
 anything occuring to disturb the even course
 
 DAVID DALE. 
 
 213 
 
 of his arrangements ; while the workmen 
 have realised the unspeakable advantage of 
 regular wages without any serious breaks in 
 their time by circumstances within their own 
 control. Those of them who took part in the 
 great and desolating strike of 1866 will 
 fully appreciate the beneficent effects of .the 
 change which the Court of Arbitration brought 
 about. Looking at it, indeed, from a purely 
 utlitarian and politico-economic point of view, 
 it must have saved many thousands of pounds 
 to the district ; and from a humanitarian 
 aspect, it may be said to have achieved still 
 greater triumphs. It has put an end to the 
 <k brutal arbitrament of the sword," and sub- 
 stituted in its stead the sober, rational, un- 
 impassioned judgment of impartial and un- 
 prejudiced men. It is true that arbitration 
 has not always and in all circumstances been 
 equally successful. It was attempted in 
 Scotland in 1870. when Mr. George Anderson, 
 M.P., was asked to decide on the disputed 
 claims of a large body of ironworkers ; but 
 Mr. Anderson's award was such a prolific 
 source of discontent and rancour, that there 
 was another strike immediately on the back 
 of its publication; and many of those interested, 
 including both masters and workmen, have re- 
 solved to have nothing more to do with arbitra- 
 tion in the time to come. In South Stafford- 
 shire, on the other hand, a Court of
 
 214 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Conciliation has lately been established 
 on a basis much resembling that on which the 
 North of England Board is founded, and 
 with highly successful results. 
 
 Much of the success of the Northern Board 
 of Arbitration is due to the mingled tact, 
 firmness, and discrimination of its president. 
 Mr. David Dale is the possessor of an emi- 
 nently judicial mind. He is also well versed 
 in all the virtues of diplomacy not a diplo- 
 macy of a mean, subservient, unconscionable 
 kind but of that loftier quality that discrimi- 
 nates between seemingly irreconcileable 
 issues, and opens up a pathway to their per- 
 fect agreement. He is fertile in the sugges- 
 tion of expedients, which remove many 
 difficulties from the way of an amicable 
 understanding between the rival interests 
 represented at the Arbitration Board. But, 
 above all, he preserves an unruffled tem- 
 per ; and through his equable behaviour, good 
 humour is reflected upon his less self- 
 controlled coilaborateurs who would, probably, 
 but for his influence, be prone to fall out by 
 the way. In recognition of his valuable 
 services to the Arbitration Board, Mr. Dale 
 was in April, 1870, publicly presented with 
 an address, subscribed by the representatives 
 of every firm connected with the institution, 
 in which the most flattering testimony was 
 borne to his conduct of its proceedings.
 
 DAVID DALE. 215 
 
 Mr. Dale is a Justice of the Peace for the 
 county of Durham, and is intimately mixed 
 up with the various public, religious, political, 
 educational, and benevolent institutions of the 
 southern division of the county. On the 
 death of the late Mr. Gurney Pease, he be- 
 came a partner in the firm of Joseph Pease 
 and Partners ; and at the same time he was 
 admitted into the firm of J. and J. W. Pease. 
 In this capacity he is now one of the largest 
 mineral owners in the North of England. 
 He is married to the widow of the late Mr. 
 H. Whitwell, C.E., by whom he has two 
 children.
 
 XII BERNH1RD SA1UELSON, M,P. 
 
 DURING the last few years, a combination of 
 causes, all more or less exceptional, has re- 
 sulted in bringing the name of Mr. Bernhard 
 Samuelson prominently before his country- 
 men at home and abroad. Not the least 
 important of these has been his efforts on 
 behalf of technical education. More than 
 any man of his time he has become identified 
 with this question. He has looked at it from 
 all points of the mental compass. By his 
 means its consideration has been forced upon 
 the Government, and it is due to him that we 
 now know, better than we ever did before, how 
 we stand in the industrial balance as compared 
 with Continental countries. In a letter 
 addressed to the Vice-President of the 
 Council, printed by order of the House of 
 Commons in 1868, Mr. Samuelson clearly and 
 ably pointed out the necessity of systematic 
 technical instruction, in order to maintain and 
 develope our national industries. We have, 
 however, chiefly to speak of Mr. Samuelson
 
 BEHNHARD SAMUKLSON, M.P. 217 
 
 with regard to his long and important con- 
 nection with Cleveland a connection scarcely 
 less large and influential than that of any who 
 have been associated with him in the same 
 sphere of enterprise. 
 
 Mr. Bernhard Samuelson was born on the 
 22nd day of November, 1820. His father 
 was a Liverpool merchant in a rather extensive 
 way of business. After being educated at a 
 private school, taught by the Kev. J. Blezards, 
 vicar of Skerlaugh, Yorkshire, young Bern- 
 hard entered a mercantile office in Liverpool, 
 where he was employed for six years. He 
 then went to the continent, where he was 
 engaged to look after the extensive contracts 
 in locomotive work of Messrs. Sharp, Stewart, 
 and Company of Manchester. His connection 
 with this well-known firm was both useful and 
 profitable, for he made the acquaintance of 
 some of the most eminent Continental 
 engineers, and the character of his avocations 
 demanded that he should be continually mov- 
 ing from place to place. In this way he saw 
 a great deal of Continental life, especially in 
 France and Germany, and he made the most 
 of his abundant opportunities for studying the 
 special merits and requirements of Continental 
 engineering. He was led also to engage in 
 some speculations of his own, which turned 
 out to be remunerative. Returning to Eng- 
 land in his twenty-eighth year, he became the
 
 218 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 purchaser of a small implement works and 
 foundry at Banbury, where he took up his 
 abode. Into this concern he threw his whole 
 energies for a number of years, until he has 
 made it famous all over the world. Samuel- 
 son's agricultural implements are perhaps as 
 well known in Russia and Italy as they are 
 among the farmers of Kent and ISussex. The 
 firm have for many years done a very large 
 export trade. In 1872 they turned out the 
 enormous number of over 8,000 reaping- 
 machines. Some kinds of implements are of 
 Mr. Samuelson's own invention, and are made 
 only at Banbury. Of course, the works have 
 very largely increased in the hands of their 
 present proprietor, until now they are prob- 
 ably the largest of their kind in England. 
 
 In the autumn of 1853, Mr. Samuelson 
 attended the Cleveland Agricultural Society's 
 Show, held that year at Stokesley, in order 
 to exhibit a new digging-machine, which 
 he had just patented. It was his first visit 
 to Cleveland. Personally he knew nothing 
 whatever of the district. The most he had 
 heard of it was that it was a splendid field for 
 agricultural operations, and he expected, 
 doubtless, to do a good stroke of business 
 among the farmers. He had heard also of 
 John Vaughan, although he had never met 
 him. As a gentleman indirectly concerned 
 in the iron trade, he could not but be solicitous
 
 BERN HARD SAMUELSON, M.P. 219 
 
 to witness the results of Mr. Vaughan's 
 achievements. In common with many others 
 who were not near enough the root of the 
 prejudice to have their minds disabused, he 
 had been led to form anything but a favour- 
 able opinion as to the qualities of the Cleve- 
 land ironstone. The idea of becoming 
 more directly connected with the iron trade 
 had, however, long been in his thoughts, 
 and a fortuitous chain of events ultimately 
 led up to that result. He was introduced 
 to Mr. Vaughan by the late Mr. Dock- 
 ray, resident engineer of the London and 
 North-Eastern Railway, and Mr. Vaughan in 
 his usually open and communicative manner, 
 disclosed the position and prospects of the 
 district. He spoke of what had been done in 
 the way of opening up the Cleveland iron- 
 stone, the supplies of which he declared to be 
 illimitable. Mr. Samuelson had previously 
 visited the works at, Eston, in the company of 
 Mr. T. Parrington, whose guest he was, and he 
 interpreted aright the merits of the situation. 
 He saw that in its most embryo state, the 
 district contained all the elements of pros- 
 pective greatness. So thoroughly had he 
 become infected with Mr. Vaughan's spirit of 
 sanguine hope and confidence, that before he 
 left Cleveland he had concluded arrangements 
 for the purchase of a site at South Bank for 
 the erection of blast furnaces. This locale was
 
 220 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 within a mile of the works of Messrs. Bolckow 
 and Vaughan at Eston, and it was agreed that 
 the latter firm should supply the South Bank 
 furnaces with ironstone from their Eston 
 mines. At that time the whole of the inter- 
 vening space between Eston and the Middles- 
 brough Docks was almost a complete waste. 
 South Bank, where there is now a population 
 of some 4,000 or 5,000, was represented by one 
 or two small tumble-down farm steadings. 
 Elwon and Company had just commenced to 
 erect the Cleveland furnaces near by, and 
 there were incipient manifestations of indus- 
 trial activity about the hamlet of Ormesby, 
 where Messrs. Cochrane and Company had 
 begun to erect four furnaces. Mr. Samuelson 
 decided on erecting three furnaces at South 
 Bank, each 50 feet in height, by 14 feet dia- 
 meter at their boshes or widest part, and a 
 cubical capacity of 5,050 feet. He carried 
 on the Eston Works until the year 1863, 
 when he disposed of them to Major Elwon, 
 who subsequently sold them to Mr. Thomas 
 Vaughan. Under the ownership of the latter 
 gentleman the works have been so much ex- 
 tended that they are now among the largest 
 of their kind in the North of England. 
 
 Mr. Samuelson, did not however, abandon 
 his connection with the Cleveland district. 
 On the very day on which the sale of South 
 Bank Works to Major Elwon was concluded,
 
 HERN HARD SAMtJELSON, M.P. 
 
 he commenced negotiations for the purchase of 
 a site, and erected four furnaces at Newport, 
 within a short distance of Middlesbrough. 
 These four furnaces were each 69 feet in 
 height and 20 feet diameter at their widest 
 part. Two years previously, Messrs. Bolc- 
 kow and Vaughan had built at Middlesbrough 
 two furnaces 75 feet in height and 16 feet 6 
 inches in diameter. But Mr. Samuelson 
 was not fully persuaded of the advanta- 
 ges of a great height in the blast furnace. 
 He seemed to think that more sterling ad- 
 vantages would accrue from an increase of 
 cubical capacity. Accordingly we find that 
 he gave each of his furnaces a capacity of 
 15,500 cubic feet, or nearly 3,000 feet more 
 than the next largest furnaces at that time 
 built in Cleveland. Four years later in 
 1868 he added another furnace to his New- 
 port Works, and in 1870 he built three more 
 furnaces, making eight in all. Unitedly 
 these furnaces are equal to the production 
 of 2,500 to 3,000 tons of pig iron per week. 
 They are fitted up in the most modern style, 
 and with such a scrupulous regard to the ful- 
 filment of every known economical condition 
 that in May, 1871, Mr. Samuelson deemed it 
 worth while to bring them under the notice 
 of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In the 
 course of his paper, Mr. Samuelson pointed 
 out that whereas in three furnaces erected
 
 222 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 by him in 1854 for smelting the same ore, 
 the quantity of fuel required to produce a 
 single ton of pig iron varied from 30 to 40 
 cwts., and in five furnaces erected in 1863-8 
 from 23 to 24 cwts. ; the coke consumed in 
 the two new furnaces was only 20*35 cwts. 
 He showed also that this great economy of 
 fuel was due, first to greater capacity, aug- 
 mented from 5,000 cubic feet in the earlier 
 furnaces to 1 6,000 in those next erected, and 
 to 30,000 cubic feet in the two furnaces built 
 in 1870. In the next place, a saving 
 of fuel was due to increased temperature at 
 the tuyeres the blast having been increased 
 from 680 in the earlier to 1,100 in the lat- 
 ter furnaces ; and, lastly, he attributed the 
 economy gained to increased regularity in 
 working, the result of improvements of con- 
 struction, all aiming at the greatest attain- 
 able solidity and simplicity. The entire cost 
 of erecting these two latter furnaces, with 
 accessory appliances, was stated by Mr. 
 Samuelson to be 53,331 4s. 4d., exclu- 
 sive of the price of land. 
 
 The last and most important venture in 
 which Mr. Samuelson embarked was the con- 
 struction of the Britannia Ironworks, Middles- 
 brough, which were commenced in July, 
 1870. The site selected for these works was, 
 up till that time, a waste marsh ; and it had 
 to be made available for the purposes of the
 
 SAMUELSOK, M.P. 223 
 
 works by covering it with slag. We believe 
 the plant of these works which are adapted 
 for the manufacture of all kinds of finished 
 iron is the largest ever put down at one 
 time. Standing upon twenty acres of land, 
 the Britannia Works, as now in operation, 
 comprise two departments technically known 
 as the forge and the mill. The forge con- 
 tains 120 puddling furnaces, and in the mill 
 there are twelve of Siemens' gas-heating fur- 
 naces, with the necessary apparatus for gen- 
 erating the gas. The machinery is of the 
 newest and most approved description, in- 
 cluding a blooming mill on White's patent, 
 and Brown's patent rail mill. The forge is 
 capable of producing 1,200 to 1.400 tons per 
 week of puddled bars. Within the last two 
 years the Britannia Works have been trans- 
 ferred to a limited liability company, with an 
 ordinary share capital of 200,000 in 4,000 
 shares of 50 each, and we learn from the 
 prospectus that " the works are disposed of 
 in consequence of the desire of the principal 
 proprietor Mr. Samuelson to retire as op- 
 portunity offers from all business engage- 
 ments requiring his personal attention." 
 
 His unsuccessful attempt to manufacture 
 steel from Cleveland iron is probably the 
 most interesting phase ,01 Mr. Samuelson's 
 experience as an ironmaster. In the course 
 of his travels on the Continent Mr. Samuel-
 
 224 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 son witnessed the operation of the Siemens- 
 Martin patent for the manufacture of steel, 
 and was much struck with its apparent sim- 
 plicity and effectiveness. He could not see 
 why the native iron of Cleveland should not 
 be made into steel with as much ease as the 
 Spiegeleisen of Germany, or the hematite ores 
 of Cumberland and other districts. But in 
 order to put his ideas to a practical test, he 
 caused a quantity of iron made at the New- 
 port Works from Cleveland ore to be sent 
 over to France, and his engineer, Mr. How- 
 son, crossed the Channel to superintend the 
 experiments. The results were so successful 
 as to convince him of the practicability of 
 what had previously seemed to be impracti- 
 cable. Early in 1869, therefore, he leased 
 the North Yorkshire Ironworks at South 
 Stockton, and at a great expenditure of labour 
 and capita], adapted them for the manufacture 
 of steel rails, angles, plates, and sheets, on 
 the Siemens-Martin system. At the same time 
 he made arrangements for producing steel 
 ingots at the Newport ironworks, where ex- 
 periments that were in the main successful 
 had been previously carried out. The prin- 
 ciple of the Siemens-Martin system may be 
 briefly explained. It consists in melting the 
 wrought iron in a bath of cast iron, whereby 
 the excess of carbon in the cast iron is neut- 
 ralised by the absence of it in the wrought
 
 BEKNHARD SAMUELSON, M.P. 225 
 
 iron. Chemically considered, the principle 
 is sound, and should yield steel of a superior 
 quality. Indeed, it is claimed for the 
 Siemens-Martin patent that it yielded steel 
 of an exceptionally uniform degree of hard- 
 ness. To secure this result proofs were taken 
 out of the furnace from time to time during 
 the operation of melting, and the necessary 
 degree of hardness was determined by the 
 addition of an extra quantity of wrought or 
 cast iron as the case required. In theory, 
 nothing could be simpler than this rationale. 
 But in practice it was hedged about by many 
 difficulties that have proved up to the present 
 time to be practically insurmountable. The 
 Cleveland Ironmaster's position in this, as in 
 other matters where he enters into competi- 
 tion with other districts, is necessarily con- 
 trolled ab initio by the quality of his iron- 
 stone. Now, the ore of Cleveland is not 
 adapted to the manufacture of steel. In order 
 to convey to the mind of the reader a just 
 conception of the difficulties in the way of 
 Mr. Samuelson's venture, it may be w^ell to 
 furnish the composition of an ordinary speci- 
 men of blast furnace metal or pig iron from 
 unmixed Cleveland ore. It is as follows : 
 
 Essential ( Iron " = 90 ' 96 
 
 Elements ] Manganese (absent) = 0-00 
 
 (Carbon = 0-65 
 
 Extraneous Element Nitrogen = 0-40
 
 226 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Vitiating 
 
 fCarbon in excess = 8-30 
 
 Oxygen = I'lO 
 
 Magnesium = 0-09 
 
 Silicon = 1'85 
 
 Elements" 1 Aluminum = 0-10 
 
 Calcium..., = 0.07 
 
 Sulphur 0.30 
 
 . Phosphorus. = 1.19 
 
 100.000 
 
 It is obvious to the merest novice in chemical 
 and metallurgical science that before good 
 steel can be obtained, all the extraneous and 
 vitiating elements shown in the above analysis 
 must be expelled from the iron ; while on the 
 other hand the elements that are deficient 
 must be made up to their due proportions. 
 The excess of carbon beyond what is needed 
 to constitute steel must be got rid of, leaving 
 only a moiety of the original percentage 
 behind. All the other vitiating elements 
 must be entirely expelled before the iron- 
 master can attain the end he has in view. 
 This, it need not be added, is a very difficult 
 task so difficult indeed that science has not 
 yet placed at the disposal of her disciples the 
 resources necessary to its achievement. In 
 the Siemens- Martin process, the action of the 
 oxide was continued until all, or nearly all, the 
 carbon had been removed, and it was not until 
 then that the phosphorus was reduced to a 
 sufficient proportion to fit the iron for subse- 
 quent use in the manufacture of steel. The
 
 BERNHARD SAMUELSON, M.P. 227 
 
 malleable iron was then fused with a carbon- 
 aceous iron free from phosphorus, such as 
 Swedish and hematite pig. But the results 
 were always indeterminate. Hence it followed, 
 that while at one time steel of an undoubtedly 
 excellent quality was obtained, the results 
 evolved at another time were unsatisfactory 
 in the highest degree. In the manufacture of 
 iron and steel, as much as in the manufacture 
 of any article of domestic use, there must be 
 certainty and regularity of results. An iron 
 or steel manufacturer never books a contract 
 but he is compelled to adhere to the most 
 rigorous specifications, the non-fulfilment of 
 which would involve the risk of having 
 thousands of tons rejected and thrown back 
 upon his hands. Under these circumstances 
 it will easily be understood that the Siemens- 
 Martin process could not be prosecuted with 
 any degree of satisfaction. Failing to see any 
 probability of reaching the goal in view, Mr. 
 Samuelson abandoned the venture after a 
 trial extending over many months. The 
 steel melting furnaces erected at Newport 
 were removed; and the North Yorkshire 
 works were entirely suspended ; nor was 
 the latter establishment again re-opened 
 until it had been almost completely re-con- 
 structed under the auspices of the limited 
 liability company by whom it is now owned, 
 and of which Mr. Samuelson is a large share- 
 holder.
 
 228 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Without a doubt this was one of the most 
 dismal failures that ever took place in connec- 
 tion with the metallurgy of Cleveland. But 
 it was not the only failure. Many of the Cleve- 
 land ironmasters had about that time and for 
 some years previously, dabbled more or less 
 in the same direction. Mr. Samuelson only 
 carried out on a large scale and with buoyant 
 confidence as to the results, that which his 
 neighbours had now and again been tinkering 
 at with fear and trembling. To Mr. Samuel - 
 son, therefore, belongs the credit of having 
 given the experiment every justice ; and his 
 failure in the long run was not a thing to be 
 deprecated. It is only by repeated failures 
 that some of the grandest discoveries of our 
 time have been arrived at. Stephenson. Watt, 
 Arkwright, Newton, and Bessemer all the 
 men, in short, who have benefitted the world 
 by their inventions and discoveries, while 
 building princely fortunes for themselves 
 have achieved ultimate success not because 
 but in spite of repeated failures. In Mr. 
 JSamuelson's case there was no idea of 
 "wading through dirt to dignity." He 
 went into the speculation thoroughly, de- 
 termined to spend and to be spent in order to 
 accomplish his end. As it was, it involved a 
 loss of something like 25,000 or 30,000. 
 But had it turned out a genuine success, it 
 would have secured for Cleveland the one 
 thing needful to give it pre-eminence over all
 
 BERNHARD SAMUELSON, M.P. 229 
 
 other districts in metallurgical science. 
 Cleveland steel from Cleveland iron would 
 have defied competition. It would have been 
 produced much cheaper than steel is now pro- 
 duced from the expensive ores used in its 
 manufacture. Whether the end for which Mr. 
 Samuelson laboured will ever be attained re- 
 mains an inscrutable problem ; but the lion, 
 gentleman will always take rank as one who 
 exerted himself to bring about its solution. 
 
 No sketch of Mr. Samuelson would be com- 
 plete if it failed to register his efforts on be- 
 half of technical education. In the autumn 
 of 1867, the honourable member visited 
 France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland, 
 for the purpose of obtaining accurate infor- 
 mation as to their industrial position more 
 especially as to their recent manufacturing 
 progress, and the state of labour and instruc- 
 tion among them. His mission was under- 
 taken entirely on his own responsibility, but 
 he had the co-operation of the Education 
 Department of the Privy Council and of the 
 Secretary for Foreign Affairs, by whom he 
 was furnished with credentials recommend- 
 ing him to the assistance and good offices of 
 Her Majesty's foreign consuls. Before pro- 
 ceeding to the Continent, the honourable 
 gentleman made a tour of the principal manu- 
 facturing centres of England, visiting the 
 principal works in Cleveland, South Durham,
 
 230 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Nottinghamshire. 
 He was thus placed in a position to compare 
 the relative positions of our own and other 
 countries, and he elicited the views of our 
 own and foreign manufacturers, which mate- 
 rially assisted him in forming his conclusions. 
 On the last Saturday of 1867, after his return 
 from his self-imposed task, Mr. Samuelson 
 issued a circular to the Vice-President of the 
 Committee of Council on Education, in which 
 he stated at length the results of his observa- 
 tions. On the whole, he did not think the 
 Continent was much, if at all, ahead of Eng- 
 land in the matter of industrial progress and 
 attainments. He found that in various mecha- 
 nical manufactures improvements which had 
 originated in Cleveland had been adopt ed on 
 the Continent, and in the construction of en- 
 gines and machinery, Belgium, France, and 
 Germany were following in the footsteps of 
 Great Britain. But while he considered that 
 foremen, managers, and proprietors generally 
 were better educated on the Continent than 
 in England, he could not say so much for the 
 workmen. One important point to which 
 Mr. Samuelson called attention was the facili- 
 ties afforded on the Continent for the carriage 
 of minerals. Ores were carried in France at 
 rates below three-eighths of a penny per ton 
 per mile, and coal was sent from Westphalia 
 to France, Holland, and Germany, atone half-
 
 BEHNHABD SAMUELSON, M.P. 231 
 
 penny per ton per mile, including the use of 
 the wagons. These rates, we need not add, 
 are much below those that are levied in the 
 North of England. 
 
 The effects of Mr. Samuelson's disclosures, 
 and the recommendations he made for the 
 improvement of technical education in this 
 country, need hardly be stated here at any 
 length. On the motion of the honourable 
 member, the House of Commons appointed 
 a committee to inquire into the whole sub- 
 ject of technical education ; and in this and 
 other ways the question was thoroughly ven- 
 tilated. The interest evoked by Mr. Samuel- 
 son's letters and speeches for he addressed 
 public meetings on the subject in many of 
 the principal towns in England had scarcely 
 subsided, when the question was again re- 
 vived by Mr. Plimsoll, M.P. for Derby, who 
 wrote to the limes several letters, in which 
 he went thoroughly into the competition 
 between England and Belgium as regards 
 the manufacture of iron. Mr. Plimsoll had 
 gone scientifically into the subject, and 
 showed exactly how, when, and where the 
 Belgian manufacturers economised fuel which 
 in England was completely wasted. Mr. 
 Isaac Lowthian Bell, at a rtfeeting of the 
 North of England Ironmasters' Association 
 held in 1868, read a paper on the same vexed 
 question, which was largely at that time the
 
 232 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 question of the day. The last three or four 
 years, however, have done much to allay the 
 somewhat alarmist views promulgated through 
 Mr. Plimsoll and others who shared his views, 
 as opposed to those of Mr. Samuelson, while 
 within the same time, and probably as the 
 result of the labours of these gentlemen, in- 
 creased attention has been given to the tech- 
 nical education of all who are interested in 
 our staple manufactures, both from the State 
 and from more private sources. 
 
 Mr. Samuelson has taken a high and influ- 
 ential position as a representive of the indus- 
 trial interests in the House of Commons. 
 His evidence and opinions on questions of 
 commercial import have been called for over 
 and over again. In the sessions of 1871 and 
 1872 he was chairman of the committee ap- 
 pointed to inquire into the subject of letters 
 patent a question in which he had himself 
 for years previously taken a prominent in- 
 terest. Before that committee some valuable 
 evidence was tendered by such men as Henry 
 Bessemer, M. Schnieder, of the great Cruezot 
 Works, Isaac Holden, and Sir Roundell Pal- 
 mer. The general tenor of the evidence 
 showed that the patent laws of this country 
 were sadly in want of amendment ; that about 
 3.000 or more patents are taken out yearly, 
 and of this number no more than 500 are 
 proceeded with after the lapse of three years,
 
 BERNHARD SAMUELSON, M.P. 233 
 
 during which provisional protection is usually 
 allowed. The deliberations of the Patent 
 Committee were studied with great avidity 
 by the scientfic public, and the recommenda- 
 tions which they made are likely to place 
 the system of the patent laws on a much 
 more equitable and satisfactory footing. 
 
 During the last ten or fifteen years Mr. 
 Samuelson has taken an active part in the 
 public affairs of Cleveland. Although resid- 
 ing permanently at Banbury,he has frequently 
 found time and opportunity to run down to 
 Middlesbrough, where he has stayed some- 
 times for weeks together. He has thus 
 become identified with several of the local 
 institutions of Cleveland. He is a member 
 of the Cleveland Institution of Engineers, of 
 the North of England Ironmasters' Associ- 
 ation, and of the Middlesbrough Chamber of 
 Commerce. He is at the present time Presi- 
 dent of the Cleveland Literary and Philoso- 
 phical Society, and from time to time he has 
 contributed liberally to local charities and 
 other institutions. 
 
 In 1844, Mr. Samuelson married Caroline, 
 daughter of Mr. Henry Blundell, a Hull mer- 
 chant. In politics he is a Liberal. First 
 elected for Banbury in February, 1859, he 
 was rejected at the election in April of that 
 year. In July, 1865, he again offered him- 
 self as a candidate and was accepted. Since
 
 234 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 then he has sat continuously for Banbury, 
 while his son, who was elected member for 
 Cheltenham in 1868, has also found a seat in 
 the House of Commons.
 
 XIIL CHARLES MARK PALMER, M,P. 
 
 LITTLE need be said to justify the inclusion 
 in the present series of articles of the name 
 of Mr. Charles Mark Palmer. If not so 
 immediately connected as some of his con- 
 temporaries with the earlier development of 
 the Cleveland iron trade, he has done much 
 to promote its exuberant growth, in all its 
 various ramifications ; and throughout the 
 whole of his long business career he has dis- 
 played an amount of energy, foresight, and 
 enterprise that can scarcely be paralleled in 
 the industrial annals of the North of Eng- 
 land. To him it is greatly if not mainly due 
 that the Tyne has taken a leading position as 
 a mart of naval architecture. The renown of 
 Palmer's shipbuilding works is more than 
 merely local. It has spread to the remotest 
 corners of the earth, fostering and maintain- 
 ing as much as the Lairds of Birkenhead or 
 the Napiers of Glasgow the prestige of Great 
 Britain as the greatest naval power in Europe. 
 Nor is it in naval architecture alone that the
 
 236 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 well-known Jarrow firm have won their 
 laurels. They occupy a position scarcely 
 subordinate to any held in the North of Eng- 
 land as mineral owners and iron manufac- 
 turers. Unlike the Birtley, the Lemington, 
 and other works that have been overtaken by 
 vicissitudes to which they were ultimately 
 compelled to succumb, the works of Jarrow 
 have been carried on continuously and suc- 
 cessfully since they had a beginning, no 
 efforts having been spared to keep pace with 
 the genius of improvement, and harmonise 
 with the altered circumstances induced by 
 new discoveries and applications of mechan- 
 ical, metallurgical, and chemical science. 
 
 Born in King Street, South Shields, in 1822, 
 Mr. Charles Mark Palmer is now in the fifty- 
 first year of his age. His father, who will 
 still be well-remembered in Tyneside, was the 
 owner of a Greenland whaler, for a number 
 of years. Subsequently, he engaged in the 
 Indian trade, for which he first chartered and 
 then acquired vessels that sailed from the 
 Tyne. After receiving the rudiments of his 
 education in South Shields, young Charles 
 was sent to Bruce's Academy, Percy Street, 
 Newcastle, which was then esteemed one of 
 the first educational seminaries in the " canny 
 toon," and from thence he proceeded for a 
 short time to the south of France, where he 
 completed his studies. Commencing his
 
 CfiARLES MARK PALMER, M.P. 237 
 
 business career in the office of Messrs. Palmer 
 Beckwith and Company, timber merchants, 
 in which his father was a partner, he soon 
 found what promised to be a more lucrative 
 enterprise, in the manufacture of coke, upon 
 which he embarked at Marley Hill, with Sir 
 William Hutt, the late Mr. Nicholas Wood, 
 and Mr. John Bowes as his partners. Con- 
 tact and association with such men sharpened 
 the natural aptitude for commercial success 
 possessed by Mr. Palmer ; and he became 
 within twelvemonths a partner in the Marley 
 Colliery along with the gentlemen already 
 named. This was in the year 1845, and two 
 years later we find Mr. Palmer and his part- 
 ners acquiring collieries belonging to Lorn 
 Ravens worth. From this date, he was en- 
 abled to go on " prospering and to prosper," 
 adding every year to the number of his 
 achievements and the extent of his posses- 
 sions. 
 
 About the year 1850, the heavy expense 
 and inconvenience attending the carriage of 
 coal by railway began to affect seriously the 
 sale of north country coal in the London mar- 
 ket. Durham and Northumberland coal- 
 owners found that they had no longer the 
 monopoly that was formerly theirs, for new 
 fields were being developed in various parts 
 of the kingdom that had more easy and eco- 
 nomical access to the London market. To
 
 238 PIONEERS OF fHE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 compensate for the disadvantages under which 
 the northern coal owners laboured in regard 
 to facilities for transport and distance, and to 
 prevent the loss of the sceptre which they 
 had wielded so long, Mr. Palmer constructed 
 a screw collier, built to carry 650 tons, and 
 to steam about nine miles an hour. The suc- 
 cess of the experiment was not immediate. 
 It was to some extent one of those " inven- 
 tions born before their time," which, accord- 
 ing to the late Emperor Napoleon, " must 
 remain useless until the level of the common 
 intellect rises to comprehend them." Not 
 that the invention was premature with re- 
 spect to its necessity very few inventions 
 are ; but under the then imperfect conditions 
 of nautical knowledge it encountered an 
 amount of prejudice and opposition that 
 would not be likely to arise at this time of 
 day. It was argued that it would be impos- 
 sible for steamers carrying 650 tons of coal, 
 and costing about 10,000, to compete with 
 sailing crafts that consumed no fuel, and 
 which, although only carrying one-half the 
 burden cost little more than 1000, or only 
 about one-tenth the amount. But it was the 
 old story over again. In a contest of steam 
 against wind, the latter power must go the 
 wall. Certitude, regularity, and speed en- 
 abled the steam collier to achieve an ultimate 
 triumph ; and after the success of the first
 
 CHARLES MARK PALMER, M.P. 
 
 screw collier had been clearly demonstrated, 
 Mr. Palmer organised the Screw Collier 
 Company, of which for a number of years he 
 was both adviser and director. It may be in- 
 teresting to mention that on her first voyage, 
 the John Bowes the initial screw collier 
 was laden with 650 tons of coals in four hours; 
 in forty-eight hours she arrived in London ; 
 twenty-four hours she discharged her cargo ; 
 and in forty-eight hours more she was again 
 in the Tyne ; so that, as Mr. Palmer himself 
 has put it. " in five days she performed, suc- 
 cessfully, an amount of work that would have 
 taken two average sized colliers upwards of 
 a month to accomplish." The success of Mr. 
 Palmer's experiment completely revolution- 
 ised the coal carrying trade of the Tyne. In 
 1852 when the first screw collier commenced 
 to ply, there were only seventeen cargoes, 
 representing 9,483 tons of coal, imported into 
 London by screw-steamers; but within ten 
 years (in 1862), there were no less than 1,427 
 cargoes so imported, making a total of 
 929,825 tons of coal, and in 1869 the number 
 of cargoes carried by iron screw colliers, to 
 and from London, had increased to 2,440, 
 and 1.716,563 tons of coal. Since 1852, the 
 screw collier has undergone several important 
 improvements, in the carrying out of which 
 Mr. Palmer has lent his valuable assistance, 
 and as illustrating the measure of progress
 
 240 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 made, it may be stated that the James Dixon 
 made fifty-seven voyages to London in one 
 year, delivering 62,842 tons of coal, with a 
 crew of only twenty-one persons. It is cal- 
 culated that this work could only have been 
 accomplished under the old system of sail- 
 ing colliers with sixteen ships and 114 hands 
 to man them. But in seeking to stimulate 
 the London coal trade, Mr. Palmer did not 
 confine his attention and exertions to the con- 
 struction of steam colliers. He devised 
 hydraulic machinery for enabling them to 
 unload expeditiously and without trouble ; 
 and to complete the facilities necessary to 
 the end he had in view that, namely, of 
 keeping the London trade in the hands of the 
 northern coal masters he leased the North 
 London Railway for the purpose of system- 
 atically and easily throwing the cargoes into 
 all parts of the metropolis. It is unnecessary 
 to add that the northern coal owners were by 
 these and other means enabled to maintain 
 their supremacy, and that they still continue 
 to hold their own in the markets of the world. 
 It was in the year 1852 that Mr. Charles 
 M. Palmer, conjointly with his brother George, 
 commenced shipbuilding at Jarrow, a place 
 hallowed by the -memory of the Venerable 
 Bede. At that time it was only a small 
 village, its population not exceeding 1,000 
 inhabitants. Now, thanks mainly to the
 
 CHAHLES MARK PALMER, M.P. 241 
 
 enterprise of the Messrs. Palmer, it has a 
 community of over 22,000 souls. Until 1857 
 the Messrs. Palmer confined their operations 
 to marine architecture, including, of course, 
 the construction of their own engines. But 
 in that year they added four blast furnaces, 
 and a year later, in 1859, they built rolling 
 mills. Simultaneously with these extensions 
 the firm acquired a lease of ironstone royalties 
 at Staithes, midway between Saltburn and 
 Whitby. No attempt had then been made to 
 open out the ironstone in this part of Cleve- 
 land. The district was a real terra incogrtfto. 
 It could hardly be approached directly from 
 any side. The nearest railway terminus was 
 Saltburn, distant nine or ten miles, and the 
 sea could not conveniently be used as a high- 
 way from the absence of harbour accommoda- 
 tion. The first thing, therefore, that the 
 Messrs. Palmer did was to construct a harbour 
 at Port Mulgrave, where their vessels could 
 be provided with safe anchorage while re- 
 ceiving their cargoes. This undertaking in- 
 volved an outlay of some 40,000 to 50,000. 
 When the mines were opened out, the Messrs. 
 Palmer commenced to run a fleet of steamers 
 for the removal of the ironstone. These 
 vessels carried cargoes of coal to London, and 
 called at Port Mulgrave to ship the ironstone 
 on their return voyage. The quantity of iron- 
 stone brought to the Jarrow furnaces is from
 
 242 PIONEERS OF tHE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 2,500 to 3,000 tons per week. Two separate 
 beds of stone are worked at the Port Mul- 
 grave mines. The top bed is four feet in 
 thickness, the lower bed is 8 feet thick, and 
 between the two there are 200 feet of inter- 
 vening strata, principally composed of alum 
 shale. 
 
 It is not within the purpose of this article 
 to furnish a detailed description of the Jarrow 
 works. Briefly it may be said that they com- 
 prise six departments, divided thus 
 
 I. The ironstone mines. 
 
 II. The blast furnace department, in which 
 the manufacture of pig iron, kentledge, and 
 rough castings of every kind is carried on. 
 
 III. The forges and rolling mills, produc- 
 ing angle iron of all sizes, up to 10 and 3 
 inches ; rounds and squares up to 5 inches ; 
 bulb iron up to 10 inches deep ; merchant 
 bars, rails, and plates of all sorts and sizes. 
 
 IV. The engine works, where marine and 
 land engines, boilers, forgings, iron and brass 
 castings, and general machinery are made. 
 
 V. The iron shipyard and graving docks 
 at Jarrow. 
 
 VL The bridge building yard at Howden, 
 where every description of bridge building 
 work is carried on. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the firm possess 
 within themselves everything that they re- 
 quire for the purpose of their huge business.
 
 CHARLES MARK PALMER, M.P. 243 
 
 It is quite within the record to affirm that 
 there is not a more complete and independent 
 establishment in the world. Extracting the 
 ores from the bowels of the earth, they carry 
 it up through all intervening processes, until 
 it is turned out in the form of stately mer- 
 chantmen, fitted up with a luxuriousness and 
 taste that rivals the splendour and comfort of 
 Belgravian drawing rooms ; or, it may be that 
 it takes the form of a marine armament, 
 qualified, from its invulnerable power and 
 death-dealing properties, to maintain the un- 
 rivalled reputation of Great Britain as mistress 
 of the seas ; or, again, it is transformed into 
 the most subtle and complicated machinery, 
 used for the multiform purposes embraced 
 within the ample limits of the industrial arts. 
 This huge concatenation of resources owes 
 its existence and rare excellence of combina- 
 tion to the constructive genius and adminis- 
 trative capacity of Charles Mark Palmer. It 
 was he who presided at the helm of affairs 
 when the colossal fabric was being raised ; and 
 it was he who, while " its greatness was a 
 ripening," controlled, down to the utmost 
 trifling minutiae, the whole course of events. 
 In 1865 Mr. Palmer built a graving dock 
 still, we believe, the largest on the north-east 
 coast, which is 440 feet in length, and has a 
 depth of 18 feet of water at ordinary spring 
 tides. The Jarrow establishment not only
 
 244 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVEtANl) IRON TRADil. 
 
 embraces the manufacture of iron in all its 
 various forms and combinations; butitemploys 
 the services of a whole army of artizans 
 plumbers, glaziers, painters, sailmakers, 
 rivetters, joiners, upholsterers, and, in brief, 
 representatives of every trade that has the 
 remotest connection with the construction or 
 equipment of iron ships. On the west side 
 of the furnaces, gasworks have been erected, 
 capable of supplying 2,500.000 cubic feet of 
 gas per month, which is distributed through- 
 out the works. Reliable returns of the result 
 of the year 1872 enables us to form a definite 
 estimate of the enormous resources of the 
 Jarrow works. The total quantity of iron- 
 stone smelted was 156,000 tons, producing 
 87,600 tons of pig iron. The tonnage of the 
 ships launched was 11,500 tons, their horse- 
 power being 2,500 nominal, while near 50,000 
 tons of plates and bars were manufactured. 
 Throughout the whole establishment the 
 total quantity of coal consumed, including the 
 coke used in the blast furnaces, is little short 
 of half a million tons per annum. 
 
 In 1862, Mr. George Palmer retired from 
 the business, and Mr. C. M. Palmer carried it 
 on alone until 1866, when it was transferred 
 to a limited liability company. Mr. Palmer, 
 however, continued to retain a large interest 
 in the concern, and has acted as chairman 
 since the formation of the company. Al-
 
 CHARLES MARK PALMER, M.P. 245 
 
 though subject to the fluctuations and vicissi- 
 tudes that attend the conduct of all large 
 commercial undertakings, Palmer's Iron Ship- 
 building Company has enjoyed a large amount 
 of prosperity under the new administration ; 
 its revenues have not fallen off, nor has the 
 lustre of its name been tarnished. 
 
 It now becomes our province to speak more 
 particularly of that department which forms 
 Mr. Palmer's proudest and most conspicuous 
 title to the exceptional position he occupies 
 among the merchant princes of the British 
 Empire. It should be remembered that Mr. 
 Palmer was something more than a mere 
 naval builder and architect, he was also a great 
 projector and organizer. He took a prominent 
 part in the establishment of the National Line, 
 which now carries on a large business be- 
 tween this country and the United States ; 
 and he has built many of the most splendid 
 vessels owned by that Company. In 1861, he 
 entered into a contract with the Italian 
 Government to construct and work a line of 
 steamers for the conveyance of the mails be- 
 tween the Italian Peninsula and Alexandria, 
 lie was further concerned in the promotion of 
 the Guiou line of Transatlantic mail steamers, 
 all of which have been built at the Jarrow 
 shipbuilding yard. When the extensive busi- 
 ness carried on by Messrs. Ormston, Dobson, 
 and Company, of the Antwerp and Dunkirk
 
 246 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Steam Shipping Company, as carriers of 
 passengers and goods between the Tyne and 
 Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Dunkirk, 
 and that of Mr. W. D. Stephens, whose fleet 
 of steamboats plied between Newcastle and 
 London, were transferred to a limited liability 
 company in 1864, the conduct of negotiations 
 was left in the hands of Mr. Palmer, who 
 carried them to a successful issue, and who 
 was very appropriately elected chairman of the 
 new proprietary, which has since traded under 
 the name of the Tyne Steam Shipping Com- 
 pany. In a more national aspect, Mr. Palmer 
 has acquired celebrity on account of the 
 numerous war vessels which he has built for 
 her Majesty's and other Governments. The 
 first contract of this character entrusted to 
 his execution by the British Government was 
 the "Terror," one of the large iron-cased float- 
 ing batteries designed during the Russian 
 war to co-operate against Cronstadt. A proof 
 of the great capabilities of the Jarrow Works 
 is afforded by the fact that this vessel, of 
 2,000 tons, 250 horse-power, and carrying 
 twenty-six 68-pounder guns, was built in 
 three and a half months ! Mr. Palmer him- 
 self declared that she would have been com- 
 pleted in three months, had not the declara- 
 tion of peace slackened the energies of the 
 workmen. In the construction of the "Terror," 
 rolled armour plates were used for the first
 
 CHARLES MARK PALMER, M.P. 247 
 
 time. Up to that period the demand for 
 forged armour plates was so great that the 
 forges of the kingdom could not supply it, and 
 the use of rolled plates was thus rendered 
 unavoidable. But the Admiralty, with its 
 usually perverse and short-sighted instincts, 
 opposed the substitution determined on by 
 Mr. Palmer, and the only course left open to 
 him was, therefore, that of proving their 
 efficiency and j ustifying his preference. The 
 Admiralty was invited to witness a trial of 
 rolled armour plates on a target bolted on to 
 the side of an old wooden frigate at Ports- 
 mouth. The result showed that while the 
 hammered plate split and cracked to pieces, 
 the rolled plates were only indented. To 
 quote Mr. Palmer's own words : " A shot 
 was then tried to test the resisting power of 
 the compressed cotton, and it appeared to 
 answer so well that Captain Hewlett advised 
 a series of experiments to be tried. The 
 Admiralty were willing, but requested us to 
 provide the targets at our own expense. 
 Having already spent upwards of 1,500 on 
 experiments for the good of the country, we 
 declined this proposal ; nevertheless, we had 
 proved to the Admiralty the important fact 
 that the rolled plates were superior to the 
 forged, and they have since been universally 
 adopted. We, therefore, claim for this
 
 248 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 district the honour of being the first to prove 
 the strength and utility of rolled armour 
 plates, since known and spoken of in Parlia- 
 ment as * Palmer's Rolled Plates.' ' 
 
 To give anything like an exhaustive idea 
 of the progress of the Jarrow establishment 
 in the art of marine architecture would require 
 the compass of a large volume. We, can only 
 glance at the broad and general results. 
 From the commencement of shipbuilding 
 operations in 1852 to the end of 1868, there 
 had been launched at these works 239 vessels, 
 of an aggregate burthen of 205,419 tons. Up 
 to the end of 1872, the total number of 
 vessels launched was over 260, and the aggre- 
 gate burthen was about 250,000 tons, the 
 engines made for the same period represent- 
 ing upwards of 30,000 horse-power. Besides 
 the " Terror," already named, the firm have 
 built the " Defence," an iron -plated frigate of 
 3,688 tons; the " Jumma," a troop ship of 4,173 
 tons ; the " Cerberus," which was fitted up to 
 guard Melbourne harbour; the "Swiftsure," an 
 iron-clad of 3,892 tons ; and the " Triumph," 
 which was launched in presence of many mem- 
 bers of the Social Science Congress on the 
 occasion of the visit of that association to 
 Newcastle, and was christened by the Duchess 
 of Northumberland. All these war ships were 
 built to the order of the British Government,
 
 CHARLES MARK PALMER, M.P. 249 
 
 thus proving the high estimation in which 
 the capacity of the Jarrow Shipbuilding Com- 
 pany is held by the Admiralty. 
 
 Referring more particularly to the personal 
 history of Mr. Palmer, it may be remarked 
 that he has contributed many papers to the 
 proceedings of scientific and technical 
 societies. Being regarded as one of the 
 greatest authorities of the day on all that re- 
 lates to marine architecture, his prelections 
 have a weight and influence that are claimed 
 on behalf of very few of his contemporaries. 
 At the Newcastle meeting of the British 
 Association in 1863, he read a paper " On the 
 construction of iron ships and the progress of 
 shipbuilding operations on the Tyne, Wear, 
 and Tees ;" and at the May meeting of the 
 Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain of 
 which he is a member in 1870, he read 
 another valuable paper on " Iron as a ma- 
 terial for shipbuilding, and its influence on 
 the commerce and armament of nations." In 
 concluding this paper, he observed that " we 
 have in a great measure substituted iron for 
 wood we must now change iron for steel ;" 
 and he suggested the desirability of devising 
 methods of cheapening and rendering practic- 
 able the use of steel in ship construction. 
 When the Institution of Mechanical Engineers 
 visited Newcastle in 1869, they were privileg- 
 ed to inspect the Jarrow Shipbuilding Works,
 
 250 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Mr. Palmer himself acting as their cicerone. 
 A luncheon was provided, at which several 
 compliments were exchanged, and Mr. Palmer, 
 in proposing " Success to the Institution of 
 Mechanical Engineers," took occasion to say, 
 that when the Society visited the North eleven 
 years ago Jarrow was only a small village, 
 although now, he added, " he was proud to 
 think that Jarrow stood second to no other 
 manufacturing locality on the banks of the 
 Tyne. Every square yard along the busy banks 
 of that river proved what mechanical engi- 
 neers had accomplished. By their progressive 
 intelligence and mechanical contrivances Eng- 
 land must ever continue the greatest seat of 
 manufacture in the world." Mr. Palmer has 
 for many years been connected with the North 
 of England Institute of Mining and Mechan- 
 ical Engineers, and other technical societies. 
 At the present time he is chairman of the 
 local Shipbuilders' Association. 
 
 Besides the works at Jarrow, Mr. Palmer 
 is largely interested in other commercial and 
 industrial undertakings, including the Bede 
 Metal Extracting Company, established at 
 Jarrow some two or three years ago, and the 
 Tyne Plate Glass Company. He is head of 
 the firm of Messrs. Palmer, Hall, and Company, 
 who have an extensive connection as ship- 
 owners, brokers, and general merchants in 
 Newcastle and elsewhere. Amcng the hono-
 
 CHARLES MARK PALMER, M.P. 251 
 
 rary appointments which he holds, the chief 
 are those of lieutenant-colonel of volunteers, 
 and magistrate for the county of Durham and 
 the North Riding of Yorkshire. In the 
 general election of 1868 Mr. Palmer was an 
 unsuccessful candidate for the representation 
 of South Shields, in opposition to Mr. Steven- 
 son. In 1874, however, he became a candi- 
 date for the representation of North Durham, 
 conjointly with Mr. I. L. Bell, and after a 
 severe contest, both of these gentlemen were 
 returned in the Liberal interest to the new 
 House of Commons. But their victory was 
 not a long one. A petition was presented 
 against their return, the hearing of which 
 led to both being unseated, without, however, 
 being disqualified from standing again. A 
 new election, in June, 1874, placed Mr. Palmer 
 at the head of the poll, and Sir George Elliot 
 (Conservative) second, thus bringing about 
 the defeat of Mr. Palmer's former colleague. 
 A second petition was lodged, against Mr. 
 Palmer's return, but at the last moment it 
 was withdrawn by its promoters, on the 
 ground of insufficient evidence ; and the hon. 
 gentleman still continues, therefore, in the 
 position of senior member for North Dur- 
 ham. 
 
 Mr. Palmer has been twice married. By 
 his first wife, who died in 1865, he has three 
 sons, and by his second wife, he has also a
 
 252 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 family. He is owner of the Easington and 
 Hinderwell manors, and of the Grinkle Park 
 and Seaton Hall estates. He has done much 
 to improve, not only the condition of these 
 estates, but also the social well-being of his 
 tenants, especially so far as providing educa- 
 tional facilities is concerned.
 
 XIV. JOHN GJERS. 
 
 THE story of the life of Mr. John Gjers in- 
 troduces us to the purely technical, or, in 
 other words, to the engineering phase of the 
 progress of the Cleveland Iron Trade. There 
 is no aspect of metallurgy more important 
 than that which belongs to the province of 
 the engineer. It is his business to provide 
 improved methods and processes, to adapt 
 machinery to special circumstances and 
 peculiar cases, to devise ways and means of 
 economy previously unknown, and in a word, 
 to maintain our industrial pre-eminence. 
 Without, therefore, undervaluing the indis- 
 putable necessity and importance of those 
 functions that belong to chemistry on the one 
 hand, and to geology on the other, we may 
 fairly claim that the industrial arts owe at 
 least as much to engineering as to either of 
 these two sciences. This is especially true of 
 Cleveland, where so ,many engineering 
 triumphs have been achieved ; and seeing 
 that no one has done more than Mr. Gjers to
 
 254 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IKoN 
 
 promote the interests of the district from an 
 engineering point of view, it falls distinctly 
 within the scope of our purpose to trace here 
 the lines of his biography. 
 
 Born in Gothenburg, the second city of 
 Sweden, Mr. Gjers comes of an old and highly 
 respected family. He was brought up to the 
 engineering profession in his native city, 
 where he was afforded ample opportunities for 
 combining the practice of his art with its 
 scientific principles. In 1851, on the occasion 
 of the first international exhibition held in 
 this country, Mr. Gjers came over to England, 
 and seeing that there was more scope for the 
 practice of his profession than there was in 
 his own country, he elected to take up his 
 residence here. The three subsequent years 
 he spent as an engineering draughtsman in 
 various parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire ; 
 and in 1854 he came down to Middlesbrough 
 to undertake a responsible position at the 
 Ormesby Works. At Ormesby, he assisted 
 Mr. Edwin Jones (now of the firm of Jones, 
 Dunning, and Company), to build the original 
 Ormesby blast furnaces ; and his services 
 were called into requisition by Mr. Henry 
 Cochrane, who was then building the large 
 pipe foundry at Ormesby. At the time of its 
 completion, this was the largest foundry of its 
 kind in Great Britain. It turned out 600 tons 
 of castings per week ; and it is no email com-
 
 JOHN GJERS. 
 
 pliment to the capacity of Mr. Gjers that, 
 although he was then only twenty -four years 
 of age, he was entrusted with the designs of 
 all the machinery required for this large 
 establishment. Mr. Edwin Jones retired from 
 the management of the Ormesby Works in 
 1855, and Mr. Gjers became his successor. 
 Until the year 1861, the latter continued to 
 manage the blast furnace department. Dur- 
 ing this period those two great improvements 
 in the economical production of pig iron the 
 introduction of a hotter blast and the success- 
 ful utilization of the waste furnace gases for 
 the raising of steam and the heating of the 
 blast were effected. At the Ormesby Works, 
 Mr. Gjers took an active and prominent part 
 in the carrying out of these improvements. By 
 the former he was enabled to save from 7 to 8 
 cwt. of coke per ton of iron smelted, while the 
 latter resulted in an economy of 10 to 12 
 cwt. of coal for every ton of pig iron pro- 
 duced. 
 
 It was under the superintendence of Mr. 
 Gjers that the first of Siemen's and Cowper's 
 newly patented heating stoves were introduced 
 into the Cleveland district. This was in 1858. 
 Mr. Gjers did not, however, go into this 
 matter of his own accord. It is to Mr. 
 Charles Cochrane that the application of these 
 stoves to the Ormesby furnaces are entirely 
 due. They were then very crude and compli-
 
 25$ PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 cated in design and action, and Mr. Gjers was 
 so impressed with their imperfections (and 
 their better performances in later years have 
 not altogether removed his first impressions) 
 that he ultimately resigned the management 
 of the Ormesby Works. This he did without 
 any unpleasantness on either side. He found 
 that Mr. Charles Cochrane and himself could 
 not pull together in the difficulties and ex- 
 penses which arose out of the structural 
 alterations proposed by the former, and rather 
 than go on in a half-hearted way with under- 
 takings of which he did not approve, he 
 determined to abnegate his managerial 
 functions altogether. A presentation made 
 to him on the occasion of his departure, 
 showed Mr. Gjers that he carried away with 
 him the respect of his Ormesby co-workers. 
 
 It was during his connection with the 
 Ormesby Works that Mr. Gjers patented his 
 invention for superheating the blast and for 
 heated air engines. Various contrivances had 
 been designed for this purpose ; but the gas- 
 burner for stoves and boilers, patented and 
 first applied by Mr. Gjers to No. 1 furnace at 
 Ormesby, is now almost universally used in the 
 Cleveland district. 
 
 In the beginning of 1862, Mr. Gjers was 
 appointed manager for Messrs. Hopkins and 
 Company, at the Teeside Ironworks. There 
 were then only two furnaces in operation at
 
 JOHN GJERS. 257 
 
 this establishment. For a couple of years 
 Mr. Gjers carefully superintended the opera- 
 tion of these furnaces, with a view to further 
 improvements. Meanwhile, he had taken out 
 a patent for granulating blast furnace slag by 
 running it into agitated water in a fluid state. 
 The resulting slag, in its granulated form, 
 was used instead of sand to run pig iron into, 
 for the purpose of moulding it as it came from 
 the blast furnace. Very recently the same 
 mode of granulating slag has been re-patented 
 with another object in view ; but as it was not 
 found advantageous from an economical stand- 
 point, Mr. Gjers allowed his patent to lapse. 
 
 In 1862, the question of obtaining a better 
 fettling for puddling furnaces was exercising 
 the minds of the iron masters of the North of 
 England. Mr. Gjers conceived the idea of 
 using rich magnetic ore for fettling purposes, 
 and proved that by the substitution of such 
 ores for those then in ordinary use, a 
 great improvement could be effected in the 
 quality of the iron, besides bringing out 
 a greater weight of puddled bar than the 
 weight of pig iron put into the furnace 
 through the reduction of part of the fettling. 
 Although very little attention was paid at the 
 time to this formulae, its correctness has since 
 been proved by the use of the same class of 
 ores, for the same purpose, in the Danks' 
 puddling furnace, where the action of the 
 fettling is more perfect. 
 Q
 
 258 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IltON TRADEl. 
 
 In the year 1864, the partners of the firm 
 of Hopkins and Company decided to erect a new 
 blast furnace plant adjacent to the Tees-side 
 Works. The designing and carrying out of 
 this new establishment was entrusted to Mr. 
 Gjers. About that time more decided 
 advances began to be made in the way of en- 
 larging the size of the blast furnaces of Cleve- 
 land. There was, however, no experience to 
 guide the iron master in determining the 
 most advantageous limit of height and capacity. 
 With characteristic caution, Mr. Gjers deter- 
 mined to erect the furnaces, which have since 
 been named the Linthorpe Ironwork?, on a 
 medium scale. These works, however, mark 
 an era when greatly improved furnaces began 
 to be built in Cleveland, and they bear witness 
 to the enterprise of their owners, who, in 
 carrying them out, adopted a number of new 
 arrangements proposed and designed by Mr. 
 Gjers. Each of these arrangements are so 
 important as to merit a special paragraph for 
 itself. 
 
 From a purely mechanical point of view, 
 the first and most important novelty of the 
 Linthorpe Works was the new bio wing- engines 
 designed by Mr. Gjers. They are four direct 
 acting non -condensing, overhead cylinder 
 engines, with 30-inch steam cylinder, 66-inch 
 blowing cylinders, and 4ft. stroke, each engine 
 working singly, and at 32 revolutions per 
 minute, a speed which is increased to 42
 
 JOHN GJERS. 259 
 
 revolutions when one engine is laid off and 
 the remaining three blow four furnaces. 
 Their most interesting feature is the air 
 valves. These are simply flaps of Warne's 
 India-rubber. Each valve seat is a casting, 
 perhaps 30-inches long, with a number of 
 posts in the length, each three or four inches 
 long and f -inch or more wide, the posts being 
 separated by narrow bars, and the whole form- 
 ing a grid. A flap of rubber J-inch thick 
 is fastened to one edge of the planed face of 
 the casting, and has a light plate-iron stop at 
 its back, allowing the flap to open through 
 about 30 deg. The blowing cylinder is made 
 to receive the required number of these valves 
 around its upper and lower ends, the valves 
 being set to act as inlets or outlets, as required. 
 About these valves there is no leakage of blast 
 and no noise, so that they appear to be the 
 best that can be devised. It is a proof of the 
 excellent working results of these engines, 
 that Messrs. Cochrane have since built at their 
 Ormesby Works two of the same general con- 
 struction. 
 
 Another speciality of the Linthorpe Works, 
 is the pneumatic hoists or lifts, associated 
 with the name of Mr. Gjers, which were 
 erected here for the first time. These hoists 
 have been pronounced by competent au- 
 thorities to be the best in the Cleveland 
 district, although they are rivalled by the
 
 260 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 hydraulic hoist of Sir William Armstrong, 
 the ordinary water balance hoist, the hydro- 
 pneumatic hoist, in which compressed air is 
 the medium accumulated, the direct acting 
 steam ram lift, and the ordinary winding 
 engine with drum and wire rope and reversing 
 motion applicable to both vertical and inclined 
 lifts. The pneumatic lift of Mr. Gjers is an 
 exceedingly ingenious arrangement, appli- 
 cable either to blast furnace or to calcining 
 kilns, and it has now been adopted by several 
 of the principal firms in the Cleveland 
 district. 
 
 A new description of calcining kiln, and an 
 entirely new type of heating stove, were also 
 initiated by Mr. Gjers at the Linthorpe Iron- 
 works. All of these inventions have become 
 more or less common in the Cleveland district 
 and elsewhere. At the Linthorpe Works, the 
 whole of Mr. Gjers' new designs were found 
 from the first to contain elements of 
 superiority. Practical engineers and iron- 
 masters scanned their operation with eager 
 interest. They were more than satisfied 
 with the result. Mr. Gjers made his name 
 known far and near as one of the first blast 
 furnace engineers of the day, and from that 
 time forward his spurs were won. 
 
 1866, Messrs. Hopkins, Gilkes and Company, 
 decided to erect a new blast furnace plant, 
 and Mr. Gjers was entrusted with the prepar-
 
 JOHN GJKHS. 261 
 
 ation of the plans. In the following year the 
 new blast furnaces were blown in successfully, 
 and Mr. Gjers was complimented on the very 
 efficient manner in which he had performed 
 his work. A year later, and two more 
 furnaces of a still larger size were added to 
 the Linthorpe Ironworks. The latter fur- 
 naces were put into blast towards the close of 
 June, 1870, and the ceremony was attended 
 with more than usual eclat. A banquet, at 
 which most of the ironmasters of the district 
 were present, was given in celebration of the 
 event, and Mr. Thomas Vaughan, in propos- 
 ing the health of the engineer of the works 
 Mr. Gjers said that "they ought to be 
 proud of a man who possessed such rare engi- 
 neering ability." 
 
 No one has done more than the subject of 
 these remarks to solve the problem of making 
 Cleveland steel. In 1868, he took out a 
 patent for a new process, discovered after 
 many experiments, for the manufacture of 
 steel rails from the iron of the district, and 
 although the process was successful to the 
 extent of yielding the article desiderated, its 
 cost rendered its commercial success doubtful. 
 The rationale of the process may be briefly 
 explained. It consisted in boiling the iron in 
 a puddling furnace wrought with an extra 
 high heat, and fettled with rich oxide of iron. 
 By means of good stirring, the phosphorus
 
 262 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 which had hitherto defied all attempts at 
 complete elimination, was reduced to the 
 merest trace, retaining about 1 per cent, of 
 carbon, but before the iron began to " come 
 to nature," as it is technically called, it was 
 tapped into the open heart of a steel furnace 
 (a Siemens' or any other furnace capable of 
 giving sufficient heat to smelt steel being 
 suitable for this purpose) where the decar- 
 bonization was completed by exposure until 
 the metal reached ihe required consistency. 
 It seems to be admitted on all hands that if 
 the phosphorus could be eliminated from 
 Cleveland iron, the other vitiating elements 
 could be so far got rid of that it would be 
 comparatively an easy matter to produce 
 steel ; but of nearly a dozen processes tried at 
 one time or another, not one has yet achieved 
 this primary result. 
 
 During the years under review, Mr. Gjers 
 undertook the designing and carrying out of 
 several important ironworks outside the 
 Cleveland district. In 1867, a number of 
 Leeds gentlemen decided to erect blast 
 furnaces at Ardsley Junction, and their choice 
 of an engineer fell upon Mr. Gjers, who not 
 only undertook to erect the works, but also to 
 carry them on for a certain period after com- 
 pletion. In 1868, the first two blast furnaces 
 of the West Yorkshire Iron Company, as the 
 new concern was named, were blown in sue-
 
 JOHN GJERS. 263 
 
 cessfully, and three more furnaces have since 
 been added. These are the first works of the 
 kind erected in this part of the country. 
 Situated about midway between Leeds and 
 Wakefield, on the line of the Great Northern 
 Railway at its junction with the Bradford 
 branch, and a little to the north of the Meth- 
 ley junction, they have sidings connected 
 with both these railways, and direct com- 
 munication is thus secured with all the 
 railways in the country. The company are 
 lessees from the late Earl of Cardigan, of a 
 large field of clayband ironstone in the well- 
 known measures of the district, as well as a 
 seam of fine coal adapted for coking and 
 smelting purposes. They are also lessees of, 
 and have opened out, an ironstone mine in 
 Lincolnshire (on the estate of the Earl of 
 Yarborough), where a remarkably pure hydra- 
 ted ironstone is obtained out of the green 
 sandstone measures. This, when smelted in 
 suitable mixture with the local clayband stone, 
 produces a very superior pig iron, which is 
 particularly well suited for the better pur- 
 poses of the district. The lime used for flux- 
 ing is the best Skipton rock. 
 
 The remodelling of the old Wingerworth 
 Ironworks in Derbyshire was undertaken by 
 Mr. Gjers in 1868. Here he introduced an- 
 other novelty, by effecting the perfect utili- 
 zation of the blast furnace gases with open-
 
 264 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 topped furnaces. This was really the first 
 succesful attempt to utilise blast furnace 
 gases in that part of the country ; and it 
 may be interesting to state that in the carry- 
 ing out of his own new arrangements Mr. 
 Gjers used a portion of the original tubing 
 made nearly twenty years previously, and 
 abandoned because the object aimed at could 
 not be attained. 
 
 Those who are familiar with the life of the 
 famous George Stephenson, will remember 
 that he was for some years the managing and 
 principal partner in the Clay Cross Iron- 
 works, in Derbyshire. These works, we 
 believe, were actually built, and partly, if not 
 wholly, designed by the great engineer ; but 
 they were found at a later date to be unsuited 
 to the exigencies of modern science, and in 
 1869, Mr. Gjers was entrusted with their 
 reconstruction. The latter carried out his 
 work to the entire satisfaction of his employ- 
 ers. The original furnaces were raised 
 from 48 to 60 feet in height, and the di- 
 ameter of the boshes was increased one foot. 
 
 Mr. Gjers was the first Cleveland engineer 
 who obtained a footing in the Lincolnshire 
 iron district. In 1869, he undertook the re- 
 construction of Frodingham Ironworks, which 
 had been started with two blast furnaces of 
 very limited size and capacity. When it was 
 decided to remove these old furnaces and
 
 JOHN GJERS. 265 
 
 build an entirely new plant, Mr. Gjers was 
 the engineer selected to execute the work. 
 Four furnaces were put up under his super- 
 vision, and it is worthy of note that these 
 furnaces have served as the model for most of 
 the furnaces subsequently built in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Frodingham. It is probable, 
 also, that it was the skill and engineering 
 capacity displayed by Mr. Gjers that led to 
 the choice by other firms of other Cleveland 
 engineers in the erection of works now going 
 on the urgent calls of his own business 
 having compelled Mr. Gjers himself to relin- 
 quish nearly all other engagements. Within 
 the last two years he has given himself almost 
 entirely up to the management of the Ayre- 
 some works, of which more hereafter, although 
 he has very recently been prevailed upon to 
 undertake the designing of an extensive blast 
 furnace plant and Bessemer works in his 
 native country, and in carrying out this com- 
 mission he will introduce several novelties 
 and improvements that are likely to attract 
 the attention of English engineers. 
 
 On the first day of January, 1870, Mr. 
 Gjers commenced the erection of the Ayre- 
 some Ironworks, although his professional 
 connection with Messrs. Hopkins, Gilkes, and 
 Company, and Messrs. Lloyd and Company, 
 did not cease until the end of that year. The 
 Ayresome works consist of a plant of four
 
 266 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 blast furnaces, the two first having been blown 
 in on the 29th March, 1871. They are situ- 
 ated within the borough of Middlesbrough, on 
 32 acres of land abutting on the river Tees, 
 and having a frontage thereto of 330 yards. 
 These works have received many encomiums 
 from practical engineers, and, taken as a 
 whole, they are probably as great a tribute to 
 the engineering ability of Mr. Gjers as any 
 of the numerous works he had previously 
 designed. The Ayresome works are equal to a 
 production of between 1500 to 1600 tons of 
 pig iron per week. 
 
 On the 18th January, 1871, Mr. Gjers was 
 presented with a testimonial by the employers 
 and employees connected with the firm of 
 "Hopkins, Gilkes and Company, on the occasion 
 of his finally severing his connection with it. 
 Mr. W. R. I. Hopkins, the senior partner, 
 presided, and in the course of a speech full 
 of complimentary allusions, declared that 
 " Mr. Gjers had gone to them partly an un- 
 tried and unknown man, but they learned to 
 put so much confidence in him that they 
 placed in his hands the out-door management 
 of the blast furnaces earlier than was the 
 custom. Mr. Gjers had derived from his con- 
 nection with them, but still more by his own 
 talents, great advantages in his own extended 
 experience as a business man and in the out- 
 door management of blast furnaces, and had
 
 JOHN GJERS. 267 
 
 now become the senior partner of the firm 
 known as Gjers, Mills, and Company. Mr. 
 Gjers had always been a just manager to the 
 master and workmen, and the result was, that 
 without exemption, they had wished to sub- 
 scribe to that testimonial." 
 
 Having been so actively engaged in pro- 
 fessional duties during the greater part of his 
 life, Mr. Gjers has not found time, even if he 
 had the inclination to take any part in muni- 
 cipal or imperial politics. But he has contri- 
 buted some of the most valuable results of his 
 wide experience to the transactions of the 
 Cleveland Institution of Engineers, and of the 
 Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain. 
 Before the latter association, in 1871, he read 
 a paper on " The gradual increase in size of 
 the Cleveland blast furnaces," and " A des- 
 cription of the Ayresome Ironworks, Midd- 
 lesbrough." In the former part of his paper, 
 the author traced the gradual growth in size 
 and capacity of the blast furnaces of Cleveland, 
 from those built by Messrs. Bolckow and 
 Vaughan at their Middlesbrough works in 
 1851, with a cubical capacity of 4,566 feet, 
 and 42 feet high by 15 feet bosh, to the 
 furnaces erected at Ormesby in 1870, 90 feet 
 high, oO feet bosh, and 41,149 feet cubical 
 capacity.
 
 XV.-JEREMIAH HEAD, 
 
 MOST of the " pioneers " to whom we have, as 
 yet, assigned places in this series, are more or 
 less associated with the development of the 
 pig-iron trade. It is, however, to another of 
 the staple industries of Cleveland, viz. : that 
 of malleable iron, that the energies of Jeremiah 
 Head, the subject of the present article, 
 have been chiefly directed. He is the 
 fourth son of the late Jeremiah Head, Esq., 
 J.P., of Ipswich, who was, like his forefathers 
 for several generations, a highly esteemed 
 member of the Society of Friends. 
 
 Jeremiah Head, the younger, was born in 
 1835, and was educated partly at home, partly 
 at private schools in Ipswich, and partly at 
 Tulketh Hall, a Friends' School in Lancashire, 
 which has for some time ceased to exist. 
 Having always evinced a strong inclination 
 towards mechanical pursuits, he was articled 
 in 1851 to the late Robert Stephenson, C.E., 
 M.P., whose engineering works at Newcastle- 
 on-Tyne, have always been reckoned among
 
 JKBEMIAti tiEAD. 269 
 
 the first schools of engineering in Europe. 
 After working three and a-half years with the 
 workmen in the shops, he was promoted to 
 the drawing office, where he remained a year 
 and a-half, when his apprenticeship was at an 
 end. Six months previous to this, he had 
 been entrusted with the design, and setting to 
 work, of a large pair of compound condensing 
 engines for Messrs. Henry Pease and Com- 
 pany's Priestgate Mills, Darlington. It was 
 in order to complete this undertaking that he 
 was sent to reside for six weeks in the above- 
 named town. There he became more inti- 
 mately acquainted with the Pease family, some 
 of whom have been from the first partners in 
 the firm of Robert Stephenson and Company, 
 but without taking any part in the manage- 
 ment thereof. 
 
 The Priestgate Mills' new engines were the 
 first in this country fitted with a " parabolic 
 governor," the principle of which has since 
 been extensively adopted. The air cataract, 
 a most important adjunct, was Mr. Head's 
 invention ; but being still a pupil he deemed 
 it his duty to offer it to the firm, who patented 
 it in the name of Mr. Weallens, their manager. 
 They subsequently allowed the patent to 
 lapse, but continued to manufacture on the 
 new principle wherever applicable. A modi- 
 fication of the parabolic governor controlled 
 by a liquid cataract, instead of one containing
 
 270 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON 
 
 air, has since been found much superior in its 
 action, especially when applied to operate 
 variable expansion gears, and for this Mr. 
 Head still holds a patent. 
 
 When the Darlington engines were complete, 
 Mr. Head was entrusted with the design of 
 another pair, into which he introduced some 
 improvements, and these are still at work at 
 Messrs. Annandale and Sons' Paper Mills, 
 Shotley Bridge. 
 
 In 1857, the Corporation of Sunderland 
 determined to re-build the bridge which had 
 been erected over the river Wear by Rowland 
 Burdon about a century before, and which had 
 then become unsafe. Robert Stephenson was 
 appointed consulting engineer to this, which 
 proved to be his last great constructive work. 
 He selected Mr. G. A. Phipps of Great George 
 Street, Westminster, to be his acting colleague, 
 and Mr. Head to be resident engineer, in 
 carrying out the undertaking. The construc- 
 tion and erection of the new bridge, of which 
 the span is 240 feet, and the height above high 
 water mark 120 feet, and which involved an 
 outlay of nearly 40,000, occupied two years, 
 and proved a valuable piece of experience. 
 When it was finished Mr. Head had the satis- 
 faction of being presented with a handsome 
 piece of furniture, viz., a what-not, cast 
 from the metal of the original bridge, by 
 Messrs. Hawks, Crawshay, and Sons, the con-
 
 JEREMIAtt HEAD. 271 
 
 tractors for the iron work. Upon a silver 
 plate were engraved particulars of the 
 circumstances under which it was given. 
 
 Some time previous to the period of which 
 we speak, the Royal Agricultural Society had 
 offered a prize of 500 for the best steam 
 plough. At two of their annual shows, the 
 prize had been competed for, but none of the 
 machines exhibited were considered sufficiently 
 perfect to deserve it. The late Mr. John Fowler, 
 of the well-known firm of John Fowler and 
 Company, of Leeds, had been giving special 
 attention to the construction of steam cul- 
 tivating machinery, arid was extremely 
 anxious to carry off the Society's award on 
 the third and last occasion when it would be 
 offered. Through his father-in-law, the late 
 Mr. Joseph Pease, of Darlington, Mr. Fowler 
 obtained the interest of Robert Stephenson. 
 That gentleman said that he was too far 
 advanced in life to take a personally active 
 part in new enterprises, but that he would 
 gladly afford any other assistance in his 
 power, for the sake of the partner with whom 
 he had been so long associated. In fulfilment 
 of this promise he introduced Mr. Head, and 
 desired him to direct his energies to the im- 
 provement of the steam plough, so as, if 
 possible, to enable Mr. Fowler to acquire the 
 coveted distinction. To Mr. Head the task 
 was highly congenial, and he worked most
 
 272 PIONEERS Of THE CLEVELAND IKON TRADE. 
 
 assiduously for several months with Mr. 
 Fowler, against great difficulties and repeated 
 disappointments. At last they produced at 
 the classical works of Robert Stephenson and 
 Company, a steam plough which fulfilled all the 
 conditions laid down by the Royal Agricul- 
 tural Society, and which received the prize of 
 500 at their Chester Show in 1858. For 
 about a year steam ploughs continued to be 
 constructed by Messrs. Robert Stephenson and 
 Company, under Mr. Head's direction, when it 
 became evident that some arrangement must 
 be made for developing the new implement 
 more rapidly, and manufacturing it on a more 
 extensive scale, in order to meet the growing 
 demand. It did -not suit Mr. Stephenson to 
 sacrifice his well established locomotive, and 
 marine engine business, for one in agricultural 
 machinery ; he therefore suggested that new 
 works should be built for the purpose in New- 
 castle, and offered, in that case, to advance 
 his old pupil 3,000' to enable him to take up 
 a partnership in such works, whilst Mr. 
 Joseph Pease agreed to advance a similar 
 sum to promote the interests of Mr. Fowler. 
 Some delay, however, occurred in maturing 
 these plans, and meanwhile Mr. Stephenson 
 died, and the whole project fell through. The 
 development of the steam plough might have 
 been delayed for several years, but for a new 
 friend who appeared upon the scene, at this
 
 JEREMIAH HEAD. 273 
 
 juncture. The late Mr. W. Hewitson, of Leeds, 
 and offered upon certain terms, to provide 
 the funds necessary for building works on 
 a large scale at Leeds. The offer was too 
 good a one to be declined, and among other 
 arrangements it was agreed that Mr. Head 
 should leave Newcastle for that town, and 
 should be entrusted with the management of 
 the new undertaking, with the option of a 
 partnership after a time. Accordingly, he 
 continued to co-operate with Mr. Fowler 
 for the space of a year, developing the 
 new machine and organising those ar- 
 rangements for its construction which now 
 occupy so important a place in the industries 
 of the West Riding. " Uhomme propose, 
 mais Dieu dispose." So runs the French 
 proverb, and so it came to pass in the 
 present instance. In the summer of I860, 
 after a year's residence in Leeds, Mr. 
 Head fell ill, and continued unwell for so long 
 a time, that he thought it wise to resign 
 his position at the steam plough works. 
 He had latterly thoroughly over-wrought 
 himself in his efforts to secure the success of 
 the steam plough. For the space of a year 
 he lived quite retired from business, when, 
 feeling much better, and being anxious to gain 
 increased practical experience in the working 
 of the steam plough in the field, he bought 
 one of the most approved construction, and
 
 274 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 settled down at Swindon, in Wiltshire. That 
 town is the centre of a well-known heavy 
 clay land district, standing in great need of 
 steam cultivation. There he took contracts 
 among the farmers and landed proprietors, for 
 draining and cultivating by steam power, and 
 acted as Messrs. Fowler and Company's repre- 
 sentative for the district. Shortly after, he 
 devised and patented a system of lamp signals 
 whereby steam ploughing might be conducted 
 by night as well as by day, a matter of great 
 importance in the autumnal season. He also 
 patented a means of making the " skifes," or 
 castings to which the shares are attached in 
 balance ploughs, adjustable, so as to give them 
 any required amount of " bite " into the 
 ground. Both these patents were afterwards 
 purchased by Mr. Fowler, for use in machines 
 made at his works. 
 
 In the spring of 1863 Mr. Head, finding 
 his health completely re-established, deter- 
 mined to give up ploughing and draining by 
 steam, for some occupation which would admit 
 of residence in a more active industrial centre 
 than a small Wiltshire town. He visited the 
 Cleveland district, and came to the conclusion 
 that rolling mills, for the manufacture of 
 boiler and ship plates, at Middlesbrough, 
 would, if carefully constructed and managed, 
 prove a lucrative enterprise. He communi- 
 cated his views to Mr. Joseph Pease, who,
 
 JEREMIAH HEAD. 275 
 
 being then retired from business, referred him 
 to his son, Mr. J. W. Pease, one of the present 
 members for South Durham. That gentleman 
 introduced him to his brother-in-law, Mr. 
 Theodore Fox, and through Mr. Joseph Dodds, 
 of Stockton, to Mr. Charles M. Newcomen, of 
 Kirkleatham. Thus was originated, in 1863, 
 the present firm of Fox, Head, and Company, 
 of Middlesbrough. 
 
 It was November, 1864, before the works 
 they decided to construct were complete. 
 Then began a new series of difficulties. 
 Wages were extremely high, and trades' unions 
 were for the moment all-powerful. Their 
 workmen were so unmanageable, that the 
 young firm thought it wise to join other 
 employers in maintaining a union for concerted 
 action in regard to labour. But a short ex- 
 perience seemed to them to prove that this 
 policy had the effect rather of aggravating 
 than of mitigating the evil. During two 
 years they had lost no less than one-fourth 
 of their whole time in disputes with their 
 workmen. So they came to the conclusion 
 that no solid success could attend their 
 efforts while they and their employes were 
 in a constant state of antagonism, however 
 satisfactory might be their relations towards 
 competing employers. They drew up their 
 now well-kown " Co-operative Scheme," con- 
 stituting their enterprise an industrial partner-
 
 276 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 ship. It might have been expected that 
 their workmen would have at once accepted 
 so generous a concession, and would eagerly 
 have become co-operators on so favourable 
 terms. Not so, however. Prominent unionist 
 leaders denounced the new scheme as " a 
 dodge " to allure the men from their union, 
 that they might be the more easily manipu- 
 lated to their disadvantage by their em- 
 ployers. Articles appeared in journals, 
 supposed to represent the employers' views, 
 which were scarcely less hostile in their tone. 
 A period of great depression in trade had also 
 now supervened, rendering it impossible, 
 during the first two years, to pay any bonus 
 to labour, according to the hopes held out by 
 the scheme. Consequently the workmen were 
 influenced but little by it, and its complete 
 failure was generally predicted. Still, however, 
 Messrs. Fox, Head, and Company persevered, 
 and at the end of the third year, viz. 1869, 
 they had the satisfaction of being able to 
 announce a dividend to their employes of 2| 
 per cent, upon their yearly earnings. From 
 that time mutual confidence took the place of 
 mutual distrust, between Messrs. Fox, Head, 
 and Company and the majority, including all 
 the best, of their workmen. In 1870, 3| per 
 cent, was paid; in 1871, 4 per cent.; and in 1872 
 3J per cent., in addition to full district wages. 
 But we have not space to enlarge further on
 
 JEREMIAH HEAD. 277 
 
 this interesting experiment. The complete 
 history thereof has been published in the 
 shape of reports of the annual meetings of 
 the employers and employed at Newport 
 Rolling Mills. The difficulties attending the 
 development of the system, and the sentiments 
 both of masters and men in regard to it, and 
 to each other, abundantly appear in the 
 speeches therein recorded. The firm are, we 
 believe, always ready to present copies of their 
 reports to those who take an interest in them. 
 
 In 1863, when the Newport firm was first 
 constituted, the Cleveland plate trade was in 
 its infancy. At one works alone had this 
 kind of iron hitherto been produced, and there, 
 not of a quality suitable for boiler construc- 
 tion. For such purposes, Staffordshire or 
 South Yorkshire plates were almost invari- 
 ably used. Ten years later, owing to the 
 efforts of Messrs. Fox, Head, and Company, 
 and some other proprietors of rolling mills, who 
 commenced operations about the same time, 
 a vast improvement in quality had been 
 effected. Boiler work of the most difficult kind, 
 not excepting the manufacture of Galloway 
 tubes, is now habitually executed by firms 
 using none but Cleveland plates. 
 
 The Middlesbrough Co-operative Store 
 Company, Limited, which after several years 
 of adversity, has now attained a state of 
 marvellous prosperity, was originated, and has
 
 278 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 throughout been managed mainly by a few of 
 Messrs. Fox, Head, and Company's employe's. 
 It was, we believe, at Mr. Head's suggestion, 
 and by his desire it was started, and its success 
 would perhaps never have been achieved 
 but for the constant sympathy and active 
 assistance of himself and his partners. 
 
 Mr. Head's name also appears on the 
 directorate of " The Cleveland Slag Working 
 Company, Limited," the object of which is to 
 utilize slag for bricks, mortar, concrete, etc., 
 according to the patents of Messrs. Wood and 
 Bodmer. 
 
 Mr. Head was the founder, in 1865, of the 
 " Cleveland Institution of Engineers." Dur- 
 ing three years he undertook the onerous 
 duties of honorary secretary, and worked 
 most unremittingly to secure the success 
 which was ultimately attained. In 1871 he 
 was elected president, and still holds that 
 position. Among provincial scientific societies, 
 the Cleveland Institution of Engineers is now 
 generally admitted to occupy a foremost 
 place, and the printed reports of its papers 
 and discussions are highly esteemed, both for 
 their merit as literary works, and for their 
 intrinsic value as scientific records. The 
 original number of members was about 30, 
 now it has reached 320, and includes all 
 those with whom rests the responsibility of 
 practically directing industrial operations in
 
 JEREMIAH HEAD. 279 
 
 Cleveland ; and many engineers from all parts 
 of the country. 
 
 Mr. Head has contributed at various times 
 papers and addresses to the Cleveland Insti- 
 tution, and to other Scientific Societies to 
 which he belongs. The principal of these are 
 as follows, viz. : 
 
 To the Cleveland Institution : On "A 
 Plan for placing the Cleveland Iron District 
 in better communication with the Durham 
 Coal-field, by means of certain new Rail- 
 ways, and a Bridge over, or a Tunnel under 
 the river Tees ?" in 1868. A considerable 
 portion of this scheme was adopted by the 
 North-Eastern Railway Company, in a bill 
 for which they subsequently attempted to 
 obtain Parliamentary sanction, but which was 
 thrown out owing to the opposition of the 
 Corporation of Stockton and other bodies. On 
 "The Economic Construction and Management 
 of Steam Engines and Boilers;" in 1869. (This 
 paper has since been re-printed by desire of 
 the engineer of the Midland Steam Boiler 
 Inspection and Assurance Company, for the 
 special use of his inspectors and others.) 
 Upon " Our Workmen ;" a presidential address 
 delivered in 1871. On "The Economic Un- 
 soundness of some Trades' Union Doctrines ;" 
 another presidential address delivered in 
 1872, and again on " Thoughts for the con- 
 sideration of Engineers and Others," delivered 
 in 1873,
 
 280 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 Before the Institution of Mechanical En- 
 gineers : On " The Parabolic Governor ;" in 
 1871. 
 
 Before the Iron and Steel Institute : On 
 " The Efficiency and Durability of Plain 
 Cylindrical Boilers;" in 1870. On "Fox, 
 Head and Company's Patent Economical 
 Puddling Furnaces;" in 1871. On "The 
 Linthorpe Boiler Explosion;" in 1873. On 
 " An Improved Reversing Gear for Rolling 
 Mills ;" in 1873. 
 
 Before the National Association for the 
 promotion of Social Science : On " Retail 
 Traders and Co-operative Stores ;" in 1872. 
 Before the Bristol and Clifton Debating 
 Society : On " The Newport Industrial 
 Partnership, etc. ;" in 1873. 
 
 Before the British Association for the Ad- 
 vancement of Science, Section G, on " A 
 Higher Education for Engineers," read at 
 their meeting at Belfast, in 1874. 
 
 Mr. Head is a most regular attender at the 
 meetings of the various scientific societies 
 with which he is connected, and has always 
 taken an active part in their discussions. On 
 the visit to Middlesbrough, in 1871, of the 
 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, he and 
 Mr. Gilbert Gilkes acted as local secretaries, 
 and made the various and somewhat complex 
 arrangements which were necessary to secure 
 the success of that meeting. He has since 
 been elected to a seat upon the Council,
 
 JEREMIAH HEAD. 281 
 
 Middlesbrough is the first town in England 
 which applied for a school board under the 
 Elementary Education Act, and Mr. Head 
 was among the nine gentlemen elected to 
 seats at the first board. He has always shown 
 the greatest interest in all endeavours to 
 diffuse knowledge, whether of an elementary 
 or technical character. He has not hitherto 
 taken part in municipal affairs, probably for 
 want of time. But in general politics he has 
 given abundant proof that he is a decided and 
 even enthusiastic Liberal, endorsing the policy 
 of the late Government, and exerting all his 
 personal influence in their support.
 
 XVL EDWARD WILLIAMS, 
 
 " The true epic of our time," says Carlyle, 
 " is not arms and the man, but tools and the 
 man an infinitely wider kind of epic." 
 When he speaks of tools, the Chelsea philo- 
 sopher refers, of course, to every possible 
 kind of mechanical appliance, calculated to 
 abrogate manual labour, and further the in- 
 terests of the industrial arts. In this sphere 
 of thought and action, Mr. Edward Williams 
 has long laboured. He possesses, perhaps, a 
 wider acquaintance with the varying processes 
 and apparatus used in connection with the 
 iron trade of this and other countries than 
 many men who have theorised on the subject 
 for a lifetime, and have come at last to be 
 regarded and quoted as authorities of unim- 
 peachable exactitude and soundness. In all 
 essential points, Mr. Williams may be spoken 
 of as a practical man. He has studied for 
 himself, under every condition, the rationale 
 of the industries in which he is employed. 
 Accepting the ipse dixit of no one, he has
 
 EDWARD WILLIAMS. 283 
 
 earned the reputation of being an original 
 thinker and worker, and there are those who 
 contemn his disregard of the old established 
 rules and canons, as savouring too much of 
 the mental idiosyncracy which so peculiarly 
 characterised Thomas called Didymus. But 
 it is to this faculty of personal investigation 
 and research more than any other that the 
 pre-eminent industrial position now held by 
 the North of England is mainly due. Had 
 the pioneers of the Cleveland Iron Trade been 
 content to follow the beaten path, so long 
 traversed by the older iron -producing dis- 
 tricts, turning neither to the right nor to the 
 left, many, if not most, of the results that have 
 been recorded in these articles would never 
 have been attained. The historian's duty 
 would have been more simple ; but it would 
 have been less pleasant and less useful. A 
 dead level of uniformity would have charac- 
 terised that which is how distinguished for 
 diversity, and presents abundant scope for a 
 conflict of opinion. When many different roads 
 are followed towards the same goal, the short- 
 est and easiest is more likely to become known, 
 and in the long run, adopted by those who 
 had previously wandered in a devious course. 
 So it is with the iron trade. Out of the many 
 and somewhat confused formulas that are now 
 adopted, order and certitude will, no doubt, 
 ultimately be evolved. It is in the further-
 
 284 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 ance of this great end that such men as Mr. 
 Williams are employed ; and it is now impos- 
 sible to calculate the far-reaching advantages 
 which are reflected by their labours on the 
 cause of progress and civilisation. For it is 
 well to remember that, although it is strictly 
 a scientific pursuit, metallurgy cannot yet 
 claim a place among the exact sciences. There 
 is much yet to be learned. There are many 
 possible economies still unfulfilled. The 
 splendid results achieved during the last ten 
 or twenty years supply ample proof of the 
 fact that perfection is a long way ahead that 
 we are only nearing the beginning of the 
 end. 
 
 Viewed in the light of the foregoing re- 
 marks the career of Mr. Edward Williams is 
 one well worth study. He was born in 
 Merthyr Tydvil the Dudley of Staffordshire, 
 the Middlesbrough of Cleveland, the Coat- 
 bridge of Scotland. From his youth up he was 
 among ironworks and ironworkers. His 
 father was a schoolmaster. The Acadeny of 
 Taliesin Williams was esteemed one of the 
 best in South Wales. It was the nursery of 
 many minds that have stamped with the sign 
 manual of their genius the graduated progress 
 of our staple industry. The master of the 
 academy was a man of more than average 
 attainments. 
 
 " He was kind, or if severe in aught, 
 The love he bore to learning was in fault.''
 
 EDWARD WILLIAMS. 285 
 
 The most that could be said of Goldsmith's 
 " Village Schoolmaster" was, that 
 
 " Lands lie could measure, terms and tides presage;" 
 
 but Taliesin Williams could do more than 
 *that. In a district where the amenities of 
 literature were little known, he cultivated the 
 muses, not unsuccessfully. One of his peices 
 an ode to Cardiff Castle, written after the 
 style of Scott's " Lady of the Lake" is 
 familiarly known to this day. The Williams 
 family thus owned a highly respectable posi- 
 tion in Merthyr Tydvil a position certifi- 
 cated by the tradition that they could trace 
 their descent collaterally to Oliver Cromwell. 
 Edward Williams received as good an edu- 
 cation as it was within the far from stinted 
 limits of his father's means to bestow. He 
 then entered the office of the Dowlais Iron- 
 works the largest establishment of its kind in 
 the world. Here his experience was a re- 
 versal of the rule that " a prophet hath not 
 honour in his own country." His promotion 
 was rapid and deserved. The then mill man- 
 ager at Dowlais took a special interest in his 
 training; and through him Mr. Williams 
 acquired a thorough knowledge, both theor- 
 etical and practical, of the properties of iron 
 and its manipulation. It is quite a prevalent 
 belief that he was, like the late late Mr. John 
 Vaughan, brought up as an ironworker, but 
 we have reason to know that this is quite an 
 error. He never was directly employed in
 
 286 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 the works, otherwise than as far as was ne- 
 cessary to enable him to understand the 
 rationale of iron manufacture. But his experi- 
 ence, such as it was, must have been of the 
 most valuable character. At the Dowlais works 
 every branch of the iron trade is carried on 
 to the largest extent. There are no fewer 
 than seventeen blast furnaces more than 
 double the number in operation at the largest 
 works on Teesside while the number of 
 puddling furnaces is upwards of 160 ! Speak- 
 ing of these works, Mr. Ferdinand Kohn, C.E., 
 author of a standard work on the manufacture 
 of iron and steel, says " Dowlais ! the name of 
 no other place in Britain so strongly and fully 
 expresses the tremendous power of British 
 iron and British coal a power which has made 
 our country the first among the nations of the 
 earth. France has its Creusot, with its four- 
 teen blast furnaces, and giving employment 
 to 10,000 men ; Belgium has its Seraing, with 
 five furnaces and extensive workshops, never 
 again to be what they once were, when John 
 Cockerill, an Englishman too, and having the 
 King of Holland for his partner, was living. 
 We will not dispute the greatness of Essen, 
 nor need we refer to the comparatively insig- 
 nificant centres of the iron industry of Amer- 
 ica Phoenixville and Johnstown. But where 
 France, and Belgium, and Prussia may have 
 large individual works, Dowlais, with its
 
 EDWARD WILLIAMS. 287 
 
 seventeen blast furnaces, and its nine thousand 
 workpeople, nevertheless makes but one-thir- 
 tieth of all our iron, and raises less than the 
 one-hundredth part of all our coal." It may 
 be remarked here that the establishment over 
 which Mr. Williams now presides is modelled 
 on the works of Dowlais. Both have very 
 large ironworks for the manufacture of both 
 crude and finished iron ; both have large iron- 
 stone and coal royalties, from which they 
 raise all their own minerals ; both carry on 
 the manufacture of Bessemer steel to a large 
 extent ; and both have all the necessary works 
 and appliances for the manufacture of such 
 subsidiary products as fire bricks, rolling 
 stock and general machinery. There are 
 many minor and collateral points of resem- 
 blance upon which more may be said hereafter. 
 Meanwhile, it must be apparent that Mr Wil- 
 liams had the advantage of being trained in a 
 good school the best, probably, that this or 
 any other country contains, and one, more- 
 over, that has made its name famous all the 
 world over. After having been employed at 
 their works for a number of years, he was 
 sent to London as the Metropolitan agent of 
 the Dowlais Company a position involving 
 much care, judgment, and responsibility. It 
 was here and in this capacity that he was 
 employed when the works and business of 
 Bolckow and Vaughan were transferred to a
 
 288 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 limited liability company. The late Mr. John 
 Vaughan, who had previously undertaken the 
 practical management of the concern, was, of 
 course, indisposed to do so any longer ; and 
 he was requested by the directors to recom- 
 mend a suitable successor. Numerous appli- 
 cations from some of the best men in the 
 country were sent in ; but the choice of the 
 directors was finally limited to two gentlemen. 
 One of these was Mr. Evans, another Welsh- 
 man, now the manager of the celebrated Bow- 
 ling ironworks, Bradford ; the other was Mr. 
 Edward Williams. It is a somewhat note- 
 worthy coincidence that both had been more 
 or less intimately connected with Dowlais 
 Works from their earliest years the father 
 of Mr. Evans having long been manager of 
 Dowlais. Bolckow, Vaughan, and Company, 
 (Limited) was formed in 1864. The capital 
 of the company was fixed at 2,500,000, and 
 1,000,000, was paid for the purchase of the 
 properties and stock. Messrs. Bolckow and 
 Vaughan took 8,000 shares, paying 50 per 
 share, and agreed that no dividend should be 
 paid upon these 8,000 shares until an average 
 dividend equal to ten per cent, per antfum 
 should have been paid for five years to the 
 other shareholders. Since then the nominal 
 capital of the company has been increased to 
 3,410,000. Under Mr. Williams' manage- 
 ment, the company was enjoyed a prosperity
 
 EDWARD WILLIAMS. 289 
 
 and attained a stability almost without paral- 
 lel in the annals of limited liability. It is 
 now probably the largest concern of its kind 
 in the world. It has even taken precedence 
 of the great Dowlais works, and of the scarce- 
 ly less famous Gartsherrie works in Scotland, 
 each of which employ about 9,000 hands, as 
 compared with nearly 12,000 employed by 
 Bolckow, Vanghan, and Company. In ad- 
 dition to the blast furnaces at Middlesbrough, 
 Eston, and Witton Park, the rolling mills at 
 the former and the latter places, and the 
 great mines at Eston and Skelton, it holds, 
 with perhaps only two or at the most three 
 exceptions, the largest coal royalties in the 
 North of England, and carries on large steel 
 works in Manchester. Upwards of l(i,000 
 are paid weekly in wages and salaries. The 
 company raise about 1,500,000 tons of coal 
 per annum ; and from their Eston mines alone 
 they are now producing between 700,000 and 
 800,000 tons of ore. Of the 250,000 tons of 
 pig iron which they annually produce, the 
 company convert nearly 100,000 into rails, 
 plates, bars, and other descriptions of manu- 
 factured iron. They have within the last few 
 years acquired large royalties in Spain, and 
 from their mines at Bilbao they raise large 
 quantities of hematite, for the conveyance of 
 which to their Middlesbrough works they em- 
 ploy a fleet of steamers of their own. Like 
 s
 
 290 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 the Dowlais works, Messrs. Bolckow and 
 Vaughan's establishment has every facility for 
 the production of general machinery, castings, 
 firebricks, and rolling stock ; and the number 
 of wagons which they own and employ in 
 connection with their numerous works and 
 collieries is something fabulous larger than 
 that of many a respectable railway company. 
 The same remark applies to their locomotive 
 engines, which are also, for the most part, 
 manufactured at their own works, to their 
 private railway lines, connecting their differ- 
 ent collieries with each other and with their 
 works, and to the value of their goods and 
 mineral traffic. It may truly be said of Bol- 
 ckow, Vaughan, and Company's works, as we 
 have seen it said of Dowlais, that " so long as 
 metallurgical industry holds its accustomed 
 footing in the affairs of the kingdom, so long 
 will these works be famous as a monument of 
 the energy and genius of their founders and 
 of the proudest age of British industrial and 
 commercial power." 
 
 If these, then, are the works over which he 
 acts as the presiding genius, what must be 
 the nature and extent of the duties that Mr. 
 Williams is called upon to discharge ? A 
 bare contemplation of them would almost be 
 sufficient to turn the brain of an ordinary 
 mortal. And yet every movement of this 
 huge industrial machine is guided by his
 
 EDWARD WILLIAMS. 291 
 
 hand. Down to the merest trifle, he regulates 
 and governs the affairs of the firm. He shirks 
 no duty or responsibility, by vicarious substi- 
 tution. Every appointment of any con- 
 sequence is made by himself after the most 
 careful and patient inquiry. He is the foun- 
 tain of authority in the making of all import- 
 ant contracts, in the introduction of new 
 machinery and processes, and in the carrying 
 out of the multiform arrangements that re- 
 quire settlement from day to day. It is ne- 
 cessary, above all things, that the responsible 
 manager of such a large concern should 
 receive emoluments commensurate with his 
 position. The universal verdict is that he is 
 quite worthy of his position ; and both direc- 
 tors and shareholders have confidence that so 
 long as he is at the helm of affairs, all will go 
 well. 
 
 Although the North of England iron trade 
 was undoubtedly established before Mr. Wil- 
 liams came to Middlesbrough, he is not with- 
 out claims to a place among its conscript 
 fathers. Even so far back as 1864 Cleveland 
 was in a comparatively embryo state. " En- 
 terprises of great pith and moment" were in 
 process of being evolved, but they wanted 
 accessory aids that were yet undeveloped. 
 Mr. Williams, from the first day that he 
 entered the district, threw himself heart and 
 soul into the work of promoting reforms and
 
 292 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 improvements calculated to benefit the trade 
 as a whole. He was president of the North 
 of England Ironmasters' Association in 1868, 
 when the Iron and Steel Institute of Great 
 Britain was founded, and he was chairman of 
 the meeting held in the Newcastle Assembly 
 Rooms, on the 28th September of that year, 
 at which the idea of projecting such an insti- 
 tute was first mooted. It may be remembered 
 that the institute owed its origin to a sug- 
 gestion made by Mr. John Jones, secretary to 
 the North of England Ironmasters' Associ- 
 ation, in a paper which he read on " The 
 position of the iron trade in relation to tech- 
 nical education," and that suggestion was 
 subsequently formulated in a motion proposed 
 by Mr. Isaac Lowthian Bell, to the effect 
 " that this meeting approves of the proposi- 
 tion contained in the paper read by Mr. Jones, 
 relative to the establishment of an Iron and 
 Steel Institute, and requests that a Provision- 
 al Committee be nominated, consisting of the 
 following gentlemen, with power to add to 
 their number, viz : Mr. Edward Williams, 
 Middlesbrough ; Mr. Isaac L. Bell and Mr. 
 James Morrison, Newcastle ; Mr. David Dale, 
 Darlington ; Mr. J. J. Smith, Barrow ; Mr. W. 
 Fletcher, Workington ; Mr. Pattison, War- 
 rington ; Mr. (j. J. Barker, Chillington ; Mr. 
 Walter Williams, Tipton ; Mr. Wm. Matthews, 
 Dudley ; Mr. W. S. Roden, Stoke ; Mr. Robert
 
 EDWARD WILLIAMS. 293 
 
 Heath, Stoke ; Mr. W. Menelaws, Dowlais ; 
 Mr. A. Brogden, London ; Mr. R. Fothergill ; 
 Mr. F. Kitson, Leeds ; Sir J. G. W. Alleyne, 
 Bart, Butterly ; Sir John Brown, Sheffield ; 
 Mr. Neilson, Glasgow ; Mr. Sarnuelson, Ban- 
 bury ; and Mr. John Jones, Middlesbrough." 
 It will thus be observed that although the Iron 
 and Steel Institute owes its origin to Cleve- 
 land, there are only two gentlemen on the 
 committee under whom it has been enabled to 
 attain such high measure of success who be- 
 longed directly to Middlesbrough. From 
 time to time Mr. Williams has contributed 
 his valuable experience to the transactions 
 of the Institute ; and at the first provincial 
 meeting held in Middlesbrough in 1869, he 
 read a paper on the manufacture of rails, 
 which was spoken of very highly by those 
 who afterwards discussed its merits and con- 
 clusions. The subject of rail manufacture is 
 one to which Mr. Williams has devoted a 
 great deal of attention, and it may be remark- 
 ed in this connection that he has not unfre- 
 quently been consulted as to its rationale. 
 The best tribute that can be paid to the 
 soundness and merit of a practical man is the 
 respect and deference of other practical men. 
 It has been Mr. Williams' destiny to take up 
 a position in which his statements are regard- 
 ed by his collaborateurs as coming from an 
 authority. There is no sciolism about his re-
 
 294 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 searches and opinions. He goes straight to 
 the root of the matter, and is always able to 
 give a reason for the faith that is in him. In 
 regard to blast furnace practice, Mr. Williams 
 has expressed himself in favour of high furn- 
 aces ; and, unlike some other authorities on 
 the subject, he believes that the increase of 
 economy in the mordern furnace is due more 
 to height than to capacity. Discrediting 
 some of the prevailing ideas as to the tempera- 
 ture of the blast, he concludes that less de- 
 pends upon that element than upon the 
 chemical composition of the gases. " If," he 
 says, " the gas contains a large quantity of 
 carbonic acid, we may be sure the furnace is 
 working with a small amount of coke ; but if, 
 on the other hand, the gas contains a large 
 amount of carbonic oxide, then we may con- 
 clude that the coke is being used wastefully." 
 " The subject of mechanical puddling has re- 
 ceived from Mr. Williams a great deal of 
 attention. He has all along been a member 
 of the Puddling Committee of the Iron and 
 Steel Institute, and in that capacity he has 
 conducted and witnessed many experiments 
 of a valuable kind. It was under the auspices 
 of this committee that a Commission of prac- 
 tical ironmasters visited Cincinatti, U.S., to 
 report upon the Danks's puddling machine, 
 which is now being largely introduced into 
 the Cleveland district ; and it was on the sug-
 
 EDWARD WILLIAMS. 295 
 
 gestion and advice of Mr. Williams that this 
 was done. To him, therefore, belongs the 
 honour, such as it is, of having secured a fair 
 and dispassionate trial for the Danks's rotary 
 puddler, and of taking the necessary steps to 
 bring its merits prominently before the iron- 
 masters of the country. Previous, however, 
 to the invention of the Danks machine, Mr. 
 Menelaus, manager of the Dowlais works, had 
 long sought to develop and bring to a suc- 
 cessful issue the idea of mechanical puddling. 
 In this effort he was aided more or less direct- 
 ly by his friend, Mr. Williams, who took 
 quite a feverish interest in the subject. Mr. 
 Menelaus did not succeed in solving the prob- 
 lem of successful mechanical puddling, 
 principally from the absence of a suitable 
 fettling ; but at the Middlesbrough works of 
 Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan, a machine 
 constructed on Mr. Menelaus's principle has 
 been under trial for a considerable time, and 
 Mr. Williams is hopeful of ultimately over- 
 coming the difficulties in the way of effective 
 fettling. 
 
 For the last six or eight years the subject of 
 these remarks has hammered away at the 
 door of the North-Eastern Board until he has 
 obtained from that company a meed of con- 
 sideration towards Middlesbrough that would 
 probably never have been vouchsafed but for 
 his assiduity. One of first movements he
 
 296 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 took up was that for the construction of new 
 docks. Middlesbrough was wretchedly off 
 for dock accommodation, the entrance of the 
 existing docks being both narrow and shallow, 
 while there were no quay walls, crane facili- 
 ties, or other necessary pro vision for shippers 
 at all commensurate with the importance of 
 the port. Chiefly, we believe, at Mr. Wil- 
 liams's instigation, a public meeting of the 
 inhabitants of Middlesbrough was held in the 
 Town Hall on the 3rd day of June, 1868, to 
 take the subject of better and increased dock 
 accommodation into consideration. At that 
 meeting Mr. Williams, who was one of the 
 chief spokesmen, proposed a motion to the 
 effect that the trade and prosperity of the 
 town and district were seriously affected in 
 consequence of inadequate dock accommo- 
 dation, and he mentioned, as an illustration of 
 the fact, that during the previous year Messrs. 
 Bolckow and Vaughan had sent 67,000 tons 
 of their produce to neighbouring ports that 
 should have been shipped at Middlesbrough. 
 A deputation, of which Mr. Williams was a 
 member, was appointed to wait on the North 
 Eastern Board ; and the result of their repre- 
 sentations and labours is apparent in the 
 largely extended and improved docks which 
 Middlesbrough now possesses at a cost to the 
 railway company of over 100,000. 
 
 There are not a few other phases, all more
 
 EDWARD WILLIAMS. 297 
 
 or less interesting, of Mr. Williams' career 
 that might be appropriately referred to, but 
 they are for the most part of such recent 
 origin and occurrence that the briefest possible 
 allusion must suffice. The Freighters Associ- 
 ation recently formed in Middlesbrough to 
 protect the iron trade from the imposition of 
 excessive dues by the railway company chiefly 
 owes its origin to him. He is an active 
 member of the Middlesbrough Chamber of 
 Commeree, of the Middlesbrough Town Coun- 
 cil, and of other local institutions. In re- 
 ligion, Mr. Williams is said to be a member 
 of the Church of England ; in politics, he is a 
 thorougly sound Liberal ; and in private and 
 social life, he is one of the most genial and 
 pleasant of men, leaving behind him, whether 
 at home or abroad, a human and refreshing 
 memory.
 
 XVII JAMES MORRISON. 
 
 SOME men, it is said, are born great ; some 
 achieve greatness, while some again have 
 greatness thrust upon them. Mr. James 
 Morrison belongs neither to the first nor to 
 the third of these three divisions ; but so far 
 as any claim he has established to greatness 
 is concerned, he may undoubtedly be included 
 in the second. And his title to distinction is 
 higher than that of many a man who has 
 made a much greater noise in the world. If 
 the somewhat trite aphorism that the man is 
 entitled to honour and does a good work who 
 makes two blades of grass grow where only 
 one grew before, then is James Morrison 
 worthy to stand on the highest rung of 
 the ladder of fame. In a quiet and un- 
 obtrusive, but none the less effectual way, he 
 has initiated many economical reforms that 
 have had more than merely local and tentative 
 advantages ; and no man has been more in- 
 timately connected during the last forty years 
 with the iron trade of the North of England.
 
 JAMES MORRISON. 299 
 
 While his career has been chequered and 
 eventful, even to the borders of romance, it 
 has also been successful beyond those of his 
 contemporaries, illustrating with vivid force 
 the story of the old man, his son, and the 
 bundle of sticks. 
 
 James Morrison, the founder of the Ferry - 
 hill Ironworks, was born in the year 1806, in 
 Glamorganshire, South Wales, so that he is 
 now in the sixty-seventh year of his age. 
 His father was in comparatively humble cir- 
 cumstances, and belonged,- as well as his 
 mother, to Northumberland, where they had 
 spent their earlier years. James was of a 
 bold, adventrous disposition. He was placed 
 in an office for some time, but he did not care 
 much for the routine of office work, and when 
 only nineteen years of age, despite the wishes 
 and entreaties of his friends to the contrary, 
 he went to South America in connection with 
 the Poliso Mining Company, which company 
 failed before he reached the mines, and he 
 was thrown on his own resources. Little 
 is known of his career, during the next 
 few years. In South America, then much 
 more even than now, a lawless and unsettled 
 country, he was compelled to " rough it " as 
 best he could, until a convenient opportunity 
 was afforded him for returning to England. 
 
 About the year 1830 we find Mr. Morrison, 
 then in his twenty-second year, becoming
 
 300 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 connected with the iron and coal trades of 
 Monmouthshire. The prospects opened up 
 by this sphere of operations did not, however, 
 answer his expectations, although, both from 
 his earlier associations, which were largely 
 mixed up with the staple industry of South 
 Wales, and from his short experience after his 
 return from America, he had gained a consi- 
 derable insight into the rationale of the trade 
 in which he was afterwards to take such a 
 leading part. About the year 1836 he quitted 
 Wales, and found his way to the North of 
 England. At that time the Ridsdale Iron- 
 works had just been completed. They were 
 erected by some gentlemen connected with, 
 or at one time forming part of, the Derwent 
 Iron Company. There were then only two 
 works of the kind in operation throughout 
 the whole of the North of England. These 
 were the Lemington Ironworks, which were 
 erected about the year 1800, for the purpose 
 of smelting stone got from the coal measures 
 in the neighbourhood of Walbottle, Els wick, 
 and other places on or adjoining the river 
 Tyne ; and the Birtley Ironworks, consisting 
 of three furnaces, which were erected about 
 the year 1828, for the smelting of ironstone 
 found in the coal measures of Ouston, Birtley, 
 and the immediate district. The Ridsdale 
 Ironworks, situated on the north Tyne, were 
 intended for the clay ironstone obtained in
 
 JAMES MORRISOtf. 301 
 
 the carboniferous limestone measures of the 
 neighbourhood. Ascertaining that the new 
 works required a manager, Mr. Morrison 
 made application for and received the appoint- 
 ment. He only continued here, however, for 
 a short time. The works were carried on 
 under many disadvantages. Situated in a 
 very isolated position, the transit of material 
 had to be effected by the use of carts, so that 
 they were debarred from access to other and 
 cheaper ores than those found in the imme- 
 diate neighbourhood. Worse than all, the 
 local ironstone and coal were obtained in 
 scanty and unreliable supplies, at a heavy 
 cost for mining, while the amount paid for 
 the removal of manufactured produce in- 
 volved another considerable sacrifice. In 
 the face of all these difficulties, the works 
 had to be abandoned after a few years ; and 
 although they were subsequently sold to and 
 carried on by Messrs. Foster and Company, 
 they could not, under the more economical 
 conditions of working that were coming into 
 vogue in other parts of the North, be carried 
 on to advantage. We need not add that they 
 now exist only as a memory of the past. 
 
 On the establishment of the Consett Iron 
 Works, in 1840, Mr. Morrison was elected to 
 fill a responsible position in connection with 
 their management. This was a much more 
 extensive and important venture than the
 
 302 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON f RADK. 
 
 Ridsdale Works. The Consett Iron Company 
 originally commenced operations with seven 
 blast furnaces, intended for the smelting of 
 ironstone from the local coal measures. This 
 source of supply proving inefficient, the car- 
 boniferous limestone measures of the Wear 
 and Tyne had to be put under requisition, 
 and quantities were occasionally obtained from 
 the Whitby district. At the best, however, 
 the supply of ore was always fragmentary 
 and precarious, until the Cleveland ironstone 
 began to be used in the year 1851, since 
 which time the Consett Iron Works now 
 grown to the huge proportions of a second 
 Dowlais have used the oolitic ores almost 
 exclusively. 
 
 For reasons with which we are unacquain- 
 ted, but most probably because he wanted 
 still further to mature his experience by see- 
 ing for himself the blast furnace practice of 
 of the Continent, Mr. Morrison in 1845 went 
 over to France, and became connected as 
 manager and principal proprietor of the 
 Guines and Marquise Works the former 
 about six miles south of Calais, and the latter 
 nearly the same distance from Boulogne. 
 Both works were of considerable size. They 
 comprised both blast furnaces and rolling 
 mills, the two works being about two miles 
 apart. This and other drawbacks in regard 
 to the economical supply of minerals, and
 
 JAMES MORRISON. 303 
 
 adequate facilities of transport, led to the 
 abandonment of the works at Guines. While 
 they were carried on, however, they achieved 
 a high reputation, second only in France to 
 that of M. Schneider's great Creuzot works. 
 Mr. Morrison remained at Guines until 
 after the French Revolution of 1848, when 
 he became connected with the Rosieres 
 Works, also in France, under somewhat singu- 
 lar circumstances. It is scarcely necessary 
 to say that the effect of the Revolution was 
 to paralyse trade, at least temporarily, in all 
 its ramifications. The ducal proprietor of 
 Rosieres having retired, his bankers made 
 Mr. Morrison an offer to wind up the concern, 
 and carry on the works until certain contracts 
 were completed. This Mr. Morrison under- 
 took to do at a fixed contract price. Under 
 the circumstances, he was almost able to 
 dictate his own terms, and, of course, he made 
 a handsome profit out of the transaction. 
 
 In March, 1851, Mr. Morrison again crossed 
 the Channel, and settled down in Newcastle, 
 where, it may be added, he has since continued 
 to reside. And now we approach what is un- 
 doubtedly the most interesting epoch in his 
 career. While in France, in connection with 
 a French engineer, he had invented an in- 
 genious process for purifying small coals by 
 washing out the impurities with which they 
 are mixed. His intention was to develop this
 
 304 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 process in the North of England, where noth- 
 ing of the kind had previously been suc- 
 cessfully attempted. It was then the custom 
 at all the north-country collieries to burn 
 at the pit mouth the immense accumula- 
 tions of small coal or " duff, " which was 
 obtained as the residue of the screening 
 process. The waste of fuel thus permitted 
 was enormous. Coal was then comparatively 
 a drug in the market. Only the finer qualities 
 were used for manufacturing and domestic 
 purposes. Many thousands of tons that would 
 now command 6s to 10s per ton, and even 
 more, were deliberately burned to waste ; and 
 coalowners were glad to allow the " duff" or 
 small coal to be taken away free of cost. Nay 
 more, they endeavoured in many cases to 
 make contracts with ironmasters and others 
 to deliver the coal for Is 6d to 2s per ton, or 
 a fraction over the cost of carriage. In these 
 circumstances Mr. Morrison had no difficulty 
 in making arrangements for the supply of an 
 almost unlimited quantity of " duff," and we 
 have been informed that the whole of the 
 despised and rejected material from Earl 
 Durham's collieries was placed at his disposal 
 on merely nominal terms. Having made 
 these advantageous arrangements, he subjected 
 the "duff" to his new washing process, which 
 consisted in raising the coals by means of 
 buckets attached to endless chains, and then
 
 JAMES MORRISON. 305 
 
 precipitating them into a basket, where an 
 agitator forced through the coal a stream of 
 water sufficient to precipitate them again (by 
 reason of their lightness and their near 
 approach to the same specific gravity as 
 water), over the spout into a wagon, the 
 pyrites and heavier articles sinking to the 
 bottom, and being let off by a valve con- 
 structed for the purpose. The cost of wash- 
 ing a ton of coals in this way was only about 
 IJd, and Mr. Nicholas Wood estimated that 
 the percentage of loss, depending on their 
 degree of purity and on their size, was in duff 
 of the Button Seam about 22 per cent. ; in pea 
 small and duff, about 18 ; and in rough small, 
 about 14 per cent. After the small coal had 
 thus been purified, it was admirably adapted 
 for the manufacture of coke, yielding from 50 
 to 58 per cent, of that material. To this 
 purpose it was converted by Mr. Morrison, 
 who established coke manufactories on a large 
 scale, and made extensive contracts with iron- 
 masters for the supply of that necessary com- 
 ponent in blast furnace practice. The result 
 was a grand success. Able to manufacture 
 coke at from 4s 6d to 5s 6d per ton, Mr. 
 Morrison made large contracts to supply it 
 to ironmasters for more than double that 
 amount. For coke, even when it was the 
 greatest drug and most unmarketable, was 
 seldom sold at less than 7s 6d per ton ; and 
 
 T
 
 306 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 at the present time, as ironmasters know to 
 their cost, it cannot be had under 42s to 45s 
 per ton. For several years after he had 
 initiated this lucrative process, Mr. Morrison 
 found himself rapidly amassing wealth. He 
 established works at Coxhoe, Thornley, Wigan, 
 in Lancashire, and Staveley, in Derbyshire. 
 He became probably the largest coke manu- 
 facturer in the world. None could compete 
 with him, far less undersell him ; so that he 
 was almost without a rival. This was prob- 
 ably the greatest achievement of his life ; it 
 was at any rate the stepping stone of the 
 events that are to follow. 
 
 In 1859 Mr. Morrison commenced the 
 Ferryhill Ironworks, erecting three blast 
 furnaces, each 55 feet in height. Five years 
 later he amalgamated his interest in these 
 and other works in the county of Durham 
 with the owners of the Rosedale estate. Since 
 then the amalgamated concerns have been 
 carried on under the style of the Rosedale and 
 Ferryhill Iron Company (Limited). 
 
 Many of our readers will be aware that Mr. 
 Morrison's partners are Mr. George Leeman, 
 member for York city, and chairman of the 
 North-Eastern Railway Company, and Alex- 
 ander Clunes Sheriff, M.P. for Worcester, and 
 formerly general manager of that company. 
 About the year 1860 these gentlemen acquired 
 the Rosedale estate, and large adjoining
 
 JAMES MORRISON. 307 
 
 royalties of ironstone. It was a magnificent 
 speculation, and in view of the results that 
 followed, it seems wonderful that it was not 
 developed at an earlier period. Iron is known 
 to have been made in this district six hundred 
 years ago ; but it was not till 1834, in modern 
 times, that the peculiar properties of the 
 minerals of Rosedale Abbey received attention, 
 nor was it until Messrs. Leeman and Sheriff 
 acquired their royalties that it was worked 
 on a scale of any importance. These gentle- 
 men came upon an immense basin or quarry 
 of magnetic ironstone, about 120 feet in thick- 
 ness, and known to all the metallurgists and 
 mineralogists of the North as Rosedale 
 magnetic ore. Among its many other singular 
 properties this stone, although attracted by 
 the magnet, before calcining, will only, with 
 some very rare exceptions, attract iron itself. 
 It contains from 48 to 50 per cent, of metallic 
 iron, whereas the best part of the main seam 
 of the Cleveland ironstone proper contains no 
 more than 33 per cent. The Rosedale ore is 
 thus much more valuable than that of the 
 Cleveland district proper. The magnetic 
 ironstone of Rosedale Abbey has been a fertile 
 subject of discussion among scientific men 
 during the last twenty years. It has been 
 treated on by the late Mr. Nicholas Wood, by 
 Mr. J. Bewick, and by Mr. John Marley, of 
 Darlington ; and it is the subject of an in-
 
 308 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 teresting discussion in Spon's " Dictionary of 
 Engineering," published in 1869. It appears 
 so suddenly and is all at once developed to 
 such an immense thickness that it is unlike 
 anything else of the same kind that has ever 
 been found in the North of England. Opinions 
 differ very materially as to its origin. Mr. 
 Bewick propounded the theory that it was of 
 volcanic origin, but Mr. Isaac Lowthian Bell 
 and other able mineralogists have disputed 
 this idea. In any case, there the wonderful 
 formation is ; and we have mainly to deal 
 with the fact that it has been a source of 
 immense profit to the proprietors. From the 
 time that the present proprietors took pos- 
 session in July, 1864, until midsummer of 
 1870, they had landed about 500,000 tons of 
 the magnetic ore of Rosedale West ; and in 
 the previous three and a-quarter years, from 
 April 1861, about 250,000 tons had been 
 raised. Since, 1870, however, mining opera- 
 tions have been greately extended. New 
 drifts have been opened on the East Rosedale 
 estate, and at the present time the output of 
 ore averages from 2,500 to 3,000 tons per 
 day. 
 
 From the mines at Rosedale to the furnaces 
 at Ferryhill is an easy and natural transition, 
 although much more natural than easy, the 
 stone having to be carried by a route so 
 circuitous as to remind one almost irresist-
 
 JAMES MORRISON. 309 
 
 ably of poor Dick Swiveller's ill-fated attempt 
 to get across the street. There are now eight 
 furnaces erected at Ferryhill, and other two 
 are in course of being built. And such 
 furnaces ! Two of them are 80 feet in height, 
 and 18 feet bosh ; other four are 81 feet 
 high, and 21 feet bosh ; while the remaining 
 two are 103 feet in height, and 31 feet bosh. 
 The two latter are the largest furnaces in the 
 world. Even their great height is, however, 
 to be eclipsed by that of two new furnaces, 
 which will tower to an altitude of 105 feet ! 
 A few parenthetical comments on this subject 
 of blast furnace dimensions may both interest 
 and instruct the reader. 
 
 The first blast furnace built in Cleveland, 
 was like the Staffordshire and Scotch furnaces, 
 carried to the height of only 42 feet. Up to 
 the year 1858 there was a gradual increase 
 in size, the highest furnace then built being 
 56 feet in height, by 16 feet 4 inches bosh. 
 In 1864 Mr. Thomas Vaughan built a furnace 
 81 feet in height and 19 feet bosh. By this 
 time the advantages of an increased height 
 in the blast furnace were scientifically under- 
 stood. It was found at first that the larger 
 furnaces yielded better results than the 
 smaller ones ; but the precise character of 
 these advantages was rather guessed at than 
 strictly formulated. Now it is acknowledged 
 on all hands that it means an economy of fuel
 
 PIONEERS OP THE CLEVELAND IttON TRADE. 
 
 varying from 6 to 10 cwts. of coke, in addition 
 to increasing the production proportionately 
 to the size of the furnace, and improving the 
 quality of the iron, which is now more highly 
 carbonized and more uniformly soft through- 
 out than it formerly was. The discovery of 
 these advantages led to a revolution in blast 
 furnace practice that has had no parallel since 
 the time when Neilson substituted hot for 
 cold blast about 1830. Since 1858, nearly 
 every original furnace built in the Cleveland 
 district has been demolished, and furnaces of 
 nearly double their size, and more than double 
 their capacity, have been erected in their 
 stead. It is difficult to comprehend all that 
 this revolution involved. It represented in 
 the first place an enormous loss in the substi- 
 tution of new for old plant; it led also to 
 the prevalence of incertitude and groping as 
 to possible results which has not yet been 
 completely overcome. There is still a great 
 conflict of opinion as to the effects of high 
 blast furnaces, and the exact height to which 
 they can advantageously be carried. Much 
 depends upon the kind and quality of the 
 burden used in the furnace. Thus, the Dur- 
 ham coal makes exceedingly hard coke, which 
 is capable of bearing a great burden in the 
 blast furnace ; whereas, in Scotland, where 
 splint coal is used in its raw state, all attempts 
 hitherto made to increase the height of the
 
 JAMES MORRISON. 311 
 
 blast furnace have resulted in failure ; excep- 
 tion being made, of course, in favour of 
 Ferrie's self-coking furnace, where the raw 
 coal becomes coked in passing down a series 
 of chambers at the top of the furnace, before 
 reaching the body, where the real work of 
 smelting is done. Mr. Morrison, at the 
 Ferry hill Works, has carried the argument in 
 favour of high blast furnaces to its extremest 
 limits. His 103 feet furnaces are eight feet 
 higher than the next largest furnace in Cleve- 
 land, and when we say Cleveland we mean, 
 of course, the whole world, for nowhere else 
 have blast furnaces been carried to anything 
 like the same height. The results obtained 
 in these monster furnaces have apparently 
 convinced Mr. Morrison that he has not yet 
 reached the limit of height to which furnaces 
 may be built with advantage, seeing that he 
 is now building other two which are to be 
 carried to an altitude of 105 feet. Ironmasters 
 will watch these furnaces with eager interest, 
 many of them being incredulous of the wis- 
 dom which has actuated their construction. 
 The cubical capacity of the new furnaces will 
 be close on 50,000 feet ; that of the first fur- 
 nace built at Middlesbrough by Messrs. 
 Bolckow and Vaughan was only 4,566 feet. 
 Extremes meet here with a vengeance ! But, 
 after all, the increase of height and capacity 
 in the blast furnaces of Cleveland only sym-
 
 312 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 bolises and illustrates the advances made by 
 the district in every phase of material pro- 
 gress within the period under record. 
 
 The weekly production of the eight furnaces 
 now blowing at Ferry hill is about 3,500 tons. 
 When the two new furnaces are blown, the 
 weekly make of pig iron will be little short of 
 5,000 tons per week, or a larger make than 
 any other establishment in the North of 
 England. The works have everything within 
 themselves. They have lately drawn a large 
 portion of their supplies of coke and coal from 
 Thrislington and Coxhoe Collieries, both of 
 which are the property of the company. 
 Limestone is quarried on the company's 
 " liberty" about a couple of miles distant from 
 the works. Loam, sand, and fire clay are 
 also found in abundance on the company's 
 ground, and within easy access of the works. 
 
 But the mechanical appliances of Ferryhill 
 are scarcely less wonderful than the furnaces. 
 The largest blowing cylinder measures 10ft. 
 lOin. by 10ft. 6in., and we are not surprised 
 to learn that it is one of the largest in the 
 world.. Altogether the apparatus that actuate 
 these immense works are on a scale worthy 
 of them ; and it may be said of the concern 
 as a whole that it is a fitting monument to 
 the enterprise of its proprietor. 
 
 Besides his interest in the Rosedale and 
 Ferryhill Iron Company, Mr. Morrison is the
 
 JAMES MORRISON. 313 
 
 owner of collieries in Northumberland and 
 works at Staveley in Derbyshire. He is a 
 partner in the Manvers Main (South York- 
 shire) and the Renishaw (Derbyshire) Iron- 
 works ; and in other ventures of a smaller and 
 less prominent kind he is more or less 
 interested. 
 
 For a number of years Mr. Morrison has 
 been a member of the Newcastle Town Council, 
 and has taken an active part in its deliber- 
 ations. He has filled the civic chair for two 
 successive years. In politics Mr. Morrison is 
 a Radical. This fact will scarcely be credited, 
 perhaps, by those who heard or read a speech 
 which he delivered more than four years ago, 
 at a meeting of the North of England Iron- 
 masters' Association, held in Newcastle. He 
 was reported to have said that technical edu- 
 cation was not for the working classes, that 
 there must be " hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water," and that he liked to see the shoe- 
 maker sticking to his last, and the blacksmith 
 attending to his forge, adding an expression 
 which created some scandal at the time. For 
 this speech Mr. Morrison was severely taken 
 to task by several papers of that day ; 
 but as he afterwards explained it away, we 
 may charitably conclude that it was only 
 an after dinner flourish, and that he holds 
 opinions more in harmony with the genius 
 and instincts of advanced Liberalism. In
 
 "314 PIONEERS OF THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE. 
 
 political movements, as such, Mr. Morrison 
 lias, however, taken little part. Nor has he 
 been prominently identified with any of our 
 learned and scientific societies, although his 
 name will be found on the rolls of the Iron 
 and Steel Institute, of the North of England 
 Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, 
 and of other societies of a kindred character. 
 In 1846, Mr. Morrison was married to Miss 
 Taylor, a daughter of the late Mr. Thomas 
 Taylor, of Earsdon. He has a family of three 
 -sons and two daughters. 

 
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