Middlesbrough's Steel Magnates: Business, Culture and Participation
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University of Huddersfield Repository Warwick, Thomas ‘Middlesbrough’s Steel Magnates: Business, Culture and Participation: 1880-1934’ Original Citation Warwick, Thomas (2014) ‘Middlesbrough’s Steel Magnates: Business, Culture and Participation: 1880-1934’. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/27859/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. 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For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ ‘Middlesbrough’s Steel Magnates: Business, Culture and Participation: 1880-1934’ Thomas (Tosh) Warwick A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2014 Abstract In assessing the rapid emergence of Middlesbrough as a nineteenth century ‘boom town’, Asa Briggs’ seminal Victorian Cities pointed to the centrality of the early businessmen and industrialists in the growth of ‘a new community’.1 The Quaker pioneers and the early ironmasters established the manufacturing basis of mid-Victorian Middlesbrough and dominated the Ironopolis’ early business associations, municipal institutions and political organisations. In contrast to the leading mid-century industrialists at the heart of urban governance in the manufacturing town, Briggs contended that the second and third generations of industrialist families failed to fill the void left behind by their retired or deceased fathers, instead abandoning the urban sphere and following the pattern of other English businessmen by choosing to live in the country rather than the town. This apparent urban ‘withdrawal’ aligned with what Wiener has considered a ‘decline in the industrial spirit’ amidst the adoption of a gentrified lifestyle, has been assumed rather than proven, with little exploration of the spatial dynamics of the industrial elites’ interactions with urban space.2 This thesis challenges the extent of elite ‘withdrawal’ by assessing wider spheres of urban governance hitherto underexplored, contributing an improved understanding of the wider social dynamic of urban life and industrial elites with emphasise on challenging the extent of declining urban engagement. Drawing upon newly accessible archival evidence and focusing on late nineteenth and early twentieth century Middlesbrough as a case study, it is contended that this period, most closely associated with declining urban engagement, was instead one of realignment and reconfiguration of urban authority and industrialist participation. By exploring the composition and makeup of Middlesbrough’s charitable, commercial, civic and cultural life during this period, it will be shown how country house- 1 Briggs, A. Victorian Cities (London, 1963), pp.254-257 2 Wiener, M.J. English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit (London, 1981) 2 residing elites continued to be engaged with the industrial centre and played an important role by establishing new infrastructure, institutions and organisations. Moreover, through exploring the hitherto underexplored semi-private realm of Middlesbrough’s steel magnates beyond the town in their country estates and the surrounding villages of the North Yorkshire countryside, it is argued the country house and rural sphere served as arenas for extending interactions with urban interests spanning business, associational, cultural and philanthropic activity. 3 Contents Abstract 2 List of Figures 4 Acknowledgements 5 Chapter 1: Introduction 6 Chapter 2: The Setting: Middlesbrough’s industrial and demographic development 33 Chapter 3: Steel Magnates and the evolution of Middlesbrough’s political culture 48 Chapter 4: Business Activities and development, expansion and ‘decline’ at Dorman Long 74 Chapter 5: Business Associations and Employers’ Organisations 110 Chapter 6: Company Paternalism and Individual Philanthropy 154 Chapter 7: The culture and residential patterns of elite engagement 213 Chapter 8: Conclusion 246 Bibliography 256 List of Figures Figure 1: Sir Hugh Bell and Sir Arthur Dorman 23 Figure 2: Early Middlesbrough ironworks and the River Tees, 1860 37 Figure 3: Cleveland Iron Production, 1852-1861 38 Figure 4: The ‘Political Cartoon’, North Eastern Daily Gazette, 26 September 1900 58 Figure 5: Occupational analysis of Alderman and Councillors, 1852-1888 64 Figure 6: Sir Arthur Dorman, Sir Hugh Bell and Lawrence Ennis at Sydney 97 Figure 7: The Prince of Wales during the visit to the Britannia Works, 1930 103 Figure 8: The Royal Exchange Buildings 111 Figure 9: Presidents of the Middlesbrough Chamber of Commerce, 1873-1939 132 Figure 10: North Riding Infirmary Presidents, Vice Presidents, Trustees, 1908-1936 166 Figure 11: The Winter Garden 201 Figure 12: Extract of the Subscription List for the Winter Garden, 1907 203 Figure 13: Opening of the Dorman Museum, July 1904 207 Figure 14: “When will it pass?”, The Dominie, July 1876 222 Figure 15: Rounton Grange, c.1915 224 Figure 16: Map showing Grey Towers and Marton Hall’s proximity to railway, 1894-95 226 Figure 17: Distance of councillor Middlesbrough ironmasters’ residence, 1853-1888 228 Figure 18: Map of Grey Towers showing Golden Wedding Celebration plan, 1923 234 4 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the support of the Arts and Humanities Collaborative Doctoral Studentship Award programme and I would like to place on record my gratitude to the AHRC. I would like to acknowledge the assistance I have received from the Economic History Society in supporting research trips in the UK and Australia, and also place on record my gratitude for the support received from the staff and postgraduates in the History Department of the University of Huddersfield, including my Personal Tutor, Professor Keith Laybourn, and Professor Paul Ward, who was Internal Examiner of this thesis. Special mention goes to Professor Barry Doyle who throughout my time in West Yorkshire has been a leading figure of encouragement, advice and a font of knowledge. Duncan Stone, Daniel Travers and Christine Verguson too have constantly been on hand with advice and good humour. I am grateful for the assistance provided by the staff of the various archives and libraries that I have visited in carrying out research for this thesis, in particular the staff at Teesside Archives who have been on hand in providing access to material and assisting with queries. I am also indebted to the various conference participants who have provided invaluable feedback on earlier versions of this work, including Professor Bob Morris, Professor Richard Rodger and Dr Shane Ewen, who also served as External Examiner. Colleagues at Middlesbrough Council have also been supportive of my research during my time working on the HLF Tees Transporter Bridge Visitor Experience Project. My friends and family have provided encouragement over the years to continue to pursue my passion for history, for which I extremely grateful. I am especially thankful to Ellen for her patience and support in completing this study. I dedicate this thesis to my late uncle, Neil Harvey, and grandparents Mary and Hugh (Paddy) Boyle, all of whom passed away during the completion of this work. This work would not have been possible without their support over the decades. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction: Urban elites and the industrial town in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Middlesbrough experienced rapid growth and transformation in the nineteenth century beyond comparison with anywhere else in Britain, at the heart of which were the industrialists that founded the initial coal export industry before the ironmasters manufacturing concerns boomed and brought and influx of workers and entrepreneurs to a town. In 1801 Middlesbrough was nothing more than a small hamlet yet a century later had a population exceeding one hundred thousand that brought vast changes to the infrastructure, power structures and economy of the locality. The iron manufacturing centred development of Middlesbrough in the mid nineteenth century saw the ironmasters play a central role in the early economic development and government of the town as well as the economic development of the town. Asa Briggs’ seminal Victorian Cities charted the growth of the new community at Middlesbrough and in doing so pointed to a late nineteenth century shift in the dynamics of authority, influence and power, contending: The sheer growth of the town made it more and more difficult for either one man or a group of families to control it…there were many signs that the will to control of the ironmasters was being blunted as they followed the pattern of other English businessmen and chose to live in the country rather than in the town…neither the children nor the managers who succeeded them in their works, when