The Ironmaster
Henry Bolckow
Bolckow may have been born in in Germany but he witnessed the birth of Middlesbrough and became its first ever Mayor.
Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow was born in 1806 in Sulten, Germany. He was privately eductated and, as his father desired a commercial career for his son, he began work as a clerk in a Merchant's Office in Rostock. While working there he made acquaintance with Christian Allhusen who had a brother living and working in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. A short while after moving to Newcastle to join his brother, Christian invited Bolckow to join him, and Bolckow began working in the corn trade, amassing a small fortune for himself.
During this time he met his future wife Miriam Hay, who's sister was courting a man named John Vaughan with whom Bolckow became firm friends. Vaughan was an Ironworker originally from Worcester, and as Bolckow was tiring from the corn trade, Vaughan encouraged Bolckow to invest in the Iron industry.
After becoming acquainted with Joseph Pease (and with encouragement from him) Bolckow and Vaughan purchased some land in Middlesbrough and work began in early 1840 on the Vulcan Street Iron works which opened in August 1841. Initially the ironworks relied on imported pig iron and by early 1846 more than 20,000 tonnes of iron were being manufactured at the Vulcan St works using pig iron imported from Scotland.
In 1846 Bolckow and Vaughan opened the Witton Park works - about 20 miles west of Middlesbrough - where local ironstone from Whitby could be smelted in blast funraces to produce the pig iron for the Vulcan Street works. This was very costly to the company however, as the ironstone first had to be shipped from Whitby to Middlesbrough, then transported by train to Witton park to produce the pig iron which was then transported by rail back to Middlesbrough.
In 1850 however, Vaughan and his surveyor discovered large quantities of ironstone in the Eston hills. Bolckow and Vaughan opened a small branch railway to allow then to transport the ironstone to their ironworks and as a result Middlesbrough entered a period of rapid growth both in population and industry.
In 1853 it was decided that Middlesbrough had reached a size where Town Comissioners should be superceded by a Mayor and councillors elected by the public. Bolckow was elected to be one of the councillors and was unanimously voted to become the town's first mayor as a way of thanks for his part in the developnment of Middlesbrough. He retired form being Mayor in 1854 but remained a councillor for the town until 1856 when he resigned. He also became Middlesbrough's first MP at age 61, and always communicated the views of his constituents despite his own personal opinion.
Henry Bolckow lived for a period of time at Marton Hall in Middlesbrough. He built the hall on the old site of Marton Lodge which had burned down (the birhtplace of Captain James Cook). He also decided to donate a park to the town of Middlesbrough as a means of thanks to the people who had worked for him. The park was named Albert park after the Prince consort Albert who was a Prussian like himself, and the park was officially opened to the public in 1868. Bolckow died in June of 1878 and was buried at ST Cuthbert's Church Marton where his gravestone can still be visited.
Submitted by: Vicky Harper, 24 July 2006
