Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow [Bölckow], MP (8 December 1806 – 18 June 1878) was a Victorian industrialist, acknowledged as being one of the 'fathers' of modern Middlesbrough.
Bolckow, the son of Heinrich Bölckow of Varchow, in the region of Western Pomerania, and his wife, Caroline Dussher, was born at Sulten, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg. His parents placed 15 year old Henry in a merchant's office in nearby Rostock in order to learn about commerce. There he made the acquaintance of Christian Allhusen,[1] who, in 1827, invited him to move to Newcastle-on-Tyne to become his business partner in the corn trade.[2]
He became a naturalised British subject in 1841 and was persuaded by the ironmaster of the Walkergate works in Newcastle, John Vaughan, to invest in the burgeoning iron trade. At the suggestion of Joseph Pease they set up their first iron foundry and rolling mill at Vulcan Street, Middlesbrough, where they processed pig iron imported from Scotland. In 1846 the pair opened ironworks at Witton Park, 20 miles (32 km) to the west of the town, where ironstone from Grosmont, could be smelted in blast furnaces to produce the pig iron for the Vulcan Street works.[3]
Excessive transport costs arising from this operation led them to start looking closer to home for their raw materials. In the end they found what they were looking for on their own doorstep. In 1850, Vaughan and his geologist, John Marley, discovered large seams of iron ore at Eston, in the nearby Cleveland Hills. A year later they commenced mining and a branch railway line was built to transport the raw iron to Middlesbrough.[4]
The rapid success of their business enabled them to expand their operations, acquiring coal mines, limestone quarries, brickworks, gasworks and a machine works. By 1868, Middlesbrough was producing four million tons of iron per year and the town's population had risen to 40,000. It became a centre of such importance that, in 1853, the town received a charter of incorporation, Bolckow becoming its first elected Mayor, with Vaughan following two years later.
Bolckow was aware that the townsfolk worked long hours and lived in cramped conditions. He spent £20,000 purchasing and landscaping 70 acres (280,000 m2) of land near the town centre in order to create a free public park for them. Albert Park was opened on 11 August 1868 and named in memory of Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, who, like Bolckow, was a Prussian. The following year he also spent £7,000 of his own money on the erection of a school in the St Hilda's district of the town.
When the town was granted parliamentary representation under the Representation of the People Act 1867, Bolckow stood as a Liberal Party candidate. Bolckow was elected unopposed as its first Member of Parliament (MP) on 16 November 1868, and he held that position for 10 years until his death.[5] In 1871, the firm of Bolckow & Vaughan was formed into a limited liability company with a capital of £3,500,000, Bolckow becoming its first chairman.
The introduction of the Bessemer process in the 1850s and the subsequent mass production of both mild steel and hardened tooling steel impacted greatly on the iron manufacturers. The new process could produce metals for 10% of the cost of the old methods. The firm of Bolckow & Vaughan were slow to adapt, mainly because the local iron ore had a high phosphorus content detrimental to steel production, and by the late 1870s the town was suffering a major economic downtown with unemployment running very high. In 1875 a rival firm, Dorman Long, was setup in the Middlesbrough area, producing steel from imported iron.
In 1877 Bolckow became ill, suffering from kidney disease. In May 1878 he was taken to Ramsgate, where it was thought the sea air would do him good. He made a temporary recovery but had a relapse and died on June 18 at the Granville Hotel in the resort. He was 71. He was buried at St Cuthbert's Church, Marton, near to where his friend and partner Vaughan had been buried ten years before (9 September 1868). Their gravestones can still be seen in St Cuthbert's graveyard and, after falling into disrepair after a number of years of neglect, were restored in early 2009.
Henry was twice married. In 1841, he married a widow Miriam Hay, whose sister was married to Vaughan (indeed it's thought the men met while they were courting the sisters). Miriam died the following year and Henry remarried in 1851, when he wed Harriet, only daughter of James Farrar, of Halifax.
In his lifetime, Bolckow collected paintings, nearly all of them by living French and English artists.[6] A statue commemorating Henry Bolckow stands in Middlesbrough's Exchange Square diagonally opposite the railway station (see picture above).
During his spell as Mayor, Bolklow erected a granite urn dedicated to Captain James Cook in the grounds of his residence, Marton Hall, near to the reputed former site of the cottage in which Cook was born. The Hall burnt down in 1960, but the urn remains in what is now Stewart Park, which also contains the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum. Bolckow's Mastiff, Lady Marton (former resident of the estate, but sold because of her hunting proclivities to breeder George Cook) became one of the foundation bitches of the modern breed.[7]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Bölckow, Henry William Ferdinand". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough 1868–1878 |
Succeeded by Isaac Wilson |