Editing Middlesbrough (section)

===Iron, steel and ships===
{{further|Bolckow Vaughan|Teesside Steelworks|Dorman Long}}
[[File:Ironopolis wall.JPG|right|thumb|"Where alchemists were born below Cleveland's Hills. A giant blue dragonfly across the Tees reminds us every night.
We built the world, every metropolis came from the Ironopolis." A Poem by Ian Horn.]]
Iron dominated the Tees area since 1841 when [[Henry Bolckow]] in partnership with [[John Vaughan (ironmaster)|John Vaughan]], founded the Vulcan [[iron foundry]] and [[rolling mill]]. Vaughan introduced the new 'Bell Hopper' system of closed blast furnaces developed at the [[Ebbw Vale]] works. The new system and nearby abundant supply of [[Ironstone]] in the [[Eston Nab|Eston Hills]] in 1850, made the works a success with the area becoming known as the "Iron-smelting centre of the world" and [[Bolckow, Vaughan|Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., Ltd]] the largest company in existence at the time.<ref name="ICE">Institution of Civil Engineers, ''Obituary'', 1869.</ref>

By 1851 Middlesbrough's population had grown from 40 people in 1829 to 7,600.<ref name="englandsnortheast.co.uk">{{Cite web |title=Middlesbrough and surrounds: The Birth of Middlesbrough |url=http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/Middlesbrough.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128120931/http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/Middlesbrough.html |archive-date=28 November 2015 |access-date=19 February 2015 |website=englandsnortheast |publisher=David Simpson}}</ref> [[Pig iron]] production rose tenfold between 1851 and 1856 and by the mid-1870s Middlesbrough was producing one third of the entire nation's Pig Iron output. During this time Middlesbrough earned the nickname 'Ironopolis'.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 February 1870 |title=Middlesbrough has sometimes been designated the Ironopolis of the North |work=[[The Northern Echo]]}}</ref><ref name="Ballarat">{{Cite journal |date=Spring 2004 |title=Middlesbrough never ceased to be Ironopolis |journal=Journal of Social History |volume=37 |issue=3 |page=746}}</ref>
[[File:Old Middlesbrough Town Hall 2013.jpg|right|thumb|[[Old Town Hall, Middlesbrough]] in 2013]]
On 21 January 1853 Middlesbrough received its [[Royal Charter|Royal Charter of Incorporation]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Cleveland Police |url=http://www.cleveland.police.uk/about-us/History.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525133410/http://www.cleveland.police.uk/about-us/History.aspx |archive-date=25 May 2011 |access-date=3 April 2011}}</ref> giving the town the right to have a mayor, aldermen and councillors. Henry Bolckow became mayor, in 1853.<ref name="page" />

In the latter half of the 19th century Old Middlesbrough was starting to decline and was overshadowed by developments built around the [[Middlesbrough Town Hall|new town hall]], south of the [[Old Town Hall, Middlesbrough|original town hall]].<ref>Woodhouse, Robert. ''Middlesbrough – A Pictorial History''. (Phillimore & Co. Ltd. Publishing, 1990. {{ISBN|0 85033 743 7}}). illustration no. 48.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=26 January 2019 |title=Middlesbrough Town Hall engraving recreated |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-46976614 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717154016/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-46976614 |archive-date=17 July 2022 |access-date=4 February 2021 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
[[File:Middlesbrough Walk (39216901512).jpg|thumb|Gibson House (Boho Four)]]
On 15 August 1867, a Reform Bill was passed, making Middlesbrough a new parliamentary borough, Bolckow was elected member for Middlesbrough the following year.

The town's rapid expansion continued throughout the second half of the 19th&nbsp;century (fuelled by the iron and steel industry), the population reaching 90,000 by the dawn of the 20th century.<ref name="englandsnortheast.co.uk" />