BORO v Wolverhampton Wanderers
at The Riverside
3.00pm Saturday October 10, 2026 (Sydney – Sunday October 11, 1.00am)

BACK TO THE FUTURE 4

Where did this town come from and what happened to allow the creation of a club that has lasted 150 years. If you walked out into the street, who were the people and what was happening. I went looking for a sense of Middlesbrough in 1876 and decided the best way is to take an imagined  look at a local newspaper and see what they are talking about.

Here is an imagined transcript of the local newspaper in late 1876. Most of the names are real, as are most of the facts throughout the articles – with apologies for any sourcing errors - but there may have been a bit of creative licence taken in one or two spots. Also, my apologies for the lack of design input. 

The more I discovered, the more I was amazed by the story of the town and the people. I’ll come back at the end to carry the story forward a bit further but for now … back to 1876

 
WEEKLY GAZETTE FOR MIDDLESBROUGH, STOCKTON, HARTLEPOOL and CLEVELAND DISTRICT

                EDITION OF SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1876

Editorial

Good day to our esteemed readers and welcome to this edition of your celebrated Middlesbrough & Stockton Gazette and General Advertiser. As regular readers will be aware, our much-respected owner Hugh Gilzean Reid, along with the editorial board, recently took the decision to rename this newspaper as the Weekly Gazette for Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool and Cleveland District. This change recognises the rapid expansion occurring in our town and its surrounding areas. We will be honoured to continue to provide you with a weekly aggregation of news within our expanded local area along with the advertising and the informed commentary to which you have become accustomed.

Concurrent with this expansion of our weekly flagship, our Daily Gazette will continue to bring you daily and national news that will help you keep aware of what is happening in the world around us. This porthole on the world will continue to be available each evening for the very reasonable cost of just one halfpenny.

Finally, we wish to note the arrival of our new commercial manager, Thomas Purvis Ritzema. Thomas Ritzema is a person of great dynamism, and we look forward to a substantial expansion of our newspapers in lockstep with our growing metropolis.

Commentary

How did Middlesbrough arrive at this point and what is the way forward.

Let us take a journey back in time and remind ourselves how this town has reached its current state.

In the census data for 1821, the total population of Middlesbrough was estimated at 25-40 people, centred around four farmhouses. The 1831 census saw this figure edge up to 154 following the start of work on a coal port, but the first explosive growth came in the next decade as the growth of the port and the extension of the Stockton and Darlington railway saw the numbers ‘rocket’ to 5,500 inhabitants by 1841. That figure continued to grow, reaching 7,893 by 1851, as the first industrial blast furnaces opened early in the decade. We must here recognise the success of Henry Bolckov and the late-lamented John Vaughan. Bolckov & Vaughan, the company that they created, is a key foundation to Middlesbrough becoming one of the greatest iron-producing districts in the world.

By 1861, the population was 19,416 and rapid changes drew many people. Many of the new workers were Welsh miners who flocked to Teesside to help unearth our coal and make such a positive impact on our local community with their song.

This expansion prompted the visit in 1862 by William Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who described the town as “a remarkable place, the youngest child as I may call it of England’s enterprise, is an infant, but if an infant, an infant Hercules”.

Middlesbrough was now rolling forward with increased velocity. 1864 saw the North Riding Infirmary open on Newport Road and in 1866 Parliament passed the Middlesbrough Extension and Improvement Act, expanding the boundaries to new areas including Linthorpe and approving a civic building programme. Shortly after, in August 1867, the Reform Bill led to the election of our first MP, Henry Bolckov in 1868.

Clearly, the infant was growing up and nourishing itself so well on a diet of iron and now steel that the most recent 1871 census number totalled 40,000 as more migration happened, particularly from Ireland.

In fact, behind Liverpool, Middlesbrough has the second-highest population of Irish-born residents in the whole country. So extensive was this influx that by 1861 people of Irish origin comprised over 15% and, even with the advent of many people of different backgrounds in recent years, the 1871 tally still shows one tenth of our population to be of Irish origin.

But this is all history, and the question posed at the beginning of this article was “which way forward”. What can this infant grow into?

To sustain this growth, we not only need the jobs for the people but also the many other elements that people need to live their lives.

The iron ore and the coal in the hills will provide the raw materials and we can see industries grow from this cornucopia that nature has provided. Thanks to this pioneering work, Middlesbrough has the chance  to dominate production of pig iron and is likely to represent a significant percentage of national production.

But even more exciting is the development of the steel industry. Last year in 1875 we welcomed Albert De Lande Long and Arthur Dorman who founded Dorman Long and Company and 1876 has already seen a rapid expansion of their ironworks. Who knows where their steel will be sent in the years to come.

Alongside this drive for growth, we must acknowledge two social reforms that have passed through Parliament in recent months. Firstly, the Medical Act 1876 permits medical schools to grant qualifications without distinction of sex. Finally a step forward towards female doctors. Then came the Elementary Education Act 1876 that prevents employment of children under 10, permits local attendance committees to impose school attendance for ages 5-13 and authorises poor law guardians to pay school fees for the poor and destitute.

Sport - Cricket news

National - Victory for Gloucestershire and their champion batsman Dr. W G Grace.

The recent 1876 season was the thirteenth since the legalisation of overarm bowling and we can see the experts listed below.

Gloucestershire reclaimed the unofficial “Champion County” title with 5 wins and three draws out of the eight matches that they played against other counties. None of the other nine counties went unbeaten. Lancashire with five wins and five losses out of ten matches played and Yorkshire with 5 wins, 2 losses and three draws out of their eight matches, were the nearest challengers.

The season saw many first class matches with leading players turning out for teams including The All England Eleven, The Marylebone Cricket Club as well as their counties.

Leading batsmen for the year were
                                  Games   Inns     Runs      Top      Ave      100s 

Dr. W G Grace                 26       46      2,622     344     62.42      7   
Walter Gilbert                 17       27         907     205*    36.28     2  
Richard Daft                   18       30         976       99     34.85      0
Ephraim Lockwood        25       44      1,261     108*    32.33     1
Lord Harris                      17        30         916     154      31.58      1      

Leading bowlers were
                                   Balls    Runs    Wkts     Ave      Best         

William McIntyre          2,752   1,016     89     11.41     7/43   
Alec Watson                 2,161     640     51     12.54     7/61   
William Mycroft            3,091   1,211     95     12.74     9/25   
Arthur Ridley               1,885      705     53     13.30     6/36   
Alfred Shaw               10,526   2,601   191     13.61     8/37   

We wish Alfred Shaw every success on the upcoming tour of Australia and we must be disappointed that Dr. Grace will not be joining him.

Local – Middlesbrough Cricket Club votes to support new venture

After another successful season, Middlesbrough Cricket Club is expanding its horizons as a result of a special meeting held on October 20 in the gymnasium behind the Albert Park Hotel in Linthorpe Road. The meeting was called following an invitation from Frederick (Fred) Thompson, a well-known member of the club. Fred Thompson spoke strongly in favour of creating a football club as an offshoot of Middlesbrough Cricket Club. He suggested that the discipline involved in training for the winter football season would be of distinct and lasting benefit for those cricketers who sought a way to remain fit during their off-season from cricket.

The motion brought forth many opinions from the members present with strong support for the idea from Jackson Ewbank and Charles Booth who, along with Fred Thompson are known to themselves to be accomplished footballers. Finally, interventions from a new Welsh member Dai Asbrough, supported by Mr Jack O’Finn and Doctor Emmett Brown helped carry the day and the meeting agreed to support the creation of a football club to be called Middlesbrough Football Club, or Middlesbrough Association.

Further to these changes, a further meeting to elect officers will be held shortly at the Talbot Hotel and there will be a practice match for interested players to be held in Albert Park. Details will be published in the Daily Gazette.

New housing in Middlesbrough

With the influx of new workers to Middlesbrough’s booming iron and steel industries, there is a clear need for housing to be made available for the new members of our community. Based on the 1875 Public Health Act, there has been a great deal of terrace housing built using the Two-Up, Two-Down standard, each with their own outside toilets.

We can see the changes as Linthorpe rapidly turns from rural farmland into a desirable tree-lined suburb. Terraces for workers, close to the industries and the River Tees, are currently priced at Pds150 to Pds300 with villa-style end of terrace and detached housing on the main streets and avenues fetching up to Pds500.

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There ends the 1876 newspaper.  There is lots more 1876 flavour one could add – maybe an ad from a bookshop selling the books of the year - but it is already getting very self-indulgent.
 
For me, when I look back at the history of Middlesbrough and Teesside, there is a single observation and a single question.

The observation is to note how quickly Middlesbrough transformed into an industrial powerhouse and how unlimited were the horizons at that time.

The question that is “why didn't Middlesbrough become the fifth or sixth most important city in the country”. Iron and steel flourished but maybe there wasn’t enough in support of these industries. I deliberately didn’t pursue this question and don’t know the answer, but it could be an interesting topic for a sidebar discussion on the blog.

We know the ongoing football history of the club. Following on from the foundation in 1876 there were the battles with Middlesbrough Ironopolis, the turn professional, the reversion to amateurism and the victories in the FA Amateur Cup in 1892 and 1895 and then finally joining the Football League in 1899. Both World Wars slammed the door on possible league titles, and we have the League Cup to hang onto.

So, let us finally get to the point; an introduction to the upcoming Championship match against Wolves, a team also celebrating 150 years of existence. I will say straight away that I think that it is too early to talk about tactics and possible lineups. We need to see who has returned fit from the international break and who has prospered from this ‘second pre-season’. Boro have seven players away and a number who need work on fitness and a chance to integrate tactically into the squad.

Wolves have 11 players away and another four or five who would have been selected but for injury. Let’s wait and see who is available and how they will play but they have a great squad that, like Boro, hasn’t totally hit its straps.

Looking at the broader view, we can clearly recognise Wolves as one of our direct competitors for an automatic promotion spot. That makes it important that we don’t lose ground when we play them. A win would be wonderful, but a draw wouldn’t be the worst result. This is a game that will reveal a great deal about the power of the two clubs, and we must hope that Boro can settle down, get a result and win a run of games.

Here’s to the next 150 years.

UTB

PS  The tour to Australia aw the very first test match between the two countries. 1876 really was a remarkable year at the heart of change and growth in all areas.