South Bank Iron Co (1881)
1881 Imperial Ironworks, South Bank, closed.
1881 The South Bank Iron Company Limited (no 16198) was registered to acquire the Imperial Ironworks.[1] They took possession of the works from the liquidator on 1 Dec 1881. Capital of £25,000 had been privately subscribed. The new company comprised “Messrs Hornsby, Willis and other Middlesbrough gentlemen”. G B Willis, former secretary of Jackson, Gill and Co., was appointed managing director. James Hill appointed works manager. The works was described as a forge train with 40 furnaces and 3 finishing mills, and a capacity of 400-500 tons per week. A later report suggests that the purchase price was £20,000.[2] The works restarted on 19 December 1881, a ceremony being performed by the wife of Mr Hornsby.[3] It is believed that the directors included Mr G. G. Hornsby and James Hornsby.
1883 Grainger George Hornsby (director) died suddenly on 5 Feb 1883 aged 42.[4]
1883 On 15 March it was reported that the works had been stopped and trading suspended. About 300 men were thrown out of work.[5] A winding up order was made by the Court on 7 Apr 1883.[6]
1883 By order of the court, the works were offered for sale at auction on 10 Jul 1883.[7] No sale was made, but it was reported later that month that one of the members of the South Bank Iron Works Company, a Mr Coulthard of London had made an offer to buy the works for 10s per pound. This was accepted at a meeting of the creditors and shareholders on 26 July.[8]
It was expected that Mr Coulthard would put together a syndicate to own and operate the works, but this did not happen and the works continued to stand idle. In Jan 1887 it was reported that Coulthard was minded to sell the site. However, with good reason based on developments nearby, he was convinced that the site was underlain by a good bed of rock salt. He instructed John Vivian of the Cumberland Diamond Boring and Tunnelling Co to drill a borehole close to the works.
1887 On 10 Feb, "the freehold iron rolling mills known as the Imperial Ironworks" was offered for sale at auction in London at an upset price of £17,500. It was offered as a “going concern” which was perhaps stretching a point![9]
1887 Salt was struck on 7 July.[10] Engineering magazine later reported that 'The boring at the Imperial Iron Works, South Bank, Middlesbrough, is now completed; two beds of salt, one 82 ft. thick and one 14 ft. thick, have been passed through, the total depth of the boring being 1692 ft.'[11] This discovery came quite late in the rush to develop the South Durham and Cleveland salt deposits and no immediate action was taken to exploit this find.
1887 In October, the plant, gear and material of the works was put up for auction in lots. Included were the forge, 51 puddling and mill furnaces, and 3 iron mills.[12]
1888 The brickworks, with machinery, was offered separately for rent.[13]
1890 Reports and adverts show that the works was in the process of being dismantled.
The East Middlesbrough Salt Company Limited was registered in 1890 to buy the Imperial Ironworks site and to extract and manufacture salt. They negotiated a price, which included the tenanted brickworks, of £32,000. The prospectus was issue on 25 Jul 1890 (and confirmed Mr John Coulthard as the vendor) but nothing seems to have come of this, presumably insufficient capital having been subscribed. The company was struck from the register and dissolved by order of the Registrar on 15 Aug 1893 and the salt was never extracted.[14]
In 1906 it was reported that the North-Eastern Railway had purchased the site with a view to establishing an engine cleaning shed there, but nothing was built.
The site is now occupied by modern industry and, with a nice nod to its history, is called Imperial Park. One of the occupiers is the Imperial Park Anaerobic Digestion Plant.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ See also Board of Trade file BT 31/2909/16198, National Archives, Kew
- ↑ Northern Weekly Gazette - 26 Nov 1881 and Midland & Northern Coal & Iron Trades Gazette - 21 Dec 1881
- ↑ Edinburgh Evening News - 20 Dec 1881
- ↑ Northern Echo - 6 Feb 1883
- ↑ Shields Daily News - 15 Mar 1883
- ↑ London Gazette – 20 Apr 1883
- ↑ London Gazette – 15 Jun 1883 and Northern Echo – 5 Jul 1883
- ↑ Northern Echo - 27 Jul 1883
- ↑ Newcastle Evening Chronicle - 31 Jan 1887
- ↑ Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough - 8 Jul 1887
- ↑ Engineering 1887/07/29
- ↑ Northern Weekly Gazette - 17 Sept 1887
- ↑ North Star (Darlington) - 9 Mar 1888
- ↑ London Gazette – 15 Aug 1893