Midland Iron Company
My research, so far, has revealed little about Midland Iron Company in Rotherham. It seems to have been founded in 1844 and the works were situated between Union Street, Wortley Road, Midland Street and Kimberworth Road at Masbrough, a site behind St Paul's church. A branch line of the railway ran right into the factory yard. It has gone now but I don't know when it went.
I've found a picture of one of their private railway wagons which indicates they produced wrought iron bars and hoops. They also produced bricks using the iron waste.
I've also found a report of a disaster that took place in their works on 7 December 1862. I shall keep looking for more.
The Midland Iron Works Disaster
On Wednesday 7th December 1862 at 6.45am in the morning the main boiler at the Midland Iron Works exploded. A normal shift was working with about 160 men and boys in the factory when the explosion propelled the boiler into the mill and wrecked it. The noise was deafening and the force ripped the roof off. Debris of iron, together with red hot bricks, slates and timbers came raining down on the men inside, whilst the exploding bricks blasted across a wide area outside.
It was still dark but a pother of steam and dust arose and spread out. Men who had been outside the factory described this as a 'thick darkness'. Inside there was panic with the workers running about unsure of what to do and trying to escape from the building which was still burning in places. Men were buried underneath the rubble, some dead and some injured.
The manager works Mr B Hartley organised the rescue. Other boilers which may have posed further dangers were turned off and rescue parties went in to find the injured and bring out the dead. Five bodies were laid at at the adjacent Butcher's Arms: two more died shortly of their injuries. Doctors arrived to tend the injuries and nine of the worst injured were carried to the Masbrough train station and sent by train to Sheffield where they were removed to the General Infirmary (Rotherham at this time did not have a major hospital). Some were so badly injured they were not expected to survive. Wives and families rushed from surrounding streets fearing the worst.
I've found the names of seven of the dead but I am not sure about any others:-
- John Fitzgerald, puddler, 20, single.
- George Copley, labourer, married, one child.
- William Carboys, roller, single.
- Joseph Adams, puddler, married and a family.
- William Cawthorne, roller.
- John Cawthorne, roller.
- John Ellis, roller.
The severity of this accident brought home to the people of Rotherham the need for a hospital in the town. Fundraising began which eventually resulted in the building of Doncaster Gate Hospital opened in 1872.
Midland Iron Company ran a Workers' Benevolent fund (not sure I have exactly the right name) but they were generous donors to Doncaster Gate Hospital in the days before the NHS.