Child of John and Sarah Hanson

01. William Hanson, JP

1837 Q3 b. Staindrop, Durham GRO index; censuses
1841 living in Staindrop with his father, his widowed aunt, a female servant, and two apprentices TNA: HO 107/306/9 f28 p15
1851/1853 of Staindrop; at Bootham Old York Scholars' Association (1971) Bootham School Register. London: Oyez Press
1851 scholar, of Bootham, St Giles, York HO 107/2353 f231 p32
1861 merchant's clerk, living in Staindrop with his father, his aunt, two house servants, and a shop assistant TNA: RG 9/3717 f73 p9
1865 Q2 m. Jane Russell (1841–1928, b. Darlington, Durham), in Knaresborough RD GRO index; censuses; Old York Scholars' Association (1971) Bootham School Register. London: Oyez Press; John Moyer family tree gives 1865-06-08, Christ Church, Harrogate, but without giving a source
Children: Sarah (1867 – after 1901), Ethel (1868–1956), Ernest (1870–1885), and John Russell (1872–1910), all b. Middlesbrough, Yorkshire GRO index; censuses
1871 manager of iron works, living with his family at 6 Southfield Villas, Middlesbrough RG 10/4894 f23 p40
1873-03-15 a director of Samuelson and Co., Newport Ironworks, Middlesbrough Darlington & Richmond Herald
1875-07-08 Northern Weekly Gazette
1877-07-27 ironmaster, of Middlesbrough; liquidator of the Cleveland Iron Store Company (Limited) Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 1877-07-31
1879-08-19 ironmaster, Liberal; among appointments to the Middlesbrough bench York Herald
1880-03-29 ironmaster, of Southfield Villas; nominated for election as a Guardian of the Middlesbrough Union Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough
1881 ironmaster, living at 6 Southfield Villas, Middlesbrough, with his family, his niece Emma R. Walton, a cook, a house maid, a nurse, and a kitchen maid RG 11/4852 f6 p4
1881-07-07

"Mr. William Hanson, manager of the firm of Messrs. Samuelson and Co's Newport Iron Works, has been deputed to confer with the Scotch ironmasters on the subject of restricting the output of pig iron.

York Herald
1883-10-29 ironmaster, of Middlesbrough, elected as a Tees Commissioner, by Middlesbrough payers of dues Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 1883-10-30
1885-02-04 of Southfield Villas, Middlesbrough, at the date of the death of his son Ernest in Hemel Hempstead Yorkshire Evening Press, 1885-02-06
1885-11-18 iron master, of Middlesbrough, North Riding, Yorkshire, sole executor of his father's will National Probate Calendar
1890-04-22 iron master, of Middlesbrough-on-Tees; a director of the Parcocha Iron Ore and Railway Company (Limited) Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail
1891 iron-master, employer, living at 6 Southfield Villas, Middlesbrough, with his family, a cook, a parlour-maid, a house-maid, and a visitor RG 12/4010 f128 p29
1891-20-06 iron master; witnessed his daughter's marriage to Jacob Marriage, at Martin in Cleveland pc parish register
1892-05-25 of Sir Bernhard Samuelson and Co. Darlington North Star
1894-01-19 J.P.; presided at a meeting of the Middlesbrough Charity Ball Committee Darlington North Star, 1894-01-20
1894-04-30

STEEL FROM CLEVELAND ORE. SUCCESS IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

Mr William Hanson, well known in connection with Sir B. Samuelson and Co.'s works at Newport, Middlesbrough, in proposing "The Trade of the District" at a complimentary dinner to Major Johnson on Monday night at the Cleveland Club, Middlesbrough, made some interesting and highly important remarks respecting the trade prospects in Cleveland. He did not think in a district like theirs they had anything to fear as to the future. There were one or two points which gave those who were deeply interested in its trade confidence. Sir Joseph Pease a few months ago made some remarks which were reported as alluding to a certain new discovery which was about to be perfected. He was present at that meeting, and what Sir Joseph stated was that if from their own native ores they could make good steel suitable for rails why could they not carry the process a little further and make their native pig iron into good steel suitable not only for rails, but for plates from which their friend Major Ropner would be glad to build girders, wire billets, tin bars, and all other purposes for which steel was adapted. It was no new discovery. It could be done, and was being accomplished not only in England, but by our German competitors to a much greater extent than in England. It, however, was simply a question of cost, and they had reason to believe that there were new schemes on foot, well-known processes which would be brought to such a commercial success as would enable them to make from their own native ores those great products of steel which would have the markets of the world. They had to deal with pure ores and pure pig iron of Spanish hematites as against native ores and pig iron, which required certain processes of manipulation to rid them of impurities and to make them good and pure steel, and he thought it was only a question of time—perhaps much shorter than some were aware of—before Cleveland would be a self-contained steel producing district. In spite of drawbacks the trade of the district was steadily progressing. What Cleveland suffered from was the want of more trades than the iron and steel trades, but he was pleased to find that detail trades were being brought amongst them gradually but surely. New wireworks were being erected which would be equal to any works in Europe. The galvanising sheet-works of Mr R. P. Dorman were being largely extended, and they now had the salt industry, from which they might naturally expect a consequent development in the chemical trade.—Major Ropner, in responding, said there was no doubt that the volume of trade was improving, but unfortunately there was no money in it. His firm had done an immense volume of trade during the past two or three years, but on examining their balance-sheets at the end of the year they found that whilst they had been trying to keep their position and to keep their workmen employed, on the other hand they had been doing philanthropic work by benefiting the consumer at the expense of their own pockets. He trusted that workmen would exercise a reasonable spirit towards their employers, and that the Miners' Federation would follow the example of Northumberland and Durham by seeking to establish Boards of Conciliation.

Northern Weekly Gazette, 1894-05-04
1895-10-29 ironmaster, of Middlesbrough, elected as a Tees Commissioner, by Middlesbrough payers of dues Shields Daily Gazette, 1895-10-30
1897-01-15 of Southend, Middlesbrough; wrote to the Daily Gazette re the proposed scheme by the Imperial Tramways Company Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 1897-01-15
1897-10-26 retired as a Tees Commissioner Northern Echo, 1897-10-05
1899-05-06 of Southend, Middlesbrough; d. Middlesbrough RD GRO index; National Probate Calendar

A MIDDLESBROUGH CITIZEN.

Yesterday a gloom fell upon Middlesbrough Exchange, such as it happily has not witnessed for many years. No check in business or commercial disaster was the cause. Even in the busiest and the most exciting of times the enterprising merchants sometimes find their thoughts directed from money-making schemes. The hush which passed over the great market-place and its surroundings yesterday telling of a sudden change of mental occupation was due to a feeling of keen sympathy with a smitten friend and to an acute sense of impending loss. For the news had obtained currency that Mr William Hanson, who had shown no signs of previous illness, had been prostrated by an apoplectic shock, and than an early fatal result was anticipated. The feeling of gloom produced by the tidings of the illness of one of the best-known and mist highly-respected members of the Exchange is confirmed and accentuated to-day. For the fatal issue was was feared from the first, on account of the severity of the attack, has occurred, and Middlesbrough and Tees-side to-day, keenly conscious of their own impoverishment, are reverently sympathising with the family who have lost their loved and honoured head.

Though he was born in Staindrop, Mr William Hanson was pre-eminently a Middlesbrough man. He began his business career in the office of Messrs Pease, in Darlington, but in 1864 he removed to the new and rapidly-growing town on the Tees to take an important place in connection with the works of Samuelson and Co. During the 35 years that elapsed since his advent to Ironopolis he became increasingly a part of the rising town—at once one of its makers and once of its products. In 1872 he was assumed as one of the partners of the firm, and when the business was converted into a company concern in 1887 he was appointed managing director. During the whole period of his connection with the firm, remarkable progress has been experienced. For many years the name of Sir Bernhard Samuelson and Co. has not only been a household word on Tees-side and throughout the North of England, but has been known and held in respect wherever in the wide world the iron trade is carried on. The services Mr Hanson rendered were substantial and enduring, and the latest triumphs of his management—the introduction of the coke ovens and a new by-product plant—give the promise of assured prosperity for many years to come. He was known and valued as an able man of business, prompt to take occasion by the hand; resolute-minded, too, for where he set his heart he placed his hand; but strictly scrupulous withal, and commanding the confidence enjoyed by the man whose word is known to be as good as his bond. Moreover, with all his eagerness to achieve for his firm industrial and manufacturing successes, he was always keenly concerned for the welfare of the staff and of the workmen. He made his colleagues his devoted personal friends, and in every department of the vast works he superintended his character and his example created and fostered a healthful and beautiful "esprit de corps." Happily, in not a few of the great business establishments on the side of the Tees a feeling of pride in the service is general. During the whole period of Mr Hanson's connection with the business of which he was the managing director, that feeling has been keen and strong, and at no time keener and stronger than it is to-day. When you meet a workman who tells you he is in Samuelson's, you are made to feel he is conscious of giving himself a good character—of presenting a certain claim to respect, if not of envy. His business aptitude and energy brought to Mr Hanson many demands on his services. Among other duties he was led to undertake were those of directorships in the North Brancepeth Colliery Company, in Wilson, Spence, and Co., of the Bishopley Limestone Quarries, in Sadler and Co;, in the Scottish Widows' Fund, and various other concerns. He was, however, always first and foremost Mr Hanson of Samuelson's—a pre-eminent reputation that everywhere secured for him no small amount of consideration and even of deference.

A manager-director who won the confidence and devotion of his colleagues by his generosity and loyalty, and who strove to inspire a feeling of pride among the workmen employed in the vast undertakings he controlled, could not be other than a public-spirited man. In many ways Mr Hanson identified himself with the public life of Middlesbrough and of Tees-side. For some time he served in the Council, and although it cannot be said that he found his surroundings in that body when he was a member of it altogether congenial, he never ceased to be keenly concerned in municipal affairs, and he never failed to show a lively sympathy with the aims and efforts of his friend Mr Hugh Bell. Similarly with respect to education. He did not enter the School Board, but he closely followed its work. He ardently sympathised with Mr Bell's educational ideas, and at election times he actively exerted himself to secure a large vote for the educational reformer who has for many years made it his aim not merely to elevate the Board schools, but to provide a ladder leading from them to the High School and to the Universities, and to bring, as far as possible, the opportunity for University training to the homes of the people, and within the reach of the comparatively poor. Born in a Quaker family, and brought up in close connection with the Peases, who have for generations occupied in the North of England an honourable place, both in politics and philanthropy, Mr Hanson early in life attached himself to the Liberal party. It was one of his great joys that, as chairman of the Cleveland Liberals, he was able to render assistance to his friend Mr Henry Fell Pease. In 1886, however, he found it impossible to accept Mr Gladstone's Home Rule policy, and from that date he identified himself with the Unionist cause. He played no unimportant part in the social life of the district. As chairman of the Cleveland Club he was foremost in service to that institution, which has for years past afforded homely shelter and opportunities for relaxation and recreation for the hard-working industrial leaders and manufacturers of Tees-side. Another department of service in which he worked with conspicuous advantage to the public, and to which he adhered with patriotic devotion till the day of his death, was in connection with the Tees Conservancy Commission. The important developments which that body have now in hand were due in no small measure to Mr Hanson's initiation. He looked forward with the liveliest anticipation to the ceremonies arranged for next month, and his untimely death will qualify the jubilation of not a few of his old colleagues when, on the 2nd of June next the first sod of the works on the south side of the river is cut, and when the foundation-stone of the new offices in Middlesbrough is laid. Conspicuous among all his public services, however, was his devotion to the North Riding Infirmary. He retained to the last the philanthropic spirit which pre-eminently characterises the Quaker community from which he sprung. Avoiding all ostentation he made the officials and governors of that institution sensible of his abiding and generous friendship, and he prized as a high honour the vice-presidency which some time ago was conferred upon him. In the later years of his life he became associated with the Church of England, worshipping sometimes at Linthorpe, but more frequently at Marton. His life as a Middlesbrough man was full of active graciousness. He was proud of the town of his adoption, and strove in many spheres to promote its good name. The town, on its part, was proud of its devoted son, and by all sections of the community his death will be deeply deplored.

 

Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 1899-05-06

WILLIAM HANSON died at Middlesbrough on May 6, 1899. Born at Staindrop in 1837, he was educated at York, and began his business career in the colliery offices of Messrs. J. & J.W. Pease at Darlington. He remained there until 1864, when he was intrusted with the business management of Messrs. B. Samuelson & Company's Newport ironworks at Middlesbrough, which had just been established. He was taken into partnership in 1872, and in 1887, when the concern was converted into a private limited liability company, he was appointed managing director. He was also a director of the North Brancepeth Colliery Company, of Messrs. Sadler & Company, Limited, Chemical works, Middlesbrough, and of the Bishopley Limestone Quarries Company. He was also connected with shipping. He was chairman of the Graving Dock Committee, and for many years represented the payers of dues on the Tees Conservancy Commission. He was president of the Cleveland Club, and was held in great esteem by all classes in Middlesbrough. He was an original member of the Iron and Steel Institute.

1899 Iron and Steel Institute obituaries
1899-05-09 funeral left Southend for New Cemetery at 11:00 York Herald, 1899-05-10

FUNERAL OF MR. WILLIAM HANSON, J.P.—Yesterday the remains of Mr. William Hanson, J.P., were interred in the new cemetery at Linthorpe, Middlesbrough. The obsequies partook of a public character, and the large and representative attendance showed the very high regard and esteem in which the deceased gentleman had been held by all classes in the town. The cortege was headed by a posse of the Borough Constabulary and the Borough Fire Brigade, and was followed by the Mayor (Councillor W.T. Keay), the Town Clerk (Mr. George Bainbridge), the members and officials of the Corporation, the Borough Magistrates, and a number of the employees of the Newport Ironworks, of which the deceased was managing director. The foremen at these works acted as bearers. The coffin was covered with floral tokens and two conveyances full of wreaths followed the hears. The blinds at many of the residences on the route from Grove Hill to the cemetery were drawn and several flags were flying at half-mast. The principal mourners were—Mr. J.R. Hanson (son of the deceased gentleman), Mr. J. Marriage, of Oxted, Surrey (son-in-law), and Mr. Wm. Russell, of Darlington (son-in-law) The cortege was of great length and included the private carriages of many of the leading residents of the town and district. The funeral service was impressively read by the Rev. J.W. Dales, vicar of Linthorpe.

1899-07-10 will proved at London by Jane Hanson, widow; effects £52,833 National Probate Calendar


Children of Elizabeth and William Hanson | Children of David and Ann Binns | Binns page | Family history home page | Website home page

 

This page was last revised on 2023-09-27.

 

© 2016–2023 Benjamin S. Beck

Web Analytics Made Easy - Statcounter