Images of Teesside (PB)

Author: Evening Gazette

Images of Teesside (PB)

When Tom Parrington died at the age of 96 on 28th March 1915, the population of Middlesbrough was well over 10,000 and for Teesside as a whole, close to a quarter of a million. Yet when Tom was born on 20 June 1818, the population of Middlesbrough was just 40 souls. The principal towns were Stockton and Hartlepool, Yarm already being in decline as a port due to the opening in 1771 of the first Stockton Bridge which effectively barred the upper reaches of the river to all but the smallest vessels.