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This latest offering from the 'Regions and Regionalism in History' series, a source of several works of interest to the urban historian over the past decade, provides a timely analysis of the demographic, economic and social developments that underpinned the rapid growth of Middlesbrough as a major iron manufacturing centre in mid-Victorian Britain. Consistent with Professor Yasumoto's earlier work on industrialization, urbanization and demographic change in Leeds, this thoroughly researched study makes use of an impressive array of sources in providing a detailed quantitative analysis throughout.
The narrative of the planning and emergence of Middlesbrough found in Chapter 1 will be familiar to those versed in the history of the town, yet is complementary to existing work in its detailed statistical representation of these developments, gleaned from impressive exploration of sources including the papers of the Owners of the Middlesbrough Estate, poor rate books, improvement acts and charters. In doing so, Yasumoto identifies a number of developments of interest to the urban historian including the emergence of urban institutions and, through astute exploitation of financial records, the shift from earlier dominance...