The day a rolling mills labourer was "mangled in a horrible manner" when roof blew off factory

“By two o’clock in the afternoon, the wind had risen to a height never known to be exceeded in Darlington or district,” said the Darlington & Stockton Times on February 24, 1866.

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It was now a hurricane which seemed to have in its sights the brand new rolling mills belonging to two Quaker industrialists at Rise Carr. Theodore Fry and Charles I’Anson had begun building the mill in October 1864 and in less than 18 months had grown to employ nearly 300 men beside the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

Inside the main mill at Rise Carr in 1932

But it was no match for the tempest.

“The wind blew a hurricane from the south-west,” said the D&S Times. “It seemed to encircle the building like a whirlwind.

“Suddenly, and with scarcely any warning, the entire shed, covering about an acre of land, gave way, being propelled as it were with the pillared supports, upon which it rested, forwards, and coming down with a sudden crash, alarming the whole neighbourhood for half-a-mile round.”

The entrance to the Darlington Rolling Mills at Rise Carr in 1932

The Darlington Rolling Mills beside the Stockton & Darlington Railway at Rise Carr in 1932

Hundreds of strikers and railwaymen dashed to the scene.

“They rendered every assistance by climbing over the debris and rescuing the unfortunate fellows embedded beneath,” said the paper. “One of the first taken out was Ralph Graham, a labourer, who was mangled in a horrible manner, his brains being scattered around the spot where he lay.

“This, happily, was the only immediately fatal case, though there was one other man who, it was feared, would not survive till the next morning.” James Wise did indeed succumb to his injuries.

Hands up for those who want to stay out on strike: inside the Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Club & Institute as a vote was taken in February 1980.

“The works are a total wreck. The damage done has been estimated to be nearly £3,000. The iron pillars on which the roof rested were torn from their beds of solid masonry in every instance, and some of them are lying snapped in pieces. Had the men not been on strike all the furnaces would have been lighted, and the number present under the shed would not have been less than 100 or 120, and the great majority of them would almost certainly have lost their lives, if not by the fall of the building, by a still more horrible death - that of being burnt or roasted alive - as the wood of the roof must inevitably have taken fire.

“The sad accident has created a good deal of excitement in the town.”

A picket line outside the mills

An inquest a couple of days later decided that no mills could possibly survive such a wind, and recorded a verdict of “accidental death”.

Ralph Graham, 41, a father of three, was buried in his home village of Aycliffe where his father, John, was a weaver. By coincidence, he was a member of the Graham family who featured here last week as a generation or two earlier, one of their number had left south Durham and made a fortune owning slaves on a plantation in Jamaica.

Sir Theodore Fry attempted to bring harmony to his workers by providing the instruments for the Rolling Mills Band. It disbanded in 1905 and its instruments were sold to the Cockerton Silver Band. During the Second World War, the Rolling Mills Orchestra,

IN recent weeks, we’ve been focussing on the streets, pubs and whippet racers of Rise Carr to the north of Darlington. The rolling mills were the reason Rise Carr existed. The principal entrepreneur behind them was Sir Theodore Fry, who lived in the Woodburn mansion with his wife Sophia (nee Pease). He was Darlington’s MP from 1880.

At the start of the First World War, the mills were Darlington’s fourth largest employer, with 800 workers.

In 1920, the company was acquired by Bolckow, Vaughan of Middlesbrough, and diversified into making steel windows. In 1930, German machinery for this purpose was installed, and soon Rise Carr made 90 per cent of Britain’s steel windows – the mid-1930s were a period of booming council house construction.

It also made metal windows for motor cars.

The company merged with two Midlands rivals to become the Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills (DSRM), and after its efforts during the Second World War invested £700,000 at Rise Carr – the biggest single post-war investment in Darlington. Its steel windows made it one of the first recipients of the Queen’s Award for Exports in 1966. It was this thriving company that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited in 1985 (Memories 477).

DSRM was taken over by British Steel in 1996 which decided it needed too much investment to be worthwhile and closed it with the loss of 234 jobs in 1998.

THE first terraces built on Rise Carr took the names of the owners of the rolling mill: Fry Street and Ianson Street.

Then there were Spring Street, Lock Street and Hammer Street – we guess these names also have something to with the mills.

Next we come to Jane Street, Harry Street, William Street and Sheraton Street.

“The Sheratons were a family from Ellesmere Port in Cheshire who inherited a parcel of land from a kinsman who farmed land at the Harrowgate end of Honeypot Lane,” explains Malcolm Middleton.

Although the Victorian terraces were cleared in the 1960s, the rebuilt streets just about follow the old street plan and still bear the same names.

Many thanks to all who have been in touch about Rise Carr, especially Billy Mollon for the roof-raising story. More in future weeks – if you have anything to add, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk