# Borough of Middlesbrough

The Borough of Middlesbrough is a district in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Tees Valley region, along with the boroughs of Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar and Cleveland, Hartlepool and Darlington. The district covers the town of Middlesbrough, Nunthorpe civil parish and Stainton and Thornton civil parish. Since its creation in 1974, it has had borough status and the governing Middlesbrough Council became a unitary authority in 1996.

## History

From the county's creation in 1889 (from the historic subdivision of Yorkshire) areas under Middlesbrough's governance remained part of North Riding of Yorkshire county for varying amounts of self-governance. The final iteration of this governance was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district in the county of Cleveland (the county itself governed from Middlesbrough) in 1974. Since 1996, for ceremonial purposes, the district is part of North Yorkshire as a unitary authority. Fire and Police, however, remain as well as the borough's placement in North East England instead of Yorkshire and the Humber, which large parts of North Yorkshire is in. It is included within the combined authority area of Tees Valley.
| County | County | County | Borough/ district | Borough/ district | Borough/ district | Borough/ district |
| Name | Type | Dependant | Type | From | Until | Notes |
| Yorkshire | Historic | Y | Municipal borough | 1856 | 1889 | |
| North Riding of Yorkshire | Geographical | N | County borough | 1889 | 1968 | Merged into Teesside |
| Cleveland (county town) | Non-metropolitan | Y | Shire district | 1974 | 1996 | |
| North Yorkshire | Ceremonial | N | Unitary authority | 1996 | | |

## Areas of the borough

The borough contains the following areas:
* Acklam
* Ayresome
* Berwick Hills
* Brambles Farm
* Coulby Newham
* Easterside
* Grove Hill
* Hemlington
* Linthorpe
* Middlehaven
* Nunthorpe
* Ormesby
* Pallister
* Stainton
* Saltersgill
* Thornton
* Thorntree
* Tollesby
* Whinney Banks

## Structure

The borough is made up of 19 council wards (formerly 21 as Gresham ward merged with Newport ward between the 2011 and 2021 censuses) within the borough of Middlesbrough. Each ward has a non-statutory community committee. There are also two statutory parish councils for "Nunthorpe" and "Stainton and Thornton". East, north and west Middlesbrough as well as parts of Park End-and-Beckfield, Berwick-Hils-and-Pallister and Ladgate are covered by the Middlesbrough parliamentary constituency. South Middlesbrough as well as the other parts of the wards are covered by the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland parliamentary constituency.
1234567891011121314151617181920 :
| 1 | Acklam (W) |
| 2 | Aryesome (W) |
| 3 | Longlands and Beechwood (N) |
| 4 | Berwick Hills and Pallister (E) |
| 5 | Brambles and Thorntree (E) |
| 6 | Central (N) |
| 7 | Kader (W) |
| 8 | Ladgate (W) |
| 9 | Linthorpe (N) |
| 10 | Newport (N) |
| 11 | North Ormesby (E) |
| 12 | Park (N) |
| 13 | Park End and Beckfield (E) |
| 14 | Trimdon (W) |
| 15 | Coulby Newham (S) |
| 16 | Hemlington (S) |
| 17 | Marton East (S) |
| 18 | Marton West (S) |
| 19 | Nunthorpe (S) |
| 20 | Stainton and Thornton (S) |
The council operates a with directly elected Mayor of Middlesbrough. The political composition of the council, as of the May 2019 local election, is Independent 23, Labour 20; and Conservative 3.
Political party make-up of Middlesbrough Borough Council :
| Party | Seats |
| Independent | 23 |
| Labour | 20 |
| Conservative | 3 |
Teesside International Airport (formerly known as Durham Tees Valley Airport), is joint owned by the borough and the other four Tees Valley councils The council also owns multiple buildings in the borough.

## Mayor

The first ten mayors of Middlesbrough :
| Year | Name of Mayor |
| 1853 | Henry Bolckow |
| 1854 | Issac Wilson |
| 1855 | John Vaughan |
| 1856 | Henry Thompson |
| 1858 | John Richardson |
| 1859 | William Fallows |
| 1860 | George Bottomley |
| 1861 | James Harris |
| 1862 | Thomas Brentnall |
| 1863 | Edgar Gilkes |
The first directly elected mayors of Middlesbrough :
| Years | Name of Mayor |
| 2002–2015 | Ray Mallon |
| 2015–2019 | Dave Budd |
| 2019–2023 | Andy Preston |
| 2023– | Chris Cooke |
The first mayor of Middlesbrough was the German-born Henry Bolckow in 1853. In the 20th century, encompassing introduction of universal suffrage in 1918 and changes in local government in the United Kingdom, the role of mayor changed and became largely ceremonial.
In 2001, as part of a wider programme of devolution, voters in Middlesbrough were offered a referendum to decide between a directly elected mayor or the cabinet system then in operation, with the traditional civic and ceremonial functions of the Mayors being transferred to the Chair of Middlesbrough Council, which they did so by a large margin.
In 2002, Ray Mallon (Independent), formerly a senior officer in Cleveland Police, became Middlesbrough's first directly elected mayor. He was re-elected in 2007 and then in 2011. Mallon chose not to stand for a fourth term in 2015 and his deputy mayor, Dave Budd (Labour) was elected to succeed him. Budd decided not to stand for a second term and in the May 2019 mayoral election, local businessman Andy Preston (independent) won with 59% of the vote.

## Demography
### Borough

The borough of Middlesbrough's total resident population was 148,285, by the 2022 The population of Middlesbrough as a county borough peaked at almost 165,000 in the late 1960s, however this has declined since the early 1980s before starting to recover in the 2010s.
Women in the former Middlehaven ward (absorbed into the central ward) had the second lowest life expectancy at birth, 74 years, of any ward in England and Wales in 2016. In the borough of Middlesbrough, 14.0% of the population were non-white British.
| Ethnic Group | Year | Year | Year | Year | Year | Year |
| Ethnic Group | 2001 census | 2001 census | 2011 census | 2011 census | 2021 census | 2021 census |
| Ethnic Group | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % |
| White: Total | 126,399 | 93.7% | 122,055 | 88.1% | 118,547 | 82.3% |
| White: British | 124,532 | 92.3% | 119,106 | 86% | 114,421 | 79.5% |
| White: Irish | 726 | | 574 | | 434 | |
| White: Roma | | | 85 | | 160 | |
| White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller | | | | | 320 | |
| White: Other | 1,141 | | 2,290 | | 3,212 | |
| Asian or Asian British: Total | 6,415 | 4.7% | 10,768 | 7.8% | 15,090 | 10.5% |
| Asian or Asian British: Indian | 846 | | 1,477 | | 2,804 | |
| Asian or Asian British: Pakistani | 4,839 | 3.6% | 6,811 | | 8,990 | 6.2% |
| Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi | 77 | | 244 | | 595 | |
| Asian or Asian British: Chinese | 263 | | 904 | | 669 | |
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | 390 | | 1,332 | | 2,032 | |
| Black or Black British: Total | 477 | | 1,731 | | 3,816 | 2.7% |
| Black or Black British: African | 303 | | 1,470 | | 3,339 | |
| Black or Black British: Caribbean | 128 | | 92 | | 162 | |
| Other Black | 46 | | 169 | | 315 | |
| Mixed or British Mixed: Total | 1,269 | | 2,362 | | 3,001 | |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | 317 | | 541 | | 570 | |
| Mixed: White and Black African | 208 | | 452 | | 650 | |
| Mixed: White and Asian | 475 | | 904 | | 1,110 | |
| Mixed: Other Mixed | 269 | | 465 | | 671 | |
| Other: Total | 295 | | 1,496 | | 3,468 | |
| Other: Arab | | | 950 | | 1,452 | |
| Other: Any other ethnic group | | | 546 | | 2,016 | |
| Non-White: Total | 8,456 | | 16,357 | | 25,375 | |
| Total | 134,855 | 100% | 138,412 | 100% | 143,922 | 100% |

## Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Middlesbrough at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
| 1995 | 1,115 | 8 | 377 | 729 |
| 2000 | 1,192 | 6 | 417 | 768 |
| 2003 | 1,538 | 6 | 561 | 971 |
^1 includes hunting and forestry
^2 includes energy and construction
^3 includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
^4 Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

## Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Middlesbrough.

### Individuals

* Joseph Calvert: 7 November 1919.
* L. Taylor – 30 March 1967 (deceased 23 May 1983)
* Monsignor Canon M O'Sullivan – 26 March 1968 (deceased 6 May 1978)
* Mary A. Daniel – 16 October 1974 (deceased 23 December 1983)
* Ethel A. Gaunt – 16 October 1974 (deceased 10 June 1990)
* Lord Bottomley of Middlesbrough in the County of Cleveland – 21 December 1976 (deceased 3 November 1995)
* E. A. Dickinson – 8 May 1981 (deceased 2001)
* Rose M. Haston – 9 May 1986 (deceased 22 January 1991)
* Arthur Pearson – 9 May 1986 (deceased 23 February 1997)
* Robert I. Smith – 9 May 1986 (deceased 23 February 1993)
* W. Ferrier – 16 June 1992 (deceased 4 March 2015)
* G. Popple – 16 June 1992 (deceased 10 May 2003)
* Len Poole – 16 June 1992 (deceased 15 May 2011)
* John Robert Foster – 8 March 1996 (deceased 12 May 2022)
* Alma Collin – 15 March 2000 (deceased 2014)
* Hazel Pearson – 3 December 2003 (deceased 5 February 2016)
* Steve Gibson – 18 March 2004
* Jack Hatfield – 30 June 2009 (deceased January 2014)
* Mackenzie Thorpe – 11 April 2019
* Gareth Southgate - 28 July 2021.

### Military units

* The Green Howards: 13 May 1944, transferred to the Yorkshire Regiment: 25 October 2006.
* The 34th (Northern) Signal Regiment (Volunteers): 29 April 1972.
* HMS Marlborough, RN: 15 March 2000.