Minoru Yasumoto provides a detailed and readable exposition of the rapid growth of nineteenth-century Middlesbrough, an industrial town in North East England that grew rapidly into the world's leading producer of pig iron. Combining original data from a wide number of sources with a lucid explanation of the town's history, this book is a valuable contribution to the study of urban growth in Victorian England.

The main contribution of the book is to provide a large volume of quantitative data collected from a wide range of data sources including census returns, poor rate books, annual police reports, and hospital records. The discussion of this information is clear and thorough: the book is full of tables (including in the detailed annex) which will serve as a valuable source for future researchers. This detail does, however, come at the cost of a clear theme running throughout the book. Although presented as a history of Middlesbrough's growth, the book is better described as a series of detailed case studies that happen to be based in a single town.

Yasumoto begins (chapter 1) by outlining the political development of Middlesbrough in the fifty years following its foundation in 1831. By 1853 the town had obtained full municipal corporation status, and had reached a population of 18,000 by 1861. This rapid enlargement was predicated by the growth of the iron and steel industry, which is the subject of chapter 2. Yasumoto argues that while Middlesbrough had several natural geographic advantages, agglomeration effects were a critical part of its expansion as both a producer and exporter of pig iron. In particular, he explains, industrial clustering led to the development of formal and informal institutions that facilitated both information sharing and industrial conciliation.

Chapters 3 and 4 present an examination of demographic, migration, and labor market trends in Middlesbrough between 1851 and 1871. The author links the 1851, 1861, and 1871 censuses to identify the workers that migrated into and out of the town. This shows a remarkably rapid turnover of workers—in 1861, 78 percent of residents had in-migrated in the previous ten years, replacing 63 percent of the original 1851 population who departed over the same period (pp. 75–79). Amongst other things, the author details the sources of in-migrants, the nature of stepwise migration and family structure. The examination of this data is both extremely thorough and innovative, drawing out some surprising facts that would not fall out immediately from the raw census data. To take one example, information on household structure is used to suggest that Irish in-migrants were less likely to rely on social networks when moving to Middlesbrough than their English-born contemporaries.

Chapter 5 changes tack to discuss welfare support between 1861 and 1915, focusing on provision of healthcare—a particularly important issue given the frequency of workplace accidents in the iron industry. The source of welfare provision changed over time, starting as a largely voluntary activity but with increasing local government involvement towards the end of this period. Voluntary support, the author finds, was provided through a mixed system of self-help and paternalism—the latter used to quell the potential for worker unrest. Notably, workers’ funding was a crucial part of healthcare provision in the period, with small deductions from workers’ pay used to provide insurance against accidents.

Chapter 6, although nominally a conclusion, in fact provides an overview of the decline of Middlesbrough after 1880. More data is drawn from the census in order to show the decline of the town, with falling employment rates and a rising dependency ratio. This information is interesting, but could have usefully been included earlier in the book, to give readers unfamiliar with the town's history a context in which to judge the rest of the material provided.

Each of these chapters is largely stand-alone, and it is left to the reader to develop clear links between them. This is partly a result of the organization of the book, but the direction of individual chapters can also be unclear. This is particularly true in chapter 3, where the demographic analysis shifts suddenly into a discussion of crime rates and social cohesion. As a result a number of fascinating themes, such as the local politics of the town and the development of social networks, are mentioned but frustratingly underdeveloped. For instance, the growth of a “shopocracy” that dominated local politics is mentioned but neither the causes nor consequences are clearly explained. This seems to be the result of the emphasis on quantitative data rather than qualitative discussion. While no book can do everything, even a little more qualitative evidence or historical discussion could add considerably to the reader's understanding.

However, even without this additional information, Yasumoto has provided a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of urban development in Victorian England. The quantitative analysis is innovative, clearly discussed, and well-presented; while the data provided will provide a useful source of information for future researchers in this area.