Born:  William Fallows was born at Sleights, near Whitby on 10th December 1797. His parents were William Fallows and Anne Errington.

 

Educated: While he was a youngster, the Fallows family moved to Linthorpe, where William attended the village school. The family then moved to Stockton where William went to the Blue Coat School. In 1811 he began a seven year apprenticeship with a local timber merchant and sailmaker.

 

Married: On 8th June 1829 William Fallows married Jane Longstaff of Billingham.

 

Family: William and Jane had one son, William, and four daughters; Anne, Jane Catherine, Eliza and Emma.

 

Home: William Fallows lived in Sleights, Linthorpe and Stockton in his younger days. He moved to Middlesbrough in 1831 as agent for the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company. He lived in Commercial Street until 1855 and from then in Southfield Villas until his death.

 

Known for: William Fallows was appointed agent for the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company in 1829 and continued in that post for more than 30 years. In the 1830s he ran Middlesbrough’s first post office and was the driving force behind the town’s first place of worship: a Unitarian chapel. He took a prominent role in establishing the town of Middlesbrough’s first Anglican church and its first school. When the Middlesbrough Improvement Commissioners were appointed in 1841, William Fallows was one of them. He was also one of the Tees Conservancy Commissioners when they were first appointed in 1852 and when the town achieved borough status he was elected to the first town council. Part of his work for the Conservancy Commissioners was the creation of the South Gare Breakwater. William Fallows was Mayor of Middlesbrough in 1859-60 and in 1870 he was elected to the School Board. With such an active career in public life, he became known as “the father of Middlesbrough and of the Tees”.

 

Died: William Fallows died on 14th August 1889. He was 91 years of age.

 

Further Information: “The Life and Times of William Fallows J.P.” Norman Moorsom (1997)  “Who Was Who in 19th Century Cleveland” David M.Tomlin and Mary Williams (1987)