Middlesbrough’s Steel Magnates and the Guild of Help

The following article takes Middlesbrough's Guild of Help as a case study of philanthropic engagement by the town's industrial elite. It will be argued that elite ‘withdrawal’ in Middlesbrough’s has been overemphasised and that rather than representing a decline in involvement in the urban sphere, the period instead witnessed a reconfiguration of participation. By means of heightened involvement in philanthropic activities in the ‘Ironopolis’ during the early twentieth century, be it through financial, honorific or practical support with the Guild of Help, it will be argued the industrial elite maintained a crucial role despite other groups emerging in positions of power in the town.