Gilkes and Wilson was formed as a partnership between Quakers
Isaac Wilson and Edgar Gilkes. Edgar Gilkes was a Middlesbrough councillor, mayor (1863-64) and alderman. He died in Grange-over-Sands in 1894. In 1865 the company merged with Hopkins and Company (establishers of the Tees Side Iron Works, 1857) to become
Hopkins Gilkes and Company. The firm undertook design, construction and manufacture of the ironwork for the Deepdale and
Belah viaducts (b.1857-1860) on the
South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway to a design of
Thomas Bouch and
Robert Henry Bow. In 1875, the name changed again to the
Tees-side Iron and Engine Works Company Limited, having built 351 locomotives in total. Subsequently the firm worked with Bouch on the
Tay Bridge, and had their reputation very badly damaged as a result of the
Tay Bridge Disaster. The 1870s
Long Depression forced several Cleveland iron firms out of business including Hopkins Gilkes. The company closed in 1880. ==Customers==