ABSTRACT
John thomas macpherson was born in Poplar on 10 October 1872, the son of an iron and steel worker, Hugh Macpherson. His father’s employer, Millwall’s Phoenix Ironworks, closed in 1873 and the family moved first to Sheffield before ending up in Middlesbrough, via Workington. He was educated until the age of 12, when he went to work in the North-Eastern Steel Works in Middlesbrough. At the age of 15 he joined his father at the Dorman, Long and Co. works, where he remained until 18.
