[Rarebooks] FS: 1834 Pamphlet on London's Gas Monopoly

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

"On Gas Monopoly. A Letter addressed to the Commissioners of Sewers for 
the City of London and Liberties Thereof, shewing the Evils for many 
years experienced by the citizens, from the exclusive Monopoly of the 
Chartered Gas Company, and the Dorset-Street Gas Company, with the 
arbitrary provisions to which consumers of gas are subject, under some 
of the private acts of Parliament of the Metropolitan Gas Companies, and 
the advantages derivable from competition"

By Richard Gude. Published in London by W. Houstoun in 1834.

DISCUSSION: Richard Gude had been a governor of the Chartered Gas 
Company from 2823 to 1832, but appears to have broken with them in favor 
of their competitors, of whom the Equitable Gas Company and London aGas 
Company are prominently mentioned here.

England's National Archives, which holds the Chartered Gas Company's 
papers, notes- "The Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company was the first 
gas undertaking in the world, concerned chiefly, until the 1880s, with 
the production of gas for lighting purposes. It was incorporated by Act 
of Parliament in 1810 and the charter was granted by the Prince Regent 
in 1812. The origins of the gas industry lay with the discovery of coal 
gas in the early 18th century. Gas lighting for homes, buildings and 
streets was pioneered by William Murdoch, a Scottish engineer, who with 
his pupil Samuel Clegg of Manchester and John Malam of Hull, designed 
and built gas works for mills and factories from 1800 to enable them to 
be lit. They worked with entrepreneurs such as F A Winsor to secure 
financial backing. Winsor's ideal was to have a central gas works making 
gas for illumination in every town and city in the country. Samuel Clegg 
joined the Chartered Company and constructed the first operational 
public gas works in Peter Street, Horseferry Road, Westminster, which 
began producing coal gas in September 1813. Developments at Westminster 
were followed by the rapid expansion of gas works and their Companies 
across London and other cities and large towns in England and Wales. By 
1830, there were 200 gas Companies, by 1850 there 800 gas Companies, 13 
of which were in London, and by 1860 there were nearly 1,000 gas 
Companies."

DESCRIPTION & CONDITION NOTES: Pamphlet. 5.5"x9". 6 pages. Rather 
chipped and worn, light soil, very fragile.

PRICE: $125 -

THE COVERS ->
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