[Rarebooks] FS: 1834 London Gas Monopoly Angry Pamphlet

[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.

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."

Pamphlet. 5.5"x9". 6 pages. Rather chipped and worn, light soil, very 
fragile. $125-

A Picture =>
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images400/th-40586-cover.jpg>


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