GENERAL RECORDS OF NORTH THAMES GAS BOARD PREDECESSORS

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 B/NTG-12
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: GENERAL RECORDS OF NORTH THAMES GAS BOARD PREDECESSORS
Date(s)	: 1825-1948
Level of description	: Collection View parent record
Extent	: 28.5 linear metres (extent of whole collection, not this subfonds).
Name of creator(s)	: North Thames Gas Board | 1949-1973

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

North Thames Gas Board (1949-1973) was one of 12 Area Boards formed when the gas industry was nationalised in 1949, following the passing of the 1948 Gas Bill. Supplied area of 1,059 square miles stretching from Bracknell, Marlow and High Wycombe to the south east coast of Essex. When formed it was made up of a merger of 12 statutory gas undertakings: Ascot and District Gas and Electricity Company, Chertsey Gas Consumers Company; Commercial Gas Company; (Chartered) Gas Light and Coke Company; Hornsey Gas Company; Lea Bridge District Gas Company; North Middlesex Gas Company; Romford Gas Company; Slough Gas and Coke Company; Southend Corporation (Shoeburyness); Uxbridge Gas Consumers Company and Windsor Royal Gas Light Company. The North Thames Gas Board was dissolved in 1973 when it became a region of the British Gas Corporation.

The Phoenix Gas Light and Coke Company was incorporated by Act of Parliament (5 Geo.IV, c. lxxviii) in 1824. The Company served Southwark, Brixton, Deptford and Greenwich. It was amalgamated with the South Metropolitan Gas Light and Coke Company in 1876.

The South Metropolitan Gas Light and Coke Company was founded in 1834 to serve Southwark and other places in what was then Surrey and Kent. The following companies were amalgamated with the South Metropolitan: Surrey Consumers, 1879 (established 1854); Phoenix, 1880 (established 1824); Woolwich, Charlton and Plumstead, 1884 (established 1855); Woolwich Equitable, 1884 (established 1855). The Company was nationalised in 1949 and placed under the control of the South Eastern Gas Board.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

General records relating to the supply of gas, 1825-1948, collected by the North Thames Gas Board and predecessor companies. Includes draft Parliamentary reports leading up to the Act for better regulating the supply of gas to the metropolis, 1860; minutes of weekly meetings of a Committee of Chairmen of the Metropolitan Gas Companies in connection with the Parliamentary Committee inquiring into the Metropolis Gas Act, 1860; Bill and relevant papers concerning the proposed amalgamation of all or some of the metropolitan gas companies; drafts, petitions and briefs concerning the London Corporation Gas Bill; report from the Board of Trade on the current Railway, Tramway, Gas and Water Bills, 1870; Gas and Water Facilities Bill, 1870; press cuttings; statistical information about gas companies, 1865.

Also papers relating to individual gas companies including Bill to establish a company for illuminating London and Westminster with oil gas (the London and Westminster Oil Gas Company), 1825; minutes of evidence before the House of Lords' select committee on the Phoenix Gas Bill, 1864; half yearly reports and accounts submitted by the Directors of the Phoenix Gas Light and Coke Co. to the Proprietors; Bills and Acts affecting the powers of the South Metropolitan Gas Light and Coke Company; Bill amending powers of the Surrey Consumers' Gas Light and Coke Association; annual reports and accounts submitted by the Directors of the Surrey Consumers' Gas Company to the Shareholders.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Records listed as B/NTG/2997-3261.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to these records rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Deposited in multiple accessions in 1957 and 1958.

Allied Materials

Related material:

For the Phoenix Gas Light and Coke Company, see reference B/PHG. For the South Metropolitan Gas Light and Coke Company see reference B/SMETG.

Publication note:

For further information about gas companies and works see: E.G.Stewart, Historical Index of Gasworks past and present in the area now served by the North Thames Gas Board, 1806-1957 (1957) and Supplement to the Historical Index of Gasworks (1970); LMA Library reference 24.41 NTGB; and Stirling Everard, The History of the Gas Light and Coke Company (1949), LMA Library reference 24.41 EVE. Other works relating to the history of gas supply can also be found at reference 24.4.

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
November 2009 to February 2010