SHADWELL WATERWORKS COMPANY: CORPORATE RECORDS

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 ACC/2558/S/A
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: SHADWELL WATERWORKS COMPANY: CORPORATE RECORDS
Date(s)	: 1688-1812
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.8 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Shadwell Waterworks Company

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Shadwell Waterworks were started in about 1669 by Thomas Neale, who was groom porter to King Charles II and from 1678 to 1699 Master of the Mint. He leased land beside the River Thames in Shadwell from the Dean of St Paul's and installed a pump operated by horses to raise water from the Thames which was then distributed to neighbouring houses. In 1679 the works were enlarged and a second horse mill was added.

In 1680 Thomas Neale obtained letters patent from Charles II authorising him "to maintain, erect or new-build his Water-works and Waterhousel" near the River Thames in the parish of Shadwell and to make ponds, pipes, and cisterns to take water from the river to supply inhabitants within the Manors of Stepney and East Smithfield. Neale divided the undertaking into 36 shares most of which he sold. An act of Parliament in 1692 incorporated Neale and his partners as the "Governor and Company of the Water-works and Water-houses in Shadwell". Neale became the first governor.

The profitability of the Shadwell Waterworks vanished on the establishment of the West Ham Waterworks by Resta Patching and Thomas Byrd in about 1743. In 1745 they rented land in West Ham on the road between Bow in Middlesex and Stratford in Essex. An atmospheric engine was used to pump water from a creek branching from the River Lea. This was then sent east to Stratford and west to Bow, Bromley, Old Ford, Mile End Old Town, Stepney, Limehouse, Ratcliffe and Shadwell. Competition between the two waterworks was continued "with great virulence" and to the detriment of the profitability of both, until they came to an agreement in 1785 as to the demarcation of their districts. This was put into effect in 1792 by the purchase by the Shadwell Waterworks Company of the mains, pipes, and other personal property of the proprietors of the West Ham Waterworks, in Stepney, Limehouse, Ratcliffe, Shadwell, St George-in-the-East, Ratcliffe Highway, Wellclose Square, Wapping, the Hermitage, and parts of the parishes of Aldgate, St Katherine's and Whitechapel.

In 1750 the Shadwell Waterworks Company replaced their horsemills with an atmospheric engine. By 1756 two "fire engines" were in operation. In 1778 these were replaced by a Boulton and Watt steam engine, a second engine being provided in 1784. In 1798 a new Watt double acting engine was installed in the waterworks in Labour in Vain Street, Shadwell.

By this date the existence of the waterworks was threatened by a scheme to build wet docks in Shadwell, which required the demolition of over 2,000 houses in the area which would have rendered the waterworks uneconomic. In addition the water mains would have been cut by the entrance to the docks. In 1800 the London Dock Company agreed to purchase the Shadwell Waterworks for £50,000.

This was put into effect by an Act of Parliament 39 and 40 George III c.47. The London Dock Company also purchased the West Ham Waterworks in 1807. In the same year the East London Waterworks was constituted by a private Act of Parliament authorising the construction of waterworks on the River Lea at Old Ford. Another Act of Parliament in 1808 enabled the East London Waterworks Company to purchase the Shadwell and West Ham Waterworks from the London Dock Company, which had continued to supply water to the Shadwell area until that time.

At the time of the purchase by the London Dock Company of the property of the Shadwell Waterworks Company, the owners of two of the 36 shares could not be traced. The sum of £2,777 15s 6d which was reserved in the hands of trustees for the owners of these shares was not successfully claimed until 1869.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Shadwell Waterworks Company, comprising financial material including rent books; cash books; receipt books; wage books; account books and some papers relating to works carried out.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Within each company the records are divided as follows:
A (1) Corporate Records - including board minutes, parliamentary and legal papers.
B (2) Accounting Records - these are usually very extensive but do not include stocks and shares records which appear in section A.
C (3) Staff Records.
D (4) Water Supply and Distribution Records - including engineering and technical files.
E (5) Purchase Records - including stock books.
F (6) Property Records - many property matters are however dealt with in the legal papers in section A.
G (7) Miscellaneous Records.

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 1988, as part of a larger accession of records from Thames Water.

Allied Materials

Related material:

For more records of the Shadwell Waterworks Company see reference ACC/3077.

Publication note:

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