An engaged couple we were well acquainted with had noted the slogan of the then nationalised gas industry \u201cAll by Gas\u201d. The young lady lived in a home with an old gas geyser above the bath and she and her mother were scared by its pops and mini explosions. Her fianc\u00e9e continually quoted \u201cAll by Gas\u201d making her laugh, despite her fears. When they were being married he noticed that his bride was very nervous and as the organist commenced, the organ bellows made a wheezing noise so he whispered \u201cAll by Gas\u201d. This made her giggle and she had difficulty with her responses, but in the end all was well.<\/p>\n
Coal gas for lighting first commenced towards the end of the 18th century and by 1807 one side of Pall Mall in London was illuminated. It must have been a sensation! Soon small private gas works proliferated, town by town. When the industry was nationalised in 1948, despite many earlier local groupings, over 1,000 local undertakings were taken into state control. The industry was \u201cprivatised\u201d in 1986 to become \u201cBritish Gas\u201d and North Sea Gas soon took over from coal gas, producing a cleaner, less smelly, controllable fuel. Liquefied gas from overseas later supplemented that from the North Sea.<\/p>\n
Some time ago I mentioned that Lyme Regis was probably first in Dorset to have electric street lighting in 1909, after gas lighting in 1859. Bridport was later, not having electric lighting until 1930, but it was first in the county to have gas in 1831.<\/p>\n
Rodney Legg in his The Book of Bridport<\/em> tells us that the Bridport Gas & Coke Company was incorporated after a meeting in the Town Hall, with W. E. Gundry as chairman and William Battiscombe, William Colfox, George Darby, James Hodder, W. Perham, Dr G. R. Roberts, A. Selwood, John Pike Stephens and Sylvanus Stephens as Board members. Bridport Gas Works was built to the west of South Street, between the Chantry and South Bridge. Most board members were local businessmen, several from the local rope, net and sailcloth industries and also nonconformists, as were many of the town councillors.<\/p>\n Dr Giles Roberts, a dispensing chemist, druggist and herbalist was best known for his skin ointment the \u201cPoor Man\u2019s Friend\u201d. His pharmacy was in the old George Inn, opposite the Town Hall in East Street and he offered these premises for a trial of gas lighting. The Dorset County Chronicle in October 1831 reported that \u201cfires were lit in the retorts on Friday last and great crowds gathered to watch as the lamps were lit in Dr Roberts\u2019s premises, and cries of wonderment were heard at the brilliance of the wondrous illuminations, the Town Band added to the enlivenment of the proceedings.\u201d The retorts are now retained in Bridport Museum.<\/p>\n Within a couple of years 48 street lights were lit and 49 lights in the Market House. Previously the roads were dimly lit by oil lamps. Shortly after 120 private lights were installed with charges of \u00a31 per annum from dawn to dusk for the basic \u201cCockspur\u201d light. Burners had 5 inch chimneys with an allowable flame of half this. Better burners included the \u201cBatwing\u201d costing \u00a32-5s, to the 14 hole \u201cArgand\u201d at \u00a34. By 1858 advertisements appeared such as \u201cFrench gas jet on new improved principles with 40% saving in consumption and a brighter light. Available from James Patten, Builder, Bridport\u201d.<\/p>\n By 1834 the company made a profit of \u00a3133, which would have been more had the Town Council paid its bills promptly. By January 1842 after non-payment for two years of street lighting the company cut off the supply. It was not restored until the following winter. This situation continued over the years with arguments over the cost of supply.<\/p>\n In 1872 a house was built for the Works Manager, including a Board Room on South Street, now a shop. New offices and a showroom were built nearby in 1899, now an attractive private house. A new road towards the old gas works site was named Dr Roberts Close a few years ago in commemoration of his part in the venture.<\/p>\n Gas supply was extended to North Allington by 1844, but not until 1863 to Barrack Street and East Road. This enabled J.P. Gundry, of the rope and net firm to have his East Road house lit by gas at last. The shipbuilder Elias Cox, Town Councillor and Mayor, was influential in bringing the supply to West Bay in 1868.<\/p>\n Coal to produce the gas was originally brought in by ship to West Bay, later some came by rail. The major by-product was coke. Coke and tar were sold off to boost the profits.<\/p>\n The wonder of gas lighting has now gone from our streets, but gas is commonplace in cooking, water and central heating. Dr Roberts\u2019 old pharmacy continued to be lit by gas until 1956. The local industrialists soon recognised its value and Bridport was first!<\/p>\n Bridport History Society recommences on Tuesday September 9th with a talk by Richard Sims about the \u201cCrewkerne Textile Industry\u201d at 2.30pm in the United Church Main Hall. Membership subscriptions are due. All welcome, \u00a32-50 entrance for non-members.<\/p>\n Cecil Amor, Chairman, Bridport History Society. Tel : 01308 456876. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An engaged couple we were well acquainted with had noted the slogan of the then nationalised gas industry \u201cAll by Gas\u201d. The young lady lived in a home with an old gas geyser above the bath and she and her mother were scared by its pops and mini explosions. Her fianc\u00e9e continually quoted \u201cAll by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-1568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-history-community","tag-cecil-amor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}