All about Battersea. Henry S. Simmonds
consumers and employers on a large scale, and have evidently been so ages before the knowledge of its application was acquired by Europeans." In 1792, Mr. Murdoch, an engineer at Redruth in Cornwall, erected a little gasometer with apparatus which produced gas sufficient to supply his own house and offices, and in 1797, he erected a similar apparatus in Ayrshire. In the following year, he was engaged to put up a gas works at the Manufactory of Bolton and Watts, at Soho, Birmingham—this was the first application of gas in a large way. Except among a few scientific men, the manufacture of gas excited but little curiosity until the year 1802, when the front of the great Soho Manufactory was brilliantly illuminated with gas on the occasion of the public rejoicings at the Peace. In 1801, M. Le Bon, at Paris, succeeded in lighting up his own house and gardens with gas from wood and coal, and had it in contemplation to light up the City of Paris.
Only within the present century has gas superseded in London the dim oil lamps. About forty years ago, oil lamps and lighted candles were used in our churches and chapels; in some places of worship evening services were dispensed with altogether. A humorous anecdote is related of Dr. Johnson: it is said, one evening, from the window of his house in Bolt Court, he observed the parish lamplighter ascend a ladder to light one of the small oil lamps. He had scarcely descended the ladder half-way when the flame expired. Quickly returning he lifted the cover of the lamp partially and thrusting the end of his torch beneath it, the flame instantly communicated to the wick by the thick vapour which issued from it. "Ah!" exclaimed the Doctor, "one of these days the streets of London will be lighted by smoke."—Notes and Queries, No. 127. Certain scientific men were incredulous as to the practicability of lighting up the whole of London with gas, and Sir Humphrey Davey asked if it were intended to take the dome of St. Paul's for a gasometer! In 1820 gas meters were patented by John Malan, in 1830 by Samuel Clegg, in 1838 by Nathan Defries and others. Mr. Daniel Pollock, father of the late Chief Baron, was governor of the first "chartered" gas company in 1812. In 1822 St. James' Park was first lighted with gas. In 1825, its safety had not then been established on the part of the Government, a committee of the most eminent scientific men immediately inspected the Gas Works, and reported that the occasional superintendence of all the Works was necessary. However, since then so rapidly has the invention of gas-lighting progressed, that now in the present year of grace, there is neither City nor town in Great Britain of any note but what is illuminated with gas and has works for its manufacture in close proximity to the houses of its inhabitants. Gas supply of London, receipts for the year 1872, £2,133,600, for 1873, £2,544,000. What is coke? Coke is the residual carbon of pit coal after the volatile matters have been expelled by heat, it has a porous texture and a lustre sometimes approaching the metallic. It is a valuable fuel, producing an intense and steady heat and leaving but little residue after combustion. The residual coke in retorts has a quantity of ash, which, besides its earthy base of silicate, usually contains sulphur and other deleterious matter. The breeze can be used in furnaces and in burning bricks. There is a considerable quantity of pure hydrogen produced by the decomposition of water in cooling coke. Attempts have been made to manufacture gas from other substances besides coal—oil, resin, peat, and even water having in their turn commanded capital for a fair trial of their merits of all these; however, coal has alone stood the test of commercial success, those companies formed for other schemes having either been dissolved or become converts to its superior advantages. No doubt it will be considered Utopian—Mr. Robinson thinks that the electric light might be so modified as to be used in public dwellings! There are exhaustless stores of latent electricity, but the difficulty is to know how to develop and utilise it.
Street gas lit by electricity, by Mr. St. George Lane, Fox's method: trial partially successful, Pall Mall, etc., 13th April, 1878. British Museum Reading Room illuminated by electric light, October, 1879.
Common bituminous coal obtained from the mines of Northumberland, Durham, York, South Wales, and a few other coal districts is the kind from which most of the gas of this country is manufactured. The Cannel or Scotch Parrot coals produce a gas of a much richer quality, which, though expensive, has the advantage of superior illuminating power. Gas companies use to a very great extent coals from the following mines:—Pelaw, Leverson's Wallsend, Pelton, New Pelton, Dean's Primrose, Garesfield, South Peareth, (The London Gas-Light Company use principally Peareth) Urpeth, Washington, Yorkshire, Silkstone, Haswell, West Wear, Wearmouth, Brancepeth, South Brancepeth, and Ravenshaw Pelaw. The resulting products of carbonization of these coals when an exhauster is employed will be found to give about the following average per ton:—
Gas, 9,500 cubic feet; Coke, 13 cwt., or one chaldron; Tar, 10 gallons; Ammoniacal Liquor, 13 gallons. Ammonia, a compound of Nitrogen and Hydrogen, is converted into Sulphate of Ammonia, Sal Ammonia, Carbonate of Ammonia, etc., etc. Tar, which is a Hydro-carbon, after producing Naptha and light oils, becomes useful as Asphalt, or for exterior paint work. Benzole, the base of our newly-discovered dyes, is extracted from the Naptha; which, besides, is either used as a solvent for india-rubber and guttapercha, or yields a brilliant light when burned in a common lamp. Gas, as it issues from the retorts, is chiefly composed of light carburetted and bicarburetted hydrogen or olefiant gas, accompanied by condensable vapours and other gaseous impurities. The condensable vapours are principally hydro-carbon compounds which become deposited in the form of oil, and amongst a variety of deleterious substances may be mentioned as the chief: ammonia, carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, and sulphuretted hydrogen, but the value of coal-gas principally depends on the presence of bicarburetted hydrogen, and the greater proportion of this the higher will be its light-giving properties.
The connection of the London Gas-Light Company's Works with Vauxhall takes us out of the parish of Battersea for a moment into the parish of Lambeth. Vauxhall, the early Spring Garden, was named from its site in the Manor of La Sale Fawkes, Fawkeshall, from its possessor, an obscure Norman adventurer, in the reign of King John.[1] The estate was laid out as a garden about 1661, in squares enclosed with hedges of gooseberries, within which were roses, beans and asparagus. Sir Samuel Morland took a lease of the place in 1665, and added fountains and a sumptuously furnished room for the reception of Charles II. and his court, and a plan dated 1681, shows the gardens planted with trees and laid out in walks and a circle of trees or shrubs. They were frequented by Evelyn and Pepys; and Addison in the Spectator, 1712, takes Sir Roger de Coverley there. In 1728, the gardens were leased to Jonathan Tyers, who converted the house into a tavern. The beauty of its rural scenery rendered it so much frequented that the proprietor in the year 1730, introduced vocal music, the price of admission at that time was 1s., but from the competition of others who opened public places of amusement in the neighbourhood, the proprietor introduced a great variety of amusements and raised the price of admission to 2s. During the season of 1807, the price was constantly 2s., the gardens being open only three nights in the week, and each of these nights was what was termed a gala night. Vauxhall Gardens were extensive, they contained a variety of walks illuminated with beautiful transparent paintings. Opposite the west door was a magnificent Gothic orchestra, illuminated with a profusion of lamps of various colours; and on the left was an elegant rotunda, in which the band performed in the cold or rainy weather. At ten o'clock a bell announced the opening of a cascade, with the representation of a water-mill, a mail coach, etc. Fireworks of the most brilliant description were also introduced among the attractions of the place. In numerous recesses, or pavilions, parties were accommodated with suppers and other refreshments and were charged according to a bill of fare. The ham sandwiches were of such an excellent quality and so thinly sliced that they became proverbial. The respective boxes and apartments were adorned with a vast number of paintings, many of which were executed in the best style of their respective theatres. The labours of Hogarth and Hayman were the most conspicuous. On a pedestal, under the arch of a grand portico of the Doric order, was a fine marble statue of Handel, in the character of Orpheus playing on his lyre, done by the celebrated M. Roubiliac. The number of persons who were employed in the gardens during the season is said to have amounted to 400, 96 of whom were musicians and singers, the rest were waiters and servants of various kinds. The celebrated Lowe and Beard were amongst the first singers who were engaged at Vauxhall. Upwards of 15,000 lamps were said to illuminate the gardens at one time—the effect of the illumination was peculiarly beautiful in a moonlight night. The band of the Duke of York's regiment of Guards dressed in full uniform added to the attractions of these enchanting gardens;