Grace's Guide To British Industrial History

Registered UK Charity (No. 115342)

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 164,410 pages of information and 246,085 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

City of London Electric Lighting Co

From Graces Guide
January 1904. Batteries Re-Charged.

of Love Lane, Sumner Street, Southwark

1890 Founded by J. B. Braithwaite, pioneer in the electric supply industry.

1891 February: the City of London Electric Lighting (Pioneer) Company Ltd was established to carry out preliminary works in the Eastern and Central districts.

1891 Public company incorporated as City of London Electric Lighting Company Ltd to acquire the works carried out by the City of London Electric Lighting (Pioneer) Company Ltd[1]; the company divided its business into 3 areas - the Laing, Wharton and Down Construction Syndicate had been granted a provisional order for the Eastern area; Brush Electrical Engineering Co had been granted orders for the Central and Western areas.

1891 The Company operated Bankside Power Station from 1891 and supplied an area of 1.25 square miles covering the City of London and the parishes of Christchurch and Saint Saviour in Southwark.

c.1895 Charles Merz went to work at the Bankside station of the City of London Electric Lighting Company as assistant to Aubrey Llewellyn Coventry Fell, superintending contracts for the British Thomson-Houston Co, of which company his father was at that time a director.

1912 A correspondent to The Times identified the City of London Electric Supply Co's Bankside station near Southwark Bridge as one of 6 which should be considered for bulk supply in an integrated London network; it generated 400 V DC, high tension, single and two phase (sic)[2].

1913 Six London companies placed a large advert about potential uses of electricity in the home and office - in the drawing room, in the dining room, in the bedroom, for cooking and for vacuum cleaning[3]

1925 Under the London Electricity Act 1925, interconnections were made to co-ordinate generating resources between the Company and the County of London Electric Supply Co Limited, South London Electric Supply Corporation Limited and South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co Limited

1948 Nationalised[4]

See Also

Loading...

Sources of Information

  1. The Times, Jul 14, 1891
  2. The Times Jun 12, 1912
  3. The Times, Dec 01, 1913
  4. The Times Mar. 10, 1948
  • Biography of Charles Merz, ODNB [1]
  • National Archives [2]