Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2004
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IN SOUTH LONDON |
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By Frederick Gair
Blackwall Power Station was constructed on a small (three acre) site at the North-West end of River Way. The switch house, laboratory, drawing office, and office block were on the opposite side of the road. Being such a small site, the dust precipitators were unusually installed on the boiler house roof, from where you could look down on to the gas works site to the North West.
The jetty at the end of the road covered the circulating water intake and there were two jetty cranes for unloading the colliers. The Station would have required about 1200 tons of coal/day. The coal stock area was also at the river end of the main building.
Blackwall Point was the first London power station to be designed and built exclusively to be fired by pulverised fuel. Coal from overhead bunkers, was ground to a talcum powder level of fineness by Babcock and Wilcox E-type pressurised mills, and transported to the furnace by Primary Air fans. Combustion was regulated by the then popular Bailey Control System.
The boilers were standard Babcock steam generators with economiser, static air pre-heaters and forced draught and induced draft fans. Ash handling used the Babcock Hydrojet system for furnace bottom ash and fly ash. Full load would have produced about 150 tons/day and this was removed by road.
The stop valve steam condition were 600 p.s.i.g. (Not 60 as on your web site) and 850 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Turbo-alternators ran at 3000 rpm and consisted of one HP cylinder exhausting into a duplex LP cylinder and finally into a transverse condenser directly below. Normally, the condenser vacuum would be at least 29 inches of mercury.
The first manager, then known as the Station Superintendent, was a Mr. Arthur Cox, who I believe, was promoted from Barking Power Station. The early post war years saw Britain sadly ill equipped for electricity production and design standards were ordered by the Chairman of the newly nationalised industry, Walter Citrine.
Firstly 30mw machines and soon after 60mw machines, as at Brunswick Wharf, on the opposite side of the river. Each machine was operated by two men with two more men running the associated boiler. Today's practice is for two men only to operate a complete boiler /turbine unit of 660mw capacity. That is a change in about 30 years from 7.5mw/man to 330mw/man.
3kv motors driving the circulating water pumps which took water from the Thames and passed it through several thousand small bore tubes in the condensor |
One of the Primary Air Fans which blew air through the coal pulverising mills and conveyed the fuel to the boiler burners |
Shows most of all three of the machines. Tacked on to the end of the nearest alternator is the DC generator which was used to supply the magnetising current for the alternator rotor. Behind this alternator can be seen the turbine gauge board. Above this is the top part of the boiler control panel hidden by the top right hand corner of the turbine gauge board, is the motor of the boiler feed pump |
No.3 Turbo Alternator. The large spoked wheel in the foreground operates the Emergency Stop Valve. This valve is used to regulate the machine speed on run up to the point when the Governor takes over. Thereafter the valve is open and can close in a few milli-seconds in the event of overspeed. Behind, and partly obscured by the wheel, is the mushroom-shaped enclosure for the speed governor. Steam enters the machine at the front and passes through the high pressure cylinder. It is then conveyed via the two large cross over pipes to the mid point of the twin low pressure cylinders. Exhaust from the low pressure cylinder is to the two transverse condensers below in the basement. At the far end is the 30MW air cooled generator. |
The ash handling pump house |
Turbine Gauge Board |
In September 2003 we published an article by Bruce Osborne about a weight, which may have come from the Ballast Quay area. The article came from an old GLIAS Newsletter and we had been unable to track down Bruce for permission to reproduce the article. Thanks to Paul Sowan we have now found him and he writes;
"There is no problem with publishing the article from my point of view. I had forgotten it! It is so good to hear that it has surfaced after 20 years. I am now into spas and so a blast from the past is very refreshing, if not surprising!" Dr. Bruce Osborne, Spas Research Fellowship.
The Spas Research Fellowship and The Great British Grotto Grading Scheme
In October a small number of GIHS members joined members of the Naval Dockyards Society to see the dockyard models in the National Maritime Museum, Kidbrooke Store. These date from 1774 and while First Lord of the Admiralty, the Earl of Sandwich instigated the building of these models after his visitation of Plymouth Dockyard in June 1771, where he saw 'a very ingenious model of the whole carved in wood by the foreman of the yard'. In July 1771 the Admiralty ordered models of all the yards to be made. They were completed between March and August 1774 and presented to George III with plans of each yard showing their states at three different Periods Viz: 1689, 1698 and 1774, showing at one view the alterations and Improvements from time to time made: The Plans of 1774 agree with the Models of the Yards prepared and herewith sent for His Majesty's use, showing all the Buildings, Docks, Slips in their due proportions, and each distinguished whether of Brick Stone or Timber. A tour was given by John Graves of the National Maritime Museum
It should also be noted that the store itself is a very interesting building to local industrial historians - being the old RAF wartime depot hidden away at the end of Nelson Mandela Way. More information about either models or depot would be very welcome.
A very obscure web site (I can't work out the web address because of the pop ups from 'dogpile' - but I think it originates in Canada) (http://earthhome.tripod.com/boxalls.html A Webmeister contribution!) has a family tree and some information about the Norton Barge Building family whose works was near the site of what is now the Millennium Village. They reproduce an article from GIHS Newsletter which comes from Pat O'Driscoll about the firm (its ok Pat, they do acknowledge you, if not us!). The site also includes a very detailed Norton family tree.
This year Woolwich Antiquarians asked Tony Robins, their President, to give the Vincent Memorial Lecture and his subject was the 'Development of Industry in Woolwich and the Growth of Woolwich'.
He spoke first of all about 'The Primary stage' - the beginnings of Woolwich. It is thought is that Woolwich started as a small fishing village by the River and the inhabitants depended on available natural resources such as farming, fishing, forestry and quarrying of local sand, gravel, chalk etc.
At the Secondary stage Woolwich Dockyard was established by King Henry VIII. There was abundant timber from the local forests and access to the River Thames. The opening of the Dockyard both in Woolwich and further upstream at Deptford brought employment for the variety of skills required in shipbuilding and ship maintenance. With the building of ships they required guns. A place was needed to hold and test the guns. A suitable site was found not far from the Dockyard then known as the Warren. After a disastrous accident when casting cannons at the Bagley's Foundry in Moorfields, London, it was decided to move this work to Woohvich during the 1600's. The Warren was chosen as the new site. From this began the Royal Arsenal armament works, which grew into a major industry in Woolwich affecting the lives of its inhabitants for many years until the 1960's when it eventually closed.
The growth of me Royal Arsenal brought the need for supporting services, which became the Tertiary stage. These included housing for the increasing number of workers, shops to provide all the daily necessities, transport to bring people to and from work and amusements such as public houses, theatres and later cinema, not forgetting football including the Arsenal's own team. Several well known institutions were founded - The Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society, The Woolwich Equitable Building Society, and The Woolwich Polytechnic to name but a few.
With changing needs on a national level, Woolwich began to lose its heavy engineering industries from the 1960's onwards with a consequent decline. This brought it into the Quaternary stage where we are now having to adapt to new technology and ways of living.
Adapted from an article by Alastair Miller in WADAS newsletter.
Where addresses are not given, please contact through the Editor, c/o 24 Humber Road, London SE3
From: Sue Bullock
I read with interest a letter posted by Ted Barr concerning the Silvertown explosion on your website. My grandfather was serving with the East Sussex regiment and was in attendance and at the aftermath of the explosion, and was injured himself in the process.
From: Mary Cousins
I wonder whether your society has any information on the engineering firm, Lister Bros, which was situated in Nightingale Vale, Woolwich, SE18, demolished in the '60s. Or any information on Belmont Laundry situated in the same road, established around 1900 - proprietor Maria Lister.
My father was Samuel Lister who owned Lister Bros and the 'derelict laundry' next door, the Belmont Laundry. He was about 74 when I was born in 1948 and, unfortunately, because of the age difference with my relations I did not keep in touch. I remember the house in Nightingale Vale, no. 59, and running down a steep slope to enter the laundry and of course the engineering works.
I have no family and eventually any bits and pieces I have will most probably end up on a bonfire when I die. I have a couple of photos of the laundry at the end of the nineteenth century with my father and some of the girls that worked there, plus some architectural drawings of buildings my grandmother had built for collection of the laundry in 1901 and wondered if anything like this would be of interest to anyone - maybe some archives somewhere?
From: Mary Sheppard
I am having a real problem locating a great-grand father, Thomas Knight who we believe was in the Royal Horse Artillery at Woolwich in 1861. Have you any suggestions as to where to go for information?
From: Rob Ward
I read in your newsletter a letter from Jon Garvey concerning a bakery ran by the Tyler family.
I am researching the Ward family in Woolwich and Greenwich who were also bakers. I am interested in Mary Elizabeth Ward (daughter of John Ward, baker and meatman) who probably married John James Tyler in 1823. I would be most grateful to see if there are any connections.
rob@dorringtonward.demon.co.uk
From: Mr. Hambly
I looked at an article by Mr. Harry Pearman on the Plumstead chalk mines in Wickham Lane. Well - when I was a young boy in approximately 1967-68 we used to crawl on our bellies down into the chalk mine which is near, if I can remember, Abbey Wood camping site just up Bostall Hill on the right. Can anybody remember this mine, which we played in? As far as I can see it was sealed off in the late 1960's I hope this is some use.
From: Debbie Burchell
Myself and my cousins have just started the process of tracing our family tree. I have been informed that our Great Grandparents (we think!) were shareholders in the Lovibonds Brewery and had links in the Brewery Trade. I am really asking your advice on how we can find out further details about the brewery and whether they were actually shareholders!!
Stephen.Burchell@btinternet.com
From: Iris Bryce
Re: Janet Haworth's History Of Woodlands (in our last issue) I wondered if at the time that it was built if land went as far as the street in which I was born, and the surrounding streets as they all have names relevant... i.e. Woodland Street (renamed in the 1930's to Woodland Walk, Woodland Grove, Walnut Tree Road, Earlswood Street?
From: M.J.Chalk
My grandparents and parents lived in Wood Wharf until the 1940s. I am particularly interested in R.H.Green & Siley Weir where my grandfather and father worked on boiler makers plates. I would be grateful for any information.
From: Ann Coats, Secretary, Naval Dockyards Society
Currently we have over 200 members throughout the world, including many ex-dockyard personnel, family historians researching their dockyard worker ancestors, and academics. Our first issue of books and articles relating to naval dockyard facilities is available and the latest edition is on our website.
In 1999 the Society started to creating an index and database of a class of documents at the Public Record Office which will increase access to a rich source for dockyard history. The last workshop was at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich, looking at Navy Board Letters 1738-1775 in ADM/B. It also introduced members to the process of creating a computerised database to further our knowledge of dockyard history. We urgently need more volunteers. Project Coordinator, Mrs Sue Lumas, 7, Mount Pleasant Road, New Maiden, KT3 3JZ.
Jeremy Greenwood is our Webmaster at jgplants@aol.com: The website is navaldockyards.org. As well as news and other snippets, the site contains links to other sites of interest to naval dockyard enthusiasts and maritime history in general. The site depends on input from members so any contributions are welcome especially pictorial.
From: Nick Bartlett
I am seeking any information on a watchmakers' shop at 4 Wellington Street, Woolwich which was in business in the 1870s. It was probably under the name of John Willmann, an immigrant from near Freiburg, Germany.
From: Peter Trigg
Now that the water tower of the Brook Hospital has been partly rebuilt to incorporate flats, does anyone know if any of the original pumping equipment survives?
It is possible that the pumps were steam powered and converted to electric power in more recent times. Even old electrical equipment has a lot of interest and it would be a shame if any such equipment is destroyed.
From: Howard Chard
One of my Christmas presents this year was Lost Railways of Surrey by Leslie Oppitz (Countryside Books 2002). On page 74 is a picture of a Greenwich-built Merryweather tram at Bisley Camp in 1907. In the text it explains that a tramway was built at the National Rifle Association's original site at Wimbledon in 1864 to carry people from the firing ranges to and from a camp. In 1877 a 'steam tram car was made available to the NRA comprising a boxed-in design and weighing about 4 tons'. The locomotive was named Wharncliffe and inaugurated by the Prince of Wales. In 1898 the NRA moved to Bisley, taking Wharncliffe with them. The book gives details about the further history of the line built there - and the remains which are still to be seen. But nothing about what happened to Wharncliffe itself!
A recent purchase from the Kidbrooke Military and Transport History bookshop was London Ship Types by Frank C. Bowen. Published in 1938 this consists of a series of articles which originated in the East Ham Echo It covers many, many different ships to be seen on London River before the Second World War. One of the most fascinating is about the Woolwich Navy - a body which I have yet to find anyone who has heard of it, although Mr. Bowen describes it as 'one of the very familiar sights of the River but most people know very little about them'.
Mr. Bowen says that the Woolwich Navy was War Office with its headquarters at Woolwich Arsenal. Its flag was 'difficult to identify - a Blue Ensign defaced by gold guns which is not included in most popular books of flags' and the ships 'although they are painted black, with a buff funnel and black top, they do not carry their names painted on their bows like ordinary merchant ships but, man-of-war fashion, in very small letters on the stern which are generally difficult to read. As most of them are built on the lines of coasting cargo steamers or motor vessels, and are quite small, the average Londoner who encounters them on the River is quite content to put them down as coasters and leave them at that, although really they deserve much more attention'.
He explains that 'The War Office, which in the old days controlled the Ordnance Department and supplied guns and ammunition to the Navy as well as to the Army, had maintained a fleet of sorts from time immemorial'. This was to carry guns and ammunition to the various forts and naval bases along the coast. In addition transports and storeships proceeding abroad had to be loaded at whatever port they were using as a base and, 'on the London River itself, a large fleet of sailing barges carried ammunition from the various factories to the arsenals, the magazines at such places as Purfleet, and the forts, rifle ranges and gunnery experimental stations in the lower reaches. These barges, it may be mentioned, were among the best built on the River, and several of them have been converted into first class cruising yachts'.
The work of the 'Woolwich Navy' also had a more warlike aspect because 'for many years after the American Civil War had proved the potency of the submarine mine, the War Office was in charge of all the mining defences of the country, for the Navy regarded the mine as an ungentlemanly weapon and would have nothing to do with it as long as possible. The Royal Engineers, therefore, had charge of a large number of submarine mining vessels of about 80 tons displacement each, which were stationed at various points along the coast and which periodically caused interest, and considerable confusion, by practising mining and counter-mining in or alongside the commercial waterways. It was not until the turn of the century that the Navy took seriously to mining and even so it was quite unprepared for the pitch of perfection to which the German Navy had brought that arm by 1914.'
Between the two World Wars, The War Department Fleet was very busy on the transporting side. 'Guns and ammunition from Woolwich Arsenal make the principal and most picturesque cargo, and there are always two or three of the ships alongside the various piers and jetties on the riverfront. Sometimes the run is only down to the gunnery stations on the Isle of Gram or at Shoeburyness; sometimes it may be round to the posts which Britain still maintains in Southern Ireland, or to the coast defence fortifications anywhere round Britain. The large variety of their duties, which include the movement of stores, food and occasionally troops as well as ammunition, and the towing of targets for the gunnery practice of the coastal forts, necessitates a very wide range of types, including dumb and motor barges, tugs and vessels very much akin to yachts. They are manned by an entirely separate service, the personnel generally being entered as boys and promoted through the various grades of Ordinary Seaman, A.B., Second Mate, and Mate to Captain, while below deck the grades are Fireman, Leading Hand, and Driver. They wear a uniform of sorts, and although the discipline is not to be compared with either the Army or the Navy, they are generally men of a very superior, steady type who have a good job.and who look after it well. Pensions have only been introduced in comparatively recent years for the officers'.
Of the vessels themselves Mr. Bowen particularly mentions 'the
steamer SIR EVELYN WOOD' which had been well known on the
River for over forty years. She was built by Fleming & Ferguson,
of Paisley, in 1896, a steel screw steamer on the lines of a superior
coaster. Her dimensions are 160 feet by 24 feet by 14 feet depth of
hold and as a large part of her work was the carriage of big guns,
she was given exceptionally heavy scantlings which perhaps accounts
for her long life. On trial as a new ship she averaged a speed of ten
knots and she is still working at about nine, which is a fine tribute
to her original construction and the way she has been maintained by
the Army. During her long life she has carried every conceivable
article that can be required by the troops, from ordnance to food,
and on many occasions she has also been used for transporting bodies
of men over short distances'.
The Gas Workers Strike in South London
By Mary Mills
The latest edition of Historic Gas Times (published Institution of Gas Engineers & Managers) includes a couple of articles about gas worker industrial action in the 1880s - in particular about their leader, West Ham based Will Thorne. Part of this is the first part of Mary Mills' work on the gas workers strike in South London - and this, first part, is reproduced below.
South London in 1889 was the scene of a massive strike of gas workers. Workers and police battled, while thousands of blacklegs worked under siege conditions until the strike was broken.
The gas industry was changing. Until the 1880s gas had been sold mainly for street lighting - now electricity was a competitor; traditional ways of working were being changed. London Gas Companies had been forced by government and consumer group pressure to cut prices and profits and made to amalgamate for efficiency. Gas Companies were often owned by the local authority, but in London, with no unified strong local government, they stayed in private hands. In 1889 the first London County Council had been elected with a remit to 'municipalise' and gas workers, managers and owners all felt under threat. The strike took place in the South Metropolitan Gas Company, which supplied gas to Lambeth, Greenwich and Southwark. The South Met prided themselves on a good public service, with low prices. They also prided themselves on good employee relations. Since the 1870s there were paid holidays and help with sick and pension schemes. However, they did not get on with the Chartered Company, which covered most of North London.
Most important was South Met's remarkable Chairman, George T Livesey. He had helped along several revolutions in the industry and for many years he had nurtured idealistic views. He intended to put these views into practice.
Statue of George Livesey - now in the Livesey Museum, Old Kent Road
Gas workers were not all 'stokers'. Others handled the coal, worked in the streets (laying pipe), were tradesmen (such as blacksmiths and joiners), meter readers, gas fitters. More stokers were employed in the winter than the summer and they were (generally) big men at the peak of their strength with more involved in the job than unremitting shovelling. Most gasworks ran 12-hour shirts on and off, seven days a week.
Many of these men were churchgoers - deeply respectable, involved in temperance and friendly societies, as well as political parties and trade unions. Among them George Livesey was known as a benefactor, a local Sunday School teacher, a founder of the Band of Hope, local boys' and temperance clubs. Both sides laid claim to temperance - it was a sign of respectability and status. Roughs drank in pubs - respectable gas workers were abstainers.
I have outlined Will Thorne's career and in the 1890's he formed the Gas Workers Union and won the 8-hour day. There is an impression that gas workers hadn't been unionised until they arrived. In fact gas workers had organised together from the first days of the industry and held a major strike in 1872 federated throughout London, when activists were imprisoned. Laws were passed to make strikes illegal and notices hung inside gas works about this. In 1889 the Union petitioned management for 72 retorts per shift (the 8 hour day), and asked the men to decide which scheme - 8 or 12 hours - they would prefer with a ballot for each works. The offer made by the employers was complex and detailed. The eight-hour system involved a different pace. It was not necessarily easier. The ballot result showed that 'in all cases the 8 hour shift was preferred' but the Board made it clear that after this there should be 'no more concessions'. The GWU concentrated on recruitment and called for Livesey to recognise the union and in September the union wrote to him saying that retort house workers should be union members.
Livesey introduced plans to smash the union, reduce costs and implement his grand and long dreamt of scheme for partnership of consumer, shareholder and workforce.
This profit sharing scheme was something he had nursed lovingly for years and had only been prevented from using it by Board members who saw it as madness. It was no straightforward scheme but something so clever, and intricately thought out that it became an instrument by which South Met. workers became the willing slaves of the company, happy, obedient, property-owning, non-union men. It called for hard work, conformity and respectability. It offered security. The clause penalising strike action, on which Livesey was adamant, remained.
Will Thorne said 'those that signed the agreements were cowards, tyrants and curs' and he went to Manchester to stay for the next six weeks. Union men did not sign the agreement and within a fortnight union activists at Vauxhall had said they could not work with three men who had signed. They said 'all the men in the South Metropolitan Gas Works are justified in giving their notices forthwith, until the scheme be abolished'. The Board sent this on to the daily papers commenting 'it has been the rule or the company for at least fifty years, that men who strike leave the company without hope of return'.
Before noon on the 5th December 2000 notices had been handed in and the Board set in motion their plans. Livesey met the Union Executive. Positions were restated. The Union wanted the scheme withdrawn - the company refused, there were attempts at reconciliation by outside bodies. A deputation of local MPs and local clergymen tried for an hour and a half to persuade Livesey that the right to strike was 'sacred'. He told them to mind their own business.
Union Men began to leave on 13th December 1889. A train from Spalding arrived at Victoria and replacement workers marched across Vauxhall Bridge. A train from Margate came into Cannon Street at 10am with new workers for Bankside. Men were brought to the West Greenwich works wharf in 'two strange steamers' having embarked at Woolwich from trains at Arsenal station.
The 'new men' needed to be big and strong to do the work. Reporters had noted the 'old men' had an 'average height of at least 5' 10" and were all of powerful build'. Now the 'new men' were evaluated, 'there were many of Herculean build - there were seamen, navvies and raw youths'. The blacklegs were now in the works and the only question left was - can they make the gas? It was mid-December - freezing and foggy. Local people watched the great gasholders at Old Kent Road, Oval and East Greenwich, all landmarks in their districts, to try to gauge the success of the strike by the amount of gas in them. Rumour said that the holder at Old Kent Road was really full of air. By morning the fog had begun to disperse.
Gas was made - the company was coping...
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This newsletter was produced for the Greenwich Industrial History Society.
Chair, Sue Bullevant, 11 Riverview Heights, Shooters Hill, SE18. Views
expressed in it are those of the authors and not of the Society.
ANY NEWSLETTER IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS CONTENTS.
IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO TO CONTRIBUTE - ARTICLES, REPORTS, LETTERS - ANYTHING.
Contributions are always welcome. If possible, please send on disk to Mary Mills (address below).
Meetings as advertised at the head of this Newsletter will be held at;
The Old Bakehouse, (at back of the) Age Exchange Reminiscence Centre, 11 Blackheath Village, London, SE23 9LA
Do not go to the Reminiscence Centre itself - The Old Bakehouse is at the back, in Bennett Park.
Walk into Bennett Park and turn left into a yard.
The Old Bakehouse is the building on your right. The entrance is straight ahead.
Members and visitors are strongly advised not to try and park in the yard at the Old Bakehouse itself.
Mary Mills now has a limited stock of Greenwich and Woolwich at Work available at £8 each plus £2 postage from 24 Humber Road, London, SE3 7LT, 020 8858 9482
DON'T FORGET TO ASK US FOR A MEMBERSHIP FORM!
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