The History of the London Water Industry, 1580–1820 This page intentionally left blank The History of the London Water Industry 1580–1820 Leslie Tomory Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore This book was brought to publication with the generous assistance of the Johns Hopkins University Press General Humanities Endowment. © 2017 Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 2017 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363 www.press.jhu.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Tomory, Leslie, 1974– author. Title: The London water industry, 1580-1800 / Leslie Tomory. Description: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016028540| ISBN 9781421422046 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781421422053 (electronic) | ISBN 1421422042 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 1421422050 (electronic) Subjects: LCSH: Waterworks—England—London—History. | Water-supply—England— London—History. | Water utilities—England—London—History. Classification: LCC HD4465.G7 .T66 2017 | DDC 363.6/10942109033—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028540 A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more information, please contact Special Sales at 410-516-6936 or [email protected]. Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials, including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent post- consumer waste, whenever possible. To my family This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Tables and Figures ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1 The Roots of a New Water Industry 13 2 The Birth of the New River Company 42 3 Water in the Age of Revolutions, 1625–1730 65 4 A New Scale of Network with the New River 99 5 The London Bridge Waterworks and Other Companies in the Eighteenth Century 151 6 Consumption 180 7 Purity, 1700–1810 215 8 Epilogue and Legacy, 1800–1820 232 Conclusion 245 Appendix A 251 Appendix B 256 Notes 257 Bibliography 287 Index 309 This page intentionally left blank Tables and Figures Tables 5.1. Number of mains in 1739 155 5.2. Volume of water supplied daily in 1767 157 6.1. New River Company summary, 1769 189 6.2. Income from contract amounts, New River Company 189 6.3. Largest New River customers 190 6.4. Streets with highest average rent (>10 tenants), New River Company 207 6.5. Streets with highest total rent, New River Company 207 6.6. Streets with lowest average rent (>10 tenants), New River Company 209 Figures 1.1. The Great Conduit at Cheapside in 1638. P. de la Serre, Histoire de l’entree de la reyne mere du roy tres-chrestien dans la Grande- Bretaign (1639) 22 1.2. A chain pump. Gregorius Agricola, De Re Metallica (1561) 24 1.3 A piston pump. Gregorius Agricola, De Re Metallica (1561) 25 1.4. Lübeck’s waterworks. Details from Elias Diebel panoramic woodcut view of Lübeck (1552) 26 1.5. A hand-powered pipe-boring machine. Gregorius Agricola, De Re Metallica (1561) 27 1.6. Artillery boring mechanisms. Vannoccio Biringucci, De la pirotechnia (1540) 28 1.7. A view of London Bridge in 1720. William Pinnock, The Guide to Knowledge (1833) 33 x Tables and Figures 1.8. The Standard in Cornhill in 1599, supplied by the London Bridge Waterworks. Robert Wilkinson, Londina illustrata (1819) 34 1.9. The London Bridge Waterworks in 1633. John Bate, The Mysteries of Nature and Art (1654) 38 1.10. The Broken Wharf Waterworks. Wenceslaus Hollar, Long view of London from Bankside (1647) 39 2.1. Hugh Myddelton by Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen (1628) 51 2.2. Map of the New River. William Matthews, Hydraulia (1835) 56 2.3. The New River Head in 1664. Wenceslaus Hollar, A bend in a river, with houses nearby (1665) 57 2.4. Income and tenant count, 1614–1631 59 2.5. Map of the New River mains in 1620. Reconstruction overlaid on George Vertue, A plan of the city and suburbs of London as fortified by Order of Parliament in the years 1642 and 1643 (1738) 60 3.1. Edward Ford’s waterworks in 1663. Balthasar de Monconys, Journal des voyages de Monsieur de Monconys (1666) 72 3.2. New River dividend and share price, 1630–1820 75 3.3. Long-term government bond yields and dividend yields on New River stock, 1630–1820 77 3.4. The York Buildings Company water tower. The City of Westminster from Near the York Water Gate (1746), by Canaletto 86 4.1. A view of part of the new River Head and new Tunbridge Wells at Islington (1730–31), by Bernard Lens III 109 4.2. The upper pond is in the foreground, with the windmill tower and lower ponds behind. Thomas Bowles, North Prospect of London taken from the Bowling Green at Islington (1753), original from Canaletto (ca. 1745) 115 4.3. The Chelsea Waterworks’ Boulton & Watt steam engine. A View of the Fire Engine at Chelsea Waterworks (1783) 117 4.4. The doubled pipe system from 1844. William Lindley and William Mylne, Ingenieur-Bericht, die Anlage der Oeffentlichen Wasser- Kunst für die Stadt Hamburg betreffend (1844) 120 4.5. Wood water pipes at Clerkenwell, ca. 1815. Alfred Stanley Foord, Springs, Streams and Spas of London (1910) 121 4.6. The New River’s pipe network in 1770. Reconstruction overlaid on Bowles’s Reduced New Pocket Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster with the Borough of Southwark (1795) 122 Tables and Figures xi 4.7. A turncock. Aunt Louisa’s Welcome Gift; London Characters (1885?) 127 4.8. An eighteenth-century lead cistern in 46 Berkeley Square, Westminster 130 4.9. A fire plug. William Matthews, Hydraulia (1835) 131 4.10. A ballcock. Mechanics Magazine (1840) 132 4.11. Bulk wood purchased from merchants by the New River Company, 1770–1812 137 4.12. Iron pipe joints, turns, and splits. William Matthews, Hydraulia (1835) 139 4.13. An eighteenth-century pipe-boring machine. The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1765) 140 5.1. Comparison of total dividends paid 154 5.2. Map of Shadwell Waterworks’ mains in 1795. Report from the Committee Appointed to Enquire into the Best Mode of Providing Sufficient Accommodation for the Increased Trade and Shipping of the Port of London (1796) 155 5.3. Map of the New River Company’s mains at the New River Head in 1731 156 5.4. Water company supply zones north of the Thames in the mid- eighteenth century. Reconstruction overlaid on A new and correct plan of London and Westminster and Southwark with new buildings to the year 1770 157 5.5. Waterwheel in fourth arch of London Bridge. Henry Beighton, “A Description of the Water-Works at London-Bridge,” Philosophical Transactions (1731) 162 5.6. A map of the London Bridge Waterworks’ mains in 1745. Locations reconstructed from Hearne’s report (1745) 170 5.7. The waterwheel in the fifth arch of London Bridge in 1819. Abraham Rees, Cyclopædia (1819) 174 5.8. Foulds’s cylinder from 1780, top and side view (drawn in 1788) 176 6.1. Number of customers connected 182 6.2. Number of houses connected 182 6.3. Market penetration 184 6.4. Market share in terms of number of houses 185 6.5. Ratio of the cost of water connection to average wages 187 6.6. Contract size distribution 191 xii Tables and Figures 6.7. A brewhouse. T. H. Croker, The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1764-66) 199 6.8. Income derived from New River customers in 1770 202 6.9. Average water contract of New River customers in 1770 203 6.10. Count of New River customers in 1770 204 8.1. Price of wood in shillings per load paid by the New River Company, 1770–1812 233 8.2. London’s sewers in 1865. Joseph Bazalgette, “On the Main Drainage of London,” Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 24 (1865) 243 Acknowledgments Many people have helped me in the process of writing this book. Nicola Tynan, Victor Boantza, Bill Luckin, Chris Hamlin, Matthew Hunter, Don Nerbas, and Brian Lewis have provided comments on various parts of the text. Many referees and conference participants have also provided valuable suggestions. I’d also like to thank Victor for his help in obtaining images. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the staff at Johns Hopkins University Press, particularly Elizabeth Demers and Meagan Szekely, as well as Brian MacDonald for his careful copyediting. The research for this book has been supported by grants from the Mellon Foundation and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Canada. Parts of this book have appeared in earlier form as articles in Technology and Culture, Urban History, and Social History of Medicine. This page intentionally left blank The History of the London Water Industry, 1580–1820 This page intentionally left blank Introduction Over the course of the nineteenth century, and then more so in the twen- tieth century, Western cities were slowly reshaped by the construction of large-scale infrastructure that refashioned the daily lives of many of their inhabitants. In 1800, a middle-class Parisian would have walked to work, used a privy or a chamber pot, fetched water from a public pump or well, lit his house with candles, and conducted most communications verbally or by written note. By 1900, his house or apartment would have featured a water closet connected to a sewer system, piped water supplied on demand from a supply network, gaslights fed from a gas utility, and perhaps even elec- tricity.