| Industry | Water supply |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1723 in London, UK |
| Defunct | June 24, 1904 |
| Fate | Municipalised |
| Successor | Metropolitan Water Board |
| Chelsea Waterworks Act 1721 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for better supplying the City and Liberties of Westminster, and Parts adjacent, with Water. |
| Citation | 8 Geo. 1. c. 26 |
| Territorial extent | Great Britain |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 7 March 1722 |
| Commencement | 19 October 1721[a] |
| Repealed | 30 June 1852 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | Chelsea Waterworks Act 1809 |
| Repealed by | Chelsea Waterworks Act 1852 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Chelsea Waterworks Act 1809 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for amending an Act, for better supplying the City and Liberties of Westminster, and Parts adjacent, with Water, and for enlarging the Powers thereof. |
| Citation | 49 Geo. 3. c. clvii |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 10 June 1809 |
| Commencement | 10 June 1809[b] |
| Repealed | 30 June 1852 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends | Chelsea Waterworks Act 1721 |
| Repealed by | Chelsea Waterworks Act 1852 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Chelsea Waterworks Act 1852[c] | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for extending the Chelsea Waterworks, and for better supplying the City of Westminster and Parts adjacent with Water. |
| Citation | 15 & 16 Vict. c. clvi |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 30 June 1852 |
| Commencement | 30 June 1852[b] |
| Other legislation | |
| Repeals/revokes |
|
| Amended by | |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Chelsea Waterworks Act 1864 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act for authorizing the Governor and Company of Chelsea Waterworks to raise further Monies; and for other Purposes. |
| Citation | 27 & 28 Vict. c. xxxix |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 23 June 1864 |
| Chelsea Waterworks Act 1875 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act for authorising the Governor and Company of Chelsea Waterworks to take water from the River Thames, in the parish of West Moulsey, in the county of Surrey, and to construct additional Works, and to raise further Moneys; and for other purposes. |
| Citation | 38 & 39 Vict. c. cviii |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 29 June 1875 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Chelsea Waterworks Act 1887 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act to enable the Governor and Company of Chelsea Waterworks to dispose of certain lands and for other purposes. |
| Citation | 50 & 51 Vict. c. xciv |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 5 July 1887 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Chelsea Waterworks Act 1896 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act to authorise the Governor and Company of Chelsea Waterworks to lay down a New Main from West Molesey to Surbiton to construct an additional Filter Bed and other Works at Surbiton and to raise further money by debenture stock and to confer further powers upon them. |
| Citation | 59 & 60 Vict. c. lxxiii |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 2 July 1896 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
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The Chelsea Waterworks Company was a London waterworks company founded in 1723 which supplied water to many central London locations throughout the 18th and 19th centuries until its functions were taken over by the Metropolitan Water Board in 1904.[1]
The company was established "for the better supplying the City and Liberties of Westminster and parts adjacent with water"[1] and received a royal charter on 8 March 1723.[2] The company created extensive ponds in the area bordering Chelsea and Pimlico using water from the tidal Thames. These were to form the basis of the Grosvenor Canal which was opened to traffic in 1825. By the 19th century there were complaints about the quality of the water they were drawing from the River Thames, and in 1829, under engineer James Simpson the company became the first in the country to install a slow sand filtration system to purify the water.[3]
The Metropolis Water Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 84) prohibited the extraction of water for household purposes from the River Thames below Teddington Lock. The company moved to Seething Wells above the lock at Surbiton in 1856 becoming the last water company to move their inlets above the polluted tidal water zone.[3] The site was adjacent to the Lambeth Waterworks Company, who had already moved there and who also employed Simpson. The vacated site at Pimlico was used by the railway companies to build lines into west London and London Victoria Station was built on the site of much of the Grosvenor Canal basin.
The inlets at Seething Wells sucked up too much mud with the water because of turbulence caused by the River Mole, River Ember and The Rythe. The Chelsea Waterworks Company attempted to build works opposite Hampton Court but followed the Lambeth Waterworks Company to a new installation at Molesey in 1875 where the Molesey Reservoirs were built.[4] Both companies were incorporated into the Metropolitan Water Board in 1902.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Start of session.
- ^ a b The Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793.
- ^ Section 2.
References
[edit]- ^ a b The London Encyclopaedia, Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, Macmillan, 1995, ISBN 0-333-57688-8
- ^ Royal Charters, Privy Council website Archived 2007-08-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b History of the Chelsea Waterworks
- ^ A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of the Borough of Elmbridge
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