GAS

Explosions

In 1865 Nine Elms gasworks exploded. Eleven people were killed.

Gas Light & Coke Company

The actor (later television presenter) (Eric) Shaw Taylor's (1924-2015) was the son of an employee of the Gas Light & Coke Company. The latter hated using electricity in the family home because he regarded it as helping the opposition. He relented after his son secured a role in the television series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-9).

Gasometers

The Southall Gasometers

In the late 1860s the Brentford Gas Company developed a gas works at Southall. The facility covered almost twenty acres. The works were closed in 1973 after which the site was used as a gas storage facility.

The Southall gasometers used to be used by pilots as a visual cue for landing aircraft at Heathrow. There is a story that in the mid-1960s one Boeing 707 pilot mistook one of the South Harrow gasometers for the Southall ones and therefore erroneously landed the plane that he was flying at Royal Air Force's Northolt airfield. The runway was too short for the aircraft to be able to take off again. The 707 had to be stripped down of all the objects and the structures that could safely be removed from it. This made it just light enough to be able to take off again. As a consequence of the incident, a large NO was painted on the South Harrow gasometer and a large LH and an arrow on the ridged, 90m.-tall Southall one. The former has been demolished.

In 2009 it was reported that the Make architectural was involved in plans to redevelop the gasworks site.

Location: Randolph Road, Southall, UB1 1BL

See Also: TRANSPORT

Powering Consumer Goods

There used to be gas-power refrigerators and washing machines.

Suicide Ovens

Before North Sea gas became available during the 1960s, Londoners used what was known as town gas . This was created by heating coal. It was fatal to anyone who was exposed to it in too great a concentration. People used to commit suicide by turning on a gas oven and then placing their heads in it.

There is a story that in the early 1950s one young actor became so distraught at his lack of progress in the acting profession that he decided to kill himself. He went to his flat's kitchen, turned on the stove and placed his head in the oven. However, he opened his eyes and noticed that the compartment was in need of a good clean. He had a modicum of dignity and thought that, while he was about to meet his end in a pedestrian manner, it did not need to be quite so squalid. Therefore, he removed his head, turned off the gas, and cleaned the oven. This left him in a domestically-inclined mood and he decided to bake a cake rather than carry on trying to commit suicide. In the years that followed he became an internationally known movie star.

With Added Smell

Town gas was made from coal. It smelt. North Sea gas proved to be cheaper and so replaced it. It was odourless and so had to have a gas smell added to it.

David Backhouse 2024