Gas Monopoly
From the Hastings News of 07/12/1849
The News published a letter complaining about the gas monopoly in the town, resulting in consumers paying nearly twice as much as in other towns for “an article miserably bad in quality”. The News had two letters on the issue ...
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Gas Monopoly
From the Hastings News of 01/02/1850
The price of gas was to be reduced from eight shillings to six shillings per cu ft in 1851.
The Duke of Brunswick and Henry Green made a balloon journey to Neufchatel near Boulogne from a field near the gas works [where Morrisons is today]. Thousands of people watched as the balloon was inflated with gas and then took ...
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Gas Works
From the Hastings News of 22/10/1852
A new chimney was to be erected at the gas works.
Gas Light
From the Hastings Chronicle of 01/11/1853
Notice of intention to apply for Act of Parliament for Hastings and St Leonards Gas Light and Coke Co.
New Gas Mains
From the Hastings News of 15/06/1855
New gas mains, larger than the old ones, were being laid by the gas company.
Bigger Gas Works
From the Hastings News of 22/02/1856
The Gas Company was to extend its works as demand was so great.
New Gasometer
From the Hastings News of 05/12/1856
A new gasometer came into use, capable of holding 150,000 cu ft of gas.
Gas Injury
From the Hastings News of 07/05/1858
There was an explosion of gas at the house of Mr Ticehurst, the surgeon. A child employed in the house was burnt.
A gas explosion occurred in Coburg Place, Old Town, following a gas leak into a sewer near Swan Lane. The effect was said to be similar to a steam engine firing.
New Gas Main
From the Hastings News of 20/03/1863
The first delivery of pipes for a new gas main was landed by a sailing vessel onto the Priory Beach, in front of the Queens Hotel, from Birtley Iron Works, near Newcastle.
Gas Prices Cut
From the Hastings News of 25/11/1864
The Hastings and St Leonards Gas Company was to reduce gas prices from 5s to 4s per 1,000 cubic feet from next April.
Gas Workers
From the Hastings News of 07/04/1865
At the gas works, the work was laborious and many men used this as an excuse for intoxication, so the company was providing nourishing, low-cost drinks at a nominal cost. A 17-piece brass band had also been formed for the ...
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Roads and Rails
From the Hastings News of 13/10/1865
Council meeting 6 October: Priory Street, after months of complaints about its bad conditions, had been put in good order. It was recommended that a railway siding be built on the Water Yards for the gas works.
Streets Renumbered
From the Hastings News of 11/05/1866
Council meeting, 4 May: A new school house for primitive Methodists was approved. Many streets, including Priory Street, Middle Street and Meadow Road, were renumbered. The Gas Band were to play for 2 or 3 evenings in St Andrews Gardens.
New Gas Holder
From the Hastings News of 05/04/1867
In the last 2-3 weeks excavations had been going on for the preparation of a new gas holder at the gas works. It would hold 220,000 cubic feet of gas. On 29 November the News reported that it was nearly ...
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Gas Blast
From the Hastings News of 24/06/1870
Someone looking for a gas leak with a candle at 12 Clarence Terrace, Silverhill, set off an explosion which burned their arms and face, blew out windows and lifted the roof.
Big Development
From the Hastings News of 02/12/1870
St Andrews Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Chichester on 30 November. It cost £3,600, and £1,000 still had to be raised. Its surrounding area had changed since the Misses Sayer sold the land south and east of the ...
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The Council agreed the laying of drains for the new streets to be called Earl Street and Mann Street, plus one other, on what was then Golding's Garden on the Cornwallis Estate. [The 1873 Ordnance Survey plan shows no buildings ...
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All Saints Gassed
From the Hastings News of 05/09/1873
All Saints Church was lit by gas for the first time on 31 August.
New Gas Lamp
From the Hastings News of 09/01/1880
The Council agreed a new type of gas lamp could be put up temporarily near the Albert Memorial, to show how gas lamps could light the streets. [The was because of the possiblity that the electric company would provide better ...
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A Council meeting threw out a proposal to examine the cost of using electricity to power street lighting rather than gas. Electric lights had first come into large-scale use in 1879 and by 1881 were in use in most cities. ...
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Gas Explosion
From the Hastings News of 25/02/1881
There was a fatal gas explosion at Penryn Lodge, Halton, a servants' refuge, killing a 26-year old woman.
Electric Light
From the Hastings News of 13/01/1882
The Council set up a committee to look into using electric light in the town. A year before, the councillors on 7 January 1881 had thrown out such a suggestion, but with electricity clearly becoming a serious rival to gas, ...
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Gas Money
From the Hastings News of 23/03/1883
A public meeting was held on the Gas Company's application to Parliament for further borrowing powers.
Gas Beats Electric
From the Hastings News of 07/09/1883
The Hastings Gas Company had won its battle to put up the price of gas and raise new share capital of £120,000 in its war against the new Electric Light Company. A meeting of gas shareholders was told on 6 ...
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The Hastings Gas Company announced that they would let on hire gas cookers.
Gas Works Injuries
From the Hastings News of 25/08/1893
Mr Robert Johnson on 23 August suffered a badly crushed foot while working on a crane erecting the new part of the Hastings gas works. On 1 September the News reported that Mr Nelson Johnston died from his injuries after ...
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Electric Front
From the Hastings News of 06/07/1894
The whole seafront was illuminated by electricity on Saturday 30 June for the first time. For several years 15 arc lights had lit the section between the Queens Hotel and the west end of Eversfield Place, but from 10.30pm on ...
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Gas Explosions
From the Hastings News of 29/03/1895
Two gas explosions occurred in Pelham Street on Monday 25 March.
Cooking with Gas
From the Hastings News of 24/05/1895
The local Gas Company gave free cookery lectures combined with a gas exhibition in the Public Hall, Robertson Street.
Gas Inspectors
From the Hastings News of 22/05/1896
Members of the Institute of Gas Engineers inspected the Hastings gas works on 15 May.
The widespread unease at the purchase by Hastings Council of the Electric Light Company's assets started becoming public. The well-known and respected Mr CF Botley, an electrical engineer, said the purchase price was excessive and the Council was paying too ...
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Suicide by inhaling gas was committed by William Harman Sutton, the assistant overseer and rate collector of All Saints Parish, on 9 January.
In one of the largest known scandals in the history of the town, the Hastings Gas Company shareholders decided they wanted to increase their profits by moving their gasworks out of Hastings, thereby not having to pay £4,000 in coal ...
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Gas Go-Ahead
From the Hastings Mail of 09/09/1899
Royal assent was given on 13 July to the Gas Company's bill seeking power to build new gasworks at Glyne Gap, shareholders were told at their half-yearly meeting on 8 September. Chairman Cllr Dr Gray said everyone should be very ...
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Mrs Gray, the mother of Cllr Dr G Gray JP (chairman of the Hastings Gas Company) died at their home, 33 Wellington Square.
There was a gas explosion at 4 St Matthews Road, Silverhill. Albert Armstrong, an inspector of the Gas Company, was admitted to hospital.
Gasworks Progress
From the Hastings Mail of 06/09/1902
The half-yearly meeting of the Gas Company on 4 March in their Queens Road office heard that the company was in a very satisfactory position. Work was progressing well on the new Glyne Gap works, which was still unfinished; £45,000 ...
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An EGM of the Hastings Gas Company was held on March 3 in it’s offices. Cllr Dr Gray presided, with directors Major Weston, Ald Stubbs, CE Beeching, WJ Glenister, A Parks and GW Veness. Many other people present, including Ald ...
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At the Council meeting July 1 Cllr Parker (Con) was elected alderman. The Liberals proposed Major Stanley Thomas Weston, who lost his alderman seat on 9 November 1903. Weston had been a councillor/alderman for a quarter of a century before ...
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The Affairs of Messrs J & A Bray: John and Arthur Bray appeared in the Bankruptcy Court on July 12 before registrar Mr EA Knight. The senior partner was John, an alderman and councillor for over 20 years. He had ...
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Gas Latest
From the Hastings Mail of 10/09/1904
“The march of the Gas Company in Hastings and St Leonards has been one of triumph.” The manufacture of gas within the boundaries of Hastings will soon cease, moving to Glyne Gap. They would keep the existing holders and site ...
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A long letter from Charles William Tagg of 17 Ashburnham Road is published as a story, headed “Reducing Officials’ Salaries - Officials being made the scapegoats for mismanagement by councillors”. He spoke of the “gross mismanagement of past and present ...
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Arthur Franks was in a fatal accident at the Hastings Gas Company works at Glyne Gap. He lived at 20 Alma Terrace, Silverhill.
The Gas Company had held it’s half-yearly meeting. Successful again. Preliminary trials had been made at Glyne Gap. They hoped to transfer the bulk of manufacturing in the autumn of 1905. Profit of £11,613.
Investors fought shy of buying shares in several Hastings companies at an auction at 12 Claremont. There were no bids for Albany Hotel Co, Hastings Pier Co, Plummer Rodis, Southern Counties Vacuum Cleaner Co, Skinner & Co, the Grand Hotel ...
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Over 250 members of the Institute of Gas Engineers visited the gas works at Glyne Gap.
Hastings lost one of its oldest and best known personalities in George William Veness, who died at Fairmount, St Johns Road, Bexhill. He was a cabinet maker and upholsterer by trade. He started a big furnishing warehouse at the bottom ...
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The Democratic Notes in the Mail said: The branch is growing in strength. New members are being obtained at every meeting and there is a suggestion that a cycling corps shall be formed. The Democratic League will be holding ...
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An injunction to restrain the Gas Co from proceeding further with an arbitration against the Hastings Tram Co was refused in the High Court on 3 October.
Coal Tax Scandal
From the Hastings Mail of 12/01/1907
The working class people of Hastings were subsidising the well-off, via the centuries-old coal tax, declared the national paper, Lloyds News on 6 January. The tax dated from when Queen Elizabeth allowed the governing body of Hastings to collect a ...
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The Electricity Committee considered the desirability of lighting the whole of the public lamps in streets in which electric mains were laid. It was informed that there were then 480 gas lamps situated within 60 feet of the mains and ...
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A gas explosion at a forge at 4 and 6 Fairlight Road, by the corner with Saxon Road, belonging to Ernest E Trinder, injured his servant, Arthur Charles.
Mail headline and story: "Sensational Charges Against Hastings Municipal Authorities and Guardians by Muddled Socialists. In connection with the bye-election in St Clements ward on 4 March, the local socialists secured a special issue of Justice, the organ of the ...
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The transformed Palace Pier [the St Leonards Pier, opposite the Royal Victoria Hotel] was to be reopened in May, after the American Syndicate had taken possession of the Pier on 1 April. The Mail of 10 April reported that the ...
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