Grace’s Guide: Eastbourne Electric Light Co Ltd.
c.1883 Established the first system of district electric lighting in the
UK using underground mains.
c.1883 The Lowrie-Hall system of
electric lighting, using the Goulard-Gibbs transformer
(otherwise spelled as Gaulard-Gibbs), was deployed by Hammond & Co (Electrical Engineers) for Eastbourne
Electric Lighting Co; Mr William Lowrie was the chief engineer of Hammond
and Co.
By 1889 mains of 20 miles length were in use.
The inhabitant of
old Eastbourne as he chatted in the chimney-corner during the dark days of winter
and lit himself to bed by the aid of a farthing rushlight did not dream that
posterity should possess a light which ‘without heat, without smoke, without
smell, and shut up inside an empty bulb, should emit a beam with powers denied
even to the solar ray.’ It is true these
advantages were not secured all at once.
The Electric Light Company was unable to avail itself of the
incandescent system for some time.
Founded in 1882, the company initiated an undertaking which has become
of considerable importance to the town.
Soon after its formation, it applied to the Local Board for permission
to carry its wires ‘over streets or over roofs of houses or in gas-tubing under
streets for the purpose of carrying the electric light into the shops and
houses of such ratepayers as may desire to use it.’ The company also asked the local authority if
it was willing to try the ‘Brush Arc Light’ of 2,000 candle-power in a few
selected parts of town. Though there was
some opposition, the request was grant by a majority of four and it was
arranged that sixteen lamps should supersede ninety existing gas lamps.
It is amusing to
read the discussions of the Board respecting the new light. It was stated the several companies were
intending to compete with the original Eastbourne Company, that they would have
the power to come and break up the roads, and could not be dislodged for
twenty-one years. A few members thought
‘the more the merrier,’ but others of a more serious turn of mind regarded the
outlook with feelings far removed from equanimity, and the Clerk was instructed
to watch the question in the interests of the Board. The ‘watching’ was effectual; anyhow no rival
company appeared on the scene. With youthful ardour the company urged that
the Board should allow them to light one or two streets. But the Board, desiring above all things to
appear fair, resolved to put the Gas Company on a similar footing. Accordingly the Electric Light Company was
asked to give a price for lighting up the route from the drinking fountain near
the railway station to the top of Victoria Place; and the Gas Company to give a
price for lighting the road from the Anchor Hotel to Mr. Dicker’s shop in South
Street. The Gas Company took offence,
because, said one of the members, they had ‘had a nice thing for a long time,
and did not want it taken away.’ So the
company refused to give a price. But an
agreement was entered into with the rival company to light fourteen arc lamps
in Devonshire Place, Terminus Road, and Seaside Road. This arrangement was not carried out in its
entirety, but Devonshire Place was actually lighted by the company for some
time. The direct current was at first
employed, but this gave place to the alternating current, and along with it the
system of incandescent lighting, the first place to be lit by the company being
the new Town Hall.
As the pioneers of electric lighting on the south
coast the company had frequently to pay heavily for their experience, for essentially
it was an experimental company in its early days, and but for the assistance of
capitalists introduced by Mr. Robert Hammond, the well-known consulting
electrical engineer, under whose superintendence the company’s system was
originally laid down, the undertaking might have collapsed. After 1890 the company ‘turned a corner’ and
began paying dividends, which in the year prior to its transference to the
Corporation reached 10 per cent. Many of
the principal boroughs, including that of Dublin, and several of the London
vestries visited Eastbourne to inspect the company’s operations, and at the
opening of the works in Junction Road in 1885 the Chinese Ambassador, the
Marquess T’Seng, was present.
The original directors were Mr. George Boulton
(chairman) and Messrs. J. G. Langham, Wm. Routledge, Caleb Diplock, and J. A.
Skinner; and from the incorporation of the company Mr. Henry Towner acted as
secretary and accountant. Latterly Mr. H. W. Wilkinson was the electrical
engineer. Since the undertaking came
into the hands of the Town Council, it has been found necessary to erect new
works at Roselands.
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