Shadwell Waterworks Company

The Shadwell Waterworks were started in about 1669 by Thomas Neale, who was groom porter to King Charles II and from 1678 to 1699 Master of the Mint. He leased land beside the River Thames in Shadwell from the Dean of St Paul's and installed a pump operated by horses to raise water from the Thames which was then distributed to neighbouring houses. In 1679 the works were enlarged and a second horse mill was added.

In 1680 Thomas Neale obtained letters patent from Charles II authorising him "to maintain, erect or new-build his Water-works and Waterhousel" near the River Thames in the parish of Shadwell and to make ponds, pipes, and cisterns to take water from the river to supply inhabitants within the Manors of Stepney and East Smithfield. Neale divided the undertaking into 36 shares most of which he sold. An act of Parliament in 1692 incorporated Neale and his partners as the "Governor and Company of the Water-works and Water-houses in Shadwell". Neale became the first governor.

The profitability of the Shadwell Waterworks vanished on the establishment of the West Ham Waterworks by Resta Patching and Thomas Byrd in about 1743. In 1745 they rented land in West Ham on the road between Bow in Middlesex and Stratford in Essex. An atmospheric engine was used to pump water from a creek branching from the River Lea. This was then sent east to Stratford and west to Bow, Bromley, Old Ford, Mile End Old Town, Stepney, Limehouse, Ratcliffe and Shadwell. Competition between the two waterworks was continued "with great virulence" and to the detriment of the profitability of both, until they came to an agreement in 1785 as to the demarcation of their districts. This was put into effect in 1792 by the purchase by the Shadwell Waterworks Company of the mains, pipes, and other personal property of the proprietors of the West Ham Waterworks, in Stepney, Limehouse, Ratcliffe, Shadwell, St George-in-the-East, Ratcliffe Highway, Wellclose Square, Wapping, the Hermitage, and parts of the parishes of Aldgate, St Katherine's and Whitechapel.

In 1750 the Shadwell Waterworks Company replaced their horsemills with an atmospheric engine. By 1756 two "fire engines" were in operation. In 1778 these were replaced by a Boulton and Watt steam engine, a second engine being provided in 1784. In 1798 a new Watt double acting engine was installed in the waterworks in Labour in Vain Street, Shadwell.

By this date the existence of the waterworks was threatened by a scheme to build wet docks in Shadwell, which required the demolition of over 2,000 houses in the area which would have rendered the waterworks uneconomic. In addition the water mains would have been cut by the entrance to the docks. In 1800 the London Dock Company agreed to purchase the Shadwell Waterworks for £50,000.

This was put into effect by an Act of Parliament 39 and 40 George III c.47. The London Dock Company also purchased the West Ham Waterworks in 1807. In the same year the East London Waterworks was constituted by a private Act of Parliament authorising the construction of waterworks on the River Lea at Old Ford. Another Act of Parliament in 1808 enabled the East London Waterworks Company to purchase the Shadwell and West Ham Waterworks from the London Dock Company, which had continued to supply water to the Shadwell area until that time.

At the time of the purchase by the London Dock Company of the property of the Shadwell Waterworks Company, the owners of two of the 36 shares could not be traced. The sum of £2,777 15s 6d which was reserved in the hands of trustees for the owners of these shares was not successfully claimed until 1869.