Papers of John Wright relating to his campaign to improve the water supply of the Grand Junction Waterworks Company. The records comprise: papers relating to the water supply in the Metropolis, 1719-1831; and letter of appeal concerning John Wright's efforts to improve the water supply, 1829.

Papers of John William Couchman and Harold Seymour Couchman, surveyors, agents to the lords of the manors of Tottenham and Edmonton and civil engineers, 1789-1938. The majority of the papers are those of John William Couchman who was a civil engineer (in particular, apparently, a waterworks expert) and a surveyor and valuer, but a few later ones relate to his successor, Harold Seymour Couchman.

John William Couchman acted as surveyor and agent to the lords of the manors of Tottenham and Edmonton. Most of the manorial documents are valuations for enfranchisement of copyhold property. These cover the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and are arranged alphabetically under the names of the copyholders. There is also, however, a survey of Tottenham manor of circa 1830 and two rentals of quit and waste rents for Tottenham and one for Edmonton, together with correspondence with the local urban district councils over their purchase of manorial waste.

The remainder of the collection consists of documents concerning property of the Sperling family and of others for whom Couchman acted as agent; his own papers relating to various engineering projects - notably that to provide a drinking water supply for Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, papers concerning the Tithe rent charges for Tottenham (for which he acted as valuer), various sales particulars including one of 1789 for Bruce Castle and Mount Pleasant, and two albums of photographs taken at the end of the last century which are of considerable interest.

Declaration of trusts of £2,400 capital stock (being 24 shares) in the West Middlesex Water Works, assigned for securing £1,400, for Charles Lestock Boileau of Castleneau, esq. and William Tierney Clark of Hammersmith, engineer, 1841; with absolute assignment of the same for £1,120, 1843.

Records of the New River Company, comprising lease of a watercourse from main water pipe at back side of Saint Clement Danes to the private dwelling house of Thomas Dows, gentleman, 1697.

Records of the East London Water Works Company, 1899-1903, consisting of contract drawings and a timetable of a visit made by members of Portsmouth Water Works Company to East London Water Works.

Records of the Shadwell Waterworks Company, 1673-1869, including records relating to the establishment of Shadwell Waterworks, agreement with West Ham Waterworks, opposition to proposed London Docks, purchase of Waterworks by London Dock Company, papers concerning unclaimed shares and ownership of a share in the Shadwell Waterworks.

Records of the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association, later known as the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association; including minutes; agendas; constitution; annual reports; records relating to property and structures (fountains); correspondence; bequests and trusts; staff; financial accounts; plans; photographs; printed material including press cuttings and histories, and case files relating to individual fountains.

Records of Metropolitan Water Board predecessors, 1870-1969, comprising contracts, tenders and specifications for construction, improvements and other works.

Minute books of Gas Committee, 1865-1873; minute books of Gas and Water Committee, 1873-1889; committee papers 1865-1889 and reports, 1874.

Minute books of various Select and Special Committees of the Commissioners of Sewers and the Public Health Department, 1882-1929, including committees on the provision of electric lighting, school board expenditure on sanitation, the Engineer's Department, the construction of new offices, the provision of uniforms for inspectors and officers, the London Building Acts Amendment (1905) and the Metropolitan Water Board (Various Powers) Bill. There are also minutes of a joint sub-committee of the Improvements and Finance, Streets and Sanitary Committees.

Records from the Lee Conservancy Board Engineer's Office at Enfield Lock. The engineer appears also to have been responsible to the Lee Conservancy Catchment Board (for example, see Acc 2423/062).

The collection consists of nineteenth and twentieth century plans, papers and volumes concerning the Lee Conservancy Board, the Lee Conservancy Catchment Board, and the British Waterways Board, covering many aspects of maintenance work on waterways and administration. The papers comprise:

• Plans 1760-1954 (ACC 2423/P/0001-3786) A large proportion of the collection consists of plans, many reused with annotations. Items relate to repair work on sewers and buildings, improvements to rivers and pumping stations, and the purchase of land for new projects.
  • Parliamentary Plans 1840-1965 (ACC 2423/PP/001-041) Plans produced for or submitted for Parliamentary Sessions to illustrate forthcoming work on waterways, for example, sewerage work, or waterways affected by the construction of railways.
  • Specific Plans 1867-1964 (ACC 2423/R/001-076) A set of plans illustrating large projects, which seems to have been kept as a set distinct and separate from the main ACC 2423/P plan series by the placing of the letter `R' before each original plan number.
  • General Plans 1828-1974 (ACC 2423/X/001-300) A collection of more general plans relating to projects focusing on improvements to the Lea River and Navigation, the Stort River and Navigation, the Bow Back Rivers and the Grand Union Canal.
  • Ordnance Survey Maps 1838-1955 (ACC 2423/05/001-139) Maps used to plan forthcoming work, with frequent annotations, particularly for the drafting of courses for sewers.
  • Engineers' Reports and Letter Books 1858-1961 (ACC 2423/001-136) Sets of volumes and files recording reports, contracts and specifications, and other maintenance records.
  • Administrative and Legal Documents 1829-1977 (ACC 2423/AL/001-119) Administrative files relating to accidents and damage, together with inventories of assets, minutes of meetings, and engineers' reports. Legal documents include material on agreements for sale and tenancy, the conveyance of property, and contracts.
  • Engineering and Maintenance Records 1892-1978 (ACC 2423/EM/001-097) Records relating to the maintenance and improvement of waterways, including development plans, moratorium surveys, pumping records, and related graphs and operation sheets.

Records of Thames Water predecessor companies (water supply) and local authorities (waste water management including sewer network), comprising the following:

ACC/2558/CH: Chelsea Waterworks Company

ACC/2558/DV: Darenth Valley Main Sewerage Board

ACC/2558/EL: East London Waterworks Company

ACC/2558/GJ: Grand Junction Waterworks Company

ACC/2558/KE: Kent Waterworks Company

ACC/2558/LA: Lambeth Waterworks Company

ACC/2558/LC: Lee Conservancy Catchment Board

ACC/2558/LL: London Local Authorities, Metropolitan Board of Works, London County Council and Greater London Council

ACC/2558/MW: Metropolitan Water Board

ACC/2558/NR: New River Company

ACC/2558/S: Shadwell Waterworks Company

ACC/2558/SR: Staines Reservoir Joint Committee

ACC/2558/SV: Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company

ACC/2558/TW: Thames Water Authority

ACC/2558/WK: West Kent Main Sewerage Board

ACC/2558/WM: West Middlesex Waterworks Company

The records include corporate records and minutes, staff records, clerk's papers, records relating to water supply and distribution, technical reports, purchase records, property records, legal papers, plans, substantial series of photographs, glass plate negatives and lanterns slides (especially clean water: under ACC/2558/MW/PH, ACC/2558/MW/GP and ACC/2558/MW/L and sewer and waste water: under ACC/2558/LL/PH) and financial accounts and ledgers.

Cataloguing of this collection has been funded by Thames Water. For more information about the cataloguing project which was completed September 2019, please see 'The Thames Water Treasure Trove' in 'Source' magazine, July 2016 (library reference: 24.217 THA). London Metropolitan Archives would like to thank Thames Water for funding the cataloguing of this collection.

Records of Associated Metropolitan Water Companies, comprising minutes and accounts of the Metropolitan Water Companies Meetings of Chairmen; minutes of sub committees including the Intercommunication Committee of Engineers of the Metropolitan Water Companies and the Committee for the Management of Works of Intercommunication; and correspondence.

Corporate records of the Chelsea Waterworks Company, including Court of Directors minute books; General Board minute books; Committee of Accounts and Works minute books; Finance and Audit Committee minute books; Parliamentary Committee minutes; Secretary's report books; agenda books; correspondence; letter books; legal papers; register of stock and share holders; stock and share ledgers and other records; dividend books; registers of wills; bond records; contracts and specifications.

Financial records of Chelsea Waterworks Company, including annual account books; annual reports; accounts ledgers; journals; cash books; bills books; revenue ledgers; meter accounts; and order books.

Staff records of the Chelsea Waterworks Company, including register of employment; wages accounts and wages books.

Water supply and distribution records of the Chelsea Waterworks Company, including engineer's reports; meter inspection reports; storekeeper's reports; water supply aggreements and applications; supply records; meter registers; district water services records; collector's rate books; special supplies records; parish assessments and rates; statistical records; stopcock registers; pipelaying and works records; cartage books; meterological data and water analysis records.

Purchase records of the Chelsea Waterworks Company, including works day books; day books; Pipe Yard day book; stock books; and records relating to the delivery and consumption of coal.

Property records of the Chelsea Waterworks Company, comprising land purchase registers and rent books.

General records of the Chelsea Waterworks Company, including correspondence relating to water charges; printed circulars and forms; newspaper cuttings; and reference material.

Records of the Chelsea Waterworks Company, including papers relating to steam engines and other machinery; service records of workmen; sick pay regulations; deeds and other legal documents relating to company property; financial accounts; legal case records; Parliamentary papers; licences and historical notes.

Corporate records of the East London Waterworks Company, including Court of Director's minute books; legal papers; Committee papers; title deeds; correspondence and letter books; papers relating to stocks, shares and debentures; Parliamentary papers; papers relating to royal commissions on water supply; Secretary's files; press cuttings; and plans.

Financial records of the East London Waterworks Company, including general ledgers; journals and cash books; Collectors' accounts volumes; analyses of expenditure volumes; minor financial volumes and rating files.

Staff records of the East London Waterworks Company, including Officers' guarantees; papers relating to salaries annual holidays and sickness; and staff lists.

Papers of the East London Waterworks Company relating to water supply and distribution, including Engineers' reports; Engineers' correspondence; volumes of accepted tenders; water supply agreements; Collectors' and Inspectors' letter books; indexes to the locations of meters; rating volumes; accounts; plans and diagrams.

Property records of the East London Waterworks Company, including rental ledgers; particulars of land purchases; notices and plans of intended purchase and schedule of deeds.

Corporate records of the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, including Court of Directors minute books; Committee books; Court record books; General Assembly minute books; Directors' reports; correspondence and letter books; registers of shareholders; stock ledgers; mortgage records; and contracts records.

Financial records of the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, including half-yearly accounts; ledgers; journals; cash books; liabilities; balance books; revenue ledgers; office rate books; Collectors' recoveries and meter collections.

Staff records of the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, comprising staff wages books.

Records of the Grand Junction Waterworks Company relating to water supply and distribution, including water supply agreements; laying on books; meter agreements; meter readings; fire report books; water rentals books; pipes records; examination of mains books; papers relating to alterations to pipes and fittings; meter charges; supply and engineering records.

Purchase records of the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, comprising stock books.

General records of the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, including examples of forms printed and distributed by the company; general index of drawings; papers relating to rate assessment appeals; valuation of tools and working plant; and papers relating to Parliamentary Acts and Royal Commissions.

Records of the Grand Junction Waterworks Company, including Court of Directors' papers; legal papers; parliamentary papers; investments records; plans; engine and coal accounts; contracts; staff records and property records.

Corporate records of the Kent Waterworks Company, including Board of Directors' minute books; Committee minute books; Secretary's reports; correspondence and letter books; legal papers; records relating to shares, stocks and dividends; and contracts.

Financial records of Kent Waterworks Company, including statements of account; ledgers; journals; cash books; revenue ledgers; allocation of expenditure books; receipts books and collector's accounts.

Staff records of the Kent Waterworks Company, including wages accounts sheets; papers relating to salaries and pensions book.

Records of the Kent Waterworks Company relating to water supply and distribution, including engineer's reports; water supply agreements; records of supplies laid on and cut off; meter books and water rent books.

Purchase records of the Kent Waterworks Company including stock books, store book meters, and weigh bridge books (containing descriptions of goods and their weights).

General papers of the Kent Waterworks Company including press cuttings; papers relating to the Royal Commission on Water Supply; legal case papers and indexes.

Corporate records of the Lambeth Waterworks Company, including minute books of the Committee of Management and Directors; Committee minute books; agenda books; Director's reports; correspondence and letter books; legal papers; papers relating to stocks and shares; dividend books; registers of bonds; and contracts records.

Financial records of the Lambeth Waterworks Company, including ledgers; journals; cash books and day books; Collector's rent and revenue records; water charges records; road watering and meter account books.

Staff records of the Lambeth Waterworks Company, comprising establishment books.

Records of the Lambeth Waterworks Company relating to water supply and distribution, including engineer's report books; Inspector's report books; water supply applications and agreements; supply registers; water meters; constant supply registers; registers of fires; water rent registers; engine time books and statistics; house surveys and works in progress.

Further records of the Lambeth Waterworks Company, including Board papers; Secretary's reports; correspondence; legal papers; Parliamentary papers; contract papers; engineer's reports; inspector's reports; foreman's reports; papers relating to water supply; property records and staff records.

Corporate records of the London Bridge Waterworks Company, including Committee of Managers minute books; General Meetings of the Proprietors minute books; shareholders register; stock ledgers and transfer books and dividend books.

Financial records of the London Bridge Waterworks Company, including cash books; Treasurer's accounts; monthly balances; Collector's accounts; arrears books; papers relating to rents; water rents lost by collectors and receipt books.

Staff records of the London Bridge Waterworks Company, comprising servants weekly wages book.

Records of the London Bridge Waterworks Company relating to water supply and distribution, including water rental books; particluars of improvements to iron pipes; log book for steam engines and account of the working of the fire engine.

Purchase records of the London Bridge Waterworks Company comprising stock books, inventories and valuations.

Stock transfer records for the London Bridge Waterworks Company, comprising book of wills for deceased shareholders and elevation and plan of the great engine for the fifth arch of London Bridge.