The History of the London Water Industry, 1580–1820

Leslie Tomory (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

336 Seiten

2017
Johns Hopkins University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4214-2204-6 (ISBN)

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Beginning in 1580, a number of competing London companies sold water directly to consumers through a large network of wooden mains in the expanding metropolis. This new water industry flourished throughout the 1600s, eventually expanding to serve tens of thousands of homes. By the late eighteenth century, more than 80 percent of the city's houses had water connections-making London the best-served metropolis in the world while demonstrating that it was legally, commercially, and technologically possible to run an infrastructure network within the largest city on earth. In this richly detailed book, historian Leslie Tomory shows how new technologies imported from the Continent, including waterwheel-driven piston pumps, spurred the rapid growth of London's water industry. The business was further sustained by an explosion in consumer demand, particularly in the city's wealthy West End. Meanwhile, several key local innovations reshaped the industry by enlarging the size of the supply network. By 1800, the success of London's water industry made it a model for other cities in Europe and beyond as they began to build their own water networks.
The city's water infrastructure even inspired builders of other large-scale urban projects, including gas and sewage supply networks. The History of the London Water Industry, 1580-1820 explores the technological, cultural, and mercantile factors that created and sustained this remarkable industry. Tomory examines how the joint-stock form became popular with water companies, providing a stable legal structure that allowed for expansion. He also explains how the roots of the London water industry's divergence from the Continent and even from other British cities was rooted both in the size of London as a market and in the late seventeenth-century consumer revolution. This fascinating and unique study of essential utilities in the early modern period will interest business historians and historians of science and technology alike.

Leslie Tomory is a research affiliate at McGill University. He is the author of Progressive Enlightenment: The Origins of the Gaslight Industry, 1780-1820.

IntroductionTechnological and industrial change1.1 London1.2 Late Medieval and Early Modern Urban Water Supply1.3 New Water Technology1.4 A Thirsty City1.5 Patents1.6 Peter Morris and the London Bridge Waterworks1.7 Other Water EntrepreneursConclusion2.1 Corporations and Joint-Stock Companies2.2 Myddelton's Politics and the New River Company2.3 Supplying LondonConclusion3.1 Slow Growth and Stabilization, 1625-16603.2 Growth of the New River, 1660-17003.3 Improving and joint-stock companies, 1660-17003.4 New Attempts, 1700-1730Conclusion4.1 The Scale of the New River4.2 Wren's and Lowthorp's Reports4.3 Reform of Operations4.3.1 Maintaining Adequate Supply4.3.2 The Pipe Network4.3.3 Controlling Customers4.3.4 Manufacturing Pipes4.3.5 Maintenance4.3.6 Legal DimensionConclusion5.1 The Nature of Competition: Dominance of the New River and the LBWW5.2 The New LBWW to 17505.2.1 The Engines5.2.2 The Water Tower and the Mains5.2.3 The Employees and Operations5.3 The LBWW After 1750Conclusion6.1 Supplying Houses6.2 Brewers and Other Large Users6.3 Geography of Consumption6.4 Municipal Uses: Fire and CleaningConclusion7.1 The New River Company's Efforts to Maintain Water Quality7.2 Bathing in the New RiverConclusion8.1 Transformations in London to 18208.2 Legacy of the London Water NetworkConclusion

Erscheinungsdatum	02.06.2017
Zusatzinfo	11 Graphs; 10 Maps; 34 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	Baltimore, MD
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	567 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Technikgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte
	Naturwissenschaften
	Technik ► Umwelttechnik / Biotechnologie
ISBN-10	1-4214-2204-2 / 1421422042
ISBN-13	978-1-4214-2204-6 / 9781421422046
Zustand	Neuware