Vital to the prosperity of any manufacturing industry is the ability to convey raw materials into its factories and finished products away from them, so this is one of the most important factors to be considered when planning a factory. Early on in the Industrial Revolution it was recognised that heavy industries, such as the chemical industry should, ideally, be sited on rivers or estuaries, because the roads were unsuitable for transporting materials that were large in quantity and handled in bulk. Canal transport was used, but an efficient railway system was still in the future. Even in the 20^th century, the siting of such industries on rivers with easy access to the sea was still favoured, a particular example being petroleum refineries.

During the period of the existence of the GLCC prior to the construction of Beckton gas works and Products Works, many of the Company's works were situated on the River Thames. This enabled the principal raw material, coal, to be delivered by ship and lighter from coal fields around the coast of Britain directly to the gas works. Some of the by-products were exported by the same route. When the gas works and Products Works at Beckton came into existence this practice continued. The Products Works imported much of its raw material by river: principally gas liquor and crude tar.

Note

Because certain aspects of the subject of transport are common to both Beckton gas works and the Products Works, the term Beckton or Beckton Works is used here to denote the two works together. They are also dealt with separately.

Having chosen the site for Beckton gas works so that good access from the river was achieved, there were still problems about access inland. The site was remote and isolated. Apart from its pier on to the river, the only connection at first to the outside world was a single unsurfaced road that linked it to Barking, so a proper road 3.5 miles long had to be constructed. Because of the expected massive scale of manufacturing and employment, which would most certainly involve the movement of goods and personnel by land as well as by river, a properly planned transport infrastructure for the area was essential.

One particular problem, which applied to both the gas works and the Products Works, was the provision of transport for the vast numbers of employees. At the peak of development, in the 1940s, the Beckton Works together employed some 6,000 people. Although few figures are available, it is thought that, even early on in their existence (say, around 1900), the total number was not far short of this, due to the labour intensive nature of gas and by-products manufacture. Assuming a three-shift system for process workers, and with day work for maintenance and administration staff, as many as 1,000 people could be entering or leaving the two works at certain times of the day. From the opening of the Beckton Works up to the beginning the Second World War, most of the employees lived within five miles of the works, in Barking, East Ham and West Ham.

When the two works first came into existence, the townships nearest to them were small and sparsely populated, mainly by agricultural labourers and their families. It was from these that the earliest workforce would have been drawn. Most people would have walked to work from Barking, from the small communities in the south east corner of East Ham (Bonnie Downs and Wallend), and from Cyprus and North Woolwich. The 1881 census of this area shows it to have had only a small number of houses, but quite a high proportion of the people living in them were employed in gas manufacture.

In 1880, ten years after the opening of Beckton gas works and at about the same time as the Products Works commenced operations, the newly built Royal Albert Dock (built between 1875 and 1886) came into use. It was situated to the south of East Ham, the nearest town to it, and near Beckton Works. By the 1890s, the Royal Albert Dock, the Victoria Docks (built between 1850 and 1857) and the Beckton works had developed to such an extent that the village of East Ham could no longer supply sufficient labour for them, and a massive expansion of the town commenced. Up to about 1910 East Ham grew out of all recognition, with high density terraced housing stretching from Beckton in the south to Wanstead in the north, and from West Ham in the west to Ilford and Barking in the east. Barking grew as well, but not to the same extent. It became imperative to provide a comprehensive public transport system to convey a large part of the working population of East Ham, and to a lesser extent of Barking and West Ham, to Beckton Works and the Royal Docks.

This Chapter is concerned with transport in the broadest sense. Although emphasis is placed on the Products Works, many of the problems and their solutions were common to both the gas works and the Products Works. The subjects addressed are:

• The importing into the Products Works of the four raw materials derived from gas purification: crude tar, gas liquor, spent oxide and crude benzole, not only from Beckton gas works, but also other GLCC gas works.
• The transport of crude and refined materials within the Products Works.
• The delivery of refined products to customers.
• The transport of employees to and from the works.

Three types of transport system were provided: railways, roads (including trams and buses), and the River Thames.

There was some rail transport into Beckton gas works very early on in its existence. In 1871 a Gas Light & Coke Co Act authorised the construction, at the Company's expense, of a single line 1.75 miles long. This was completed in 1874 and connected the gasworks to the North Woolwich branch at Custom House junction, about a quarter of a mile east of Custom House station. The line became double track beyond East Ham Manor Way. Freight traffic started on 14 October 1872, conveying general supplies into Beckton gas works. Some coke was exported by rail and, at a later date, chemical by-products, which were conveyed in trucks and rail tanks.

For employees living in Canning Town and West Ham there were workmen's trains, which were at first operated by the GLCC from 17 March 1873 until 18 March 1874, after which the line was leased and operated by the GER. These and other passenger trains worked, via Barking Road, to Stratford, at times to suit shift changes. Bradshaw's Railway Guide shows four trains each way on weekdays and one each way on Sundays. The service is actually shown as running to Liverpool Street Station, but as the overall journey times varied from 34 to 65 minutes, it is probable that some of the services were connecting ones at Stratford Low Level Station.

An account that is of unique value to this history, published in the Co-partners Magazine of 1930, has already been quoted. It is an article entitled "Memories of Fifty Years", by a pensioner, A E Bigg, who started work at the Products Works in 1878. The following extract is a verbatim account of Bigg's journey to work by train to Beckton Station (also known as Rhubarb Junction) at that time.

Travelling by train to and from Beckton was an experience in itself, and as boys was treated as a joke. No lights, except a piece of candle, which was claimed by the regular passengers in that particular "carriage", or truck, and woe betide an intruder into the boys' preserve, for as soon as we arrived a piece of candle which had been placed under the seat was taken and stuck in a blob of tallow from a melted candle and placed alight on the window frame so we had our carriage lit up. But should an interloper squeeze in, he was given such a warm reception that his journey to work was not a pleasure to him, for he would be told in very selected language that he was in the boys' carriage, and if that did not persuade him to quit, then the other remedy was adopted, which consisted of somebody's cap, or something, putting out the candle and then eight or nine boys simply played with the intruder by rolling him on the floor of the carriage, and generally speaking, he was very pleased to give our compartment the go-by after once going through it.

By the beginning of the Second World War, the use of the line by passengers had greatly declined and its closure caused little hardship. The service did not run after 7 September 1940 - the start of the London Blitz, when the line was severely damaged by bombs. It was permanently closed to passenger traffic in December 1940.

Beckton station was just outside the works. It had a small, little used, booking office, a gas-lit platform, a wooden shelter and a small signal box. There was a level crossing near the junction of East Ham Manor Way with Winsor Terrace, where the road and tram tracks crossed the railway. Both the trams and trains were controlled by signals worked from Beckton Tramway Crossing Box. A further rail link also crossed the Manor Way by a bridge at this point.

Freight traffic continued for another twenty years or so, but then began to decline as gas and by-products production fell in the 1960s, although British Rail still kept a clerical officer at Beckton Station. On 1 June 1970, the last train ran from Beckton, carrying a load of pitch from the Products Works. The internal railway systems of both Beckton Works were then abandoned. The external branch to Custom House was removed in 1973.

Within both the gas works and the Products Works there were comprehensive railway networks, which were connected to the external railway system. The gas works system, which was in operation as early as 1870, eventually had about seventy miles of standard gauge rails, fully signalled. It was worked by a maximum of about forty steam and diesel locomotives at any one time, with a total of eighty being owned during the life of the railway. Diesels replaced steam in 1959. The principal purpose of the system was to carry coal between the two collier piers and the retort houses. There was a large, fully-equipped locomotive works and erecting shop which, in addition to carrying out maintenance of the rolling stock, actually constructed two new locomotives in 1902 and, in 1925, successfully rebuilt one of the Products Works locomotives.

The Products Works railway was smaller and simpler than that of the gas works. The two systems were completely independent of each other, but there was a connection between them, since certain materials (such as spent oxide) were conveyed from one works to the other. The initial connection to the gas works was in the north east corner of the Products Works; at a later date a line also ran to the area overlooked by the signal box at the gas works entrance, just east of Beckton station.

Locomotives shunted rolling stock to sidings in almost every part of the Products Works, worked trains to the main line exchange sidings, and conveyed loads of pitch and refined tar to the river pier or to storage tanks inside the gas works. The Products Works had its own fleet of locomotives finished in maroon livery (the gas works locomotives were green). There were some fifteen locomotives, the first of which was delivered in 1892. A locomotive shed was provided, having pit facilities, where the maintenance and repair of locomotives, railway trucks and tank cars was carried out. There was stabling for ten locomotives, and an elevated water tank, with two hoses, was available on one shed road and the adjacent siding.

For many years the Products Works operated a number of fireless locomotives on the Benzole Plant, due to the highly flammable nature of the products processed there. The locomotive was charged up with steam at the boiler house, which gave it about two hours' available working time on the plant, before its steam ran out. It then had to return for re-charging. It was not unusual for this to be overlooked, when the "dead" locomotive had to be pushed out of the Benzole Plant by a gang of men, and towed ignominiously back to the boiler house by a conventional locomotive. For the same reasons of safety, all mechanical power on the plant was supplied for many years by a stationary steam engine, which was still in operation in as late as 1958.

During 1960, as the Beckton Works began to run down, the NTGB considered the possibility of amalgamating the gas works and Products Works railway systems. This would involve changes in manning and operating practices, which had always been different for the two works. In 1962 it was decided that the change would be allowed to happen by natural wastage.

By 1966 the mechanical condition of the Products Works locomotives had deteriorated and they were gradually taken out of use until, in 1968, all but one fireless locomotive had gone. Gas works locomotives then took over the small amount of work remaining, until the final closure of the works.

We shall first consider the transport of those employees who lived in Barking. In the 1890s Beckton Works was the largest single employer in the area, but to approach it from Barking was indirect and no public transport was feasible, due to the state of the roads. To the south of the town the River Roding (of considerable width and without a road bridge) cut off any direct approach to the works. The only way through was over the river by the High Bridge footbridge and thence along Highbridge Road. The final approach to the gas works (and ultimately the Products Works) was along Jenkins Lane, a narrow unmade road, with the need to cross the obstacle of the Northern Outfall Sewer bank at the end of the journey.

To meet the need for public transport from Barking to Beckton, the Barking Urban District Council started a tram service (the Light Railway) in 1898, from the Old Town Hall in Barking Broadway to Beckton gas works; a distance of one and a half miles. The route was generally as described above. After leaving the built-up part of Barking, it crossed the River Roding by a bascule bridge, then proceeded through the marshland to the works. The principal difficulties encountered during construction were the crossing of the river, the virtually total reconstruction of Jenkins Lane, and essential road improvements in Barking town centre. It took several years to overcome these, and the line finally opened on 5 December 1903. By then, passengers could travel on other tram services from East Ham or Ilford to Barking town centre, where they could join the Jenkins Lane service.

In 1920 an article appeared in the Co-partners Magazine entitled A Gas-workers Tramway - Barking to Beckton, written by a former user of the service. It describes in evocative detail his journeys across the foggy Thames-side marshes early in the morning:

... it crosses the River Roding ... and the rest [of the journey] consists of black marshland and this is ... black when there is a fog about.

Starting from about 6 a.m. each succeeding car gets more crowded, until the last car or two are rather more than comfortably packed. Strap-hangers sway inside, all available room on top is occupied, staircases and platforms are crowded and just to balance the car a few mount the driver's step and keep him company. There is a ... special late car, which leaves at 7.30 and if it happens to be a little late there is rare excitement as to whether "she" will get there before the hooter goes. The driver is urged on with something like racecourse excitement, and what with the fences and ditches on each side one can honestly feature up a steeplechase.

Right in the centre of the [river bridge] for a few yards the live wire cannot be connected up and each car has to gather enough speed going up the approaching incline to take it across the "dead". With their loads this is not always possible and one occasionally stops on the "dead". Then the good spirit of the passengers is revealed, as a number of them alight and push the car along, and as it picks up the "juice" again, a hearty cheer is given.

Cars often leave the lines; the fence possesses evidence of collisions ...

... it is the sporting spirit of both the tramway employees and those of the Company that goes far to make this unique little tramway a much more pleasant and useful service than one might imagine.

The trams gave good service for over twenty years, a period that included the First World War, but track maintenance was always a problem due to the marshy nature of the ground along the Jenkins Lane part of the route, and there were frequent derailments. On 16 February 1929 the trams were finally taken out of service and replaced by buses running on a newly laid road.

At the same time as the Barking Light Railway was being planned, a similar problem: the provision of public transport for Beckton workers who lived in the East Ham area, was being considered. There were many more of these than there were from Barking. The approach road to the Beckton Works, Winsor Terrace, had its junction with East Ham Manor Way about a mile and a half south of the centre of East Ham. This junction was some 400 yards from the Products Works and 1,000 yards from the gas works. The only way to travel to the works was to walk or cycle. In 1901, East Ham Urban District Council provided a new electric tramway, running from Beckton to Ilford via East Ham and Manor Park. This had the distinction of being the first municipal electric tramway in London. In 1902 the line was extended to the new Wanstead Park housing estate, so that employees could now travel from virtually any part of the district to a point that was a few minutes walk from the works. In 1903 the tram route was extended from Beckton to the Royal Albert Dock, and the bulk of the working population of East Ham was then able to travel to work by tram, also enjoying the benefit of cheap workman's fares.

In 1925, competition began to arise from buses running along the same route as the trams. This threat was kept at bay until 1936, when the tram service was closed down and the 101 bus route, from Wanstead to North Woolwich, was introduced; this is still in existence. With the coming of the buses, it became possible for workers living in Stratford and Canning Town to travel to Beckton by bus along the Barking By-pass, which had been built in1927.

In addition to the transport of refined products in bulk by rail, from the earliest days of the Products Works smaller quantities of refined products were delivered in drums and barrels. At first this was by horse and cart, and later by motor lorry, but there was an overlap of several years between the two. In 1912, when horse drawn wagons were commonly in use, the company purchased a motor van that had the dual purpose of delivering and advertising the works' products. The van could carry 5 tons at 12 mph, and was powered by a 35 HP Milnes Daimler Mercedes engine.

There were stables at the Products Works and the upkeep of both horses and equipment was always a matter of pride. In 1912, two horse drawn rigs from the Products Works won silver medals at the Whit Monday London Cart Horse Parade, held in Regents Park. In 1921, HRH Princess Mary presented First and Special Prizes for entries from the Products Works; and in 1925 the Products Works pair won first prize. In 1924 the Products Works won the 5^th prize at the Shire Horse Society's show at the Royal Agricultural Hall. Similar successes continued throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The use of horses for external and internal works transport in the GLCC continued until July 1957.

The spraying of road tar by the company's own road tankers has been mentioned above. In 1930 there were seventeen of these, including a Sentinel steam-driven vehicle. The vehicle was fitted with a 1,200 gallon tank, which was lagged to retain heat in the tar during transit to the spraying site, and a specially designed spray bar to ensure even distribution of the tar on to the road. To provide for the seasonal nature of road tar spraying, ten of the lorries could be fitted with alternative bodies. Two of these were tanks for conveying spirit and light oils, and eight were open lorry bodies for delivering coke in the winter. There was a special installation at the Products Works for changing over the bodies.

The Products Works had five lorries for delivering chemical products, which were augmented by hired vehicles, as required. One was a steam lorry and four were 4 to 5 ton petrol lorries. Two of these were fitted with fire screens so that they could convey flammable liquids safely, and two were open-backed for carrying pitch, tar, oils, and sulphate of ammonia, packaged in kegs, barrels, drums, sacks, or in bulk. The petrol lorries were fuelled by National Benzole Mixture, a product of the GLCC.

During the Second World War many different types of transport were mobilised for use in the GLCC. The Company's Safety First Awards for 1940 were presented to drivers of vehicles propelled by petrol, steam and horses.

When the construction of Beckton gas works was first planned, one of the most important considerations was how to transport large quantities of coal into the works. It was decided that the preferred method would be by ship, as was already being done at other GLCC gasworks on the river. Beckton Products Works was also to benefit from this decision, since crude tar and gas liquor could be imported from gasworks other than Beckton, and certain products exported by the same route. A pier was constructed on the riverside in 1869, before the existence of the Products Works, for discharging coal and perhaps for loading coke. In 1879 a gangway was provided in the vicinity for discharging tar and liquor barges.

A second pier was completed in 1894, exclusively for Products Works use, to import crude tar and gas liquor, and export pitch, creosote and sulphate of ammonia. It was modernised in 1904 and 1912. Crude tar and gas liquor were pumped through 12 and 18-inch mains about 1.25 miles long through the gasworks to storage tanks in the Products Works, as was tar and liquor that was produced at Beckton. The same mains were used for both crude tar and gas liquor. Products, including creosote, pitch and refined tar, were loaded at the pier, into lighters for transfer to ocean going ships, directly into smaller cargo ships, or into barges for transport along the Thames.

Early on, creosote was shipped in wooden barrels, and later in steel drums. By 1912 it was being exported, in quantities of over a million gallons per voyage, as return cargo in tankers that had brought petroleum products from the Continent or the USA. The pier area was known as the Foreshore. The following is an account of the activities carried out there in the 1930s, by a worker, E J Harris.

The tar and liquor barges were swung into four berths, two for tar and two for liquid ammonia [i.e. ammoniacal gas liquor]. Then huge flexible pipes were dropped into the barges by hand winch, and were then raised or lowered according to the tide. The liquids were then pumped to the Products Works, roughly a mile away.

We also had to contend with the pitch boats... The pitch was loaded on to open rail trucks [at the Products Works] and sent to the foreshore where a gang of trimmers were sent into the holds of the ship to keep the ship on an even keel. The ships came mainly from Spain. Huge clouds of pitch dust would be coming out of the holds and if the wind was in our direction, we would be sent home early.

But our skin would be tanned as if we had spent time in the tropics. The trimmers never went into the sunshine, as it made their faces smart. We would all go for a periodic medical because of our exposure to pitch dust, which could bring about pitch warts, which were cancerous.

An unusual and little known fact is that there was a 6 inch diameter gas liquor main connecting the Products Works with the GLCC's Poplar, Bow Common, Stratford and Bromley gasworks. This was about six miles long and ran beneath the streets of East Ham, West Ham and Poplar.

In common with many other large companies that originated in the 19^th century, the GLCC, and its successor the North Thames Gas Board, operated an employment policy that could best be described as benevolent feudalism. The company was over-manned at all levels, the workers and staff were poorly-paid in comparison to more go-ahead employers (even the Civil Service!), but they didn't have to work very hard and work-related stress was rare. The low pay was partly compensated for by good welfare facilities, generous sick pay and a pension.

It was quite usual for both salaried and weekly paid employees to start work with the company in their teens or early twenties, and look forward to retiring on a pension at the age of sixty and sixty five respectively. Jobs were secure from adolescence to retirement, which was an important attraction in times of high unemployment and poor job security.

One advantage of working for the GLCC was the Co-partnership Scheme, an idea that was found in a number of larger companies from the latter part of the 19^th century. The first scheme in the gas industry was introduced by the South Metropolitan Gas Co in 1889; the GLCC followed 1909. A member of the GLCC scheme received an annual bonus, proportional to his earnings; this was based at first on the price of gas and later on the Company's dividends. Two-thirds of this sum was held in Company stock and went into a pension fund, whilst one-third was paid in cash. The scheme was managed by Co-partnership Committees, which included representatives of both management and employees. Co-partners (as the members were called) also benefited by receiving gas, coke and appliances at discounted prices.

The advantage to the employees of Co-partnership were obvious: to the employer perhaps less so. However, the psychological feeling given to employees of "having a stake" in the company encouraged good labour relations, since it could be clearly appreciated by even the most humble employee that any disruptive action could jeopardise both his bonus and his pension. The promise of a pension also implied that one's job was secure for life and this, in the years of depression between the two world wars, was a valuable prize in itself. The advantages of Co-partnership to the GLCC, as perceived by Governors in 1912, are summed up in this extract from the Centenary Booklet of the GLCC. It seems unlikely that, in the more cynical world of today, the position would be expressed in such high flown and patronising language.

With the advent of Co-partnership, the whole army of workers has become not so much employees, as sharers in the duties imposed on a social body and partakers of its prosperity. The Company has realised that to make a good workman, with a full sense of his rights and the responsibilities which their enjoyment implies, is also to make a good citizen.

After nationalisation, Co-partnership ceased and a certain amount of compensation was given in the form of share issues. Subsequently, labour relations were worse than they had been in earlier years, although this may have been due in part to the poor labour relations throughout the UK in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1910 the Co-partners Magazine (after nationalisation, the Thames Gas Magazine) commenced publication. In its earlier years it included material on the production of gas and by-products, as well as welfare and leisure matters. In later years it was devoted more to the latter subjects.

There were a number of ways in which the GLCC's employees were protected in times of hardship or ill health. There were self-help schemes (i.e. friendly societies), and different forms of insurance. The company would probably have had some financial input into them. The most important of these started life in 1877. Following the amalgamation of the GLCC with a number of other London gas companies, their various sick clubs and provident clubs were incorporated into two societies: The Indoor Workmen's Provident Society and the Outdoor Workmen's Provident Society. In 1912, these were combined as the Supplementary Insurance Society. In 1920 this was re-named the Employees Benefit Society and in 1937 it finally became the Gas Light Benefit & Hospital Society.

Examples of other schemes, some of which operated throughout the GLCC and others only at the Products Works, were: the War Memorial Fund (which assisted widows and dependants of deceased employees), the GLCC Convalescent Home, the GLCC Employees Insurance (Approved) Society, the Officers Mutual Insurance Society, the Tar Works Infectious Disease Club (founded as early as 1885), and the Products Works Death Levy Fund and Self Help Funds. The Chairman's Fund gave financial help in cases of special hardship among employees.

After nationalisation, the North Thames Gas Board Benefit Society came into being in 1955. A subscription of 7d. per week gave entitlement to supplementary sick pay, death benefit, widows and orphans grants, a hospital in-patients allowance, access to the Charterhouse Rheumatism Clinic, home helps, convalescent homes, dental and optical care, and the supply of surgical appliances.

An unusual welfare provision, available to salaried staff, was a short cruise on one of the company's colliers, if the officer had suffered from a stress-related illness (known before the Second World War as neurasthenia). This was, admittedly, rare in the GLCC, so the offer was not often taken up. It was not unusual at that time for family doctors to prescribe an ocean cruise for such patients, but the intention was that it should be taken on a luxury liner travelling to exotic locations, not on a filthy collier plying between Tyneside and the Thames!

Although the Products Works employees could never, by any stretch of the imagination, be described as well paid, they did enjoy good job security, which was rare between the wars. Perhaps because of this, people at all levels were generous when asked to contribute to worthy causes. The "whip round" was rarely refused, even if only a few pence were donated. All sorts of activities benefited from this.

An annual cash gift was made at Christmas to pensioners from a fund donated to by Products Works employees. In 1923, 92 pensioners received 4s7d each, and in 1938, 176 pensioners benefited, but the amount received was not specified. In 1957 the first annual pensioners' re-union was held, and these continued until the works closed down.

Christmas parties for employees' children were held at the works from the early 1920s, and possibly earlier than that. For example, in January 1939, 500 children attended a party in the Products Works canteen. They were still being held as late as the 1960s.

Some unusual expressions of the workers' charitable efforts were seen in 1944. A sum of money was donated, via the organiser for Soviet aid, for the endowment of a bed in the Stalingrad Memorial Hospital. And the combined efforts of the Dining Club, Sports Club, the Home Guard and the Comforts Fund resulted in a collection of £2,000, which was divided between the Prisoners of War, Aid to China, and the Comforts for the Forces Funds.

In November 1945 the Products Works employees made a substantial contribution to the King's Royal Rifle Corps Memorial Fund.

In the period from the late 19th century to the beginning of the Second World War, there were often close links between a company and its employees' leisure activities. One could, in a large company such as the GLCC, take part in a wide range of sports or other pastimes, with expensive facilities provided by the employer. Indeed, in some companies, if one were seeking promotion, showing an interest in the hobby of an appropriate member of management, which could provide an opportunity to meet him socially, might well be to one's advantage! Arguably the most active periods of sporting and social activities, both in the GLCC and other major companies, were the years following the two world wars. In 1921 the GLCC Sports Association was formed.

There was great deal of enthusiasm for participating with one's work mates, outside working hours, in an enormous range of leisure activities. But by the end of the 20^th century, with added pressure on employees to achieve higher output targets, and consequently suffer more stress at work, there was less desire to be associated with one's place of work in one's spare time. Furthermore, as people became more affluent and their spare time activities more sophisticated, they were more inclined to spend their leisure time away from their place of employment.

In the latter part of the 19th century, the GLCC's employees' leisure activities were mainly concerned with the basic sports: cricket, football and athletics. A cricket ground and a running and cycle track were constructed in Beckton works. Membership of the Territorial Army (see Chapter 7) provided access to associated activities, such as rifle shooting, football, membership of a military band, and attendance at summer camps. In later years, the number and variety of leisure activities was to increase enormously.

The Co-partners Magazine provides a wealth of information on the leisure activities of the Products Works employees. The following examples which have been selected from it are of activities available at the Products Works. Others (e.g. rowing) were specific to other works and departments. They continued to exist, substantially unchanged, during the 1950s and 1960s, after nationalisation.

As early as 1880, sporting activities were well supported at the Products Works, with Sports Days being held almost as soon as it began operations. The pensioner, A E Bigg, recalled in the Co-partners Magazine of 1930:

... a Cricket Club had been formed at Beckton, and Mr Fenner was a very keen supporter. It soon became a very strong club indeed, and took a deal of beating, having such splendid cricketers as H Picket, Bros. Watts, H Nuttall, Kirkman, Wren , Moreton, Patmore, Hassan, J Tucker, J Bray and others. Also a Rugby Football team, which also made a name for itself. Our Sports Days were eagerly looked forward to by some hundreds of people, and were well attended, and it is with greatest pleasure for me to think over the many happy days spent.

Beckton Cricket Club would join the old Criterion Silvertown C. C., and run spring, summer and autumn athletic meetings at the well-known Beckton Grounds. Mr George Wilton [the Products Works Superintendent] soon became popular with everybody.

An annual cricket tournament was held between different departments at the Products Works, gold and silver medals being donated by the Products Works Dining Club Committee. In 1917 a cricket match was played between the women workers of the Products Works and the Smith's Department at the gasworks. The Products Works team won by 26 runs.

Other sports included swimming, soccer, darts, table tennis, bowls, quoits and athletics. Some of these generated other activities, e.g. whist drives were run by the Quoits Section. An annual family sports day was organised jointly with the gas works; this continued into the 1960s.

The programme of these was extremely comprehensive and extended over virtually the whole period of the Products Works' existence. Here are just a few examples:

An early works outing took place in 1913, when the Naphthalene Gang went on their annual charabanc trip, complete with a mandolin player.

Those employees who remained at the works during the First World War continued to enjoy themselves, although less so than in peacetime. One interesting change that was seen was in 1917, when the women employees at the Products Works had their first annual outing. One hundred and twenty of them spent the day at Theydon Bois, in Epping Forest. The event was subsidised by the Works Superintendent, the Staff and the Foremen.

In 1920 the Camp Holiday Savings Club first provided summer holidays for boys from Beckton Products Works at the Industrial Welfare Society's camp at Deal. These were still being organised in the 1950s, after nationalisation.

In June 1927 the 47^th annual outing of the Products Works Foremen' Society went on a coach tour of Kent. It follows that the first of these outings must have taken place in 1880 or 1881, virtually as soon as the works came into existence. Obviously the foremen lost no time in arranging some leisure activities for themselves..

In 1938 the Maintenance Fitters had their annual "Beano", or outing, aboard one of the "Royal" paddle steamers on the Thames - the Royal Sovereign or the Royal Daffodil.

These included a Fur and Feather Society, the Products Works Annual Dance, and the Tar Works Girl Guides Troop. In addition to the various works-wide societies, some departments made their own arrangements. One example was the Foundry Social Club, active in the 1930s.

Between the wars the Products Works Chemical & Scientific Society was well supported by chemists from the various laboratories and by plant managers. A monthly talk was given, usually by one of the members. These covered a wide range of subjects including Cyaniding, Chemical Works Costs, Photography, Nitroglycerine and Paper Manufacture. One lecture that has proved particularly valuable in writing this account was A History of Beckton Products Works, by P Joselin. Visits were paid to a number of venues, including Stratford gasworks. On another occasion a vigorous debate was held on the desirability, or otherwise, of metrication; a subject that was years ahead of its time! An annual Laboratory Dinner was held.

There was interest in First Aid throughout the existence of the Products Works. First aiders, usually members of the St John Ambulance Brigade, were available on the works at all times; they also attended civil emergencies outside the works. The pensioner, A E Bigg, recalled in the Co-partners Magazine of 1930 his membership of this organisation:

In 1901 ... I joined the St John Ambulance Brigade, and have been a member of same, and still remain as such, holding the late King Edward coronation medal, also King George's and Long Service medals. I have been congratulated at the Central Court, Old Bailey and rewarded for an act of good citizenship for conspicuous conduct, and also rewarded by Scotland Yard.

Whilst in charge of the St John Ambulance Brigade during the Silvertown explosion, I had the honour of having a conversation with our King and Queen, and receiving their best thanks for the work done by our division on that occasion.

On 14 November 1948 the popular BBC programme Workers Playtime was broadcast from the works.

The NTGB continued to take its responsibilities regarding welfare and sports facilities as seriously as had the GLCC, although it was constrained by the rules governing nationalised industries. Sports facilities were improved by the provision in 1957 of a new pavilion at Acton Sports ground and most of the sporting events arranged under the GLCC continued as before.

In 1946 the Milne-Watson scholarship, which sent one promising young staff member each year to university, was introduced and continued after nationalisation. In 1958 the Falconer-Birks scholarship was added to it.

In this account, the term "by-products" is used to describe all chemical products which were manufactured or extracted from the four basic raw materials obtained when crude coal gas was purified: crude tar, benzole, gas liquor and spent oxide. All these were processed at Beckton Products Works. It is beyond the scope of this account to give a full and detailed description of the wide range of products and the many and complex processes that would have been encountered at Beckton Products Works throughout its life. During the ninety years of its existence, the number of different products that was manufactured increased considerably, as did the complexity of the process plant and equipment used. Brief process descriptions are given here, to assist the reader in understanding this account. They are based on the situation that obtained at the Products Works during the fifteen years following the end of the Second World War, when the works was at the peak of its technological and commercial success. Some information is also given throughout the text, where it can assist in understanding particular manufacturing activities, or its inclusion is necessary for purposes of clarity. Full details of the processes of by-products manufacture can be found in the standard textbooks on the subject, details of which are given in the Bibliography.

The crude tar was distilled in the early days in a batch (or pot) still, and later in a continuous pipe still. Six distillates, in descending order of boiling point, were obtained: heavy anthracene oil; light anthracene oil; wash oil; naphthalene oil; carbolic oil and light oil. The residue from the distillation was pitch.

The light oil, after the extraction of pyridine bases, was re-distilled to produce benzene, toluene, xylene and motor benzole.

Crude carbolic acid was extracted from carbolic oil, then distilled to produce pure phenol, the cresols and xylenols.

Naphthalene was extracted from naphthalene oil by cooling and crystallisation.

Wash oil was used at the gasworks for extracting benzole from gas, or phenols from gas liquor. Alternatively, it was blended with the two anthracene oils and other oils to produce various grades of creosote.

Creosote was hydrogenated by a major chemical manufacturer to make gasoline substitute.

Road tar and tar paints were various blends of pitch with creosote.

This was distilled to produce pure benzene, toluene, xylene and solvent naphtha.

This was first washed with wash oil to remove phenols, which were recovered from the oil by extraction with caustic soda. The dephenolated gas liquor was steam distilled to remove ammonia, some of which was reacted with sulphuric acid to make sulphate of ammonia. During the distillation, hydrogen sulphide was released and this was converted to sulphuric acid. A proportion of the ammonia was purified and sold as ammonia solution.

This was special form of iron ore that possessed the ability to absorb the hydrogen sulphide in crude coal gas and convert it to a recoverable form of sulphur. When the spent oxide was heated in a furnace in a current of air, the sulphur in it was converted to sulphur dioxide which was then made into sulphuric acid by the lead chamber process.

A range of these was made by small-scale batch processes. They included the picolines, quinoline, quinaldine, acenaphthene, anthracene, dicyclopentadiene