Wandsworth and District Gas Company

The Wandsworth and District Gas Company was a maker and distributor of coal gas in southwest London from 1834 until 1949.

The Wandsworth gasworks was built in 1834 on the Surrey bank of the River Thames near Wandsworth Bridge. Its supplied Wandsworth, Putney and part of Battersea. The undertaking became the Wandsworth and Putney Gaslight and Coke Company in 1854 and was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1856.

In 1912 the company merged with the Mitcham and Wimbledon District Gaslight Company and the Epsom and Ewell Gas Company to form the Wandsworth, Wimbledon and Epsom District Gas Company. In 1924 it bought land at Worcester Park to build more gas holders.

In 1931 the company took over the Kingston upon Thames Gas Company and the Sutton Gas Company and retitled itself the Wandsworth and District Gas Company. In 1936 it took over the Leatherhead Gas and Lighting Company and the Walton upon Thames and Weybridge Gas Company.

In 1949 the Wandsworth and District Gas Company was nationalised under the Gas Act 1948 and became part of the West Surrey Division of the South Eastern Gas Board.

Coal was brought by coastal colliers from North East England and unloaded by cranes on pontoons on the Thames beside the gasworks. The colliers were flatirons in order to fit under the Thames bridges upriver from the Pool of London to Wandsworth.

The company's ships had brown upper works above hull level. The funnel was black with a broad white band edged with a narrow red band above and below, and the broad white band was emblazoned with the initials "W&D GAS Co". The house flag was red with the initials "W.G.C." in white capitals.

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