Commercial Gas Co
1837 The Commercial Gas Light and Coke Company was formed to combat the British Gas Light and Coke Co after it had obtained a monopoly.
1839 Began to make gas at Harford St. in Stepney, on the Regents Canal
1839 Deed of settlement.
1847 Incorporated by Act of Parliament, 1847.
1850 the Commercial Gas Company took over the Poplar Gas Light Co. which had works in Back Lane, Poplar. The closed the works and removed it in 1852.
1852 The Commercial Co bought the British Gas Company's London district for a knockdown figure.
1855 The company came to an agreement with the West Ham Gas Co to sell its mains, etc. within the Parish of West Ham to them and to split the area of supply in which they overlapped, the West Ham company restricting itself to Essex and the Commercial company to Middlesex.
1862 Gasworks in Stepney (and Poplar).
1873 One of 9 companies supplying gas to the London metropolis[1]
1875 the Commercial Company bought the Ratcliff Gas Light and Coke Co.
1878 The company built a works at Leven Street, Poplar on the opposite side of the River Lea from the Imperial Company's Bromley-by-Bow works.
1882 One of only 4 companies still supplying gas to London[2]
1885 The Stepney works were enlarged
1896 CWG plant was installed at Stepney.
1921 the company was taken to court and found liable for creating nuisance by emitting excessive coal dust[3]
1935 The Commercial continued to operate the Wapping works until 1935 when as a result of a fire it was closed.
1939 The Gas Light and Coke Co, the Commercial Gas Co, the Wandsworth and District Gas Co, the South Suburban Gas Co, and the South Metropolitan Gas Co promoted a Bill in Parliament concerning the efficiency of gas appliances to be installed in London[4]
1946 Gas manufacture ceased at the Stepney site but it continued as a holder station.
The eventual area of supply of the Commercial Gas Company covered 7 square miles in Poplar, Stepney, parts of Bethnal Green and Essex.
1949 Nationalised; the Commercial Gas Company was vested in the North Thames Gas Board.