This section deals with the period when a solidified gum, from which an innovative industry was developed, was first imported in quantity from Singapore. The 1840s were years of considerable social distress in the United Kingdom but also of technological innovation and application in which the new material was to play an important part.
A factory, built by the Wenlock Basin on the Regents Canal, played a crucial role in processing the gum. Within quite a short time all kinds of domestic products were being manufactured there and a solution was eventually offered to a problem that was holding up the expansion of international communication via submarine telegraph. The insulated cable running along the sea bed seen in the illustration below was manufactured in the factory.
Unfortunately, disaster overtook the Wenlock Basin factory in June, 1853 (see chapters 16 and 17).
Contents of the section
Chapter 1 Blocks from the Deep
Chapter 2 Three Hancock brothers
Chapter 3 Gutta Percha abandoned
Chapter 4 Railways threaten the Regents
Chapter 5 Killing the goose
Chapter 6 Full swing at Wenlock Basin
Chapter 7 A Midnight Friend
Chapter 8 A query about mackerel
Chapter 9 In Praise of Gutta Percha
Chapter 10 Trial and error troubles
Chapter 11 Mr Bull and lying vanities
Chapter 12 A breakthrough and a breakdown
Chapter 13 A message from the horsebox
Chapter 14 Gutta Percha Rivals
Chapter 15 An arbiter’s decision
Chapter 16 Insurance is so important
Chapter 17 Saving Wenlock Basin
Chapter 18 Ruin or revival - the week after the fire
A note on currency and weights and measures
Currency
In the 1840s the currency used in the United Kingdom was based on the pound, represented by the £ sign. Twenty shillings (s) made a pound and 12 pennies (d) made a shilling so there were 240 pennies in a pound. A guinea was one pound and one shilling.
The move to decimalisation began in the middle of the C19th and was instituted largely because of the influence of Sir John Bowring (see Chapters 13 and 21 of the Soochong, Shoguns and the Saracen’s surveys section). Bowring was enthusiastic about adopting a system of weights and measures divisible by 10 and of applying that kind of division to the British currency too. He supported the retention of the pound because he thought it was a national institution ingrained into all our notions, and I hold it impossible to oust it and so pressed for the introduction of coins worth a tenth and a hundredth of a pound. This was the model eventually introduced, the first coin worth a tenth of a pound, designated a florin, being issued in 1849. However, that was as far as Victorian decimalisation went and the florin, which was worth 24 pennies, proved to be just an additional coin to those already in circulation.
A coin worth a hundredth of a pound was not actually introduced until 1971 when the radical overhaul suggested by Bowring was finally made. The British public then had to get used to the pound being worth one hundred ‘New Pennies’ instead of 240 in what soon became called old money. The florin had been replaced by a coin worth 10 New Pence a few years earlier.
Today, the guinea is retained in the sale of horses and cattle at auction, although payment is in pounds. For example, a Limousin bull was sold for 180000 guineas (a world record) at Carlisle in 2021, the payment due being £189000.
Weights
Under the Imperial system a ton weighs 20 hundredweight (cwt). A hundredweight weighs 112 pounds (lbs) and there are 16 ounces (oz) in a pound. These weights are still used today along with those of the metric system.
A kilogramme weighs approximately 2.2lb.
Measures - distance and volume
A mile is 1760 yards long. There are three feet to a yard (feet being the plural of foot). There are 12 inches in a foot. These measurements are still used today along with those of the metric system. In Imperial volume measurement there are eight pints to a gallon.
A meter is approximately 1.09 yards.
A litre is approximately 0.29 of a gallon.
Sources
All the photographs, unless otherwise credited, are mine. Much of the other material is in the public domain, but I have credited items I am not sure about.
Chapter 1 Blocks from the Deep
The image of the ‘Musaeum Tradescantianum’ was downloaded from the
Guildhall Library blog. https://guildhalllibrarynewsletter.wordpress.com
Chapter 4 Railways threaten the Regents
The photo of the train was downloaded for the Thames and Medway Canal Association website. http://www.thamesmedway.co.uk
Chapter 5 Killing the goose
The photo of gum collecting in Sarawak was downloaded from the Wellcome Collection
https://wellcomecollection.org
Chapter 6 Full swing at Wenlock basin
The advert was downloaded from the British Newspaper Archive, which is a superb resource. It is worth checking out at;
www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Chapter 8 A query about mackerel
The photo of the semaphore tower was downloaded from
https://stormwindows.co.uk/saving-surreys-semaphore-tower-the-last-in-britain/
Chapter 9 In Praise of Gutta Percha
The sliver of the advert was also downloaded from the British Newspaper Archive.
Chapter 10 Trial and error troubles
The contemporary illustration of laying a submersible cable was downloaded from
https://distantwriting.co.uk/cookewheatstone.html
The image of the pointer unit was downloaded from
https://www.siemens.com/global/en/company/about/history/technology/infor mation-and-communications-technology/telegraphy-and-telex.html
Chapter 11 Mr Bull and lying vanities
The advert was downloaded from the British Newspaper Archive.
www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Chapter 12 A breakthrough and a breakdown
The advert was downloaded from the British Newspaper Archive.
www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Chapter 13 A message from the horsebox
The photographs of the lead weight and the section of the submarine cable were downloaded from the Science Museum Group.
The illustration of the Birmingham Wire Gauge comes from this website www.wermac.org/pipes/birmingham_wire_gauge.html
Chapter 14 Gutta Percha Rivals
The adverts were downloaded from the British Newspaper Archive.
www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Chapter 15 An arbiter’s decision
The photograph of the Greater Adjutant was downloaded from Wikipedia.
Chapter 16 Insurance is so important
The illustration of Abraham Wivell was downloaded from Wikipedia.
The photograph of the Trowbridge fire engine is published with permission of Trowbridge Museum (www.trowbridgemuseum.co.uk) where it was taken.
Chapter 17 Saving Wenlock Basin
The illustration of the fire plug with canvass cistern is taken from the 1866 edition of Fire Prevention and Fire Extinction by James Braidwood
Chapter 18 Ruin or revival - the week after the fire
The illustration and the testimonial were downloaded from the British Newspaper Archive. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
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When London Became An Island
Gutta Percha comes to the Metropolis
Introduction
Commanders and clippers
