TitleNotebooks of G.H. Wollaston relating to Thames Tunnel from Rotherhithe to Wapping
ReferenceMS/0411
CreatorWollaston, George Hyde (1761-1845) Chairman of Thames Tunnel Co.
George Hyde Wollaston of Clapham Common, was born on the 10th July 1765. George succeeded M Aubert, a friend of the Luards, as a merchant and banker in Genoa. He imported and exported mainly between England and Italy though he bought and sold elsewhere as well. After marrying Mary Ann Luard (born in of Dorset Street, and died 1817) on the 23rd October 1796, he returned to England and did not go back to Genoa till 1802 during the peace of Amiens when his firm went into voluntary liquidation and was wound up. Prior to this he inherited the estate of his uncle, General West Hyde.
It seems likely that he joined the firm of Messrs. Aubert and Lombard in London. In 1819 he became the accountant to the Gas Company which occupied one day a week. Because of his business connections, he knew several languages and was well educated. He wrote two long and most interesting letters of his journey to Paris and Genoa in 1802, comparing the state of France before the French Revolution when he previously knew it with its state in 1802.
He also wrote a very carefully compiled little book called “Clapham and its environs” which was published in 1827 without the author’s name [HWW]. In the 1820s the docks of London were expanding, and the building of St Katherine’s Docks made new river crossings a necessity. Sir Marc Isambard Brunel put forward a scheme in 1823-24 for a tunnel under the Thames to meet that need. A Company – The Thames Tunnel Company, was formed to promote and finance this venture. George Hyde Wollaston was the chairman of the company. The work started in 1825, with Brunel’s nineteen year old son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, as resident engineer. Financial and engineering problems caused the work to be abandoned for five years, no doubt causing the chairman of the company some distress. George's Brother Dr. William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828), chemist and physicist, had shares in the Thames Tunnel Company.
Government aid came to the rescue and the tunnel was completed in 1843. By this time George had died (1841) and Marc Brunel an invalid. The tunnel is still in use as part of the London Underground system.
Scope and ContentNotebooks of G.H. Wollaston, sometime Chairman of the Thames Tunnel Company, relating to setting up the company, its subsequent activities and the tunnel's development.
/1 covers 1824 Jan-Jun;
/2 covers 1824 Jun-1826 Aug;
/3 covers 1826 Aug-1827;
/4 comprises notes re principal events 1824-8; on company directors, committees, works, 'Keys of the company's seal', calls on shareholders, voting rights, 'water under the River', monthly progress 1826 Jan-1827 Jan and weekly construction needs 1827 Jan-1828 Jan;
/5 contains newspaper cuttings
Extent5 volumes
LanguageEnglish
Levelfonds
Repository nameScience Museum, London
Associated people and organisationsThames Tunnel Company The Thames Tunnel Company was formed in 1824. It was the first tunnel to be completed under the River Thames, it connects Rotherhithe and Wapping. The project was immensely difficult and hazardous. On its completion, Marc Brunel was knighted in recognition of his achievement.
On 25th March 1843, the tunnel was opened to foot traffic, with spiral staircases at each end providing access. Lack of funds had prevented the original plan of allowing horse-drawn transport, reaching the tunnel via spiral access ramps in 61m diameter shafts. However, the tunnel proved popular. On opening day 50,000 people walked through it, and one million people (about half the population of London in 1843) visited during the first 10 weeks, all paying a penny each. Shops were set up in the cross arches.
In September 1865, the Thames Tunnel was sold to the East London Railway Company for £200,000. Track was laid and the first steam train ran through it on 7th December 1869. The line was electrified, and on 31st March 1913 the Metropolitan Railway began a service on the East London Line. The line was incorporated into the London Underground system on 29th January 1914 and goods trains used the tunnel into the 1960s. In December 2007, the tunnel was closed for refurbishment. In March 2010, it re-opened as part of the London Overground network.
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