Winsor, FA

Winsor, Frederick Albert

ACHIEVEMENT(S): Early 19th-century pioneer of gas-lighting in London,

England.

NICKNAME/ALIAS: born, Frederic Albrecht Winzer

DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: 1763, at Brunswick, Germany

DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH: 11 May 1830, at Paris, France. Aged 67

DISCIPLINE: Pioneer of gas lighting

FIELD: Gas industry

LANGUAGE: German and English

PARENTS: Friedrich Albrecht Winzer and ?

SIBLINGS: Unknown

SPOUSE: Unknown

CHILDREN: Frederick Albert (1797-1874, lawyer)

EDUCATION: Hamburg

MAJOR WORK: "Description of the Thermo-lamp invented by Lebon of Paris" (in

English, French and German), 1802

LIFE AND TIMES: By 1799 Winsor had moved to London, England, and anglicized his name. He became interested in gas-lighting, being pioneered in England using coal-gas (from the distillation of coal) by Murdock* for the Boulton* & Watt* company at Soho, Birmingham during the 1790s, and simultaneously by Philippe Lebon in Paris, France using wood-gas (from charcoal burners). In 1802 Winsor visited Paris to see Lebon's experiments.

Although Winsor had little scientific knowledge or engineering ability, he had the vision immediately to understand both the incredible potential of these developments and the need, if gas-lighting was to succeed on any reasonable scale, for a central plant supplying a number of users through gas mains radiating from central gas-generating stations. However, he was unable to secure any investors on the Continent, and in late 1803 returned to London, England.

Settling first in Grosvenor Square and then in Pall Mall, in early 1804 Winsor began giving demonstrations of gas-light* in a series of lectures at the Lyceum Theatre.

In late 1806, Winsor moved his exhibition to Pall Mall and began to canvass and issue a prospectus for the formation of The National Light and Heat Company "for providing our streets and houses with light and heat… as they are now supplied with water". Although he made extravagant claims of unrealistic profits to subscribers, in May 1807 he got permission to display lights along the top of the wall separating the garden of Carlton House (the royal residence) from the Mall on 4 June, the birthday of King George III.

This was successful, and in December 1807, to great public acclaim, Winsor lighted part of the south side of Pall Mall, the first street to be illuminated by gas. The National Light and Heat Company - now renamed The Gas Light and Coke company - finally gained its charter at the third attempt early in 1812.

Meanwhile, Winsor had raised almost £50,000 by subscription, but was greatly handicapped by his lack of engineering and chemical knowledge. His production equipment proved highly inefficient, with the gas being burnt in an impure state and creating a smell. With the help of the German chemist Friedrich Accum, he introduced a lime purifier.

But Winsor was an inexperienced businessman, and within a few months of receiving the charter the board of the company had isolated him and he was dismissed. In late 1812 The Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company employed a former employee of Boulton and Watt, Clegg*, an engineer who managed successfully to handle the huge logistical problems of providing gas-lighting to London, and in April 1814 oversaw the transfer from oil to gas lighting in the district of St. Margaret's in Westminster. By the end of 1815 there were 26 miles of gas-main in London.

In 1813, Winsor moved to Paris, where he founded another gas-lighting company. In January 1817 he lit up the Passage des Panoramas with gas, and then successfully lit the Luxembourg and the Odeon arcade, but the company failed to raise enough backing and was liquidated in 1819.

ASSESSMENT: His efforts played a fundamental role in the establishment of a central supply of gas in Britain, and thus of universal gas-lighting.

EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None

ONELINER: Frederick Winsor, gaslight pioneer

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

DNB

Derry, T.K and T.I. Williams, A Short History of Technology, From the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900, New York: Dover Publications, 1958

Singer, Charles etc., A History of Technology, Vol IV: The Industrial Revolution, c. 1750-c.1850, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950