| Description | This collection is divided into seven major sections:-
(1) North Eastern Electric Supply Company
(2) Companies taken over by NESCo.
(3) Subsidiary companies of NESCo.
(4) Independent companies
(5) Umbrella organisations
(6) Carliol House Ltd
(7) Acts and bills
Note that significant additional deposits have been received since this catalogue was compiled. These records remain uncatalogued, but comprise in summary:
Acc1690
Tariffs 1948
Photographs including power stations & substations; IRA damage to pylon (1939), 1920s-1930s
papers re Cleveland & Durham Electric Power Co. 1904-1930
Companies House records re Carville Site & Power Co. 1914-1915
Companies House records re Northern Counties Electric Supply Co. 1900-1913
Northern Counties Electric Supply Co.: papers re siting of substations 1918-1928
Acc2020
Local Acts and Orders, nd (6 volumes)
Annual Reports and Accounts 1970, 1971.
Acc2781
Salaries books 1906-1923 (3 volumes, incomplete)
Head Office wages books 1906-1914 (4 volumes)
Acc2808
Includes:
Tariff file re Armstrong Whitworth Aviation Works, Gosforth, 1913
Statistics 1906-1924
Shareholding records 1901-1929
Publications and reports 1901-1923
Acc3963
Financial records 1937-1990
Minutes (inc. Board, Chief Officers etc.) 1948-1989
Annual Reports 1948-1989
Board reports & papers 1948-1990
Secretary’s subject files (selected), 1952-1990
Cloth Market explosion 1929
Civil Defence papers c.1948-c.1970
Acc4742
Share ledger, NESCo, 1901-1931
Acc5486
Northern Electric and Gas, News, 1993 - 1999
Reports and accounts, 1991 - 2008
Acc5543
Nesco magazines, 1946 - 1948 (7 booklets)
The Nor-easter, 1948 - 1975 (109 booklets)
Please enquire about access to these unlisted records. |
| AdminHistory | The North Eastern Electricity Board was created in 1948 on the nationalisation of the electricity supply and distribution industry. It formed the north east section of the British Electrical Authority.
Prior to 1948 the major electricity supply and distribution company in the North East had been the North Eastern Electric Supply Company. This had itself been created in 1932 out of the Newcastle upon Tyne Electricity Supply Company and its subsidiary companies. Other independent companies were also nationalised to form part of NEEB, the most important of which was the Newcastle and District Electricity Lighting Company.
Subsidiaries of the North Eastern Electric Supply Company
Cleveland and Durham Electric Power Company Ltd
County of Durham Electrical Power Distribution Company Ltd
County of Durham Power Supply Company Ltd
Durham County Electric Power Company Ltd
Houghton le Spring and District Electric Lighting Company Ltd
Northern Counties Electricity Supply Company Ltd
Tees Power Station Company
Territory and assets taken over by the North Eastern Electric Supply Company
Durham Collieries Electric Power Company Ltd
Hexham and District Supply Company Ltd
Independent Electricity Companies
Askrigg and Reeth Electric Supply Company
Hawes Electric Lighting Company
Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company
Umbrella Organisations
Incorporated Association of Electric Power Companies
Central Electricity Board
British Electrical Authority
Newcastle upon Tyne Electricity Supply Co. Ltd., 1888 - 1932
North-Eastern Electric Supply Co. Ltd., 1932 - 1948
Two electric supply companies were formed in Newcastle in 1889, the Newcastle upon Tyne Electricity Supply Co. (later to become known as NESCo), and the Newcastle upon Tyne & District Electricity Lighting Co. Both companies were to play a leading role in the development of electric power supply and distribution, the District Company in the years before 1900 and NESCo. in the first three decades of the present century.
Agreement was quickly reached between the two companies on the distribution of territory within the city, NESCo supplying the area east of a line drawn roughly through Grainger Street and the District Company the area to the west. NESCo began operations in 1890, with the opening of their first generating station at Pandon Dene. No great advances were made during the first decade, but it was during this period that Charles Merz joined NESCo as Chief Consultant Engineer and his long association with the Company began. Later, with a colleague William McLellan, he formed the firm of consulting engineers Merz & McLellan (TWAS 671, 780, 902, 906, 1091, 1239, 1325, 1385, 1409) who were responsible for most of NESCo's design work from 1898 onwards. It was Merz in particular who was responsible for the design of the pioneering Neptune Bank Power Station, opened in 1901. This was not only the first power station in the U.K. to generate 3-phase A.C. Supply but also the first to supply electricity for industry rather than lighting purposes. This had always been a major aim of NESCo and proved to be a vital development; it led not only to the rapid expansion of NESCo but it also gave industry on Tyneside an enormous advantage over industry in other areas.
After the opening of the Neptune Bank Power Station NESCo continued to lead the world in power station development for the next thirty years. Carville was built to supply electricity for the Tyneside suburban lines, in 1903; Carville/Carville 'B' opened in 1916, the most economical power station in the world at that time; further stations to be built included Blaydon Burn, North Tees (1921) and Dunston 'B' (1930).
NESCo also expanded its territory rapidly after the turn of the century. The Walker and Wallsend Union Gas Co. was taken over in 1905, and after a series of Parliamentary battles with the District Company, NESCo extended its supply and distribution area south, as well as north, of the Tyne. The County of Durham Electrical Power Distribution Co. Ltd., the County of Durham Power Supply Co. Ltd., and the Houghton-le-Spring and District Electric Lighting Co. Ltd., were all absorbed in the years before 1914. After the First World War NESCo extended its area to the Tees, the Cleveland and Durham Electric Power Co. Ltd., the Northern Counties Electricity Supply Co. Ltd., and Durham County Electric Power Co. Ltd., and Tees Power Station Co. were all taken over. In addition the territory and assets of a number of companies in liquidation was taken over by NESCo; notable here were the Durham Collieries Electric Power Co. Ltd., and the Hexham & District Supply Co. Ltd.
The North Eastern Electric Supply Co. Ltd. was formed by the North-Eastern Electric Supply Act, 1932 and created one single company from the former Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Co. and its subsidiary companies. Although the records of the subsidiary companies obviously came to an end in 1932, there was no significant break in the NESCo records between the demise of the Newcastle upon Tyne Electricity Supply Co. Ltd., and the advent of the North-Eastern Electric Supply Co. Ltd., thus no distinction has been made in the list.
Subsidiary Companies of the Newcastle upon Tyne Electricity Supply Co. Ltd.
Four of the subsidiary companies - the Cleveland and Durham Electric Power Co., the County of Durham Electric Power Distribution Co. Ltd., the Houghton-le-Spring and District Lighting Co. Ltd., and the Tees Power Station Co. Ltd. - were controlled directly by NESCo; the Cleveland and Durham County Electric Power Co., and the Northern Counties Electricity Supply Co. Ltd. (controlled through the Cleveland and Durham Electric Power Ltd.) and the County of Durham Electric Power Supply Co. Ltd. (controlled through the County of Durham Electrical Power Distribution Co. Ltd.) - were controlled indirectly.
Independent Companies, 1889 - 1948
Three companies are included in this section: the Askrigg and Reeth Electric Supply Co. Ltd., the Hawes Electric Lighting Co. Ltd., and the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Co. Ltd. The term 'independent' is used in this context to indicate that these companies were independent of the Newcastle upon Tyne Electricity Supply Co. and the North-Eastern Supply Co.
The Askrigg and Reeth Supply Co. Ltd. and the Hawes Electric Lighting Co. Ltd. were both very small supply and distribution companies serving only their respective towns in North Yorkshire. The Newcastle & District Electric Lighting Co. was formed in 1889 with Charles Parsons as Managing Director; Parsons was anxious at this time to break into the field of electric power supply, the company's power station at Forth Banks, opened in 1890, was the first in the world to employ turbine driven generators. Further stations were opened at the Close (1902), Lemington (1904) and Newburn (1908), all employing Parsons turbo generators. Parsons himself resigned as Managing Director in 1902, but remained a Director until 1909.
The District Company extended its area to include Newburn in 1902 and Benwell and Fenham in 1904. Having lost a series of Parliamentary battles with NESCo in the early 1900's it failed to extend its territory further.
British Electrical Authority (North-Eastern Electric Supply Co.): North-Eastern Electricity Board, 1948 - 1972
In 1948 the electricity supply and distribution industry was nationalised, the British Electrical Authority formed and the industry re-organised on a regional basis. The British Electrical Authority (NESCo) was based on the area of the former North-Eastern Electric Supply Co. and also included the 'independent' companies as well as the various local authority distribution undertakings. The area covered extended along the eastern side of the country, from York in the south to the Scottish Border. The British Electrical Authority (NESCo) later became the North-Eastern Electricity Board.
Carliol House Ltd., 1924 - 1972
Carliol House Ltd. remained a separate company until the 1970's. It was originally formed in 1924, its purpose being to build and administer the then headquarters of the Newcastle upon Tyne Electricity Supply Company Limited.
The North Eastern Electricity Board became Northern Electric plc when privatised in 1990. Under the Utilities Act 2000 the company was split into supply and distribution arms, the supply arm becoming NPower and the distribution arm Northern Electric Distribution Limited (NEDL). |