referred to the only display of gas was in the shape of one large lamp placed at one end of the factory, and then called a “Bengal light,” the gas for which was brought to the premises in several bags from Mr. Murdoch’s own house.  Though it has been always believed that the factory and offices throughout were lighted by gas in 1803, very soon after the Amiens illumination, a correspondent to the Daily Post has lately stated that when certain of his friends went to Soho, in 1834, they found no lights in use, even for blowpipes, except oil and candles and that they had to lay on gas from the mains of the Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Company in the Holyhead Road.  If correct, this is a curious bit of the history of the celebrated Soho, as other manufacturers were not at all slow in introducing gas for working purposes as well as lighting, a well-known tradesman, Benjamin Cook, Caroline Street, having fitted up retorts and a gasometer on his premises in 1808, his first pipes being composed of old or waste gun-barrels, and he reckoned to clear a profit of L30 a year, as against his former expenditure for candles and oil.  The glassworks of Jones, Smart, and Co., of Aston Hill, were lit up by gas as early as 1810, 120 burners being used at a nightly cost of 4s. 6d., the gas being made on the premises from a bushel of coal per day.  The first proposal to use gas in lighting the streets of Birmingham was made in July 1811, and here and there a lamp soon appeared, but they were supplied by private firms, one of whom afterwards supplied gas to light the chapel formerly on the site of the present Assay Office, taking it from their works in Caroline Street, once those of B. Cook before-mentioned.  The Street Commissioners did not take the matter in hand till 1815, on November 8 of which year they advertised for tenders for lighting the streets with gas instead of oil.  The first shop in which gas was used was that of Messrs. Poultney, at the corner of Moor Street, in 1818, the pipes being laid from the works in Gas Street by a private individual, whose interest therein was bought up by the Birmingham Gaslight Company.  The principal streets were first officially lighted by gas-lamps on April 29, 1826, but it was not until March, 1843, that the Town Council resolved that that part of the borough within the parish of Edgbaston should be similarly favoured.

Gas Companies.—­The first, or Birmingham Gaslight Co. was formed in 1817, incorporated in 1819, and commenced business by buying up the private adventurer who built the works in Gas Street.  The Company was limited to the borough of Birmingham, and its original capital was L32,000, which, by an Act obtained in 1855, was increased to L300,000, and borrowing powers to L90,000 more, the whole of which was raised or paid up.  In the year 1874 the company supplied gas through 17,000 meters, which consumed 798,000,000 cubic feet of gas.  The Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Co. was established in 1825, and had powers to