By now, the winning technology is well known. Even though gas for lighting and many other uses was introduced a half century prior to its competitor, electricity’s versatility ensured that it would be the ultimate winner in the lighting stakes. Gas would never completely disappear as it filled certain niche markets. Even in those countries in which natural gas is abundant, it is still chiefly used to generate electricity.

Main picture: The North End Gas Works as it was in the 1900s.

Bereft of Lighting
As soon as the sun set, it was as if the lights were switched off. Darkness enveloped the world bringing civilisation to a standstill. All activity outside the home was dangerous. Its streets, or rather, rough tracks, had to depend on the moon and stars for lighting at night, and failing these, the people directed their steps over sand and stones with the help of a lantern. The illumination of private dwellings was chiefly effected by tallow candles or “farthing dips ” made by Mr. Adcock up in Chapel Hill (now Constitution Hill).

Gas fulfils a need
Gas was first to make an appearance as a way to produce light amongst its multitude of uses. On the 1^st September 1862, The Port Elizabeth Gas Company was formed. At a meeting of shareholders, the Trust Deed was read and adopted. The first Chairman and Directors were Joseph Simpson, John Miller, John Dickson, J.S. Kirkwood, A.J. MacDonald, R.D. Buchanan and F.S. Fairbridge. The manager of the Cape Town gasworks was asked to advise on what would be required to commence operations. The Company’s premises were in Slater Street and the huge cylindrical container can be seen in early photographs.

Redgrave described the first illumination by gas as follows: In some of the more pretentious homes, small paraffin lamps were in use, these being as a rule hung in the centre of the wall or in the corner of the parlour.” Those who lived in that transitional era would forever remember the first illumination of Port Elizabeth by gas as it opened a new era for the townspeople. Redgrave records what occurred at the Market Square: “Most of the residents had congregated on the Market Square on that memorable night of the year 1866. The gas conduits had been laid only as far as the Square, in the centre of which two large oval crinoline rings had been erected. At a given signal the gas was turned on at the new Gas Works at the North End off Queen Street by Mr. Taylor, who was then the Secretary and Manager of the Gas Company, and beaming Mayor John Miller pompously applied a torch amid prolonged cheers and applause and the so-called lighting of the town was an accomplished fact.”

The age of darkness would be forever banished. But not quite yet. The adoption of any new technology is undermined by various other factors such as cost, non-acceptance by the older generation and many more.

First gas lighting
The switching on of the gas lighting outside the Town Hall was a PR exercise. Of greater importance was the first practical uses of the gas. Two candidates come to mind. In contention are the Town Hall itself which was first lit by gas on the 6^th August 1865. To celebrate Prince Alfred’s 21st birthday, the front of the Town Hall was lit with 2 large stars and other decorations but this was a once-off occurrence never to be repeated; not with Prince Alfred at least.

On the other hand, it could have been the “Alfred Club Room,” which was officially named the “Algoa House Hotel.” which was vying for first place. As was usual in those days, hotels were often referred to by the name of the licensee. If it was not the first to be lit by gas, it can still claim to be the first building on the Hill to be lit with gas. My best guess would be that the PE Gas Co. would have ensured that the Town Hall was the first to use gas, but that fact cannot be determined. Even a conservative institution like St. Mary’s Collegiate Church entered the world of lighting when in 1866 gas lighting was installed in the church.

Cloudburst in May 1897
On Wednesday 5th May1897, Port Elizabeth experienced one of the most severerain storms when the heavens opened at noon and by 13:30 had deposited 187mmson the town. Then, as if to accentuate the awfulness of the storm, the Gas Works was flooded and a warning was promptly issued that all the strets and houses would be plunged into darkness throughout the night. It is in the area of the Gas Works that the force of the flood appeared to be at its worst. The waters rushed dow in this direction and carried away rialwaay lines and trucks, whilst a portion of the steep St. Patrick’s road having collapsed, many tonnes of debris found their way into the houses on the main level road, wrecking all opposing walls and injuring many people.

The use of gas never gained traction amongst the residents of Port Elizabeth. On the 1^st January 1945, the Port Elizabeth Municipality took over the running of the gas undertaking. A new site, in the Papenkuils River Valley, was chosen and on 11^th May 1955 the new carbonising and ancillary plant was opened by Mayor Louis Dubb. Further extensions were added over time, and in 1988 Easigas purchased the gas works from the Council.

Why did gas streetlights have a horizontal steel rod near the lamp?

By the mid 20th century, the gas reticulation system would have been fairly extensive over the central area of the city as well as North End. For example, the laboratories at UPE in Bird Street used ‘town gas’ piped in from the Papenkuils gasworks until the mid to late 1970’s.

Apart from Sasol Gas, Petronet, Egoli Gas, Port Elizabeth Gas is the only other gas distribution system in South Africa. It is a privately owned company in Port Elizabeth supplying an LPG/air mixture to a limited number of industrial customers. All these gas works have since been closed down for economic reasons, although the town gas has been replaced with Sasol gas in Johannesburg and LPG/air mixture in Port Elizabeth.

A Minor but Unusual use of Gas
My brother Blaine was a bursary student with Ford employed at the Neave engine plant over the 1978 Christmas holidays. The world had hit South Africa with comprehensive sanctions, the most serious of which was the oil embargo. Incentives were offered to companies to implement ways of saving petrol. Ford enthusiastically joined the rush for free funds and schemed ways to save the petrol during the running-in of the engines to bed everything down. They clamped on a gas carburettor which used coal gas from down the road in Papenkuils and ran the engine for a few minutes. After that, they fitted the carb and did final adjustments.

Where are the gasometers located
This section has been written by the Technical Editor, Blaine McCleland

Source
Port Elizabeth: A Social Chronicle to the end of 1945 by Margaret Harradine (1996, E H Walton (Packaging (Pty) Ltd, Port Elizabeth, on behalf of the Historical Society of Port Elizabeth).
Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days by J.J. Redgrave (1947, Rustica Press)
Gas Infrastructure Plan – 19 April 2005 by The Department of Minerals and Energy
Port Elizabeth: Days of Yours and Days of Mine by Blaine McCleland [2021, Self Published]