York Buildings Company facts for kids

The York Buildings Company was an English company that existed in the late 1600s and early 1700s. It started by providing water to homes in London, but later got involved in buying and selling large properties.

Supplying Water to London

The company's full name was "The Governor and Company for raising the Thames Water at York Buildings." It began in 1675 and officially became a company in 1690. Its main job was to pump water from the River Thames to houses in London. This business gave the company a steady income from the payments made by people who used their water. For many years, until 1719, water supply was all the company did.

The York Buildings Company was quite advanced for its time. They even tried using an early type of steam engine invented by Thomas Savery to pump water, but it didn't work out well. In 1726, they installed a more successful Newcomen engine. However, when the company faced money problems in 1732, they had to sell parts of the engine. Even so, the company continued to run its waterworks for a long time.

In 1731, another company called the Chelsea Waterworks Company started up, which made things harder for the York Buildings Company. In 1746, they decided to lease out their waterworks to another company, and they kept renewing this lease until 1818.

Buying and Selling Estates

Around 1719, it became easier for people who wanted to invest to buy an existing company rather than start a new one. So, new owners took over the York Buildings Company. They decided to raise a lot of money, about £1,200,000, to buy large properties, especially those that had been taken from rebels after the Jacobite rising of 1715 in Scotland. These properties were called "forfeited estates."

In January 1720, the company also thought about starting a life assurance business, which is like a type of insurance. However, legal experts told them they weren't allowed to do this under their current rules. The company's shares became very popular and their price went up a lot. But then, there was a legal threat, and the share price crashed, making them almost worthless.

The company promised to stick to its original business. They asked their shareholders for more money, but many shareholders chose to give back half of their shares instead. This meant the company didn't get much new money. The directors were left with many shares they couldn't sell, which made it hard for the company to pay its bills. To raise money, they even held lotteries in 1721, where prizes included company shares.

The company tried different ways to make money from its new estates. They tried mining for copper and lead, and even started an ironworks to make iron. They also shipped timber. But these projects didn't make much profit. The company also got into trouble for taking money illegally from another group called the Charitable Corporation. They tried many financial tricks to stay in business.

Eventually, in 1732, people who were owed money by the company asked Parliament for help. A new group of directors was chosen, and they supported this request. More money was asked from shareholders. A Member of Parliament named George Robinson was removed from Parliament because he had used a lot of money from the Charitable Corporation to buy shares in the York Buildings Company for his own benefit.

Closing Down the Company

From 1740 onwards, the company's problems ended up in court. It took many years to sort things out. In 1756, an agreement was made about who should be paid first among the people the company owed money to. Then, in 1764, a special law was passed by Parliament to allow the company to sell its estates. This helped pay off some of its debts. More estates were sold in 1783 after another law was passed in 1777.

Even after these sales, there were more legal battles. Finally, in 1792, a new agreement was made with the people the company owed money to, but it wasn't approved by the court until 1802. After all this, the company was left with some money, some government investments, and its waterworks.

The waterworks, which had been leased out for over 50 years, were sold in 1818 to the New River Company. The York Buildings Company officially closed down by an Act of Parliament in 1829.

Estates Owned by the Company

Some of the important properties that the York Buildings Company bought included:

• Edzell Castle
• Belhelvie Kirk, which was part of the estate of James Maule, 4th Earl of Panmure
• Callendar House in Falkirk
• Widdrington Castle estate in Northumberland, which belonged to William Widdrington, 4th Baron Widdrington

See also

• John Theophilus Desaguliers. He was an expert who gave advice to the company about steam technology.