Viewed from Clarence Street. Two men are standing in the yard. On the right is a gasholder. there is no sign of a retort unles there is a very small one in the buildings on the left - large chimney.
The passing of the Hamilton Gasworks Act 1895 on the 30th of August enabled Henry Atkinson to establish gasworks in the town of Hamilton. Atkinson was allocated lot 322 on Clarence Street for this purpose and on the 14th of September the town was first lit by gas. In 1905 the Borough Council proposed raising a loan to purchase the gasworks. In 1907 the Council made the Company an offer which they rejected and the case went to court, going all the way to the Privy Council in London. The Privy Council ruled in favour of the Company. The Hamilton Borough Council ended up paying three times more for the gasworks than had been approved by ratepayers in 1906.