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Electrical timeline
for the United Kingdom
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1790s
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Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) invents the electric battery
A battery (or voltaic pile) is a device for making electricity by chemical means. Volta found that if pieces of different metals were piled on top of each other separated by cardboard soaked in an acid, an electric current was produced. Despite all the developments since, the principle of the battery remains the same.
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1800s
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Humphry Davy (1778-1829) develops the first theory of electro-chemistry, and discovers sodium, potassium, etc., using powerful batteries
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1810
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Davy invents the carbon arc
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1820
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Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1851) publishes his discovery of
electro-magnetism
Electro-magnetism describes the relationship between electricity and magnetic force. Certain metals can be made magnetic by passing an electric current through a coil wound around a piece of them.
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1821
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Michael Faraday discovers electro-magnetic rotations,
the principle behind the electric motor ... See also electro-magnetic rotations
Faraday discovered that a vertically mounted wire carrying an electric current would rotate continuously round a magnet protruding from a bowl of mercury. This phenomenon showed that it was possible to produce continuous motion from the interaction of electricity and magnetism.
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1822
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Thomas Johann Seebeck (1770-1831) discovers thermo-electricity
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1825
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William Sturgeon (1783-1850) invents the electro-magnet
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1827
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Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854) publishes Ohm's law
Ohm's law relates electro-motive potential difference (V) to current (I) and resistance (R) using the formula V=IR
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1831
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Michael Faraday discovers electro-magnetic induction, and makes the first electrical transformer and generator ... See also transformer, generator
In a transformer, two coils of wire are wound on opposite sides of a metal core. When an electric current is passed into one coil, a transient electric current is induced in the other. By varying the number of windings round the coils, the voltage can be increased or decreased. Because induction is a transient phenomenon, the transformation can be repeated very quickly. Electrical substations are large transformers, and thus the device is key to efficient transmission of high voltage alternating current (AC).
The electric generator is a device with a magnet, or something performing the function of a magnet, that moves in the vicinity of a coil of wire to generate an electric current in the wire. Virtually all electric power is produced using this principle, no matter whether the prime source of energy is coal, oil, gas, nuclear, hydro, or wind, etc.
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1834
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Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) measures the velocity of electricity
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1836
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John Frederic Daniell (1790-1845) invents the constant cell
An early type of battery that improved considerably on the voltaic cells that preceeded it.
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1839
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The first electric telegraph, made by Cooke and Wheatstone, is laid along the Great Western Railway from Paddington to West Drayton
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1840/50s
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Michael Faraday develops the idea of the electro-magnetic field
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1850/60s
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William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) (1824-1907) and James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) mathematise Faraday's magnetic field theory
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Some lighthouses are lit experimentally using
electric arc light ... more >>
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1851
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A telegraph cable is successfully laid across the English Channel
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1857
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First Atlantic telegraph cable laid — unsuccessfully
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1866
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Second Atlantic telegraph cable laid — successfully
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1871
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Founding of Society of Telegraph Engineers (later Institution of Electrical Engineers)
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1876
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Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) invents the telephone
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1878
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Joseph Swan (1828-1914) invents the light bulb
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1881
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The first public electric lighting, in Godalming, Surrey ... more >>
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1882
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The Electric Lighting Act 1882 (repealed 1989) ... allows the setting up of supply systems by persons, companies or local authorities
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Holborn Viaduct plant opens
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1883
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First electric railway
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1886
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Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894) produces and detects radio waves
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Crompton forms the first electric supply company ... in Kensington
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1888
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Amendments to the The Electric Lighting Act 1882 make the setting up of a supply company easier
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1891
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Deptford power station opens ... UK's first AC power system ... designed by Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, set up by London Electric Suppply Corporation (LESCo)
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1896
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Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) patents radio telegraphy and sends a radio message 14km across Salisbury Plain
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1899
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The Electric Lighting (Clauses) Act 1899 (repealed 1989)
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Marconi sends a radio message across the Channel
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1901
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Marconi sends a radio message across the Atlantic
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1909
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The Electric Lighting Act 1909 (repealed 1989) ... regulates planning consent requirements for the opening of power stations
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1915
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Electric Power Supply Committee set up by the government
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1919
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The Williamson Report leads to The Electricity (Supply) Act 1919 (repealed 1989) ... Electricity Supply Corporation is established and Electricity Commissioners appointed
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1922
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The Electric (Supply) Act 1922 (repealed 1989)
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1926
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Lord Weir's report leads to The Electricity (Supply) Act 1926 (repealed 1989)
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The Central Electricity Board is created ... starts working towards the National Grid, which will operate at 132kV (50Hz)
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1930
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Assisted wiring scheme begins ... by 1936, more than 12,000 premises would be connected
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1931
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Michael Faraday's discovery of electro-magnetic induction widely celebrated (centenary)
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1933
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The 132kV National Grid starts supplying electricity ... initially as an interconnected set of regional grids
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Battersea power station opens
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1936
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The Electricity Supply (Meters) Act 1936 (repealed 1989)
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John Logie Baird (1888-1946) develops develops an electromechanical television system, the forerunner of today's television
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1938
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The 132kV National Grid is integrated for the first time
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1943
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The Hydroelectric Development (Scotland) Act 1943 (repealed 1989)
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1947
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The Electricity Act 1947 (repealed 1989) ... enables nationalisation ... merges 625 electricity companies and vests supply in 12 Area Electricity Boards ... generation and the 132kV National Grid vested in the British Electricity Authority
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1948
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Electricity supply is nationalised on 1st April
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1954
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The Electricity Reorganisation (Scotland) Act 1954 (repealed 1989)
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1955
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The British Electricity Authority becomes the Central Electricity Authority, and the Scottish Area Boards merge into the South of Scotland Electricity Board and the North of Scotland Hydro Board
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1956
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Calder hall (Sellafield) opens ... first commercial nuclear power station
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1957
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The Electricity Act 1957 (repealed 1989) ... the Central Electricity Authority is dissolved and replaced by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and the Electricity Council
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1961
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The Electricity (Ammendment) Act 1961 (repealed 1989)
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1963
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The Electricity and Gas Act 1963 (repealed 1989)
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1968
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The Gas and Electricity Act 1968 (repealed 1989)
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1972
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The Electricity Act 1972 (repealed 1989)
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1979
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The Electricity (Scotland) Act 1979 (repealed 1989)
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1989
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The Electricity Act 1989 ... plans the privatisation of the industry
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1990
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Privatisation begins ... the assets of the CEGB are divided between three new companies: Powergen, National Power and National Grid Company ... later the nuclear generation component of National Power is moved to state-owned Nuclear Electric
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1991
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Scottish electricity industry is privatised
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1993
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Northern Ireland electricity supply is privatised ... Premier Power is formed
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2000
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Utilities Act 2000 ... makes generating companies responsible for enabling the connection to the grid of distributed energy sources
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