Further to this, though there was at one time a gas works in Preston in what is now Hollingdean Road, I’m not sure it was producing gas in 1890. And you say your “gg grandfather was manager of the gasworks in Brighton”. But at that time Preston was not in Brighton. There has never in fact been a gas producing works in Brighton itself as far as I can see. The first established by the Brighton Gas Light and Coke Company established around 1818 was at Black Rock deliberately situated outside the parish boundary to escape the local coal tax. According to Tim Carder in 1825 the rival Brighton and Hove General Gas Company set up their works alongside St Andrew’s church in Hove (now a Tescos I think) . In 1882 this company absorbed the original BGLC and in 1885 gas production shifted to the new gasworks at Aldrington Basin in Portslade and the Hove and Black Rock sites were used only for storage (the gasometers remaining there until quite recently). Carder does not mention the Preston works – though it is clearly marked on 19th century OS maps. It may have been only storage for gas produced elsewhere by 1890. In the 1891 census 1 Gas Cottages appears between 30 Hollingdean Road and Freehold Terrace – both of which still exist. The occupant 49 year old George Harmes is (as you say) described as “manager of gas works”. Hope this helps.
