Father is 17th and last family member to work for Thames Water after 428 years of family service

Laying main-line trunk water pipes in St John’s Wood in 1900. Jon Langford’s great-great uncle started work for the water firm in 1850.
Thames Water

A father-of-two from south-east London has brought to an end his family’s 428 years of service with one company.

Jon Langford, 54, who joined Thames Water as an apprentice electrician in 1980, is the last in a line of 17 family members who have worked for London’s water supplier since 1850.

He rose through the ranks to become a repair and maintenance supervisor, but has now retired to help look after his mother, Collette, 85.

Mr Langford, of Orpington, said his children work as a nanny and as a finance consultant, so the only way the family legacy could continue is if his grandchildren join the company.

Jon Langford with his long-service watch and flower pot made from a water pipe
Ben Moore-Bridger

He said: “A lot has changed over the past decades. When I started, steam engines were still being used, and technology has come on so far, it’s really helped the job.

“To know I was carrying on a family legacy was a real privilege. I remember as a kid going to work with my dad and helping push around hand carts and going out with the engineers.

“This now really is the end of an era — unless my grandchildren are interested in the family trade.”

Jon Langford’s grandfather Charlie Langford, who worked for the Metropolitan Water Board for 30 years
Thames Water

Mr Langford’s great-great uncle, Vince Munday, started work in 1850 as a clerk at New River Head, the headquarters, in Clerkenwell, of what in 1903 became the Metropolitan Water Board (MWB), which combined the city’s nine water companies as one overarching body.

Mr Munday was joined in 1890 by his brothers Albert, a jointer, William, a turncock, and Onslow, a district foreman who was Mr Langford’s great-grandfather, and whose rental agreement on his water board accommodation read: “One penny per week, payable if demanded.”

By the mid-Thirties, Mr Langford’s great-uncles Charles, a clerk, and Bert and Sid Munday, both engine drivers, and their two brothers-in-law Fred Stevens and Charlie Langford, both district foremen, and his brother George Langford, a clerk, had joined MWB.

Sid Langford at work in Stockwell in 1963
Thames Water

Jon Langford’s father Sid joined MWB as a welder in 1941, working his way up to district foreman at Orpington. He worked for the company for 42 years until 1983, by which time the MWB had become the Thames Water Authority. Sid Munday’s brother Peter also worked for the MWB, as did his cousins, George and Stephen Hewitt. In 1989 Thames Water Authority became a private company, Thames Water plc.

Sid Langford and Jon Langford on the day he joined Thames Water aged 16
Thames Water

It amounts to a 428-year family connection — though it is probably longer. Mr Langford’s great-great-uncle, Lt- Col George Hanover, rose to be chairman at the Metropolitan Water Board, but it is not clear how many years he worked there. Another uncle, Ron, was a chlorination attendant, but again it is not known how long he served. Mr Langford said his career highlight was working as part of the team that prepared for the London 2012 Olympics. He added: “I’ll miss Thames but I’ve really enjoyed my time there.”

A spokesman for Thames Water said: “Jon and his family have certainly done London proud. It’s an incredible achievement, and we hope the family link will one day be reconnected.”

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