| Description | The North West Gas Board was one of the twelve area Gas Boards formed under the Gas Act 1948 and came into operation on 1 May 1949. For administrative purposes it was divided into seventeen groups:Manchester Group; Liverpool Group; South Lancashire Group; Preston Group; Mid-Cheshire Group; Lancaster-Morecambe Group; Peak Group; Furness Group; Kendal Group; Fylde Group; Blackburn-Accrington Group; Burnley-Colne Group; Bury-Rossendale Group; Oldham-Rochdale Group; Bolton Radcliffe Group; Wirral Group; North Cheshire Group. By the Gas Act 1972, the individual gas boards were dissolved and on 1 Jan 1973 NWGB became North West Region of the British Gas Corporation. By 1986 the structure had changed and the region was divided into six administrative Areas: North; Central Lancs; South Lancs; Mersey; Manchester; Cheshire. On privatisation in 1986 the region continued as such when BGC became British Gas plc. By 1992 the region was organised for administrative purposes into twelvedistricts which fell into three larger areas. It is this last administrative structure which is reflected in the catalogues:Lakeland; Blackpool and Preston; Blackburn and Burnley; Bolton and Bury; Wirral and Mid Cheshire; South Lancashire; City of Liverpool; North Merseyside; Oldham and Rochdale; Manchester North; Manchester South, and Stockport and Tameside.By 1994 the management of British Gas was organised on a functional basis rather than geographical. |