I have recently re-read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (John le Carré, 1974) in which lamplighters are the dogsbodies of British intelligence doing surveillance and courier work.
Today I saw one at work in Hyde Park. Strictly, he wasn’t lighting anything – more polishing and titivating – but I started to notice how many gas lights there are in the park. So useful for Bertie.
“In central London around 1,500 gas lamps still operate, lighting the Royal Parks, the exterior of Buckingham Palace and almost the entire Covent Garden area.” (Wikipedia)
They are a charming anachronism and obviously need to be changed into ersatz replicas powered by custard powder. The London Gasketeers, there are more than three, are the last stand to preserve our lamplighters, assisted by British Gas who subsidise gas street lights to earn Brownie points. They have five engineers on the job, so not a big spend in the general scheme of things.
“The first recorded public street lighting powered by gas was demonstrated in Pall Mall, London, on 28 January 1807. In June of that year, a line of gas street lights was illuminated by Frederick Winsor, an engineer, to celebrate the birthday of King George III. Each one was fed with gas pipes made from the up-cycled barrels of obsolete musket guns.
In 1812, Parliament granted a charter to the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, the world’s first gas company. Less than two years later, on 31 December 1813, Westminster Bridge was lit by gas-fuelled street lamps.
By 1823, numerous towns and cities throughout Britain were lit by gas. The cost of gaslight was up to 75% lower than oil lamps or candles, accelerating its development and deployment. By 1859, gas lighting was to be found all over Britain and close to a thousand gasworks had sprung up to meet the demand for the new fuel. Indoors, the brighter light that gas provided enabled people to read more easily and for longer. In turn, this helped to stimulate literacy and learning.” (thelondongasketeers.com)
Electric street lighting was developed in the 1870s – but that’s another story.
Thank you for the interesting story, eye doctors use a wonderful instrument in the examination of the eye, the slit lamp microscope, in the early days illumination was provided by a gas light, the quality of this light was greatly appreciated by its users, and the uptake of illumination by the electric light bulb was resisted by many practitioners because of its harshness and the projection of the bulb filament on the eye. Obstacles that were quickly overcome. My own feeling is that the early users were stunned by the sheer beauty of the jewel in the crown and the electric light bulb took from that amazing time in their life.