London's Gas-fuelled Lamps

A guest post by 

Keilyn J. A. Morrissey.

A gas-fuelled lamp in Green Park.

In 1792, William Murdoch became the first man to put the idea of producing gas lighting from coal into practical use, when he installed gas lighting at the company's offices as well as lighting his home by this method.

It would be another fifteen years before the first recorded public street lighting, powered by gas, was demonstrated. This was in Pall Mall, London, on January 28, 1807. In June of that year, a line of gas street lights was illuminated by Frederick Albert Winsor, a German inventor, to celebrate the birthday of King George III. Each one was fed with gas pipes made from the up-cycled barrels of obsolete muskets.

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 December 31, 1813, Westminster Bridge was lit by gas-fuelled street lamps. 

The cost of gaslight was up to 75% lower than oil lamps or candles, which accelerated its development and deployment. This cost-effectiveness, combined with its convenience and brighter illumination, drove the rapid adoption of gas lighting in public spaces and eventually in homes, contributing to advancements during the Industrial Revolution. 

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.

There are approximately 1,300 gas-fuelled lamps left in London, with roughly 270 of these found in Westminster. These lamps are lit and maintained by a small team of professional 'lamplighters' employed by companies such as British Gas, or through specialised firms such as William Sugg & Co.. 

The lamps require regular maintenance, with each lamp being serviced every fortnight. Their mechanisms need to be wound every fortnight and adjusted for the seasons. This is carried out by a small team of dedicated professionals, often with a background in gas engineering, who are responsible for the upkeep of the lamps. This includes checking and replacing mantles and polishing the glass on every lamp.

While some lamps still use manual winding and require a 'lamplighter' to be present, many modern gas lamps use clockwork mechanisms. Some lamps feature a permanent pilot light that automatically boosts at night.

London's oldest surviving gas lamps are found on Birdcage Walk. 

Ragged School, Southwark

The Mint & Gospel Lighthouse Mission was created in 1888, in a small building on what is now called Ayres Street. It then moved to premises on Clenham Street. However, this building was in such a poor state that The Ragged School Union and Shaftesbury Society provided them with a new building on Union Street.

This building was opened in 1907 and was set up as a charity to help disadvantaged children.

In 1840, the London City Mission used the term 'ragged' to describe the 570 children who used the five schools that they had established. The term 'ragged' referred to children who often wore ragged or worn-out clothing, no shoes or lacked the clothing to attend any other school.

In 1844, the London Ragged School Union was formed with over 20 ragged schools across the city.

'MillenniuM Measure' by Joanna A. Migdal

The Scientific Instruments Makers MillenniuM Measure.

The MillenniuM Measure is the gift of the Court & Livery of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers of the City of London, in commemoration of the MillenniuM.

It comprises a 3-sided, 2-metre (2m = 2000mm) rule depicting two thousand years of history of the City, the Church and the craft of Scientific Instrument making.

Royal Exchange, City of London

This remarkable building, surrounded by the Bank of England, Mansion House and the Stock Exchange, was founded as 'a comely bourse for merchants to assemble upon' by the wealthy London mercer Sir Thomas Gresham.

The City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercer provided the land, both of whom still jointly own the freehold.

Richard Clough, who designed the building, oversaw the import of various materials from Antwerp, such as: glass, wood, slate and stone, which he paid for out of his own pocket.

So impressed was Queen Elizabeth I by Gresham's achievement that, on January 23, 1571, she visited it and declared, "It must be called the Royal Exchange."

In addition to its trading floor and offices, the original building also enjoyed an upper floor of over one hundred popular and lively small shops, modelled after the New Exchange in Antwerp.

After the Great Fire of 1666 the Royal Exchange was twice rebuilt. In 1667, King Charles II laid the foundation stone for a building designed by Edward Jerman. This building, opened in 1669, had a tall wooden tower built over the south entrance. Unfortunately, this fell into disrepair and, 1821, was replaced with a stone tower, designed by George Smith. On January 10, 1838, this building was also destroyed by fire. The blaze was so bright that it could be seen from Windsor, some 24 miles (39 km) away.

Thames Tunnel, Rotherhithe to Wapping

The plaque at Rotherhithe station.

London is a city layered with history, and some of the most fascinating stories lie beneath its surface. One such story belongs to the Thames Tunnel, an engineering marvel that was the first tunnel ever successfully built beneath a navigable river and a project so ambitious it took nearly two decades to complete.

Today, you might speed through it on the London Overground, barely giving a second thought to the brick arches passing by your window. But, in the 19th century, this passageway connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping was the scene of drama, innovation, and, for a short time, one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

By the early 1800s, London's docks were booming, but the River Thames created a huge bottleneck. Building a new bridge downstream of London Bridge would have blocked the passage of tall-masted sailing ships. The only solution was to go under the river.

Several attempts to tunnel beneath the Thames had failed disastrously. The soft, treacherous ground beneath the riverbed made traditional mining techniques impossible. Enter the brilliant French-born engineer, Marc Isambard Brunel.

Brunel’s genius lay in his invention of the tunnelling shield. The idea, allegedly inspired by watching a shipworm bore through wood, was a revolutionary concept in civil engineering.

Keilyn at the bottom of the tunnel shaft. Notice the soot mark, from steam trains, still on the wall.

Patented in 1818, the shield was essentially a massive, rectangular, cast-iron frame divided into 36 compartments. Miners would work inside these individual cells, digging away a small section of earth in front of them while the surrounding frame held the unstable ground in place. Once a small segment was dug, the shield would be moved forward, and bricklayers would immediately line the new section of the tunnel behind it. This method was the key to conquering the soft, wet subsoil.

Work began in 1825, but the project was far from smooth sailing. It was a harrowing 18-year ordeal, plagued by financial crises, poor air quality, and most terrifyingly, repeated floods as the river burst through the thin crust of ground above.