Mr Therm's gas history review: 200 years of gas lighting in London

Text from a press release © Westminster Council

Historic London lamplighters celebrate double centenary (18/06/2007)

British Gas lamp attendants turned back the clock at a special ceremony in Westminster to mark two hundred years of lighting London's historic gas street lights.

A green plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Councillor Carolyn Keen, to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the first gas lights being built in the capital in 1807.

To mark the occasion, British Gas' longest-serving lamp attendant Martin Caulfield also lit a lamp using the traditional pole for the first time since they were switched to an automatic timing system in 1985.

And he was joined by attendants past and present at the plaque unveiling ceremony on Pall Mall, the first street in the world to be lit by gas lamps 200 years ago.

There were once more than 60,000 all around the capital, though the vast majority have been converted to run on electricity in recent decades.

But around 1,600 gas lights still remain in London at such famous landmarks as Buckingham Palace, St James' Palace, the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, The Mall, London Bridge and Covent Garden and have become part of London's history.

Martin, 65, joined the British Gas lamp lighting team in 1980 and has since become a well-known and popular figure around London's iconic landmarks, often chatting to tourists keen to know the history of the distinctive lamps, and agreeing to work on beyond retirement, partly through his love of the job.

His patch takes in areas such as Westminster Abbey and its surrounds, Charterhouse Square and the Guildhall, though Martin names Temple as his favourite area to work, partly due to it being the area where he became the last attendant to light a lamp by with the old pole more than 20 years ago.

Martin, who still uses public transport to travel around his patch, said: "It's a responsible and very different job and something I absolutely enjoy doing but it's the people that make it special. It's the tourists and Londoners who love the lamps and respect you as a piece of history, but also the people who have lamps outside their homes. They take such an interest and appreciate what we do.

"It's certainly an unusual job in this day and age but even though I came up for retirement, one of the reasons I chose to work on was because I enjoy it so much."

The green plaque commemorates Frederick Winsor, who built the first gas street lamps in Pall Mall in 1807 and became one of the pioneers of gas lighting in the UK and France. Frederick Albert Winsor was born in Brunswick, Germany. He became one of the pioneers of gas lighting in the UK and France. He came to Britain before 1799 and became interested in the technology and economics of fuels. In 1802 he went to Paris to investigate the 'thermo-lamp' which French engineer Phillipe Lebon had patented in 1799. Returning to Britain in 1803, which had the safest and largest market in which to sell his ideas, he started distributing pamphlets advocating gas lighting and began a series of public lectures and demonstrations at the Lyceum Theatre. He aroused considerable interest and a society of subscribers was founded to finance further research.

100 Pall Mall is the site of the gas fired generator built by Winsor for the first public street lighting in 1807.

Between 1804-09 Winsor was granted various patents for gas furnaces and purifiers. His application to Parliament for a charter for the Light and Heat Company failed, however, and Winsor left his home in Pall Mall in 1815 for France. In Paris his company made little progress and was liquidated 1819. A new Gas Light and Coke Company had meanwhile been formed in Britain and had permission to lay gas piping. Winsor died in debt in 1830.

ENDS