Umair Gaines
Before the arrival of electric lighting, generating light was a laborious task. People relied on household fires, candles, and oil lamps to illuminate their homes. The development of electric lighting brought about a significant change, offering clean and safe lighting at the flick of a switch. In the UK, the first electric lights were introduced in the late 1870s, marking the beginning of a new era in lighting technology.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| First electric lights in the UK | 1878 at Cragside, Northumberland |
| First public building lit solely by electricity | The Savoy Hotel and Theatre, 1889 |
| First street with electric streetlights | Mosley Street, Newcastle, 1879 |
| First electric lights became common in UK homes | Between the First World War and the 1930s |
| First common in London | 1920s |
| First common across the UK | Mid-19th century onwards |
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What You'll Learn
The first electric lights in the UK
Before the arrival of electricity, generating light was a laborious task. The greatest source of light usually came from a fixed fire in the hearth, with candlelight or oil lamps providing additional dim light.
The use of electricity for lighting was pioneered by British engineer Frederick Hale Holmes, who in 1846 patented an electric arc lamp. Holmes worked with Michael Faraday to illuminate lighthouses in the 1850s and 1860s using electricity. Arc lamps were also used to light streets in New York in the 1860s and Paris in the 1870s. These arc lamps produced a blinding light and were too complicated and expensive for domestic use.
The first incandescent lamp bulbs were produced in the 1870s by Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison. These commercially viable bulbs used a carbon fibre filament to produce light. However, it was Edison who succeeded in creating, producing, and supplying these bulbs on a grand commercial scale, setting up electrical plants all over the world.
The first house in the UK to be lit by electricity was Cragside in Northumberland in 1878. This was followed by the Arts and Crafts House at Standen House in Sussex, completed in 1894, which was built with only electric lighting. However, only a few houses in the 19th century would have had electric lighting in any form, as the production of electricity was still in its infancy.
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Gas lighting was common before electric lights
The first electric lights for a house in the UK were lit in 1878 at Cragside in Northumberland. However, only a few houses in the 19th century had electric lighting in any form, as the production of electricity was still in its infancy. In contrast, gas lighting was already prevalent for outdoor and indoor use in cities and suburbs where the infrastructure for gas distribution was practical. Gas lighting was first demonstrated in 1804 by Frederick Albert Winsor at the Lyceum Theatre in London, and by the 19th century, it had become the most popular way of lighting theatrical stages.
Gas lighting technology was then installed in almost every major theatre worldwide. However, gas lighting had several drawbacks, including increased heat, choking fumes, smoke, blackened walls, and the risk of explosions. These disadvantages, coupled with the development of electric lighting technology, led to the rapid adoption of electric lighting. Huge electric arc streetlamps began appearing in the 1870s, providing intense illumination.
While gas lighting was short-lived due to the subsequent invention of the electric light bulb, it played a significant role in transforming lighting technology. Gas lighting offered a relatively gentle illumination compared to the bright electric arc streetlamps that followed. Despite the drawbacks of gas lighting, some households retained their old gas fittings even after converting to electric lighting, as they did not trust this new form of lighting.
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Electric lighting in London
For much of human history, generating light was a laborious task. Before gas and electric lighting, the greatest source of light indoors usually came from a fixed fire in the hearth, with candlelight or oil lamps providing additional dim and mobile light. In the 18th and 19th centuries, London's streets were dimly lit, with lanterns hung outside premises by business owners and carried by individuals to light the way.
The first public street lighting in London was demonstrated using gas in Pall Mall on 28 January 1807. Gas lighting became increasingly popular among the middle classes in the 19th century, although it was usually avoided in bedrooms due to choking fumes, smoke, and the risk of explosions.
The huge electric arc streetlamps that began appearing in the 1870s gave out an intense light. In 1881, a diorama of an early electrically lit street was exhibited outside the Royal Exchange, London. The City of London Electric Lighting Company Limited (CLELCo) was formed in July 1891 to generate and supply electricity to the City of London and part of northern Southwark. The company owned and operated the Bankside power station on the south bank of the River Thames. Between December 1891 and July 1892, 271 miles of electricity mains were laid in the city, and by the mid-1890s, demand for electric lighting in the City was increasing by about 1,000 additional electric lamps per week.
Despite the advent of electric lighting, some areas of London continued to use gas lamps. In the 1930s, almost half of London's street lamps still used gas. During World War II, the Bankside power station was damaged by 'Blitz' bombing, but the main generating plant remained intact. The company was eventually dissolved on 1 April 1948 when the British electricity industry was nationalised.
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Electric lighting in homes
The history of electric lighting in the UK is a fascinating one. Before the arrival of electricity, people relied on fire as their primary source of light, with candles, oil lamps, and gaslights also in use. These methods provided dim and mobile lighting, and activities had to be planned around the hearth.
The development of lighting technology in the 18th and 19th centuries brought about significant changes. The invention of gas lighting at the end of the 18th century and the subsequent emergence of electric lighting in the mid-19th century marked the beginning of the transition to modern lighting solutions. However, it is important to note that these technologies first appeared in streets and workplaces rather than homes.
The first electric lights in a UK house were lit in 1878 at Cragside in Northumberland. The Arts and Crafts House at Standen House in Sussex, completed in 1894, was another early example of a fully electrically lit home. These pioneering examples were exceptions, as electric lighting was not yet common in British homes during the 19th century. The gas industry, with its existing infrastructure, remained dominant in street lighting, and new homes continued to be built with gas lighting points.
It was only after the First World War, with improvements in lightbulbs and the establishment of the National Grid, that electricity truly became a common feature in UK homes. The 1920s marked a significant shift, with electricity revolutionising the way people lived, no longer constrained by the limitations of fire and candlelight. This period saw electricity become widely adopted for lighting, transport, and communication in London, transforming the daily lives of its residents.
Today, we take for granted the convenience of electric lighting, with the simple flick of a switch illuminating our homes. The history of lighting has played a crucial role in shaping our modern lifestyle, allowing us to extend our daily activities into the night and illuminating our homes even during the darkest winters.
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Development of lightbulbs
The development of lightbulbs has been a long and gradual process, with many inventors contributing to the creation of the modern lightbulb. The earliest forms of lighting came from lightning, followed by fire from animal fats and oils, and then candles. The next significant advancement came in the form of gas lighting, which was introduced at the end of the 18th century. However, gas lighting had several drawbacks, including choking fumes, smoke, blackened walls, and the risk of explosions.
In the mid-19th century, electric lighting began to emerge as a new technology, first appearing in public spaces and factories. The development of electric generators made electric lighting a viable option for illuminating large areas. Arc lamps, which produced light through an electric current arcing between two carbon rods, were introduced in the 1860s and provided intense illumination. These early electric lights were a novelty, as the production of electricity was still in its infancy.
One of the key figures in the development of the lightbulb was Thomas Edison. In 1879, Edison and his team at Menlo Park created a light bulb with a carbonized filament of uncoated cotton thread that could last for 14.5 hours. They continued to experiment with different materials and eventually settled on a bamboo filament that gave their lamps a lifetime of up to 1,200 hours. Edison also made improvements to the light bulb's vacuum pump and developed the standard screw socket fittings that are still used today.
Another important contributor was Joseph Swan, whose incandescent light bulb pre-dated Edison's and was installed and in daily use in London in 1881. Swan focused on producing a better carbon filament and devised a method of treating cotton to create a "parchmentised thread". He obtained a British patent for this invention in 1880 and began installing light bulbs in homes and landmarks in England. The Savoy Theatre in London became the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity using Swan's incandescent lightbulbs.
The spread of electrical generating plants and the development of the electricity grid in the early 20th century made electric lighting in the home more accessible. By the 1930s, new homes in urban areas of Britain were being lit by electricity. The invention of the lightbulb and the electrification of homes revolutionized the way we design buildings, increased the length of the average workday, and jumpstarted new businesses and energy breakthroughs.
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Frequently asked questions
Electric lighting became common in the UK in the late 19th century, with the first electric lights for a house in the UK lit in 1878 at Cragside in Northumberland.
Before electric lighting, people used fire, candles, and gas lighting to illuminate their homes.
Electric lighting provided clean, safe, and convenient lighting at the flick of a switch. It also illuminated large areas with intense light.
The first electric lights were developed in the late 1870s by different people across the world. In Britain, Joseph Swan led the charge, while Thomas Edison worked on his version in America.
No, the transition from gas lighting to electric lighting took time. Gas lighting was still widely used in the early 20th century, and it took until after World War I for electricity to become common in homes.
