London's Gas Lights

Gas street lights were first installed on the 28th January, 1807, when Pall Mall, in London, was illuminated along one side of the street by the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company. It the first street in the world to be illuminated by the warm glow of gas light, but it took until until 1820 to perfect the operation. On December 31, 1813, the Westminster Bridge was also lit by gas. Incredibly, several areas of London are still lit by gas nearly two hundred years alter, including much of Covent Garden, the Royal Parks and the exterior of Buckingham Palace.

Even in 1925, only half the houses of London were lit by electricity. The remainder were still using gas!

Originally the gas flowed through wooden pipes, but this proved too dangerous and several expolosions and some fatalities occurred. For years the gas lamps were lit with an 8ft long brass pole with a pilot light, but today this system has been automated. Today the Mall has electric lights on the park side of the road and gas lamps on the St. James’s Palace side along the original edge of the road.

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