Boom in the Night: A Discourse on Gas Lighting in Victorian Britain

[BananaLee]

As is usual for any tract relating the Victorian period, the full title of this little baby is: -

BOOM IN THE NIGHT
A Discourse on the Usage of Gas Derived From Coal for the Purpose of Illumination – in which an Account of the Industry is Presented, and the Collective Significance and Calamities are Considered and Discussed

I'm not particularly happy with this one because I'm not putting forward an argument, but I feel it's a half-decent descriptive essay. So for all you ladies and gentlemen, have fun.

 

[citedon]

Thanks for a very enjoyable read. It's amazing how things which we take for granted often have a huge impact on society. Your account of the way the press reported on gas plant problems and the public's reaction also shows how little has changed with the way public opinion is formed. While reading your article I had to wonder about the smells in Victorian England caused by the proliferation of gas plants. I grew up in a steel producing area. There were two coke plants within twenty miles of my home and believe me they were quite odoriferous. Possibly the odor of the plants was not a big issue in Victorian England as they also had to deal with many sewage problems and the manure from thousands of horses.

 

[BananaLee]

Aye, appreciate the comments.

By most accounts, having gasworks next door tended to completely screw up the area around - in terms of many things including odours (I'm guessing the "rotten egg' sulphur smells would be similar to coke plants you had experience with).

Regarding how the odours competed against others, I do not know much about that. To be honest, a good proportion of the sources available on gas lighting in Britain are about the economics of the gas industry. There are three sources on social history (of which I used two since I couldn't find the earliest O'Dea one) available and I took most of my secondary citations from those sources. I did a few primary resource searches - the newspaper articles are all my own research but because this is only a Stage III paper and not a research dissertation, I didn't have the time to get too deep into it.

 

[RedRalph]

Very interesting article, thanks for posting

 

[7ronin]

Good article.

 

[Padma]

Interesting article.

@citedon: If you grew up near coke plants, you should know that you get used to it. I spent two years in Naples, Italy, living on the slopes of the (active) Solfatara volcano. It was constantly spewing out sulfur (and thus, hydrogen sulfide - "rotten egg smell"). Except for days when it was really powerful, it got so you never really noticed it.

[Aside: we often had ships stop at the Port of Naples and turn the sailors loose on liberty. They would use our (USNavy) shuttle bus system to get to the exchange, and other Navy amenities. The most frequent comment they made was "How do you guys stand the SMELL?" We would have to stop, and consciously smell the air, to understand what they were talking about. "Oh. Yeah. I guess we just got used to it!" ]

 

[citedon]

Visitors to our area would ask us what that smell was. We would usually answer, "Money." Years ago the steel industry dried up. I think many people would like to have the smell back.

 

[BananaLee]

Thanks for the props

The most frequent comment they made was "How do you guys stand the SMELL?" We would have to stop, and consciously smell the air, to understand what they were talking about. "Oh. Yeah. I guess we just got used to it!" ]

Yeah, sounds very much like Rotorua (aka Rotovegas) over here. Being a volcanically active area, the sulphur smell pretty much pervades. Stay for a couple of days and you don't even notice the smell. You even miss it when you leave.