Street Lighting in Belgravia 1779?
Hello everyone! I am in the process of writing a book and have come across something that has me stumped as far as accuracy goes. In my studies of 18th century life in London, I have learned that street lighting was mandatory (according to a few books) but have not sorted exactly what the lighting would have been. I have narrowed it to Fire
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At the time of which you are writing, there wasn't much of an area of Belgravia as it wasn't 'developed' until the early 19th century and I would imagine that your presumption of fire baskets would be correct. As to who would light them I'm not so sure but the housing structure at that time meant that the lower classes and the upper classes resided in a more cheek by jowl arrangement than was the case at a later date so 'lamplighters' would live in close proximity to their work. Link boys would also be a common sight at that time and, indeed, for a considerable period after as the street lights, because of their construction, could not give enough illumination to those using the highways and byways and the poorly constructed surfaces of certain localities would require sufficient light to negotiate them during the night time.
I have found a couple of sites that might be of interest:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41833
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119894733/abstract
Good luck with your writing. :)
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It seems so odd, now, that Belgravia would ever be considered the outskirts, isn't it ?
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