William Murdoch
In 1792 he began a series of experiments which resulted in
the first practical system of gas lighting anywhere in the world.
The coal - gas which Murdoch lit his house and offices in Redruth
in 1794 was generated in an iron retort at the bottom of his
garden, and then piped into his house where he lit the rooms with a
variety of burners.
His employers did little to encourage this invention until
reports that a Frenchman had developed a system of gas lighting
using wood or oil prompted Boulton and Watt to exploit Murdoch's
invention before the opportunity was lost.
It was not though until a Manchester mill owner, George Lee,
ordered Murdoch's gas lights for his factory in 1805 that the
invention took off. On the 1st of January 1806 part of Lee's
factory and home were lit by gas.
Murdoch had demonstrated that a factory could be better lit
for more than a quarter of the cost of oil or candle light. In
recognition of this remarkable achievement the Royal Society
awarded him the Rumford gold medal in 1808.
Boulton and Watt's sons inherited the company, but they too
showed little desire to actively market the new gas lighting,
although they did provide lighting for several individual
factories.
When William Murdoch retired, aged 80, his imagination was
still hard at work. It was however left to others to develop
Murdoch's visionary discovery into what is now the fifth largest
industry in Britain.
