Lighting Department

Records not transferred to Glasgow City Archives.

The lighting of public streets became a statutory duty under the Police Act 1800 although the system was crude in the early period. In 1815, the staff of the Lighting Department consisted of a superintendent and 11 lamplighters, which was reduced to 2 in the summer months. The first gas street lamp in the city was lit on 15 September 1818. The advent of gas simplified the duties of the Department and the Corporation eventually acquired the city's gas-works in 1869.

In 1867 the duty of public stair lighting fell upon the department. In 1877 there were 7916 public lamps in the city; by 1896 this had risen to 13,672 and by 1914 there were 19,437 gas lamps in the city's public streets, alongside 1,541 electric lamps. In the private streets and courts there were 6,527 gas lamps and 126 electric lamps. By the time of the First World War the Corporation employed 1,050 workers in the Lighting Department.

On 1 September 1971, the last remaining street lamp in the city was ceremonially lit by Lord Provost Sir Donald Liddle.

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