Leerie

“Leerie” is the Scottish term coined by Robert Lois Stevenson for a lamp lighter. The first gas lighting systems were installed in 1802 in a foundry in Birmingham. As part of King George III's birthday celebration, London's Pall Mall became the first place lit by a gaslight in 1807. These lamps were hailed as artificial suns – a new technology that could turn night into day.

Using several wicks and silver-plated copper reflectors, these lamps could cast light down and sideways, strengthening the glow. The Victorian periodical The Westminster Review wrote that the introduction of gas lamps would do more to eliminate immorality and criminality on the streets than any number of church sermons.

Soon, almost every large centre of population featured gas street lamps. More lamps, however, created a need for more labour. Every evening, each lamp needed to be manually sparked; each morning, the flame needed to be manually quenched. Teams of lamplighters would meander through the city streets, using long poles to spark the gas.

THE LAMPLIGHTER

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.

Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa’s a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I’m to do,
Oh Leerie, I’ll go round at night and light the lamps with you!

For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight!

By Robert Louis Stevenson 1885

Batch of 14

Release date: 6/3/20