Lamplighter
A lamplighter, historically, was an employee of a town who lit street lights.
Function
Lights were lit each evening, generally by means of a wick on a long pole. At dawn, they would return to put them out using a small hook on the same pole. Early street lights were generally candles, oil, and similar consumable liquid or solid lighting sources with wicks.
Other duties
Another lamplighter duty was to carry a ladder and renew the candles, oil, or gas mantles.
In some communities, lamplighters served in a role akin to a town watchman; in others, it may have been seen as little more than a sinecure.
In the 19th century, gas lights became the dominant form of street lighting. Early gaslights required lamplighters, but eventually systems were developed which allowed the lights to operate automatically.
Today
Today a lamplighter is an extremely rare job. In Brest as a tourist attraction a lamplighter has been employed since 2009 to light up the kerosene lamps in the shopping street every day.[1]
A small team of lamplighters still operate in London, England where gas lights have been installed by English Heritage. [2]
In Waikiki, Hawaii, lamplighters in traditional Hawaiian costumes run along the shore and light gas torches in the evening.
There is a long history of the role of a lamplighter-as-lightbringer as a symbolic figure in literature.
Frank Serpico, an NYPD whistleblower, prefers to use the term "lamp-lighter" to describe the whistleblower's role as a watchman.[3]
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a spy novel written by John le Carré in it refers to Lamplighters as a section of British Intelligence that provided surveillance and couriers [4]
Notes
- ^ Юрий Рубашевский. (2009-07-29). Тепло и свет "живого" фонаря (in Russian). Vecherniy Brest.
- ^ [1] Newspaper article about them
- ^ [2] Frank Serpico section, The Independent, U.K.
- ^ [3] The secret codes of John le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy "The Telegraph", U.K.