ABSTRACT
Although experimental electric lights were exhibited at the Crystal Palace in 1851, the technology for generating and using electricity was not fully developed until late in the century. Early installations of electric lighting were in the machine rooms of the London Times (1878), the interior of the Royal Albert Hall (1879), and Victoria Station (1880). R. E. B. Crompton (1845-1940) began building small generators in the 1870s. Two of his carbon arc lamps replaced 180 gas jets at the General Post Office in Glasgow prior to 1882, when he made similar installations at the Mansion House in London. In the previous year, the town of Godalming (34 miles southwest of London) began to use electricity for public lighting.
