Local History

He had set up the Lyme Regis Electric Light and Power Company and through the investments of his rich friends, he had the money and influence to convince the town council to have Dorset's first electricity supply.

Its arrival meant Lyme Regis was right at the cutting edge of technology for the time.

Electricity meant that gas-powered street lamps were replaced by electric street ones, and a few of the town's best hotels, businesses and biggest houses installed electric lights.

There were nearly 60 electric lights by the end of the first year, with an average of 15 light bulbs per building.

'It was almost magical'

Writer and historian Martin Roundell Greene has been examining how Lyme became the first town to adopt electricity in Dorset, and says people regarded this new source of power with a kind of wonder.

He says: "It was almost magical. Electricity was the first source of lighting they had ever encountered that did not need to be lit with fire or didn't produce smoke which stained your wallpaper - even gas did that.

Gilkes water turbine

"You could turn electricity on and off with a switch - and impress your friends."

Crowds gathered in the town for the first 'switching on' of the new street lights, with cheering and singing God Save the King.

Says Martin: "In 1909 there were, according to [newspaper] Pulmans Weekly, upwards of 1,000 people blocking the streets as the hour approached for the lights to come on. 

"However, only a handful of local townsfolk invested in the new company, and at the inauguration there were complaints about the 'unsightly' poles."

'The town ran on water-power'

Martin's interest in Lyme's electric history began when he met an old man in the town who used to work in the electricity department before its nationalisation in 1948.

Martin says: "He said that, as an apprentice, he used to be sent out at night to see whether the moon was bright enough for the council to turn off the street lamps, in order to save the ratepayers' money.  

"The town ran just on water-power and batteries at night. 

Martin says that, in its first year, the Lyme Regis Electric Light and Power Company generated 21% of its electricity by water-power from a turbine and the rest from a diesel-powered generator – half of that powering street lights, the rest went to the town’s private consumers. 

Nationally, most big cities had a public electricity supply by 1900 – Bournemouth (then part of Hampshire) in 1888, Bristol in 1893, Plymouth in 1899.

A sign 'warning' people of electricity

Moving Dorset into the modern world - slowly

But its arrival in Lyme began the county's move to the modern world – albeit at a very slow rate.

Dorset's next towns to get an electricity supply were Sherborne and Blandford in 1912. Dorchester followed in 1913 – and Bridport not until December 1929.

He says: "People could and did get along perfectly well without it for decades to come.  The parish church in Lyme waited until 1925 for it, and the borough council did not put electric lights into its own offices until 1932." 

"Most middle and working class homes did not change from gas to electricity until the late 1920s and 1930s. 

"Council houses were not wired for electricity until the 1930s, and the idea of power points in kitchens for electric appliances really took hold after World War II." 

"But we are now totally dependant on it, 'our silent servant'.  Yet electricity stole into our grandparents' lives almost unnoticed, partly because it was mysterious, invisible and dangerous, and partly because, to start with, it was very expensive and beyond the means of ordinary people.  

"What a completely different, extraordinary world our grandparents lived in."

• Martin's book is called Electric Lyme - The Coming of electricity to an English Seaside Town