by gaslight - CIBSE Heritage Group Website

BY GASLIGHT
“The Rehearsal” with a temporary gas batten on stage, c.1900
(Mander-Michenson Collection)
Buxton Opera House, opened in 1903, had gas and electric lighting systems
working in parallel “Theatrical Postcards,” Richard Bonynge, 1988
The Gas Distributor at Buxton has controls labelled From Meter,
Sun Pilot, Foot Pilot, Float (footlights), Flash, Sunlight (sunburner),
Sun Bye-Pass and Dressing Room
“Buxton Opera House,” High Peak Theatre Trust, 1989
(CIBSE Heritage Group Collection)
The Float was on the most sophisticated triple system: pilot, flash and main
supply. The pilot lit the flash, the flash the whole of the footlights…..
This three-tier system provided safe and gentle ignition that was not possible
with the inevitably explosive leap from single pilot to full length footlights
Offstage left, view of a gaslit stage “Theatre Lighting before Electricity,”
Frederick Penzel, 1978 (CIBSE Heritage Group Collection)
Gas Plate (control), 1873
“Theatre Lighting in the Age of Gas,” Terence Rees, 1978
(CIBSE Heritage Group Collection)
French Gas Table by Clemancon, 1880 (Penzel)
Gas Float (footlights) at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London
Illustrated London News 1863
Gas Table at the Metropolitan Opera, New York 1888 (Penzel)
Advertisement by Strode & Co for Theatre Lighting
“Fires in Theatres,” E M Shaw, 1889
Captain Eyre Massey Shaw was Head of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade