Street lighting 1Oil and petroleum lamps
Street lighting
Original title: Iluminação Pública
History of public street lighting in Funchal, from a short-lived attempt in 1821 and José Silvestre Ribeiro's oil lamps of 1846, through petroleum lighting and failed gas projects, to the electric lighting inaugurated in 1897.
1Oil and petroleum lamps
Anyone walking the streets of Funchal at night a little over ninety years ago would have found them in complete darkness. Only now and then did a gleam of light filtering through the windows of houses, or a lantern guiding some late passer-by, briefly break the gloom in which the city lay buried.
The public-spirited Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) José Silvestre Ribeiro took office as civil governor on 7 October 1846, and as early as the 23rd of the same month he had a few lamps, though not many, set up at the most central points of the city. The great improvement of Funchal’s public lighting had begun.
Private citizens came to the aid of the illustrious governor’s initiative, and some of the wealthiest people also had lamps placed on the buildings they lived in. By December of that year the city already had several dozen public lights. Only later, after repeated urging by Silvestre Ribeiro, did the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) resolve to extend the lit area and take on the costs of this important service. On 22 August 1849 the same governor informed the central government that the city was lit by 70 lamps, and expressed the hope that this number would gradually be increased.
The lamps were fuelled by oil until 1870; shortly afterwards they switched to petroleum, which remained in use until electric light was installed.
The lamps hung from the end of horizontal iron rods a little over a metre long. The oldest were tied to a chain which ran along the rod and down the wall to a lock; this was opened to raise or lower the fuel reservoir so that it could be cleaned, and also to light or extinguish the lamp. Later the lamps were fixed to the ends of iron poles, and ladders were needed for all the work of lighting.
2Gas projects and electric light
Silvestre Ribeiro made several further attempts to light the city by gas, but his efforts and endeavours came to nothing. At the council meeting of 14 July 1858 some resolutions were passed to this end, but they met with no greater success. A public tender was even opened, and its terms were published in a pamphlet, but without any appreciable result.
On 4 January 1884 the Council of Funchal signed a contract with the engineer Eduardo Augusto Kopke to light Funchal by gas, which could be replaced by electric light. The contract was never carried out.
On 22 May 1895 a new contract for electric lighting, which is still in force, was concluded between the same engineer and the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) of this city. On 20 April 1896 A. Kopke transferred the concession granted to him to ‘The Madeira Electric Lighting Company Limited’, and the Council authorised this transfer at its meeting of 25 May 1896. Electric light was inaugurated in the city of Funchal on 19 May 1897. By 28 December of the following year the 500 lamps and 8 arc lamps specified in article 4 of the contract were already in operation, and this last date was taken as the end of the 24-month period allowed to the company for installing the public street lights.
On 5 January 1899 the Municipal Council approved a proposal to raise the number of public street lamps from 500 to 701. At present there are 14 arc lamps and 1400 lamps across the whole city and its suburbs, and the lighting extends as far as the Lazareto, Quinta Reid on the Caminho do Meio, Conceição in São Roque, Quinta do Leme in Santo António, Nazaré in São Martinho, and Confeiteira in Monte.
In 1821 the Funchal Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal do Funchal) attempted to introduce public lighting in the city, resolving at its meeting of 26 February ‘to have 1, 2 or 3 lanterns placed in each street, the residents to contribute in turn to the expenses of this lighting’.
At the end of February 1821 some of the city’s streets appeared lit, but this improvement was short-lived, despite its usefulness.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 11-
Funchal council resolved to place lanterns in each street at residents' expense, a short-lived measure.
-
José Silvestre Ribeiro took office as civil governor of the Funchal district on 7 October 1846, serving until 1852 and reviving projects such as the Ribeiro Seco bridge.
-
José Silvestre Ribeiro ordered the first public lamps placed in central Funchal.
-
José Silvestre Ribeiro reported that Funchal was lit by 70 public lamps.
-
The Funchal council deliberated, without result, on introducing gas lighting.
-
Oil street lighting in Funchal ended, soon replaced by petroleum lamps.
-
Funchal council contracted Eduardo Augusto Kopke for gas lighting, though it was never executed.
-
A contract for electric public lighting was signed with Kopke.
-
Kopke transferred the public lighting concession to The Madeira Electric Lighting Company Limited.
-
Electric public lighting was inaugurated in Funchal.
-
The 500 lamps and 8 arc lights contracted for Funchal's public lighting were in operation.
-
The Funchal council approved raising the number of public lamps from 500 to 701.
Place
Places mentioned · 12
- Caminho do Meio
Funchal. Road along which lighting extended.
Caminho do Meio is a road in the parish of Santa Maria Maior, Funchal, where the Levada da Serra ends. The chapel of Nossa Senhora Mãe dos Homens and a chapel of Nossa Senhora do Bom Sucesso stand beside it. The shrub tudesco grows there, and public lighting was extended along it.
- Conceição
Calheta. Locality in São Roque reached by lighting.
Conceição is a locality in the parish of Estreito da Calheta with a chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceição built in 1673. It was once the seat of one of Madeira's largest entailed estates.
- Confeiteira
Funchal. Limit of lighting in Monte.
Confeiteira is a sítio in the parish of Monte, Funchal. It marked the limit of public lighting in Monte, and works on the Monte railway began there with large retaining walls.
- Funchal
The city whose public lighting the entry describes.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Lazareto
Funchal. One of the limits reached by electric lighting.
The quarantine station (lazaretto) of Funchal. Plans in 1816 went unrealised and temporary sites were used before buildings were erected at the mouth of the Ribeira de Gonçalo Aires (1866–74). These were later used during epidemics and to hold political prisoners.
- Monte
Funchal. Suburban parish reached by lighting.
Parish of Nossa Senhora do Monte above Funchal, at about 600 m, where leafing occurs later than in Funchal. It contains the localities of Jardim Botânico, Igreja and Marmeleiros and the Quinta de Sant'Ana. The Elucidário notes its many plants, such as acacias and Sonchus fruticosus.
- Nazaré
Funchal. Limit of lighting in São Martinho.
Nazaré is the principal locality of the parish of São Martinho, Funchal, named after the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Nazaré there. It is recorded as the locality of the Quinta Bianchi and the site of the Quinta da Bela Vista, and as the limit of public lighting in São Martinho.
- Quinta do Leme
Funchal. Limit of lighting in Santo António.
Inhabited locality and estate in the parish of Santo António, Funchal. It was the family seat and entailed estate of the Leme family, with António de Leme's house and the chapel of São Filipe. It is also recorded as the limit of public lighting in Santo António.
- Quinta Reid
Funchal. Point on the Caminho do Meio reached by electric lighting.
Point on the Caminho do Meio reached by electric lighting.
- Santo António
Funchal. Suburban parish reached by lighting.
Santo António is a parish in the municipality of Funchal, Madeira, where the São João stream rises and the Jesuits had their Pico do Cardo residence. Its church bears a 1783 Latin inscription, and the parish contains the Madalena, São João e Santana and Pópulo chapels; it also gives its name to a hill of about 400 metres near its church.
- São Martinho
Funchal. Suburban parish reached by lighting.
São Martinho is a suburban parish west of Funchal, created in 1579 from São Pedro and partly added to the city in 1927. It had sugar factories, grew Tinta vines, and has characteristic volcanic bombs. It is the reputed birthplace of D. Nuno de Aguiar.
- São Roque
Funchal. Suburban parish reached by electric lighting.
São Roque is a suburban parish of Funchal, separated from São Pedro and created under a royal charter of 1579; it is named after its original chapel of São Roque. The Elucidário traces the history of its parish church and lists its chapels, principal localities and population.
People
People mentioned · 02-
Engineer who contracted with Funchal council in 1884 for gas lighting and in 1895 for electric lighting, transferring the concession in 1896.
- José Silvestre Ribeiro1807–1891
Civil governor of Madeira from 1846 who introduced the first lasting public street lighting in Funchal and attempted gas lighting.