Joseph Swan (From The Northern Echo)

Joseph Swan

4:06pm Thursday 13th November 2008 in

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One of the most important developments in the history of modern life took place in the North East, namely the development of electric light. The most important figure of this historical development was the Sunderland born Joseph Swan, inventor of the first practical light bulb whose invention would result in the widespread use of electric light throughout the world. Newcastle was one of the first towns to be lit with electricity, while Cragside in Northumberland was one of the first houses to be lit. Even a light bulb factory at Benwell is thought to have been the first in the world.

Joseph Swan invented a successful electric lamp in 1878. On December 18 1878 Swan demonstrated his incandescent electric light bulb to an audience at the Newcastle Chemical Society and though it unfortunately burned out after only a few minutes it demonstrated the potential. On the 19th January 1879 he demonstrated his incandescent electric light bulb once again during a lecture to an audience at the Athenaeum in Fawcett Street, Sunderland. At the end of the year however, in December 1879, the American inventor Thomas Edison was demonstrating an electric lamp quite similar to that pioneered by Joseph Swan. It is interesting to note that the U.S.President Ullyses Grant visited Sunderland in 1879 to open the Central Museum and Library. It was also the year in which Sunderland Football club were founded.

On October 20th 1880 Swan once again demonstrated his incandescent electric light bulb, this time at the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society. In front of an eminent audience, he had seventy gas jets turned down and their light immediately replaced by twenty electric bulbs. The potential for electric light was fully understood by Sir William Armstrong who installed Swan's light bulbs at his house at Cragside, Northumberland.

Meanwhile, Thomas Edison threatened to take Joseph Swan to court over an alleged infringement of patent in the development of a successful electrical light bulb, but it it seems that the two inventors coincidentally made their developments at the same time.

A compromise of sorts was reached and in 1883, The Edison and Swan United Electric Light Company was formed.