Gaslight, Steam and Carriages
William Murdock
After walking to Birmingham from Scotland to ask Matthew Boulton for a job, Murdock's ingenuity helped him to create the first steam carriage and the first gaslighting.
Willaim Murdock was born in Ayrshire in 1754. In 1777, he did the famous walk to Birmingham and worked with Watt and Boulton on their steam engines. In 1779, he was sent to Cornwall to oversee the building of the steam engines for the tin mines; while he was there he invented and drove the first steam carriage but he never patented or developed the idea. Coal-gas lighting followed in 1792 to illuminate his own home. Later, back in Birmingham, he illuminated the Soho Factory in 1802 in the first public demonstration of gas-lighting.
He continued to work for the firm until his retirement in 1830 at the age of 76. William Murdock died in Birmingham in 1839, aged 85. He is buried, alongside his employers, in St Mary's, Handsworth, Birmingham. he is commemorated by a statue with Boulton and Watt outside the current Birmingham Registry Office on Broad Street.
Submitted by: Peter Gallant, 03 March 2003
