When did coal gas begin to be used as a fuel for lamps?

Coal gas began to be used as a fuel for lamps as early as 1784. By the late 18th century, the Scottish engineer William Murdock developed a practical method to distill gas from coal for illumination.12

Although some initially denounced coal gas as unsafe, it gained increasing favor for street lighting. By the early 19th century, many cities in the United States and Europe had gas-lighted streets and an increasing number of homes converted to the new fuel.1