ELECTRICIANS
Today, there are more than a quarter of a million electrical workers operating in the UK, including over 40,000 registered electricians in England and Wales. The modern world spins on electricity, and every day we rely on ‘sparkies’ to keep our smartphones charging.
Yet the electrician’s establishment as an everyday trade is a recent one. Electricity only became commonplace in the 20th century, and millions alive today grew up ‘off grid’. For the Victorians, the novel phenomenon was viewed with wonder and suspicion.
The very first electricians were enterprising scientists or inventors like Benjamin Franklin. When these pioneers began their experiments in the mid-18th century, electricity was something of a
