John Peake Knight (13 December 1828 – 23 July 1886) was an English railway manager and inventor, credited with inventing the

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traf ...

in 1868.

Biography

Knight was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and attended

Nottingham High School , motto_translation = Praise to the end , address = Waverley Mount , city = Nottingham , county = Nottinghamshire , postcode = NG7 4ED , country = England , coordinates = , type = Independent day school , established = , closed = , religious ...

. His elementary school is unknown. He left school at the age of 12 to work in the parcel room of

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

railway station. Peake Knight was promoted quickly and by the age of 20 had joined the South Eastern Railway, rising to the rank of Superintendent. He was appointed Traffic Manager for the London to Brighton Line in 1869 and General Manager the following year. He did a great deal to improve the quality of railway travel on the railway, introducing the

Westinghouse air brake The Westinghouse Air Brake Company (sometimes nicknamed or abbreviated WABCO although this was also confusingly used for spinoffs) was founded on September 28, 1869 by George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Earlier in the year he had i ...

, safer carriages with communication cords, electric lighting, and Pullman cars. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had five sons and the eldest founded J P Knight Ltd., tug boat operators. Knight died in 1886 and the Prince of Wales had a special wreath placed on his coffin during the funeral.City of Westminster green plaques
He is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Estab ...

in London.

Invention of traffic lights

In 1866, a year in which 1,102 people were killed and 1,334 injured on roads in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Knight proposed a signalling system to regulate the horse-drawn traffic and reduce the number of road accidents. Knight's invention was operated by a policeman and used a

semaphore Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when arra ...

, system based on railway signalling, during the day and red and green gas-powered lamps at night. The world's first traffic light was installed on 9 December 1868 in London near

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the H ...

, at the intersection of Great George Street and Bridge Street,

London SW1 The SW (South Western) postcode area, also known as the London SW postcode area, is a group of 20 postcode districts within the London post town in England. The area comprises the South Western operational district (covering the subdivisions of ...

. However, in 1869, a gas leak caused one of the lights to explode, badly injuring the policeman operating it, and the system fell out of favour and was removed as a result. Traffic lights did not appear again in the UK until 1929, when the first electric signals were introduced in London. A memorial plaque to Knight's invention can be seen at 12 Bridge Street, Westminster, the corner building close to where the original traffic lights were erected. Minister for Roads and Road Safety

Baroness Hayman Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

unveiled the plaque on 4 March 1998.

References

External links

*
John Peake Knight plaque
at Plaques of London. {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, John Peake 1828 births 1886 deaths English railway mechanical engineers People educated at Nottingham High School