Thomas Edison grey plaque

This grey commemorative plaque records: Godalming leads the world in installing electricity. The street light on the nearby plinth in the middle of the road resembles the first electric street lighting in the world. Godalming provided electric lighting for its citizens not only in the streets but also in the houses. Achieving this in 1881, a year before Edison's scheme in Pearl Street, New York. The design of the lanterns on the lights is taken from a print of Godalming in "the graphic" of 21st November 1881.

Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the practical electric light bulb, though Godalming, England, had street lighting a year before his Pearl Street installation in New York.