Glimmer Man - A Low Lingering Flame

A Low Lingering Flame

In the 21st century doubt has been cast on whether in fact there were ever house to house inspections carried out by gas supply company officials. But one oral history graphically describes a glimmer man's inspections He came to our house I think about twice. He came at a very civil time of the day, when there nothing doing, you know? ... When he came into our house he put his hands over the thing and put powder on it then… with the powder, I don't know what time it would have to be since they were on, but he'd put the powder on, but we never got in any trouble over it. After a while everybody got to know them (laughs) “it’s the glimmerman” and you'd be pouring water over it. Another writer describes the tribulations of a neighbouring widow to get reconnected and the lengths his mother went to avoid being detected using "the glimmer" but concedes that his house never received a visit. On the other hand Irish secondary school history students are expected to have a knowledge of the topic and be able to comment on its significance.

Notwithstanding that the phenomenon of the glimmer man was transitory, perhaps much improved with the telling, and had in any event disappeared prior to the middle of the 20th century, it appears to have left an impact on the psyche of the Irish and not just those who lived through the Emergency period. The glimmer man is frequently referred to (as referenced here) in formal histories, blogs and websites newspaper and magazine articles, as well as oral histories and memoirs even if only in passing.

The impact is however most pronounced on those who did have direct experience such that the poet Paul Perry in The gas stove and the glimmerman describes how the memory is as significant to an old woman as that of the politician Éamon de Valera:

She's gas;
her eyes hold the best
part of the century. She'll tell you about the Black 'n Tans,
Dev, the gas stove and the glimmerman.

The term is now applied metaphorically, particularly in Ireland, to any perceived intrusion into privacy (especially of a bureaucratic nature).