Was there any visible light pollution before electric lights?

by ALL_CAPS_SHOCK_NAME
Bodark43

Before 1800, almost certainly not. Street lamps were found in cities, and were mostly oil lamps set high on posts, not so much illuminating the street as marking where it was: when Anthony Wood saw John Aubrey home in London, circa 1665, he took a lantern, and that was not unusual. After William Murdoch invented gas lights at the beginning of the 19th c., the streets of cities became much brighter. But even after the introduction of electric lights, light pollution was not as severe as it is today- here's a classic cartoon from 1927.

It should be noted, though, that street lights were an urban thing. The rural landscape would stay quite dark for a very long time, and astronomers like the Herschels would have no trouble with light on their country estates.