Event    From 1816 

First Electric Telegraph

Categories: Science

Telegraphic messages were first sent successfully by Sir Francis Ronalds using an eight mile long grid in his back garden in Hammersmith. He tried to interest the Admiralty in his invention, but they failed to see its potential. Charles Wheatstone visited Ronalds' house as a boy,and was later inspired to develop the technology.

The GPO was given a monopoly of inland telegraphs in 1869-70.

In his 1875 ‘The Way We Live Now’ Anthony Trollope uses a telegraph to move his plot forward but is clearly not a fan:  “It may well be doubted whether upon the whole the telegraph has not added more to the annoyances than to the comforts of life, and whether the gentlemen who spent all the public money without authority ought not to have been punished with special severity in that they had injured humanity, rather than pardoned because of the good they had produced.  Who is benefited by telegrams?  The newspapers are robbed of all their old interest, and the very soul of intrigue is destroyed.” (p.470 in vol.1, Penguin 2001).  Of course Trollope’s work with the GPO was in the days before this new invention.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
First Electric Telegraph

Commemorated ati

Sir Francis Ronalds - W6

The first electric telegraph 8 miles long was constructed here in 1816 by Sir...

Read More

Other Subjects

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin, father of the theory of evolution and natural selection. Born at Shrewsbury. Grandfathers: Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood. Independently wealthy. Once he returned from th...

Person, Science, Seriously Famous

7 memorials
compound steam turbine

compound steam turbine

Invented by Sir Charles Parsons.

Concept, Science

1 memorial
James Maxwell

James Maxwell

Developed the electromagnetic theory, unifying previous unrelated results. Born Edinburgh. Professor of Natural Philosophy at King's College London, 1860 - 65. Died Cambridge. Buried near Castle Do...

Person, Science, Scotland

2 memorials
Eduard Suess

Eduard Suess

Geologist, educationalist, economist, statesman. Expert on the geography of the Alps. Born 4 Duncan Terrace, of German parentage, grew up in Prague and Vienna. Died in Vienna.

Person, Economist, Education, Politics & Administration, Science, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland

1 memorial
International Desalination Association

International Desalination Association

The International Desalination Association (IDA) is the world’s leading resource for information and professional development for the global desalination industry – and the only global association ...

Group, Community / Clubs, Industry, Science

1 memorial

Previously viewed

London County Council

London County Council

Prior to the LCC London matters were run by church parishes. The LCC was the first directly elected strategic local government body for London. Replaced by the Greater London Council, covering a la...

Group, Politics & Administration

284 memorials
London Wall (the road)

London Wall (the road)

Runs from Aldersgate Street to Old Broad Street and for most of that length it is a dual carriageway. Patrick Abercrombie's radical post-war plans for London included a number of ring roads,most of...

Place, Transport

1 memorial
Desmond Rochfort

Desmond Rochfort

Mural artist active in late 1970s - 1983.  Worked with Binnington on two murals at Royal Oak.

Person, Art

1 memorial
Brown Lenox & Co

Brown Lenox & Co

Created as Brown & Co, by Samuel Brown, a Naval Captain.  Became Brown Lenox & Co in 1828 following Brown going into partnership with his cousin, Samuel Lenox in 1806.  The West Ferry Road ...

Group, Commerce, Engineering

1 memorial
Royal Doulton / Doulton Potteries

Royal Doulton / Doulton Potteries

Ceramic manufacturing company. Began with a factory at Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth. Initially a partnership of John Doulton, Martha Jones, and John Watts, Jones left in 1820 leaving the company name as ...

Group, Craft / Design, Industry

39 memorials