A Story of the Telegraph

by John Murray

The difference between this telegraph and the preceding, in suggestions and contrivances, was very great. The experiments of these gentlemen had been proceeding for a long time previously, so that when in June, 1837, their patent was obtained, it was not for an arrangement of doubtful practicability, or of a form to be perfected only after repeated trial; on the contrary, it was within a few months after the date of the patent put up and brought into actual and daily use.

Some of its details have since been simplified, and the modes in which the electric needles are made to give the required indications have been greatly varied, but the great features and principles of their first invention remain unchanged, and not only so, but they form an essential part of nearly, if not quite all, the later telegraphs of other inventors.

The invention of an electric telegraph should have attracted the immediate attention of railway managers, one would naturally suppose; on the contrary, railway directors looked upon it as a new-fangled invention, and the public was not yet alive to its innumerable advantages. One fact, however, must be insisted on and is now a matter of history—that to England belongs the honor of this great invention; that in the year 1837, a needle telegraph had been invented so complete, and at the same time so simple in its operations, that it could be worked by any one who knew how to read; that in June of that year the patent for this telegraph had been sealed, and a month later the wires were laid down between Euston Square and Camdentown Stations of the North Western Railway, a distance of a mile and a quarter, and that on the 25th of July messages were actually sent between these two stations, Prof. Wheatstone being in the Euston Square Station, and Mr. Cooke being in that at Camdentown, the witnesses being the engineers, Messrs. Fox and Stephenson.

Now, it is quite true that Arago claimed before the French Academy of Sciences for Mr. Steinheil the precedence in this matter, inasmuch as he had his telegraph in operation on the 19th of July, 1837; but it must be remembered that Wheatstone’s patent was taken out in June of that year, and was publicly shown on numerous previous experiments, all of which were successful, whereas Mr. Steinheil published no description of his instrument until August, 1838, and it is admitted that in the interval he had altered and amended his instrument and soon after abandoned it for a modification of one by Morse.

In September, 1837, he exhibited an imperfect instrument, although he afterwards succeeded in producing one of first rate excellence, which is still largely used in the United States.

Cooke and Wheatstone received notice to quit the London and Birmingham line, but Mr. Brunel gave them permission, in 1839, to lay it down on the Great Western Railway. This was first done as far as West Drayton, 13 miles, and afterwards extended to Slough, 18 miles, the wires in both of these preliminary trials being enclosed in iron tubes laid on the ground.

On proposing to extend this line to Bristol much opposition was offered by the directors, and the telegraph again had notice to quit, but on the proposal of Mr. Cooke to retain the wires at his own expense, he was permitted to do so on condition of transmitting the Railway signals free of charge, and of extending the line to Slough. In return for this favor, he was allowed to transmit messages for the public, which was accordingly done, one shilling being charged for a message, but the public did not avail themselves of the new instrument, and its value was scarcely appreciated until the 3rd of January, 1845, when it was used to convey a message to London police, directing them to arrest one Towell, on a charge of murder. The message flashed past the criminal while he was travelling express to escape the consequence of his crime.

By the end of 1845 upwards of 500 miles of line were in operation in England.

In 1846 the Electric Telegraph Company commenced its operations with a considerable capital, a large portion of which was expended in the purchase of Wheatstone and Cooke’s patents, and the system which they had introduced became rapidly extended.

In due time other telegraph companies were competing with the original company, namely, the Electric & International Telegraph Company, and the London & Provincial Telegraph Co. The system spread over Europe and soon no railway was deemed complete without its telegraph wires.