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26. LINKS

Readers of Distant Writing may also be interested in the writer’s other work on early telegraphy, the essays generously hosted by the Atlantic Cable website. Just click the button to read these pieces. Click on Previous Page to return.

The Moving Fire

A biography of John Watkins Brett, Father of Submarine Telegraphy. Nine episodes in the life of J W Brett, and that of his brother Jacob, based on original research into nineteenth century resources, including several newly found and unpublished letters. It deals with the formation of the many telegraph companies in which they were involved and the ultimate, unjust downfall of the “Moving Fire” that created the first world-wide web.

A PDF download of the text of The Moving Fire is available HERE

Troubled Parents

The struggles of the ancestors of the Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Company; Heimann, Küper & Co., Glass, Elliot & Co., and the Gutta-Percha Company, as well as their competitors in telegraph cable making, Andrew Smith, R S Newall, W T Henley, S W Silver and Christopher Nickels

Nathaniel John Holmes

A short biography of the “last of the first telegraphers”, from manager of the Central Telegraph Station in London during 1848 to engineer of the Great Northern Telegraph Company of Copenhagen

George Saward

A short biography of the first manager of the Atlantic Telegraph Company

Henry Weaver

A short biography of one of the most important managers in the nineteenth century domestic and cable telegraph companies

Thomas Allan

A short biography of the inventor of the “light cable” for submarine telegraphy in 1853, now in common use, most notable for the many abortive telegraph companies that he promoted in the 1850s and 1860s, and the pioneer of the electro-magnetic engine, used to power Jules Verne’s ‘Nautilus’!

Bridging the Gap 1863 - 1870

An essay on the news telegraphs in Ireland before the completion of the Atlantic cable

Early Irish Cables

A summary of the complex history of the earliest efforts to connect Britain and Ireland

DOWNLOAD

Distant Writing

The entire text of Distant Writing is available as a download in PDF format for easier reading. Click on the button to access it.

It is a large file, well over 5MB, suitable only for fast connections.

CONTACT

Distant Writing has been a collation of small pieces acquired over a long time. The use of printed sources from the nineteenth century has the defect of being unverifiable; although checks have been made, all manner of authorial and compositors' errors might have crept in, let alone the writer's own contributions; corrections and comments are therefore welcome.

There are some obvious gaps in this history of British telegraphy; any detail however small on the lives of James Sealy Fourdrinier, Edward Highton, William Reid and George Saward will be very much appreciated by the writer.

The writer may be contacted by email at stevenroberts@distantwriting.co.uk or by using the form below:

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Distant Writing

A History of the Telegraph Companies in Britain between 1838 and 1868 ~~~~ By Steven Roberts