Francis Ronalds conducted the first demonstration that an electric telegraph could be operated over a substantial distance in his Hammersmith garden in 1816. He used eight miles of iron wire strung betw… See more

Development of the telegraph in Britain was distinctly different from that in other European countries. In Continental Europe, governments developed the telegraph for their own purposes and controlled them as a state mo… See more

Of the inland public companies, only the ETC and the Magnetic were profitable. The District, with its low prices, suffered a loss every year of its existence except 1865. The UKTC, a later start up, hoped to take business a… See more