Telegraphy Collection

Early fire brigade street alarm
Early fire brigade alarm system. Historical artwork of a fireman testing a 19th-century combined telephonic and telegraphic street fire alarm system

Porthcurno Cable Station
Porthcurno cable terminal in Cornwall, built by the Falmouth Gibraltar Malta Telegraph company

The Rhodes Colossus, 1892 Artist: Edward Linley Sambourne
The Rhodes Colossus, 1892. Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), English-born South African businessman and statesman, shown striding across Africa from Cape Town to Cairo with a telegraph wire

Wireless officer sending a message by Morse Code from on board a ship, 1916
Wireless officer sending a message by morse code from on board a ship, 1916. Wireless telegraphy at sea was made possible by the type of sending

RMS Republic, SS Florida and wireless-telegraphy room
RMS Republic sank on 24rd January 1909, near Nantucket, Massachusetts, after collision with SS Florida had occurred the day before

Channel tunnel. Historical artwork of a tunnel beneath the English Channel through which Napoleons troops are moving to invade England

Telegraph poles following the transcontinental railroad
Linemen stringing telegraph wire beside the transcontinental railroad on the Great Plains, 1860s. Hand-colored woodcut of a 19th-century illustration

Telegraph key, 1860s
Civil War telegraph sending-key in working order, living history demonstration, Shiloh National Battlefield, Tennessee. Digital photograph

Telegraph printer, 1889 C013 / 8777
Telegraph printer. 19th-century artwork of a telegraph printer developed by Moore and Wright in the 1880s. The electric telegraph had been developed in the 1830s and 1840s

Lord Kelvin, Scottish mathematician and physicist, with his compass, 1902. Artist: James Craig Annan
Lord Kelvin, Scottish mathematician and physicist, with his compass, 1902. Born William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) was educated at Glasgow and Cambridge

Advert for Parkins and Gotto electrical novelties 1906
Advertisement from 1906 for Parkins and Gotto, of Oxford Street, London, showing the wide range of electrical novelties, including a working model of the Metropolitan electric railway train with

Telegraph receiver. Historical artwork of a Breguet telegraph receiver. Messages arrived at the receiver in wires as a series of long and short electric pulses

Demonstration of the wireless telephone, June 1920. In the 1920s, broadcasting was still in its infancy, with radio transmitters and receivers owned only by amateur enthusiasts

Heliograph used by British army in Africa
Heliograph used in the British army in Africa, probably during the Boer War (1899-1902). The heliograph is a wireless telegraph that signals by flashes of sunlight (generally using Morse code)

Valentia in 1857-1858 at the Time of the Laying of the Former Cable, 1865

Foilhummerum Bay, Valentia, from Cromwell Fort: The Caroline Laying the Earthwire on July 21st, 1865, 1865

John Ambrose Fleming
JOHN AMBROSE FLEMING English electrical engineer; contributed to development of telephony, electric lighting and wireless telegraphy

Communications / Radio
The Wireless Telegraphy room of an Atlantic liner

Pack horse used by U.S. Army Signal Corps, carrying chest of instruments for local outfit... 1916
Pack horse used by U.S. Army Signal Corps, carrying chest of instruments for local outfit for wireless telegraph, 1916

Bermocchi & his wireless "iconograph", between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
Francesco de Bernocchi & his wireless "iconograph", between c1910 and c1915. Wireless icongraph, a sort of early fax machine will transmit messages, sketches, autographs, shorthand

Bermocchi & his wireless "iconograph", between c1910 and c1915. Creator: Bain News Service
Francesco de Bernocchi & his wireless "iconograph", between c1910 and c1915. Wireless icongraph, a sort of early fax machine will transmit messages, sketches, autographs, shorthand

The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: the Great Eastern off Brighton on her return home, 1865. Creator: Unknown
The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: the Great Eastern off Brighton on her return home - from a sketch by our special artist, 1865

The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: preparing for the final attempt to grapple the lost cable, 1865. Creator: Unknown
The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: preparing for the final attempt to grapple the lost cable - from a sketch by our special artist, 1865

The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: the paying-out machinery of the Great Eastern, 1865. Creator: Unknown
The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: the paying-out machinery of the Great Eastern - from a sketch by our special artist, 1865

The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: the second buoy...where the cable was grappled, Aug. 8, 1865. Creator: Unknown
The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: the second buoy, marking the exact place where the cable was grappled, Aug. 8, 1865. Our Special Artist has furnished sketches of the two buoys

The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: the first buoy...where the cable was grappled, Aug. 3, 1865. Creator: Unknown
The Atlantic Telegraph Expedition: the first buoy, marking the supposed place where the cable was grappled, Aug. 3, 1865. Our Special Artist has furnished sketches of the two buoys

The Indo-European Telegraph: Landing The Cable in the mud at Fao, Persian Gulf, 1865. Creator: Unknown
The Indo-European Telegraph: Landing The Cable in the mud at Fao, Persian Gulf, 1865. When some four miles of cable had been paid out

Telegraph map of the Eastern World, 1865. Creator: John Dower
Telegraph map of the Eastern World, 1865. Map showing...the progress of telegraphic communication from England in the directions of India, China

Examining the Atlantic Telegraph Cable, after raising it, on board the Great Eastern, 1865. Creator: Unknown
Examining the Atlantic Telegraph Cable, after raising it, on board the Great Eastern, 1865. Engraving from a sketch by Robert Dudley...of the anxious group of men...handling

The Indo-European Telegraph: Mussendom Station, Elphinstone Inlet, Persian Gulf, 1865. Creator: Unknown
The Indo-European Telegraph: Mussendom Station, Elphinstone Inlet, Persian Gulf, 1865. From a sketch by Lieut. Hewett, of the gun-boat Clyde

The breaking of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable on board the Great Eastern, 1865. Creator: Unknown
The breaking of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable on board the Great Eastern, 1865. Engraving from a sketch by Robert Dudley....the galvanometer detected a flaw of electricity which indicated a serious

Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: Sir Robert Peel addressing bystanders...at Valencia, 1865. Creator: Unknown
Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: Sir Robert Peel addressing the bystanders after the taking of the shore end of the cable to the Telegraph House at Valencia, 1865

Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: watching the Caroline going out to sea... 1865. Creator: Unknown
Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: watching the Caroline going out to sea with the shore end of the cable, 1865. Engraving from a sketch by Robert Dudley....the country people...[were]

Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: landing the shore end of the cable...Valencia, 1865. Creator: Unknown
Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: landing the shore end of the cable from the Caroline at Foilhommerum, Valencia, 1865

Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: receiving messages from the Great Eastern...Valencia, 1865. Creator: Unknown
Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: receiving messages from the Great Eastern in the instrument-room of the Telegraph House at Foilhommerum, Valencia, 1865

Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable:..workmen on the road between Killarney and Valencia, 1865 Creator: Unknown
Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: encampment of workmen on the road between Killarney and Valencia, 1865. Engraving from a sketch by Robert Dudley

The Indo-European Telegraph: Elphinstone Inlet, Persian Gulf, with a view of the Fort, 1865. Creator: Unknown
The Indo-European Telegraph: Elphinstone Inlet, Persian Gulf, with a view of the Fort, 1865. From a sketch by Lieut. Hewett, commanding the gun-boat Clyde

Telegraphing pictures of a football cup final (b/w photo)
8626061 Telegraphing pictures of a football cup final (b/w photo) by English Photographer, (20th century); Private Collection; (add.info.: Telegraphing pictures of a football cup final)

Wheatstone's needle (pointer) telegraph, 1890
3479996 Wheatstone's needle (pointer) telegraph, 1890; (add.info.: Wheatstone's needle (pointer) telegraph; the sender; left and receiver, 1890.); Universal History Archive/UIG

Wheatstone's Signal electromagnetic telegraph, 1890
3479994 Wheatstone's Signal electromagnetic telegraph, 1890; (add.info.: Wheatstone's Signal ABC electromagnetic telegraph.); Universal History Archive/UIG

The Chappe aerial telegraph, 19th century (engraving)
8724002 The Chappe aerial telegraph, 19th century (engraving); Private Collection; (add.info.: The Chappe aerial telegraph)

The system of signalling by flag semaphore
5616529 The system of signalling by flag semaphore; (add.info.: Illustration depicting the system of signaling by flag semaphore the telegraphy system)

An electric Morse Register, manufactured by L. G. Tillotson & Co. New York in the late 1860s
6867173 An electric Morse Register, manufactured by L. G. Tillotson & Co. New York in the late 1860s. After an illustration in Modern Practice Of The Electric Telegraph

The Great Eastern recovering the lost Atlantic cable (colour litho)
8641663 The Great Eastern recovering the lost Atlantic cable (colour litho) by Dudley, Robert (fl.1865-91) (after); Private Collection; (add.info)

Major international telegraph cables (colour litho)
8663671 Major international telegraph cables (colour litho) by German School, (20th century); Private Collection; (add.info)

James Clerk Maxwell's great experiment, 19th Century (litho)
8673170 James Clerk Maxwell's great experiment, 19th Century (litho) by English School, (20th century); Private Collection; (add.info.: James Clerk Maxwell's great experiment)

Jacob Brett's electric printing telegraph, patented 1845, 1845
3479951 Jacob Brett's electric printing telegraph, patented 1845, 1845; (add.info.: Jacob Brett's electric printing telegraph, patented 1845.); Universal History Archive/UIG

Cooke, Wheatstone needle telegraph used on the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway, 1845
3479950 Cooke, Wheatstone needle telegraph used on the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway, 1845; (add.info.: Cooke, Wheatstone needle telegraph used on the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway)

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"Unveiling the Wonders of Telegraphy: A Journey Through Time" Step back in time to witness the early fire brigade street alarm, where telegraphy played a crucial role in alerting communities and saving lives. Marvel at the Porthcurno Cable Station, a hub of communication that connected nations across vast oceans. Behold the Rhodes Colossus, an artistic representation from 1892 that symbolizes the power and influence on global connectivity. Explore the wireless officer sending Morse Code messages from aboard a ship during World War I, showcasing how telegraphy became vital for maritime communication. Discover the inner workings of RMS Republic and SS Florida's wireless-telegraphy room, where skilled operators transmitted urgent messages across great distances. Witness how telegraph poles followed alongside the transcontinental railroad, enabling swift transmission of information across vast landscapes. Glimpse into history with an authentic 1860s telegraph key and an 1889 telegraph printer - relics that demonstrate technological advancements over time. Delight in an advertisement for Parkins and Gotto electrical novelties from 1906, showcasing how telegraphic innovations captivated public imagination. Experience firsthand a demonstration of wireless telephone technology - a groundbreaking achievement that revolutionized long-distance communication forever. From its humble beginnings to its transformative impact on society, explore the fascinating world through these captivating glimpses into history.