Early Years of Telegraph

In early years of telegraphy, telegraph wires ran above the ground.

Then in 1847, the chemist, and physicist Michael Faraday suggested insulating them with gutta-percha so that they could be laid underground or on the seabed.

The first London to Paris cable was in use in 1851 and after several attempts, transatlantic telegraph cable was laid in 1865.

By this time the telegraph was firmly establish, at the end of the 1860s 111,000 miles (180,000 km) of telegraph wires crisscrossed continental Europe.

One of the great advantages of the telegraph was the speed with which news could now be collected and distributed.

London’s The Times likened the transatlantic cable to he arrival of Columbus in the new World, though at the same time the editor warned his reporter that ‘telegrams are for facts; background and comment must come by post’.

He telegraph service quickly revolutionized journalism.

By end of the 1850s, as many as 120 provincial newspapers in Great Britain received news by wired from parliament daily, and the London based news agency that Julius Reuter has first started in Germany sent foreign news to editors in every town in the country.

Another innovation that the telegraph brought was the foreign correspondent or war correspondent - the man on the spot at momentous events who could send news as soon as it happened, instead of weeks or months later.
Early Years of Telegraph