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Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
27
From
1836-7
Wheatstone
had
thought
a
good
deal
about
submarine
telegraphs,
and
in
1840
he
gave
evidence
before
the
Railway
Committee
of
the
House
of
Commons
on
the
feasibility
of
the
proposed
line
from
Dover
to
Calais.
He
had
even
designed
the
machinery
for
making
and
laying
the
cable.
In
the
autumn
of
1844,
with
the
assistance
of
Mr.
J.
D.
Llewellyn,
he
submerged
a
length
of
insulated
wire
in
Swansea
Bay,
and
signalled
through
it
from
a
boat
to
the
Mumbles
Lighthouse.
Next
year
he
suggested
the
use
of
gutta-percha
for
the
coating
of
the
intended
wire
across
the
Channel.
Though
silent
and
reserved
in
public,
Wheatstone
was
a
clear
and
voluble
talker
in
private,
if
taken
on
his
favourite
studies,
and
his
small
but
active
person,
his
plain
but
intelligent
countenance,
was
full
of
animation.
Sir
Henry
Taylor
tells
us
that
he
once
observed
Wheatstone
at
an
evening
party
in
Oxford
earnestly
holding
forth
to
Lord
Palmerston
on
the
capabilities
of
his
telegraph.
'You
don't
say
so!'
exclaimed
the
statesman.
'I
must
get
you
to
tell
that
to
the
Lord
Chancellor.'
And
so
saying,
he
fastened
the
electrician
on
Lord
Westbury,
and
effected
his
escape.
A
reminiscence
of
this
interview
may
have
prompted
Palmerston
to
remark
that
a
time
was
coming
when
a
minister
might
be
asked
in
Parliament
if
war
had
broken
out
in
India,
and
would
reply,
'Wait
a
minute;
I'll
just
telegraph
to
the
Governor-General,
and
let
you
know.'
At
Christchurch,
Marylebone,
on
February
12,
1847,
Wheatstone
was
married.
His
wife
was
the
daughter
of
a
Taunton
tradesman,
and
of
handsome
appearance.
She
died
in
1866,
leaving
a
family
of
five
young
children
to
his
care.
His
domestic
life
was
quiet
and
uneventful.
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