‘In a parental position to our telegraph system’: Charles Wheatstone

Prince Albert said that Wheatstone was ‘in a parental position to our telegraph system’. Was that description justified? The practical electric telegraph began with the work of Cooke and Wheatstone in Britain and of Morse in the USA. The first commercial installation was arranged by Cooke, using Wheatstone’s ‘five-needle’ instruments, on the Great Western Railway. It led to the formation of the Electric Telegraph Company and the rapid development of the telegraph network. When Morse came to London, seeking an English patent, he met Wheatstone, and probably also Cooke. They discussed possible cooperation, but the discussions came to nothing.