Transatlantic Telegraph

Aside from railroads, the most important invention during the Victorian era was the telegraph. With the first attempt of underwater telegraphs in 1839 in Calcutta until the first successful transatlantic cable linking the United States to Great Britain in 1865, the way people expected to get information completely changed. The telegraph reduced the time for transmitting information from a few hours to minutes, although longer distance such as from India to England could take up to a month. The telegraph provided the British with more control over their colonies.

I was intrigued that the telegraph would be used as a metaphor for the brain and nervous system. The metaphor could also extend to the idea of Great Britain being the brain and the nervous system being the wires running to the different outposts in the British Empire. I think it is interesting that the Victorians were so interested in the brain and the workings of the mind and would liken the brain to machinery especially with the high incidence of mental illness and the primitive understanding of nerve function. How much did colonial control change after the telegraph? Did the local civil service lose power? Was administration conducted increasingly from England? If colonial administration was conducted from England, were the decisions carried out effectively or did the local authority implement their directives effectively?

With the insulation of copper wires with gutta percha, cable could be placed in nearly any conditions. The House of Commons realized that submarine cables could be extremely useful and created a Select Committee to look into lying cable to more remote parts of the empire. When the cables were finally placed, it is interesting that the British would have gone to so much effort to place their cables in specifically zones within the empire even if that meant taking a more expensive and longer route. Did any of the other European countries create extensive telegraph lines to their colonies? Did any country ever propose creating an international telegraph service? Like other Victorian inventions, I found it surprising how quickly people accepted the telegraph and how quickly the submarine telegraph wires were taken for granted.