Cooke and Wheatstone

Originally published in 1965. Charles Wheatstone collaborated with William Cooke in the invention and early exploitation of the Electric Telegraph. This was the first long distance, faster-than-a-horse messenger. This volume gives an account of the earlier work on which the English invention was founded, and the curious route by which it came to England. It discusses the way in which two such antagonistic men were driven into collaboration and sets out the history of the early telegraph lines, including work on the London and Birmingham Railway and the Great Western Railway.

1. The Speculative Fancy. 2 Three Precursors. 3 Professor Charles Wheatstone. 4 William Fothergill Cooke. 5 The Partnership. 6 A Practical Electric Telegraph. 7 The Patent. 8 From Paddington to West Drayton. 9 The Blackwall Rope. 10 The Seeds of Discord. 11 West Drayton to Slough. 12 The Advertisement of Murder. 13 The Embittered Achievement. 14 The Authorship of the Practical Electric Telegraph. 15 The Later Life of Charles Wheatstone. 16 The Later Life of William Fothergill Cooke. 17 The Passing of the Telegraph