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Abstract
Wildman Whitehouse is popularly remembered as the surgeon turned ‘dabbler’ in telegraphy responsible for damaging the first Atlantic telegraph cable in 1858 by use of his high voltage induction coils. He is also known for his disagreement with the electrical theories of William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and being sacked as electrician to the operator of the transatlantic cable, the Atlantic Telegraph Company. Over the past 150 years commentators have marked him down as insignificant, a loose cannon in the annals of telegraphy, a ‘non-engineer’ and certainly a ‘non-scientist’. This paper, after a brief account of his whole career, looks specifically at Whitehouse’s work associated with submarine telegraph cables prior to the laying of the 1858 Atlantic cable. During this period he was making electrical measurements at the manufacturer’s works and also on long underground cables, in order to try to establish the viability of communications along the proposed 2000-mile transatlantic link.
By reappraising historical accounts against primary sources and examining hitherto unresearched artefacts held in museums, the paper endeavours to outline Whitehouse’s approach to measurements of telegraph signal pulses using his magneto-electrometer. This was one of his principal measuring instruments, decried by most historians as heavy-duty and sluggish, yet it would appear to have allowed Whitehouse to make extraordinarily sensitive comparative measurements. The results of such work are illustrated in a contemporary diagram preserved by the Science Museum and perhaps indicate that Whitehouse’s achievements in telegraphy may have been more merit-worthy than previously understood.
I am most grateful for the award of the Fellowship in 2008 which has given me the opportunity to carry out this research. Thanks then firstly to Dr Peter Morris of the Science Museum and to David Hay of BT Heritage for the award.
Much of my research has been on objects in the Science Museum and the preparation of this paper has been guided by John Liffen (Curator of Communications). For that support and his suggestions regarding the Wheatstone archive, my most grateful appreciation.
I want to thank Libby Morris and Alan Renton at Porthcurno, Alison Taubman and John Burnett in Edinburgh, Neil Brown (Science Museum, now retired), Gill Cookson, Donard de Cogan, Graeme Gooday and Bruce Hunt who have at various times been both guiding hands and friendly support for several years.
Libraries and archives in London (IET, BT and the National Archives), Liverpool (Merseyside Maritime Museum), Glasgow (Glasgow University and City Archives, The Mitchell Library), Cambridge University, Reading University, St Andrews University and Sussex County Archives have without exception provided me with excellent service. I must however pass on special thanks to the staff at the Science Museum Library and Archives at Wroughton and at Kensington.
Finally my warm thanks to Bill Burns in New York who together with Steven Roberts have compiled many comprehensive and informative web pages about Whitehouse on Bill’s very valuable website: http://www.atlantic-cable.com.