Electric and International Telegraph Company; 1855-1870; telegraph company

The Electric and International Telegraph Company, popularly known as 'the Electric', was formed by a merger of the Electric Telegraph Company and the International Telegraph Company in 1855. This placed it is a strong position because it had purchased the patents for various systems designed by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone and had a near monopoly over the wayleave rights to construct telegraph wires along railway lines.

By 1868 it was the largest telegraph company in the country and owned more than 10,000 miles of line, more than 50,000 miles of wire and 1,300 telegraph stations in Britain and Ireland. It also employed 3,000 skilled operators and controlled three continental cables.

The company was included in the Acts of Parliament which brought the telegraph system under the control of the Post Office, being paid £2,938,826. The transfer date for the company was 29 January 1870.