The International Telegraph Company was formed by the Electric Telegraph Company in 1852. The ETC obtained a concession from the Dutch Government in 1852 to lay wires from Orfordness, on the east coast of England, to Scheveningham in Holland and then to The Hague. However, because the Dutch Government objected to the Holland line of the new submarine telegraph cable being made by the ETC, the International Telegraph Company was formed. The new company was managed by the ETC with ETC staff. It laid two cables in 1853 and 1854.
The theoretical separation of the two companies did not operate in practice, with many of the records being kept together in the same volume. Records of the International Telegraph Company are, therefore, sometimes located with those of the Electric Telegraph Company. Such occurrences are noted in the catalogue. In 1855 the International Telegraph Company formally merged with the Electric Telegraph Company to form the Electric and International Telegraph Company.
From the guide to the Records created and used by the International Telegraph Company, 1852-1858, (BT Archives)
