Letter signed to Charles T. Bright and Latimer Clark

[Siemens, Charles William (1823-83).] L.s. to Charles Tilston Bright and Latimer Clark, signed "Siemens & Halske." London, January 4, 1861. 1 page. 252 x 200 mm. Remains of mounting present, small holes punched in left margin. Provenance: Latimer Clark.

Siemens, one of the most successful inventors and entrepreneurs of the nineteenth century, was a younger brother of Ernst Werner Siemens, discoverer of the gutta-percha method of insulating telegraph cables, who in 1847 had cofounded the German telegraph firm of Siemens and Halske. William Siemens (he never used the name Charles) served as the London agent of Siemens and Halske; in 1866, with Werner and two other brothers, he established a submarine cable manufacturing company in England under the name of Siemens Brothers. Two of the major undertakings of this company were the telegraph line between Prussia and Teheran, which formed a major part of the England-to-India line, and the direct Atlantic cable laid in 1874.

Siemens's letter to Bright and Clark (who had formed a partnership in 1861) informs them that Siemens and Halske can supply "any kind of testing and telegraphic instrument you may desire" and further that "we manufacture a special kind of telegraph cable which is particularly adapted for warm climates, and we shall be happy to forward you samples & prices of the same on hearing from you to this effect." Origins of Cyberspace 197.