BACK REFLECTION THE MAN HISTORY FORGOT (PART 1) THE FIRST IN A LIMITED SERIES BY STEWART ASH AND BILL BURNS
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egular readers of Back Reflection will know that after the 1858 failure of the first attempt to lay the Atlantic Telegraph, six years would pass before the next attempt could be organised. We know that Cyrus West Field (1819-92) continued to campaign ceaselessly for it, and that after the collapse of the Red Sea cable project, the British Government and the Atlantic Telegraph Co set up a joint committee to inquire into the construction of submarine telegraph cables under the Chairmanship of Captain Douglas Strutt Galton (1822-99). The Committee had its first meeting on 1 December 1859 and the final report was issued in April 1861. However, little progress was made in gaining support for a second attempt at laying an Atlantic cable until Cyrus Field convinced John Pender (1816-96) to re-join the board of the Atlantic Telegraph Co, a conversation which took place during a walk from Pender’s residence, 18 Arlington Street, to the Houses of Parliament. Shortly afterwards, in 1864, Pender founded the Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Co. Very little was known or had been written about what went on in the interim. However, just before the Covid-19 lockdown, we were contacted by Caroline Oldridge, a great-granddaughter of James Stuart-Wortley (1805-81), and she provided us with a collection of documents that sheds a great deal
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
James Stuart-Wortley as a young man by George Hayter
The Rt. Hon. James Stuart-Wortley c. 1835-37 by Thomas Phillips, R.A. (1770-1845)
more light on the important six years from 1858 to 1864 which resulted in the successful completion of two Atlantic cables in 1866. Over the next few issues we will relate the previously untold story of this remarkable man’s significant contribution to the success of the 1865 and 1866 Atlantic Telegraph cables. James Archibald Stuart-Wortley was born in St James’s Square, London, on 3 July 1805, the youngest son of James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (1776-1845), 1st Baron Wharncliffe, and his second wife Elizabeth, Caroline Mary née Crichton (1779-1856), who he had married in 1799. She was the daughter of John Crichton (1731-1828), 1st Earl Erne. The house in which he was born belonged to Frederick William Hervey (1769-1856), 5th Earl of Bristol, the younger brother of Baron Wharncliffe’s first wife, Lady Mary Caroline née Hervey (1753-1842). They had married in 1776 and later separated. James’ father was Lord Privy Seal under Robert Peel (1788-1850), a soldier and the son of Prime Minister John Stuart (1713-92), 3rd Earl of Bute, so James was very much a member of the British upper class establishment. He was educated at Harrow before going up to Christ Church College, Oxford, where he became President of the Union Debating Society. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1826 and a Master of Arts in 1831.