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    Patent for the electric telegraph, 1838

    Feb 11, 2020 3 minutes
    INTERVIEW BY ROSEMARY COLLINS

    The invention of the telegraph transformed the world over the course of the 19th century, and enabled our forebears to send messages across the country or even to another continent in a matter of hours. The patents for this crucial invention are now held in the archives of telecommunications company BT. We recently spoke to David Hay, BT’s head of heritage and archives, about how the documents reveal a world on the cusp of massive technological change.

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