TELEGRAPH DOWN THE PAGES OF HISTORY
Telegraph, aptly called ‘The Victorian Internet’ by British journalist Tom Standage in his bestselling 1998 book of the same name, was a means of communication that allowed people to communicate almost in real time across continents. It changed the way people conducted business, and nations conducted diplomacy, how wars were fought and won. In fact, love and romances blossomed over the wires. Following is the history of telegrams in India at a glance…
The world’s first telegram was sent by Samuel FB Morse from Washington DC to Baltimore in the US in 1844.
In India, telegram was pioneered by Dr William O’Shaughnessy of the Public Works Department.
Lord Dalhousie, the Governor of India, authorised O’Shaughnessy to build a 27-mile line near Calcutta.
The first experimental electric telegraph line was started between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour in November 1850.
By 1856, the network stretched 4,000 miles across the British Raj, connecting the strategically vital cities of Calcutta, Agra, Bombay, Peshawar and Madras.
In 1857, the telegram helped the British suppress the Indian Mutiny.
By 1985, 60 million telegrams were being sent and received per year in India from 45,000 offices.
The BSNL took over telegraph services from the postal department in year 2000.
Apart from the one at Kashmere Gate one, Delhi presently has three more telegraph offices — Central Telegraph Office at Janpath, and one each in Delhi Cantt and Janakpuri in west Delhi.