TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Marconi made Chelmsford a centre of innovation
Chelmsford was the location of world-changing innovations in radio and television. It was here that Marconi made its home, arguably the most famous company to come out of Essex. The telecommunications and engineering firm was founded as the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company in 1897 following the granting of a wireless patent to pioneering Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937). The first factory opened in Hall Street, Chelmsford, the following year, before the purposebuilt New Street Works opened in 1912. The Marconi Collection was presented to the University of Oxford in 2004 – the objects are held by the Museum of the History of Science ( mhs.ox.ac.uk), the documents by the Bodleian Library ( bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/ wmss/online/modern/marconi/marconi.html).