Sir Charles Tilston Bright (8 June 1832 – 3 May 1888) was an English electrical engineer who oversaw the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858, for which work he was knighted.

Life

Born on 8 June 1832 in Wanstead, Essex, Bright was educated at Merchant Taylors' School.

At fifteen, he became a clerk for the Electric Telegraph Company and as his talent for electrical engineering became evident, he was appointed engineer to the Magnetic Telegraph Company in 1852. In that role he supervised the laying of lines in the British Isles, including in 1853 the first cable between Scotland and Ireland, from Portpatrick to Donaghadee, when he was just 21. This work, and the successful laying of other submarine cables, suggested to others that it might be possible to lay a cable across the Atlantic from Ireland to North America.

Joining with Cyrus West Field and John Watkins Brett, who controlled the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, Bright helped organise the Atlantic Telegraph Company in 1856 to develop a transatlantic cable, with himself as engineer-in-chief;

After two failed attempts in August 1857 and three more in June 1858, Bright successfully accomplished what to many had seemed an impossible feat, That case is now a leading judicial authority in English law on third party liability for procuring a breach of duty by an agent.

From 1865 to 1868, Bright was Liberal MP for Greenwich and in 1887 he was elected president of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians (later the Institution of Electrical Engineers). Bright died on 3 May 1888, at Abbey Wood, near London. His son Charles Bright was also a noted cable engineer and historian of the subject.

Bright's funeral took place at Chiswick Churchyard with a subsequent service at St Cuthbert's, Earls Court. The numerous attendees included Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Robert Jardine, Frederic John Goldsmid and David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons.

Sir Charles Bright (son)

thumb|"Submarine Telegraphs", caricature by [[Leslie Ward|Spy in Vanity Fair, 1908.]]

Charles Tilston Bright's son, also Charles Bright (1863-1937), followed in his father's footsteps. In addition to cable engineering he was a pioneer in the use of radio as a communication device on both ships and planes.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1895, and was knighted in 1919.

See also

  • Charles Bright (judge)

References

Notes

  • Hounslow Guardian article