William Fothergill Cooke

Sir William Fothergill Cooke (4 May 1806 – 25 June 1879) is an English inventor.

With Charles Wheatstone, professor at King's College, London, he is the co-inventor of the Cooke-Wheatstone electrical telegraph, for which a patent is filed in May 1837, and granted on 12 June 1837.

Together with John Lewis Ricardo, Cooke founds the Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company.

This effort commences on 3 September 1845, with a final consolidation of and assignment to the Company of majority shares of stock in the Cooke-Wheatstone patents that are held between three Company principals including Ricardo and Cooke.

Cooke had provided a portion of his shares to the syndicate members in exchange for monies from them to establish the Company.

This formation, entered into by contractual indenture on 5 August 1846, provided in part for purchasing the full remaining patent interest and stock held by the telegraph's other co-inventor Charles Wheatstone.

Cooke is knighted in 1869.

British Telecom, the giant multinational communications corporation based in over 170 countries worldwide today—with head offices situated in Durham and London, England—is a direct descendant of Cooke's Electric Telegraph Company

No related events match the current filters.