Francis Ronalds

Sir Francis Ronalds (1788 to 1873) was an English scientist and inventor, sometimes described as the first electrical engineer, born in London into a family of wholesale cheesemongers. In 1816 he laid an eight mile length of iron wire between wooden frames in his mother's garden at Hammersmith and sent pulses along it using electrostatic generators, creating the first working electric telegraph over a substantial distance. The Admiralty rejected it on 5 August 1816 as wholly unnecessary, and commercial telegraphy began only two decades later. He also created the first electric clock in 1814, set up the Kew Observatory for the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1842 and stayed its Honorary Director until late 1853, and he gathered the large Ronalds Library of electrical books. He was knighted at the age of 82.