The Imperial Wireless Chain was a strategic international communications network of powerful long range

radiotelegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is the transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies f ...

stations, created by the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

to link the countries of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. The stations exchanged commercial and diplomatic text message traffic transmitted at high speed by

Morse code Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...

using

paper tape Five- and eight-hole wide punched paper tape Paper tape reader on the Harwell computer with a small piece of five-hole tape connected in a circle – creating a physical program loop Punched tape or perforated paper tape is a form of data st ...

machines. Although the idea was conceived prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the United Kingdom was the last of the world's

great powers A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...

to implement an operational system.Empire Wireless
Papers Past, Evening Post (New Zealand), published 1923-04-23, accessed 2010-10-03 The first link in the chain, between

Leafield Leafield is a village and civil parish about northwest of Witney in West Oxfordshire, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Langley, west of Leafield village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 945. The village is abo ...

in Oxfordshire and

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, Egypt, eventually opened on 24 April 1922,Wireless Service
Papers Past, Evening Post (New Zealand), published 1921-11-21, accessed 2010-10-03 with the final link, between Australia and Canada, opening on 16 June 1928.Beam Wireless
Papers Past, Evening Post (New Zealand), published 1928-06-16, accessed 2010-10-03

Initial scheme

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess of Marconi ( ; ; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegraphy, wireless tel ...

invented the first practical

radio transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna with the purpose of signal transmissio ...

s and receivers, and radio began to be used for practical ship-to-shore communication around 1900. His company, the

Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 which was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming on ...

, dominated early radio. In the period leading up to

, long distance

became a strategic defense technology, as it was realized that a nation without radio could be isolated by an enemy cutting its

submarine telegraph cable A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the seabed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables were laid beginning in the 1850s and car ...

s, as indeed happened during the war. Starting around 1908, industrialized nations built global networks of powerful transoceanic wireless telegraphy stations to exchange

telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

traffic with their overseas colonies. In 1910 the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

received a formal proposal from the

Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 which was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming on ...

to construct a series of wireless telegraphy stations to link the British Empire within three years. While not then accepted, the Marconi proposal created serious interest in the concept.New Marconi Agreement
Hansard, Published 1913-08-08, accessed 2010-10-03 A dilemma faced by Britain throughout the negotiations to establish the chain was that Britain owned the largest network of

s. The proposed stations would directly compete with cables for a fixed amount of transoceanic telegram traffic, reducing the revenue of the cable companies and possibly bankrupting them. Parliament ruled out the creation of a private

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

to provide the service and concluded that no government department was in a position to do so, and the Treasury were reluctant to fund the creation of a new department. Contracting the construction to a commercial "wireless company" was the favoured option, and a contract was signed with Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company in March 1912. The government then found itself facing severe criticism and appointed a select committee to examine the topic. After hearing evidence from the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

India Office The India Office was a British government department in London established in 1858 to oversee the administration of the Provinces of India, through the British viceroy and other officials. The administered territories comprised most of the mo ...

, and representatives from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, the committee unanimously concluded that a "chain of Imperial wireless stations" should be established as a matter of urgency. An expert committee also advised that Marconi were the only company with technology that was proven to operate reliably over the distances required (in excess of ) "if rapid installation and immediate and trustworthy communication be desired". After further negotiations prompted by Treasury pressure, a modified contract was

ratified Ratification is a principal's legal confirmation of an act of its agent. In international law, ratification is the process by which a state declares its consent to be bound to a treaty. In the case of bilateral treaties, ratification is usuall ...

by Parliament on 8 August 1913, with 221 Members of Parliament voting in favour, 140 against. The course of these events was disrupted somewhat by the

Marconi scandal The Marconi scandal was a British political scandal that broke in mid-1912. Allegations were made that highly placed members of the Liberal government under the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith had profited by improper use of information about the g ...

, when it was alleged that highly placed members of the governing

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

party had used their knowledge of the negotiations to indulge in

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

in Marconi shares. The outbreak of

led to the suspension of the contract by the government. Meanwhile Germany successfully constructed its own wireless chain before the war, at a cost equivalent to two million

pounds sterling Sterling (Currency symbol, symbol: Pound sign, £; ISO 4217, currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of account, unit of sterling, and the word ''Pound (cu ...

, and was able to use it to its advantage during the conflict.

Post World War I

With the end of the war and the

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

s continuing to apply pressure on the government to provide an "Imperial wireless system",Post Office Contracts Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, Limited
Hansard, 1924-08-01, accessed 2010-10-03 the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

agreed in 1919 that £170,000 should be spent constructing the first two radio stations in the chain, in Oxfordshire (at

) and Egypt (in Cairo), to be completed in early 1920 – although in the event the link opened on 24 April 1922, two months after the UK declared Egypt independent. Parliament's decision came shortly after legal action initiated by Marconi in June 1919, claiming £7,182,000 in damages from the British government for breach of their July 1912 contract, and in which they were awarded £590,000 by the court. The government also commissioned the "Imperial Wireless Telegraphy Committee" chaired by Sir Henry Norman (the Norman Committee), which reported in 1920. The Norman Report recommended that transmitters should have a range of 2,000 miles, which required relay stations, and that Britain should be connected to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, Egypt,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. However, the report was not acted upon. While British politicians procrastinated, Marconi constructed stations for other nations, linking North and South America, as well as China and Japan, in 1922. In January 1922 the

British Chambers of Commerce The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC, formerly known prior to 1996 as the Association of British Chambers of Commerce) is the national representative body of 53 chambers of commerce across the UK. The chambers represent 50,000 businesses, whi ...

added their voice to the demands for action, adopting a resolution urging the government to urgently resolve the matter, as did other organisations such as the

Empire Press Union The Commonwealth Press Union (CPU), formerly the Empire Press Union, was an association composed of 750 members in 49 countries, including newspaper groups (with several hundred newspapers), individual newspapers, and news agencies throughout the Co ...

, which claimed that the Empire was suffering "incalculable loss" in its absence. Under this pressure, after the 1922 General Election, the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

government commissioned the Empire Wireless Committee, chaired by Sir Robert Donald, to "consider and advise upon the policy to be adopted as regards an Imperial wireless service so as to protect and facilitate public interest." Its report was presented to the Postmaster-General on 23 February 1924 The committee's recommendations were similar to those of the Norman Committee – that any stations in the United Kingdom used to communicate with the Empire should be in the hands of the state, that they should be operated by the Post Office, and that eight high-power

longwave In radio, longwave (also spelled long wave or long-wave and commonly abbreviated LW) is the part of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave (MW) broadcasting band. The term is historic, dati ...

stations should be used, as well as land-lines.
Papers Past, Evening Post (New Zealand), published 1926-11-20, accessed 2010-10-03 The scheme was estimated at £500,000. At the time the committee was unaware of Marconi's 1923 experiments into

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...

radio transmissions, which offered a much cheaper alternative – although not a commercially proven one – to high-power long-wave transmission system. Following the Donald Report and discussions with the Dominions, it was decided that the high-power Rugby longwave station (announced on 13 July 1922 by the previous government) would be completed since it used proven technology, in addition to which a number of shortwave "beam stations" would be built (so called because a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

concentrated the radio transmission into a narrow directional beam). The beam stations would communicate with those Dominions that chose the new shortwave technology. Parliament finally approved an agreement between the Post Office and Marconi to build beam stations to communicate with Canada, South Africa, India and Australia, on 1 August 1924.

Commercial impact

From when the Post Office began operating the "Post Office Beam" services, through to 31 March 1929, they had earned gross receipts of £813,100 at a cost of £538,850, leaving a net surplus of £274,250.Beam Services
Hansard, published 1929-07-22, accessed 2010-10-04 Even before the final link became operational between Australia and Canada, it was apparent that the commercial success of the Wireless Chain was threatening the viability of the cable telegraphy companies. An "Imperial Wireless and Cable Conference" was therefore held in London in January 1928, with delegates from the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions, India, the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, to "examine the situation which arose as a result of the competition of the Imperial Beam Wireless Services with the cable services of various parts of the empire, to report upon it and to make recommendations with a view to a common policy being adopted by the various governments concerned." It concluded that the cable companies would not be able to compete in an unrestricted market, but that the cable links remained of both commercial and strategic value. It therefore recommended that the cable and wireless interests of the

Eastern Telegraph Company The Eastern Telegraph Company was a British telecommunication company that operated undersea telegraph cables between the United Kingdom and India and countries on-route as well as cables from the United Kingdom to North and South America. It wa ...

, the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company, Western Telegraph Company and Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company should be merged to form a single organisation holding a

monopolistic A monopoly (from Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic competition to produce a particular thing, a lack of viable sub ...

position. The merged company would be overseen by an Imperial Advisory Committee, would purchase the government-owned cables in the Pacific, West Indies and Atlantic, and would also be given a lease on the beam stations for a period of 25 years, for the sum of £250,000 per year. The conference's recommendations were incorporated into the Imperial Telegraphs Act 1929 ( 5 & 6 Eliz. 2. c. 62), leading to the creation of two new companies on 8 April 1929; an operating company Imperial and International Communications, in turn owned by a holding company named Cable & Wireless Limited. In 1934 Imperial and International Communications was renamed as Cable & Wireless Limited, with Cable and Wireless Limited being renamed as Cable and Wireless (Holding) Limited. From the beginning of April 1928 the beam services were operated by the Post Office as

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

for Imperial and International Communications Limited.

Transfers of ownership

The 1930s saw the arrival of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, as well as competition from the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation and affordable

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be th ...

. Due to such factors Cable and Wireless were never able to earn the revenue which had been forecast, resulting in low dividends and an inability to reduce the rates charged to customers as much as had been expected.Imperial Telegraphs Bill
Hansard, published 1938-05-30, accessed 2010-10-04 To ease the financial pressure, the British Government finally decided to transfer the beam stations to Cable and Wireless, in exchange for 2,600,000 of the 30,000,000

shares In financial markets, a share (sometimes referred to as stock or equity) is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation. It can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Sha ...

in the company, under the provisions of the Imperial Telegraphs Act 1938. The ownership of the beam stations was reversed in 1947, when the Labour Government nationalised Cable and Wireless, integrating its UK assets with those of the Post Office. By this stage, however, three of the original stations had been closed, after the service was centralised during 1939–1940 at Dorchester and Somerton. The longwave Rugby radio station continued to remain under Post Office ownership throughout.

Beam stations

The shortwave Imperial Wireless Chain "beam stations" operated in pairs; one transmitting and one receiving. Pairs of stations were sited at (transmitters first):Tetney Beam Station
Paul Hewitt, Tetney County Primary School, published 2005-09-24, accessed 2010-10-04 *

Tetney Tetney is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, just west of the Prime Meridian. History On the edge of the village is the site of a Marconi Beam Station from where telegrams were sent to Australia and India as par ...

and Winthorpe (with Ballan and

Rockbank Rockbank is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Melton local government area. Rockbank recorded a population of 2,583 at the 2021 census. The land contains ma ...

in Australia, and with

Khadki Khadki is a cantonment in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India. It has now flourished as a quasi-metropolis & centered in the northern region of the city. Description Khadki could be considered an Indian Army base, along with an ordnance facto ...

and

Daund Daund is a city, municipal council, and headquarters of the Daund tehsil in the Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The city of Daund is located on the Bhima River. In ancient times, a sage named Dhaumya Rishi stayed here; henc ...

in India) * Ongar and Brentwood * Dorchester and

Somerton Somerton may refer to: Places Australia * Somerton, New South Wales * Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb ** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach *Somerton, Victoria ...

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered ...

and

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

– the latter actually in the hamlet of

Huntworth Huntworth is a small hamlet and farming community (population approximately 50), within the civil parish of North Petherton east of the M5 motorway from Bridgwater, Somerset, England. Huntworth was in the news on 5/12/19 as it was the epicen ...

which is nearer to

North Petherton North Petherton is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the edge of the eastern foothills of the Quantocks, and close to the edge of the Somerset Levels. The town has a population of 6,730 as of 2014. The parish includes Ha ...

(with

Drummondville Drummondville () is a city in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, located east of Montreal on the Saint-François River. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 79,258. The mayor of Drummondville is Stéphanie Lacoste. Drummondville ...

and

Yamachiche Yamachiche () is a municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. Etymology The name Yamachiche was first used to identify the Little Yamachiche River (''Petite rivière Yamachiche'') which runs through the town. It cam ...

in Canada,Beam Wireless
Papers Past, Evening Post (New Zealand), published 1927-10-05, accessed 2010-10-03 and with Kliphevel (now Klipheuwel) and

Milnerton Milnerton is a seaside town on Table Bay and is located north of Cape Town in South Africa. It is located 11 kilometres to the north of the city's centre. Geography Milnerton lies on the Western Seaboard of Cape Town, also known as the Blaau ...

in South Africa) At Bodmin and Bridgwater, each aerial stretched to nearly half a mile (800 m) long, and consisted of a row of five high lattice masts, erected in a line at intervals and at right angles to the overseas receiving station. These were topped by cross-arm measuring high by wide, from which the vertical wires of the aerial were hung, forming a "

curtain antenna Curtain arrays are a class of large multielement directional radio transmitting wire antennas, used in the short-wave radio bands. They constitute a type of reflective array antenna, consisting of multiple wire dipole antennas, suspended in a ...

". At Tetney the antenna for India was similar to those at Bodmin and Bridgwater, while the Australian aerial was carried on three high masts. Electronic components for the system were built at Marconi's New Street wireless factory in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

.The Marconi Company Departments 1912–1970
Martin Bates, accessed 2010-10-04

Devizes Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...

was home to a receiving station until the outbreak of

References

External links

Tetney Beam Station
– Tetney County Primary School

– South Dorset Radio Society {{Telecommunications History of radio technology History of telecommunications History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom Telecommunications infrastructure Radio in the United Kingdom Guglielmo Marconi 1922 in the United Kingdom 1928 in the United Kingdom British Empire Transatlantic telecommunications