Sir Samuel Canning (1823–1908) was an English pioneer of submarine telegraphy. Samuel Canning Bright

Life

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, on 21 July 1823, he was son of Robert Canning of Ogbourne and his wife Frances Hyde; he was educated at

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. Canning gained his first engineering experience (1844–9) as assistant to Messrs. Locke & Errington on the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

extensions, and as resident engineer on the

Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston railway The Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway in north-west England was formed in 1846 by the ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. ccclxxxi). It was purchased by the East Lancashire Railway the following year and opened to traffic on 2 April 1849. The railway ra ...

Undersea cables

In 1852, Canning turned to submarine telegraphy, and with Messrs. Glass & Elliot laid in 1855–6 his first cable: it connected

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

with

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. In 1857 he assisted Charles Bright in the construction and laying of the first Atlantic cable, and he was on board HMS ''Agamemnon'' during the submerging of the cable in 1857 and 1858. Following 1865, for the same employers, he laid cables in the deep waters of the Mediterranean and other seas. When the

Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company Enderby's Wharf is a wharf and industrial site on the south bank of the Thames in Greenwich, London, associated with Telcon and other companies. It has a history of more than 150 years of production of submarine communication cables and associ ...

was formed in 1865, Canning was appointed its chief engineer. He had charge of the manufacture and laying of the

transatlantic telegraph cable Transatlantic telegraph cables were undersea cables running under the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communications. Telegraphy is a largely obsolete form of communication, and the cables have long since been decommissioned, but telephone and dat ...

s of 1865 and 1866, for which the company were the contractors. This work involved the fitting-out of the SS ''Great Eastern''. On 2 August 1865 the cable broke in 2000 fathoms of water. After a second cable had been successfully laid by the ''Great Eastern'' (13–27 July 1866) Canning set to work to recover the broken cable, using special grappling machinery, which he devised for the purpose. After several failures the cable was eventually recovered on 2 September 1866. For these services, Canning was knighted in 1866, and

Luís I of Portugal Dom (title), ''Dom'' Luís I (; 31 October 1838 – 19 October 1889), known as "the Popular" (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''o Popular'') was King of Portugal from 1861 to 1889. Luís was a member of the ruling House of Braganza. The second ...

conferred on him the Order of St. Jago d'Espada. In 1869, he laid the French Atlantic cable between Brest and

Duxbury, Massachusetts Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 2020 census. The tow ...

Later life

After retiring from the Telegraph Construction Company, Canning practiced as a consulting engineer in matters connected with telegraphy, and, among other work, superintended the laying of the Marseilles-Algiers and other cables for the

India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company The India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company was a London-based company based in Silvertown, East London. It was founded by Stephen William Silver in March 1864 as Silver's Indiarubber Works and Telegraph Cable Company Ltd. However ...

. He acted later as adviser to the West Indian, Panama and other telegraph companies. He was a member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

(from 1 February 1876) and the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and information technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...

. Canning died at 1 Inverness Gardens,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, on 24 September 1908, and was buried in

Kensal Green cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in P ...

Family

Canning married in 1859. His wife, Elizabeth Anne, died in 1909. She was the daughter of W. H. Gale of

Grately Grateley is a village, parish and civil parish in the north west of Hampshire, England. Name The name is derived from the Old English ''grēat lēah'', meaning 'great wood or clearing'. Geography The village is divided into two distinct settle ...

, Hampshire. The couple had three sons and three daughters.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Canning, Samuel 1823 births 1908 deaths English electrical engineers People from Wiltshire Recipients of the Order of Saint James of the Sword Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Submarine communications cables