John Pender: The Manchester link with the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable

So often the story of the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable is told from the point of view of how the cable was manufactured which ships were involved, the technical challenges faced and the failures and successes of the 1857/58 and 1865/66 expeditions. In this paper however, we want to focus our attention on the people behind that story and one man in particular, John Pender a Manchester based cotton merchant who proved to be a major influential figure, not only in terms of the Trans Atlantic Telegraph Cable, but also in respect of global telecommunications in general.