For example, beacons were lit on the towers of the Great Wall of China as well as the mountains of Wales (hence the name 'Brecon Beacons') to warn of invaders. Telegraphy has probably been with us ever since we first got the hang of making fire. Clearly, a telegraphic method of getting a message from A to B, such as the lighting of pyres, is much quicker than the exchange of a physical object between sender and receiver, however fleet of foot the carrier. It is therefore something which predates the electrical telegraph with which we associate telegrams. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the telegraph as 'an apparatus for transmitting messages to a distance, usually by signs of some kind'.Īs this definition suggests, telegraphy goes beyond the transmission of written text to encompass other forms of non-verbal signalling. Its name comes from the Greek and can be broken down into 'tele', meaning 'at a distance' and 'graphein' - 'to write'. In order to trace this lineage and see where the telegram sits in the evolution of human communications, it is useful to start with the apparatus by which telegrams are sent - the telegraph.
However, many of the myriad ways by which we now communicate can be seen as the telegram's direct descendants. The word 'telegram' may conjure up the image of a frayed yellowing document, containing a message about a now distant historical event, something with little connection to today's world. Find out about The Open University's Science courses and qualifications.
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