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In 1819 there was a prospect of Soemmerring’s
telegraph being brought to London.
Already, on the 3rd of June, 1817, Count Arco, brother to the Countess Montgelas, had introduced to Soemmerring Lionel Hervey,[1] then lately appointed British Secretary of Legation at Munich, in order that he might have an opportunity of seeing the telegraph.
In 1819, on the 10th of May, when Soemmerring was about to go for a time to Frankfort, Count Arco informed him that Hervey wished to pay him another visit.
They both came two days after, and Soemmerring explained to Hervey the telegraph in all its details. On the 17th Hervey came again alone, and expressed his wish to get such a telegraph for England.
Soemmerring sent him the complete apparatus on the
25th May, and added an instruction, in English, about
- ↑ Lionel Charles Hervey was the grandson of one of the sons of John Hervey, who, in 1714, was created Earl of Bristol. His elder brother, Felton, had, in 1801, adopted the name of Bathurst, in addition to that of Hervey. In Dod’s “Baronetage” it is erroneously stated, that Bathurst had adopted the name of Hervey. He was Aide-de-Camp to the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo, and is one of those who signed the important Convention at Paris, on the 3rd of July, 1815. Lionel Hervey was, from 1820 till 1823, Secretary of Legation, officiating also, for a time, as Minister, at Madrid; he died in 1843.
