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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: FAT-FLA |
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FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892) , American capitalist, projector of the first Atlantic cable, was born at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on the 3oth of November 1819. He was a brother of David Dudley Field. At fifteen he became a clerk in the store of A. T. Stewart & Co., of New York
York
' See the Manesse MSS. reproduced in part. by F. H. vpn der Hagen , Heldenbilder (Leipzig
2 See Schiller's Thesaurus antiq. Teut. vol. i. p. 379. brother-in-law the firm of Cyrus W. Field & Co., and in 1853 had accumulated $250,000, paid off the debts of the Root company and retired from active business, leaving his name and $roo,000 with the concern. In the same year he travelled with Frederick E. Church, the artist, through South America. In 1854 he became interested, through his brother Matthew, a civil engineer, in the project of Frederick Newton Gisborne (18241892) for a telegraph across Newfoundland
Newfoundland
capital of $1,500,000. Having secured all the practicable landing rights on the American side of the ocean, he and John W. Brett, who was now his principal colleague, approached Sir Charles Bright (q.v.) in London, and in December 1856 the Atlantic Telegraph Company was organized by them in Great Britain, a government grant being secured of 14,000 annually for government messages, to be reduced to fro,000 annually when the cable should pay a 6% yearly dividend; similar grants were made by the United States government. Unsuccessful attempts to lay the cable were made in August 1857 and in June 1858, but the complete cable was laid between the 7th of July and the 5th of August 1858; for a time messages were transmitted, but in October the cable became useless, owing to the failure of its electrical insulation. Field, however, did not abandon the enterprise, and finally in July 1866, after a futile attempt in the previous year, a cable was laid and brought successfully into use. From the Congress of the United States he received a gold medal and a vote of thanks, and he received manyother honours both at home and abroad. In 1877 he bought a controlling interest
See the biography by his daughter, Isabella (Field) Judson, Cyrus W. Field, His Life and Work (New York, 1896) ; H. M. Field, History of the Atlantic Telegraph (New York, 1866) ; and Charles Bright , The Story of the Atlantic Cable (New York, 1903).End of Article: FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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