Eastern Telegraph Co (1)
1855 Capital was raised for the Eastern Telegraph to be laid from the Dardanelles to Alexandria, with the option of further capital to be raised for an extension from Alexandria to India. This would allow connection of Alexandria with all parts of Europe and, eventually, India. H. T. Hope was chairman;[1] Lionel Gisborne was the engineer. Concessions had been obtained for submarine cables between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire.
1857 The European and Indian Junction Telegraph Co had raised funds for a competing line to India which led to acrimonious correspondence in the media[2]. The Eastern Telegraph Co had not carried out its project between the Dardanelles and Alexandria because of British Treasury objections to a short line being in different hands from most of the telegraph lines in the area, so the company handed the concession to others with interests in the Meditteranean[3]
1858 The Red Sea and India Telegraph Co, which had been formed to lay a cable from Alexandria to India, with Messrs. Gisborne and Forde as engineers, raised capital.
1858 Lionel Gisborne laid a cable part way across the Mediterranean.
1872 The Eastern Submarine Telegraph Co was formed by amalgamation of a number of telegraph companies.