James Alexander Betts
James Alexander Betts (1845-1892)
Son of Alexander Stewart Betts, merchant.
JAMES ALEXANDER BETTS, youngest son of the late Mr. Alexander Stewart Betts, was born in London on the 22nd of July, 1845, and was educated at Powis House School, Woolwich, on leaving which he studied telegraphy under his brother, Mr. A. S. Betts, then War Office Telegraphist at Woolwich Arsenal and now Superintendent of the Persian Gulf Cable at Karachi.
In 1862 he entered the service of the Electric Telegraph Co and in October, 1863, was transferred to the Submarine Telegraph Co, with which he remained until January, 1865.
From that time he did little work until September, 1870, when he was appointed an Inspector in the Engineering Department of the Postal Telegraph Service and stationed at Oxford. Promotion being slow, he resigned in October, 1873, and joined the India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Co as Telegraph Engineer. He studied torpedo work and obtained a certificate from the School of Submarine Mining at Chatham and in October, 1874, entered into an agreement, through the India- Rubber Company, with the Chinese Government to take charge of the Torpedo Service of that Empire.....[more]