Page:Hamel Telegraph history England 1859.pdf/19



On the 7th of September, 1810, Soemmerring called on Baron Schilling to invite him to his lodgings, in order that he might have the pleasure of showing him the action of the telegraph through wire carried round the whole house in which he then lived. It was Leyden’s house, nearly opposite the Max Gate. The wires were first covered with a solution of india-rubber, and then varnished.

On the 25th October, the then newly-married Crown Princess of Bavaria, Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, aunt to Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Constantine of Russia, honoured Soemmerring with a visit to see his telegraph. She came accompanied by her mother, aunt to His Highness the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who is married to Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Catherina Michailowna of Russia.

On the 6th of April, 1811, a renowned warrior, General Erasmus Deroy, who in the following year, on the 18th of August, was mortally wounded near Polotzk, in Russia,