Cromwell Fleetwood Varley,

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

(6 April 1828 – 2 September 1883) was an English engineer, particularly associated with the development of the

electric telegraph Electrical telegraphy is Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point distance communicating via sending electric signals over wire, a system primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecom ...

and the

transatlantic telegraph cable Transatlantic telegraph cables were undersea cables running under the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communications. Telegraphy is a largely obsolete form of communication, and the cables have long since been decommissioned, but telephone and dat ...

. He also took interest in the claims of

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry (paranormal), psychometry) and other paranormal cla ...

and spiritualism.

Family

Born in

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...

, London, Cromwell Fleetwood Varley was the second of ten children. His father was Cornelius Varley, an active member of the Society of Arts (now the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

), best known for his scientific research. His mother was the former Elizabeth Livermore Straker. C.F. Varley's brothers, Samuel Alfred Varley and Frederick Henry Varley, were also improvers and inventors in connection with telegraphy. The family believed themselves the descendants of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

and General

Charles Fleetwood Charles Fleetwood ( 1618 – 4 October 1692) was an English lawyer from Northamptonshire, who served with the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A close associate of Oliver Cromwell, to whom he was related by marriage ...

, hence his given names. The family were Sandemanians, part of the same congregation as

Michael Faraday Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...

, but Varley did not continue his association with the sect into adult life. A first cousin was the microscopist Andrew Pritchard.Hunt (2004)

Telegraph engineer

Varley joined the newly founded

Electric Telegraph Company The Electric Telegraph Company (ETC) was a British telegraph company founded in 1846 by William Fothergill Cooke and John Ricardo. It was the world's first public telegraph company. The equipment used was the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph, ...

in 1846, becoming chief engineer for the London area by 1852 and for the entire company by 1861. He devised many techniques and instruments for fault-finding and for improving the performance of the telegraph. In 1870, he patented the ''cymaphen'', a kind of telegraph that could transmit speech. The first transatlantic telegraph cable failed in 1858 and Varley was appointed to an investigative committee, set up jointly by the first Atlantic cable in 1858, he was appointed to a joint investigative committee established by the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

and the Atlantic Telegraph Company. The committee reported in 1861 and resulted in a second cable in 1865, Varley replacing Wildman Whitehouse as chief electrician. Despite the difficulties of the second cable, it was an ultimate success and Varley developed many improvements in technology. Varley was an astute businessman and the partnership that he formed with the 1st Baron Kelvin and

Fleeming Jenkin Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin Royal Society of London, FRS FRSE (; 25 March 1833 – 12 June 1885) was a British engineer, inventor, economist, linguist, actor and dramatist known as the inventor of the cable car or Aerial tramway#Telpherage, t ...

to exploit their respective telegraphic inventions yielded large profits for the three men.

Spiritualism

He was sympathetic to the claims of

Spiritualism Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...

and carried out investigations with fellow

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

William Crookes Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was an English chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing ...

using a

galvanometer A galvanometer is an electromechanical measuring instrument for electric current. Early galvanometers were uncalibrated, but improved versions, called ammeters, were calibrated and could measure the flow of current more precisely. Galvanomet ...

to make measurements of the supposed phenomena.

Cathode rays

In 1871, he authored a

scientific paper Scientific literature encompasses a vast body of academic papers that spans various disciplines within the natural and social sciences. It primarily consists of academic papers that present original empirical research and theoretical ...

suggesting that

cathode ray Cathode rays are streams of electrons observed in discharge tubes. If an evacuated glass tube is equipped with two electrodes and a voltage is applied, glass behind the positive electrode is observed to glow, due to electrons emitted from the c ...

s were streams of

particle In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...

s of electricity. Varley believed cathode radiation was caused by the collision of particles. His belief was based on the idea that because the rays were deflected in the presence of a magnet, these particles have to be considered carriers of an electric charge. This led him to believe that the electrically charged particles should be deflected by the presence of an electric field. He was never able to prove this.

Scandal

Varley had two sons and two daughters with his first wife, Ellen Cayley (née Rouse) (1837-1920), whom he married on 4 October 1855. The children's names were Hebe, Ada aka Nard Almayne (1856-1928), Cromwell Oliver (1857-1934), and Fleetwood E. Varley. Upon returning from a trip abroad, he discovered that his wife had gone off with Ion Perdicaris, a wealthy Greek-American. After the divorce was granted in 1873, she and the children settled with Perdicaris at Tangiers, Morocco. In 1904, Varley's elder son, also named Cromwell, was kidnapped along with Perdicaris by Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni, precipitating an international incident before both men were released unharmed. On 11 January 1877, Varley married Heleanor Jessie Smith, daughter of Capt. Charles Smith of

Forres Forres (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the County of Moray, Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin, Moray, Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several ...

, Scotland.

Death

C.F. Varley died at Cromwell House,

Bexleyheath Bexleyheath is a town in southeast London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley. It had a population of approximately 15,600 in 2021 and is southeast of Charing Cross. It is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in London ...

, Kent, in 1883, aged 55, from undisclosed causes.

Honours

*Member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

, (1865); *Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, (1871); *Founder member of the Society of Telegraph Engineers which became the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and information technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...

References

Bibliography

*Obituaries: **''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 5 September 1883 **''The Electrician'', 11, pp. 397–98 *
''Electrical Review''
13, pp. 203–04 **''Engineering'', 7 September 1883, p. 222 ---- * Hunt, B.J. (2004)
Varley, Cromwell Fleetwood (1828–1883)
, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 July 2005 * Jeffery, J.V. (1997) "The Varley family: engineers and artists", ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society'', 51, 263–79 * Lee, A.G (1932) "The Varley brothers: Cromwell Fleetwood Varley and Samuel Alfred Varley", ''Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers'', 71, 958–64 * *Noakes, R.J. (1999) "Telegraphy is an occult art: Cromwell Fleetwood Varley and the diffusion of electricity to the other world", ''British Journal for the History of Science'', 32, pp. 421–59

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Varley, Cromwell Fleetwood 1828 births 1883 deaths English electrical engineers English inventors English spiritualists Fellows of the Royal Society Glasites People from Kentish Town British parapsychologists