Charles Glidden
| Charles Jasper Glidden | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
August 29, 1857 Lowell, Massachusetts |
| Died | September 11, 1927 (aged 70) |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Spouse(s) | Lucy Emma Clegworth (m. 1878–1927) |
| Parent(s) | Nathaniel Glidden Laura Clark |
Charles Jasper Glidden (August 29, 1857 – September 11, 1927) was an American telephone pioneer, financier and supporter of the automobile in the United States. Charles Glidden, with his wife Lucy, were the first (in 1902) to circle the world in an automobile, and repeated the feat in 1908.
Glidden was the adopted child of Nathaniel Glidden and Laura Clark. He came from a family that had arrived in America by 1664. His professional career began at the age of 15. At 20, he was Branch Manager for the Atlantic-Pacific Telegraph Company. He recognized early the potential of the phone together and experimented together with Alexander Graham Bell with telephone connections over the telegraph lines. Glidden funded the construction of telephone lines in Manchester, New Hampshire and was the first to recognize that the female voice was more suitable for the early telephones than the male. Accordingly, he hired women as telephone operators. The telephone exchange, which he had initiated, grew to a syndicate, which, amongst others, covered the U.S. states of Ohio, Minnesota, Arkansas and Texas. The first long-distance telephone connection (from Lowell, Massachusetts to Boston) was established on his initiative.
On 10 July 1878, he married Lucy Emma Clegworth from Manchester, New Hampshire.
Charles Glidden believed that the automobile was not just a toy for the rich, but would develop into a serious means of transport. This required building confidence in the fledgling horseless carriage and a sound road system. (At this time, major travel was usually undertaken by train or by river steamer.) In 1901 he sold his company to Bell and pursued these new goals as a private man. That same year, he and his wife made a successful trip to the Arctic Circle.
In 1902 he undertook a world tour in a British Napier accompanied by his wife and Charles Thomas, a motor engineer from Rottingdean in Sussex, England. This more than unusual journey took him over 46,528 miles through 39 countries and ultimately around the world twice. He travelled countries which never before had seen an automobile. Prerequisite for this undertaking was meticulous preparation. He even travelled with special wheels to enable him to ride on railroad tracks. Always impeccably dressed, he was very much aware of the publicity from which he took advantage of the automotive sector. So he corresponded with countless local and international newspapers. In this way he traveled to virtually all continents until 1908.
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