Sir Francis Ronalds
| Sir Francis Ronalds FRS | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Sir Francis Ronalds from 1893
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| Born |
21 February 1788 City of London, England |
| Died | 8 August 1873 (aged 85) Battle, East Sussex |
| Residence | United Kingdom |
| Known for |
Electric telegraph Continuously recording camera Perspective drawing instruments |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics, Electrical Engineering, Applied mechanics, Meteorology, Photography, Archaeology |
Sir Francis Ronalds FRS (21 February 1788 – 8 August 1873) was an English scientist and inventor, and arguably the first electrical engineer. He was knighted for creating the first working electric telegraph.
Born to merchants Francis Ronalds and Jane née Field at their cheesemonger business in Upper Thames Street, London, he attended Unitarian minister Eliezer Cogan's school before being apprenticed to his father at the age of 14 through the Drapers' Company. He ran the large business for some years. The family later resided in Canonbury Place and Highbury Terrace, both in Islington, at Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, Queen Square in Bloomsbury, at Croydon, and on Chiswick Lane.
Several of Ronalds' eleven brothers and sisters also led noteworthy lives. His youngest brother Alfred authored the classic book The Fly-fisher's Entomology (1836) before migrating to Australia and their brother Hugh was one of the founders of the city of Albion in the American Midwest. Their sisters married Samuel Carter – a railway solicitor and MP – and sugar-refiner Peter Martineau of the famous Martineau family. Another sister Emily epitomised the family's interest in social reform through her collaborations with early socialists Robert Owen and Fanny Wright. Nurseryman Hugh Ronalds was their uncle and their nephews included chemistry professor Edmund Ronalds and artist Hugh Carter.
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