Do you know what a telegram is? In all likelihood, you are probably thinking about the instant messaging service Telegram Messenger, which is more commonly known just as Telegram. Ironically, the founders of this service chose the name to emphasise on its primary function – instant messaging.

This is because telegrams, a traditional method of sending messages, were used for quick communication in the past. The messages were sent by electricity or radio, before they were printed and delivered to the recipient’s home or office. 

A telegram sent and received in 1978 shown here by its owners in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Telegraphy has been around

The idea of telegraphy, or the long-distance transmission of information using coded signals, have been around for centuries. The term telegraph, however, most commonly refers to the electric telegraph that was developed in the mid-19th Century and dominated the communication landscape for more than a century. The person behind this is American inventor and painter Samuel F. B. Morse. 

Morse is said to have struck upon the idea of using electricity to communicate over distances during a conversation in 1832 when he was returning from Europe aboard a ship. He wondered if it was possible to send coded messages over a wire, but realised pretty quickly that his limited understanding about the nature of electricity wouldn’t suffice when it came to developing his idea. 

Morse doesn’t fail with Gale and Vail

Morse sought the help of a colleague at the University of the City of New York, Leonard D. Gale. A professor of chemistry, Gale was well-versed with the subject of electricity and had the know-how of the electrical work done by Princeton’s Joseph Henry, a pioneer in the field. Once Morse brought in Alfred Vail, a young technician, all the ingredients for success were in place. 

An employee displays an antique telegraph transmitter key (right), which the operator uses to send messages using Morse code, and a telegraph receiver (left) at a telecommunications office in Bengaluru in 2013. | Photo Credit: AFP

Even though Morse was ready with his telegraph system in 1837 and had begun demonstrations, he had to wait for a considerable amount of time. This was because the economic disaster known as the Panic of 1837 took place at about the same time and funds weren’t forthcoming for this project.

“What hath God wrought”

It was only in 1843 that the $30,000 that would enable him to build a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore was granted. On May 24, 1844, Morse sent the first official Morse code message transmitted in the U.S. from the U.S. Capitol to his partner Vail in Baltimore. The first message – What hath God wrought – has now gone down in history as a famous message.

Jawaharlal Nehru is seen here reading a telegram at the residence of Sarat Chandra Bose. Subhas Chandra Bose is seen standing to his left. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

The telegraph (the device used for transmitting and receiving messages for telegraphy) quickly made its way across the globe as nations world-over were seeking a faster, efficient means of communicating quickly. In India, Irish physician William O’Shaughnessy, famous for a wide range of scientific work including telegraphy, sent a coded message over a telegraph line in 1850. That telegram set the stage for a new age of communications in the country, connecting the nation like never before. 

Sense of urgency

Still under British rule at the time, telegrams were an important tool of the colonial administration. While the government sent the bulk of the telegrams post independence as well, they were embraced by the common people as well for what it brought to them. Seen as a metaphor for an urgent message, telegrams weren’t curtailed by the delays of the postal system. 

At its height in the 1980s, around 60 million telegrams were sent and received across India’s 45,000 offices. This number dwindled down to 75 offices by 2013, though there were franchises operating in every district of the country. The volume of telegrams too took a hit with the advent of newer technologies. 

Every word counts

Paid for by the word, telegram messages were often crisp, averaging about 10 words. What with SMSes (if you come to think of it, SMSes themselves are dying a slow death and aren’t used much beyond One-Time Passwords (OTPs)) first and then instant messaging apps, telegrams quickly lost relevance in an uber connected world. 

An employee types in a telegram message booked on July 14 2013, the last day the service was available in the country. | Photo Credit: AFP

With many other major countries pulling the plug on their telegram services, it was a matter of when rather than if for India as well. As the service was perceived as redundant, the mounting losses proved to be the last straw. On July 14, 2013, telegrams were sent in the country for one last time. There have been some who mourned its demise, but telegrams had run its course in India. It still remains operational in some countries, but it marked the end of an era when India ended its telegram services.