Clifford, Henry, Chief Engineer, 1821-1905

Collection includes correspondence, diaries, artworks, photographs and other documents related to Henry Clifford and transatlantic undersea cable-laying.

Related materials at RMG:

Manuscripts: Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company Limited (RMG ID: TCM); Papers of Edward Riddle (1845-1907) (RMG ID: RID/3); Uncatalogued: March, Edgar J, Maritime Author, Fl. 1952-1970 (RMG ID: MSS/89/066); Diary kept by James Ford during submarine cable laying voyages, 1866-1868 (RMG ID: JOD/227)
Objects: Submarine cable sections (RMG IDs: AAB0109-AAB0115)
Paintings (RMG IDs: BHC3380-BHC3383)
Drawings (RMG IDs: PAG9922-PAG9927)
Print (RMG:ID: PAD6757)

Former reference: MSS/88/085

Administrative / biographical background
Henry Clifford was born in 1821, and in 1838 became an engineering apprentice at William Simpson and Co, Aberdeen. In 1844 he partnered with Thomas Brown and Edward Gibson to build iron ships in Hull, but the business failed. By 1851 Clifford had moved to London, and through his connection to Charles Bright, to whom he was related through marriage, he joined the Atlantic Telegraph Company. Clifford supervised the cable paying-out machinery on all expeditions between 1857-1866. The first expedition in August 1857 failed, and in 1858 there were two further attempts. The first, in June, was abandoned due to storms, but the second, in July, was successful, with the cable laid between Newfoundland and Ireland. In 1864 the Gutta Percha Company merged with one of its cable suppliers, Glass, Elliot and Company, to form the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, with the aim of laying a second transatlantic cable. The company employed Clifford as Engineer-in-Chief from 1871 until 1893 when he resigned from that position and was appointed Consulting Engineer. Design of the paying-out machinery for the second transatlantic cable was largely attributed to Clifford, but when put into practice during an expedition in 1865 the cable broke and was lost. However a further attempt in 1866 was successful. Both expeditions used the SS GREAT EASTERN, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Clifford was also an engineer in the GREAT EASTERN for the French Atlantic cable expedition in 1869. Clifford worked on cable-laying projects around Europe as well, including the Malta-Alexandria expedition in 1861, and the Lowestoft to Zandvoort expedition in 1862. In addition to being an engineer Clifford was a maritime artist and several of his oil paintings are held by the museum. A drawing he made of the AGAMEMNON during the failed 1858 expedition formed the basis of a woodcut that appeared in the Illustrated London News. He also painted several views of the GREAT EASTERN during cable-laying expeditions. Clifford died in 1905.