Edward Charles Cracknell (1831 – 14 January 1893) was an electrical engineer, Superintendent of Electric Telegraphs, New South Wales, and Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the Submarine Miners of the New South Wales Militia. He is considered Australia's third telegraph pioneer, after S. W. McGowan of Victoria and Charles Todd in South Australia.
History
editCracknell was born in Rochester, Kent, England, and educated at Oxford. In November 1855 he left for Adelaide in company with (later Sir) Charles Todd, head of the South Australian Post and Telegraph Department, having been selected by Todd as his assistant and future successor. They both came out to South Australia aboard the Irene, and promptly set about installing the line from Adelaide to Port Adelaide and The Semaphore, replacing a less permanent privately operated line financed and constructed by James MacGeorge.[1] Around the end of 1857, he was appointed assistant to Ben Hay Martindale ("Captain Martindale"),[2] Superintendent of Telegraphs in New South Wales, and on 26 January 1858 opened the telegraph line from Sydney to Liverpool, a distance of 22 mi (35 km). This was the third line opened by the Telegraphic Department, the first being between Sydney and Parramatta, and the second Sydney with South Head. Cracknell succeeded Captain Martindale as Superintendent in 1861, with P. B. Walker[3] as assistant. In 1880 he represented New South Wales at the Berlin Postal Conference. He was a strong advocate for the illumination of Sydney by electric light.[4]
Military
editCracknell was interested in military science, and prominent in promoting the shore defence of Sydney Harbour by means of torpedoes.[a] In April 1874 he was commissioned lieutenant in the Torpedo Corps of the Naval Brigade, which in 1877 became the Submarine Miners Corps of the NSW Military Forces, and was promoted to the rank of major. On 6 April 1886 he was gazetted lieutenant colonel commanding.
He prepared "torpedo" defences at Port Jackson, Newcastle and Botany Bay.[5]
Death
editCracknell died after a heart attack, and was accorded a full military funeral before burial at Waverley Cemetery.[6]
P. B. Walker succeeded him, as Engineer-in-Chief of Telegraphs.
Family
editCracknell married Margaret Cunningham in Rochester c. 1853;[7] they had three surviving daughters and one son:
- Ada Sophia Cracknell (27 September 1856 in North Adelaide – ) married Ernest Collingwood Colquhoun on 28 August 1885[8]
- Edward William Cracknell (born 26 November 1858 – 15 December 1931) was architect and engineer[9] remembered for advocating alternative route for South Gippsland railway line.[10]
- Eva Florence Cracknell (29 April 1861[11] – ) married A. C. F. Webb on 23 November 1892[12]
- Alice Ellen Cracknell (c. 1872 – 13 April 1891)
They had a home "Richmond" on Edgecliffe Road, Sydney
His brother William John Cracknell (died 1 December 1898) was for many years Superintendent of Telegraphs in Queensland.
Notes
edit- ^ Obsolete terminology for submarine mines. See Submarine mines in United States harbor defense for more details and relevance to electric telegraphy.
References
edit- ^ "Pioneers of Australian Telegraphy". South Australian Register. Vol. LVIII, no. 14, 408. South Australia. 17 January 1893. p. 4. Retrieved 18 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Death of Colonel Martindale". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 20, 719. New South Wales, Australia. 3 August 1904. p. 12. Retrieved 18 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Death of Mr P. B. Walker". National Advocate. Vol. 11, no. 232. New South Wales, Australia. 6 August 1900. p. 2. Retrieved 18 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Death of the New South Wales Superintendent of Telegraphs". South Australian Register. Vol. LVIII, no. 14, 407. South Australia. 16 January 1893. p. 5. Retrieved 17 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Edward Charles Cracknell, Esq". Australian Town and Country Journal. Vol. XVIII, no. 463. New South Wales, Australia. 23 November 1878. p. 17. Retrieved 18 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "The Late Lieutenant-Colonel E. C. Cracknell". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 17, 105. New South Wales, Australia. 16 January 1893. p. 6. Retrieved 17 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Martha Rutledge; J. L. Affleck (1969). "Edward Charles Cracknell (1831–1893)". Australian Dictionary of Biography 'Cracknell, Edward Charles (1831–1893). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 14, 801. New South Wales, Australia. 2 September 1885. p. 1. Retrieved 18 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "News from Yesterday's Sydney Papers". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. Vol. XLIX, no. 6897. New South Wales, Australia. 5 July 1892. p. 4. Retrieved 18 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Mr E. W. Cracknell's Death". The Age. No. 23, 925. Victoria, Australia. 15 December 1931. p. 10. Retrieved 18 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Family Notices". South Australian Register. Vol. XXV, no. 4538. South Australia. 3 May 1861. p. 2. Retrieved 18 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 17, 061. New South Wales, Australia. 25 November 1892. p. 1. Retrieved 18 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.