News Stories
Morning Advertiser – Wednesday 16 February 1870
HOOPER'S TELEGRAPH WORKS (Limited).
Incorporated under the Companies Acts, 1862 and 1867. Capital, £250,000, in shares of £10 each, payable as follows:-
£1 per Share on Application.
£2 " Allotment.
£2 " 1st April, 1870.
£2 " 1st June, 1870.
£1 " 1st August, 1870.
Directors.
John Dunlop. Esq.
Hon. L. Agar-Ellis, M.P.
C. Seymour Grenfell, Esq.
William Hooper, Esq., Managing Director.
Frederic Lubbock, Esq.
Admiral Sir Wm. Wiseman, Bart.
Bankers
Messrs. Robarts, Lubbock, and Co.
Bank of Scotland (Edinburgh and Branches).
Solicitors.
Messrs. Ashurst, Morris, and Co.
Temporary Offices:- No. 114, Gresham House, Old Broadstreet, E.C.
This Company has been formed to takeover and the well-known works of Mr. William Hooper, for the manufacture of Indiarubber Core for Telegraphic purpose, and add thereto the business of Covering the Core for Submarine Cables, and sub-merging and maintaining the same, whereby the Company will enabled execute the largest contracts for the manufacture of Submarine and Land Telegraphs.
The value Mr. Hooper's process for the manufacture of Core is now fully recognised. He has successfully carried on his present business, and with a comparatively small capital has made vary large profits, sufficient to ensure out of that branch of the alone a handsome return on the whole capital of the Company; and when the other branches have been added, it is but fair conclude that the profits this undertaking will favourably compare with those of the existing Companies.
Mr. Hooper has already manufactured according to his process the Cores for the following Cables, all which are in perfect working order, viz.:
Ceylon to the Mainland of India.
The Persian Gulf Cable, laid last year by the Indian Government.
England to Denmark.
Danish-Russian Cable (one section).
Scotland to Norway
Sweden to Russia.
Besides upwards of 500 miles laid in various parts of India, Brazil, Australia, &c. Mr Latimer Clark, while engaged as Engineer and Electrician to the Indian Government, in a letter addressed to Mr. Hooper from Bombay, so recently as the 18th October, 1869, says, in reference to a Cable submerged in the Persian Gulf: -
“We have been examining, and I am bringing home a specimen of the very first sample Core which you sent out in 1863 to the Persian Gulf, and which has had no special care taken of it; it is as perfect as when it first left England, and can in no way be distinguished from a new sample fresh out of the factory.”
The Company, while possessed of the exclusive right use Mr. Hooper's process for the manufacture of Indiarubber Core, will be prepared to contract for Cables with Guttapercha Core.
Mr. Hooper has contracted with the Great Northern Telegraph China and Japan Extension Company for the manufacture of their cables, 2,300 miles in length, for £896,000; and it is one of the terms of the agreement between Mr. Hooper and the Company that two-thirds of all profits from this contract shall belong to this Company, which will thus enter on actual and highly remunerative operations at once. Mr Hooper has already made considerable progress with this contract. Mr. Hooper’s works at Mitcham, which are capable of executing large contracts for Core, will be taken over for £65,000. Mr. Hooper’s consideration for Patents and Goodwill will be entirely contingent on the success of the Company, and consists of one-half the net profits of year, after 7 1/2 per cent per annum had first been paid to the Shareholders. At the end of 10 years the whole the profits will accrue to the Company.
Copies of the Articles of Association and of the Agreement with Mr. Hooper can be seen at the Offices of the Solicitors of the Company.
Applications for Shares, in the form annexed, accompanied by a deposit of £1 per Share, can be left with the Bankers of the Company.Deposits will be received at any of the Branches of the Bank of Scotland. If no Allotment is made the Deposit will be returned in full.
Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter – Saturday 21 June 1873
MITCHAM.
“The Hooper.”
—It may, perhaps, be interesting to our readers to know that the Hooper Telegraph Company (limited), whose extensive works are at Mitcham, have had a vessel built bearing the above name, the first ever constructed entirely for telegraph purposes, and embracing every improvement in the paying out machinery and appliances for picking up a damaged or lost cable, which experience up to the present time has suggested. She is 350 feet in length, 55 feet beam, 35 feet in depth, and of 5,000 tons register, with engines of 400 nominal horsepower, working up to 2,000, and realises a speed of 10.5 knots an hour. She has taken in 1,500 miles of cable from the Hooper Works, at Millwall, belonging to the Western Telegraph Company, which is about to lay 2,500 miles of cable along the east coast of South America, which left on Saturday. After coaling and taking in stores at Plymouth the Hooper will sail direct for Pernambuco.
This Cable Ship was later renamed the Silvertown, see History of the Atlantic Cable
Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter – Saturday 19 June 1875
MITCHAM.
Presentation to Mr. John P. Hooper.
—On Saturday, the 12th instant, pleasing ceremony took place at the offices of Hooper’s Telegraph Works Limited,” 31, Lombard-street, E.C., the occasion being the presentation of a handsome epergne and dessert stands to Mr. John Hooper in anticipation of his wedding, which announce in another portion of our journal as having taken place on Wednesday last. The epergne and stands, which were the work of Messrs. Elkington and Co., bore a suitable inscription, stating them to be the gift of the officers and workpeople of Hooper’s Telegraph Works, Limited, at Millwall, Mitcham, West Ham, Lombard-street, and of the cable steamship Hooper, with whom Mr. John Hooper now holds the chief position. The presentation was made on behalf of those assembled by Mr. A. Maclachlan, for many years connected with Hooper’s Telegraph Works, who in addressing Mr. John Hooper, said—
“I have been requested to undertake the pleasing duty of presenting to you on the occasion of your wedding this testimonial on behalf of those so long associated with you in connection with Hooper’s Telegraph Works, Limited, at Millwall, Mitcham, West Ham, and Lombard-street, and of the officers of the cable steamship ‘Hooper.’ This duty is the more pleasing because it gives me the opportunity of expressing in the name of those thus connected with you the high respect and esteem in which you are held by them. I know that ever since your first connection with our works you have always merited and possessed the cordial respect and affection of all who have the good fortune to be associated with you. In begging your acceptance of this testimonial, we heartily wish you every happiness in your married life, and that you may live long to enjoy the comforts of your own home.”
In reply to Mr. Maclachlan, Mr. John Hooper said —
“I am sure I thank you each and all for your kindness in presenting me with this handsome testimonial. I need scarcely that I shall always bear in mind the good feeling and good fellowship which must exist between us, as evinced by your present, and while such good fellowship does exist, I am certain that all our undertakings will prosper. I have doubt that if those connected with the three factories and with our ships, coupled with those working at Lombard-street, are prepared to pull together as heretofore, our present undertakings will be as successful as the past. I am sure it is most handsome on your part to present me with such a gift and I can only say again that I thank you each and all very much.”
Sussex Agricultural Express – Saturday 20 October 1888
MITCHAM, SURREY.
MESSRS. BLAKE. HADDOCK, & CARPENTER WILL SELL BY AUCTION, at the Mart, Tokenhouse-yard, City, E.C., on WEDNESDAY, 7th November, Two o’clock precisely, by direction of the trustees under the will of the late James Bridger, Esq., the valuable and important MANOR of BIGGIN and TAMWORTH, with the quit rents, fines, heriots, &c., extending over large area, and including the Fair Green. Also, nine acres of capital MARKET GARDEN GROUND. A compact property fronting the two greens. Also, four FREEHOLD GROUND RENTS, amounting to £29 5s. per annum, the important PROPERTY of HOOPER’S TELEGRAPH WORKS, occupying an area of four acres on Mitcham Common, and let at £225 per annum. Particulars and conditions of sale, with plan, may had of J. Penfold, Esq.. Solicitor, 21, John-street, Bedford-row, W.C, ; Mr R. M. Chart, Surveyor. Lower Mitcham; and at the At Auctioneers’ Offices, 45, High-Street, Croydon. Note.—At the same time will be sold other Property at Croydon and elsewhere.
Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter – Saturday 24 September 1898
MITCHAM.
Messrs. BLAKE & CARPENTER Will Sell by Auction, at the King’s Head, Mitcham, Monday. October 17th, at Six o’clock the evening, 1 FREEHOLD COTTAGE PROPERTY, known as Hooper’s Cottages, situate at Commonside East, Mitcham, the annual rental value of £49 10s. Particulars and conditions of sale may be had of the Solicitors, Messrs. Andrew and Cheale. Tunbridge Wells ; R. M. Chart, Esq., Mitcham ; and of the Auctioneers, 45, High Street, Croydon.
Mitcham History Notes 