William Thomas Henley

Who was William Thomas Henley?

William Thomas Henley was a pioneer in the manufacture of telegraph cables. He designed and built a wire covering machine which is now in the London Science Museum.

He set up as a submarine cable maker in 1857 and by 1859 he had his own factory beside the Thames at North Woolwich. He went on to manufacture the shore ends of the second Transatlantic cable in 1865.

W. T. Henley Ltd. was acquired by AEI in 1959, and later became part of GEC following its takeover of AEI in 1967. The company was sold to TT electronics in 1997, and remains in business to this day producing cable accessories, insulators and low voltage fuse gear in Belvedere, after many years in Northfleet.