Jardine Matheson Archive

The direct telegraph cable from London to Bombay was completed in the summer of 1870, and the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company finished connecting India with South-East Asia, China, Japan and Australia the same year. The overland telegraph from Europe reached China at Shanghai in late 1870, laid by the Northern Telegraph Company of Copenhagen via Vladivostok. By mid-1871, Shanghai was also in direct telegraphic communication with Hong Kong and Japan.

This series contains telegrams sent or received by branches of Jardine, Matheson & Co.; Matheson & Co. Ltd, London; and other correspondents.