Sir Frederick John Goldsmid

Sir Frederick John Goldsmid (born May 19, 1818, Milan—died Jan. 12, 1908, Brook Green, Hammersmith, Eng.) was a major general in the British Army who, through negotiations with several Asian countries and supervision of a cross-continental construction project, made possible the Indo-European telegraph, the first rapid communication system linking Europe and Asia. After military service in China (1840), India, and Turkey (1855), where he mastered several Asian languages, Goldsmid became connected with the British plan...