On 14 July 2013, India closed down its telegraph service, drawing the curtain over an important chapter in its history of telecommunications. Introduced during the colonial period, the telegraph network was opened for public use on 1 February 1855; both the beginning and the end of the service were marked by striking scenes of people 'rushing' to the telegraph office in order to send messages. Like the internet today, the new technology came to play an important role in the conduct of journalism in nineteenth-century India.
The News of Empire reconstructs the interconnected...