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GUGLIELMO MARCONI


 Documents
     

Marconi letter to William Preece April 10, 1897
Subject creation of the company "Marconi Company"
 
  
 








Marconi wrote this letter to William Preece at the time when the formation of the Marconi Company was being planned. Marconi states that he has received an offer to establish a company with Henry Jameson-Davis and others. He has been assured that the offer is genuine and sees the advantages the financial backing would offer with regards to further experimentation and protection of patents. He was obviously anxious about making such a decision and through this letter it is clear that he sought the advice of William Preece.
   

When The Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company was formed in 1897 Marconi was in Italy giving demonstrations of his apparatus to Italian Government. Marconi entrusted Henry Jameson-Davis with the formation of his Company, which was registered on 20 July 1897, with Jameson-Davis as the first Managing Director. Marconi was the major share holder and the Company enabled his to experiment and develop his apparatus further. In 1900 the name was changed to Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, and in 1963 to The Marconi Company.
 
20 luglio 1897 The Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company Ltd. is formed

   
Although now a celebrity, Marconi remained financially dependent on his father, with prospects that remained unclear for the time being. William Preece had provided considerable assistance in Marconi's interests but there was no contractual obligation between them and with Marconi's activities now becoming commercial, Preece realised a potential conflict between any such operations and the state monopoly on public communications.

Marconi himself decided to press on regardless with the formation of his own business - known as the 'Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company' - although he was absent for its formation on 20 July, having been invited back to Italy by the Italian Navy. Subsequently the firm was renamed 'Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company' in 1900.

 

Its head office was in the City of London and his cousin Henry Jameson-Davis was appointed managing director. Marconi assigned to the company exclusive rights outside Italy to all his patents and in exchange he received £15,000 cash (modern day equivalent: £850,000) and 60 per cent of the 100,000 £1 shares. The other 40 per cent were placed on the market for public subscription - remaining mostly in family hands - and £25,000 (modern day equivalent: £1,425,000) was allocated as working capital.

On his return to England, Marconi learned that Preece was upset and was planning to conduct tests from Dover in September without him. In the event, the ranges achieved fell short of expectation and Preece was obliged to call for Marconi's assistance.