Reuter, BARON PAUL JULIUS

Reuter, BARON PAUL JULIUS, well known from the familiar newspaper heading 'Reuter's Telegram,' was born at Cassel, 21st July 1821. In Aix-la-Chapelle he formed in 1849 an organisation for collecting (partly by pigeon post) and transmitting by telegraph commercial and financial news; and in 1851 he transferred his headquarters to London. As telegraphs extended throughout the world he multiplied the ramifications of his system till it embraced the remotest regions. He even maintained couriers where the telegraphs did not reach—e.g. between Pekin and Kiachta. In 1865 Reuter converted his business into a limited liability company, and in 1871 he was made a baron of Germany. In 1872 the Shah of Persia gave him the sole right of making railways, working mines, forests, &c.—a monopoly never made effective, and annulled in 1889, when the concession of the Imperial Bank of Persia was conferred on him. He died 22d February 1899.