Reuter, Paul Julius (1821-1899)

Reuter, Paul Julius

JOURNALIST (GERMANY)

BORN 21 Jul 1821, Kassel, Hessen - DIED 25 Feb 1899, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes: Villa Reuter
BIRTH NAME Josephat, Israel Beer
GRAVE LOCATION London: West Norwood Cemetery, Norwood High Street, Norwood (square 23, grave 28319)

Paul Julius Reuter was born as the son of a rabbi in Kassel. In Göttingen, where he worked at the bank of his uncle, he met Carl Friedrich Gauss, who was at that time experimenting with wire transmission of electric signals. In 1844 he became a Christian and he took the name of Reuter.

After working as a bookseller and marrying Ida Magnus he got into trouble with the authorities after publishing political pamphlets. He fled to Paris 1848, where where he started a news agency. In 1849 the telegraph line Aachen-Berlin became publicly available and he started an agency in Aachen. Using pigeons he transmitted messages from Brussel to Aachen, thus connecting Berlin and Paris. In 1851 a direct link between these cities became available.

In 1851 he moved to London where he founded Reuters, now an important financial news agency. In 1857 Reuters became a British subject. In 1859 he attracted great attention by transmitting to London the text of a speech of Napoleon III on the subject of a possible war with Austria. He opened press agencies all over the world and in 1869 he laid a cable from France to the USA.

In 1871 the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha made him a baron. he retired from active work for his company in 1878 and he died in France in 1899.

Images

The grave of Paul Julius Reuter at West Norwood Cemetery, London.
Picture by Androom (19 Mar 2006)