Thomas Fletcher was born in Chatham, England back in 1800 to Thomas and Ann. At the ripe old age of 12 he joined the Royal Navy assigned to the HMS Bahama as a midshipman. He met and married Elizabeth in 1822, leaving the Navy as a lieutenant in 1832. His wife died in Calcutta in 1834, afterwards he married again to Harriet.
That same year he inherited a substantial estate from his grandfather when the couple moved to Rochester. In 1837, he set up an agency in Cornhill, London for conveying post-and passengers to India via Egypt. He died at his London home in 1850. A statue of Thomas can be found on Railway Street in Chatham. Now, you may be asking why there is a statute of him and I’m so glad you did.
Thomas Fletcher Waghorn developed a new route from Great Britain to India reducing the journey from 16,000 miles to 6,000 miles, reducing the travel for both passengers and the delivery of mail from three months to between 35 to 45 days.
Until tomorrow give someone the free gift of a smile.
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