William Falconer King was born in Hunter’s Quay, Scotland back in 1929. He attended Glasgow University, after graduation he was employed by Sir William Thomson. He worked at the Wester and Brazilian Telegraph Company. For his services in Brazil Emperor Dom Pedro II awarded him a Knight of the Border of the Rose.
He returned to Scotland in 1884, where he and Andrew Brown started King & Co. electrical engineers who built the Leith Electrical Works. He installed one of Britain’s first system of electric street lights in 1895. Also, in 1895, he was involved in Scotland’s first electric tram system.
During the First World War his firm won the contract from the Admiralty for the installation and repair of all electrical equipment in the Naval Dockyards at both Rosyth and Leith. He retired moving back to Hunter’s Quay where he died in 1929, he was 78.
What you may not know about William is that he was responsible for laying the first transatlantic telegraph cable from England to Brazil between 1872-72.
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