In 1884, a Royal Commission recommended establishing a direct cable link between the British West Indies and Halifax, Nova Scotia.
[1] Bermuda's role as a strategic military and naval center made it essential to establish rapid communication, especially during emergencies and in times of peace.
Given Bermuda's vital military and colonial position, telegraphic communication was proposed to facilitate faster exchanges, replacing the slower fortnightly mail service as the primary link.
Sir Charles Cameron, 1st Baronet, MP for Glasgow College, questioned the financial secretary to the Treasury regarding a contractual deposit of £15,000.
[6] Winchester House on Old Broad Street hosted the first formal general meeting on September 20, 1889, which was presided over by Sir Alexander Armstrong.
Henley was soon commissioned to manufacture and lay a 870 nm telegraph cable from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Hamilton, Bermuda's British Naval harbour.
[1] In Hamilton, a public demonstration occurred, and Charles V. Ingham held a dinner at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for those involved in the project's completion.
[5] The company's trustees were Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal and Sir Thomas Skinner, 1st Baronet.
The project, originally agreed upon by Queen Victoria's government and The Halifax and Bermudas Cable Company Ltd., was subsidized by an £8,000 annual payment for twenty years.