1896-97.] 
Chairman's Opening Address. 
177 
Lutes of God. He was a man of subtile insiglit and wide learning. 
He died on 30tli September 1896. 
John Pender was born in 1816 in the Yale of Leven, Dumbar- 
tonshire, and studied the classics and modern languages, turning his 
attention also to science and art. He distinguished himself in the 
drawing classes, and was awarded a gold medal for an original 
design. In his twenty-first year he became general manager of a 
factory near Glasgow. In Glasgow, and afterwards in Manchester, 
he established a business as export merchant. His foreign connec- 
tions as a Manchester merchant were world-wide, including, in par- 
ticular, the United States, South America, China, and India. He 
was one of the few who perceived the practicability of connect- 
ing this country with America by submarine telegraphy. Three 
hundred and forty-five gentlemen resolved to contribute £1000 
each for this purpose. He became Director of the Atlantic 
Company. Two of their cables were lost within a few hundred 
yards of the Irish coast. About the end of 1858 one cable was 
actually laid, but it refused to work after the trial messages. The 
Great Eastern was next sent out, with a cable constructed at a very 
high cost, but the ship parted with her cable in mid-ocean, and 
could not that year endeavour to recover it. The Gutta Percha 
Companies that were asked to supply a new cable required a 
guarantee of a quarter of a million, and Mr Pender offered his 
personal guarantee for that amount, which was accepted. The 
effort now made was completely successful. A working cable was 
laid in 1866 ; the lost one was recovered. He thereafter became 
chairman of the companies which laid the first cable to India and 
the Mediterranean lines from Gibraltar to Malta, and thence to 
Egypt and Turkey ; and developed the cables to China, Australia, 
Africa, Brazil, and the Argentine Eepublic. The capital invested 
in this gigantic network of communication is estimated at over 
forty millions sterling. The eleven cables in the Atlantic alone 
cost over fourteen millions sterling. 
In 1888, he received the honour of K.C.M.G., and, in 1892, 
the honour of G.C.M.G. He represented Totnes in the House of 
Commons from 1862 to 1866. He afterwards represented the 
Wick Burghs from 1872 to 1885. In 1892, Sir John was again 
elected for those Burghs. It was mainly through his instrumentality 
YOL. XXL 21/12/96 
XI 
