Curtis Lampson

Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson, 1st Baronet (21 September 1806 - 12 March 1885), was an Anglo-American fur merchant, best remembered for his promotion of the transatlantic telegraph cable.

Born New Haven, Vermont, he started work as a clerk before moving to New York and then, in 1830, to London. He established the business of C.M. Lampson & Co. and became a naturalised British citizen on 14 May 1849.

He was elected to the board of directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company on its formation in 1856 and served it over the next decade. His endeavours, along with those of the other principals, were recognised on 16 November 1866 when Lampson was created a baronet. His other appointments included as deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company and as one of the trustees of the Peabody Donation Fund.

Lampson died at Rowfant, West Sussex and was buried at Worth Abbey. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son George. His youngest son Norman George Lampson was the father of the prominent diplomat Miles Wedderburn Lampson, who was elevated to the peerage as Baron Killearn in 1943.

Bibliography

*Obituaries:
**"The Times", March 13, 1885, 10a
**"Illustrated London News", March 21, 1885, 300
*Wilson, J.G. & Fiske, J. (eds) (1887) "Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography", 3, 602
*Boase, G.C. (2004) "Lampson, Sir Curtis Miranda, first baronet (1806-1885)", rev. A. McConnell, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press,