Paul Julius Baron von Reuter (July 21, 1816 - February 25, 1899) was a German-born British journalist and media owner, the founder of Reuters news agency.[1]
He was born in Kassel, Germany to a Jewish family[2]. His father was a rabbi. His birthname was Israel Beer Josaphat. In Göttingen Reuter met Carl Friedrich Gauss who experimented with the transmission of electrical signals via wire.
Reuter moved to Texas on October 29, 1845, calling himself Joseph Josephat. On November 16 he converted to Christianity and changed his name to Paul Julius Reuter. One week later on November 23, he married Ida Maria Elizabeth Clementine Magnus in Berlin. After the failed Revolution of 1848, he fled from Germany and went to Paris and worked there in Charles-Louis Havas' news agency, the future Agence France Presse. While telegraphy evolved, Reuter first founded the Reuters News Agency in Aachen which transferred messages between Brussels and Aachen using carrier pigeons. This was the missing link to connect Berlin and Paris. The carrier pigeons were much faster than the post train, giving Reuter faster access to stock news from the Paris stock exchange. In 1851, the carrier pigeons were superseded by a direct telegraph link.[3]
Statue of Paul Reuter in the City of London
In 1851 Reuter moved back to London and set up an office at the London Stock Exchange. Reuter founded Reuters, one of the major financial news agencies of the world.
On 17 March 1857, Reuter was naturalised as a British subject.
A telegraph link was established between Britain and the European continent through the English Channel. This link was extended to the south-western shore of Ireland, at Cork in 1863. There ships coming from America threw canisters containing news into the sea. The news was telegraphed to London, arriving before the ships.
On September 7, 1871, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha conferred barony on Julius Reuter.
He had two sons, one named George, 3rd Baron de Reuter, and the other named Andre Reuter. His only daughter Clementine Maria married Count Otto Stenbock, and after his death, Sir Herbert Chermside, a governor of Queensland.[4] George, 3rd Baron de Reuter had one successor, Oliver, 4th Baron de Reuter. He had one younger brother named Ronald. The last remaining heir of the family is Marguerite, 4th Baroness de Reuter.
He died in Villa Reuter, Nice, France, and was taken back to London to be buried in the family vault at West Norwood Cemetery.
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