engineering

Samuel Canning

Samuel Canning is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Samuel Canning rather than just read about it. In short: Sir Samuel Canning (1823–1908) was an English pioneer of submarine telegraphy. Life Born at Ogbourne St.

Key takeaways

Samuel Canning belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Samuel Canning to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Samuel Canning from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sir Samuel Canning (1823–1908) was an English pioneer of submarine telegraphy.

Life Born at Ogbourne St. Andrew, Wiltshire, on 21 July 1823, he was son of Robert Canning of Ogbourne and his wife Frances Hyde; he was educated at Salisbury. Canning gained his first engineering experience (1844–9) as assistant to Messrs. Locke & Errington on the Great Western Railway extensions, and as resident engineer on the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston railway.

Undersea cables In 1852, Canning turned to submarine telegraphy, and with Messrs. Glass & Elliot laid in 1855–6 his first cable: it connected Cape Breton Island with Newfoundland. In 1857 he assisted Charles Bright in the construction and laying of the first Atlantic cable, and he was on board HMS Agamemnon during the submerging of the cable in 1857 and 1858. Following 1865, for the same employers, he laid cables in the deep waters of the Mediterranean and other seas. When the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company was formed in 1865, Canning was appointed its chief engineer. He had charge of the manufacture and laying of the transatlantic telegraph cables of 1865 and 1866, for which the company were the contractors. This work involved the fitting-out of the SS Great Eastern. On 2 August 1865 the cable broke in 2000 fathoms of water. After a second cable had been successfully laid by the Great Eastern (13–27 July 1866) Canning set to work to recover the broken cable, using special grappling machinery, which he devised for the purpose. After several failures the cable was eventually recovered on 2 September 1866. For these services, Canning was knighted in 1866, and Luís I of Portugal conferred on him the Order of St. Jago d'Espada. In 1869, he laid the French Atlantic cable between Brest and Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Later life After retiring from the Telegraph Construction Company, Canning practiced as a consulting engineer in matters connected with telegraphy, and, among other work, superintended the laying of the Marseilles-Algiers and other cables for the India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company. He acted later as adviser to the West Indian, Panama and other telegraph companies. He was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (from 1 February 1876) and the Institution of Electrical Engineers. Canning died at 1 Inverness Gardens, Kensington, on 24 September 1908, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery.

Family Canning married in 1859. His wife, Elizabeth Anne, died in 1909. She was the daughter of W. H. Gale of Grately, Hampshire. The couple had three sons and three daughters.

Notes

Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Canning, Samuel". Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Samuel Canning

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Samuel Canning claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Samuel Canning before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Samuel Canning ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Samuel Canning

In research: Samuel Canning appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Samuel Canning in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Samuel Canning is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1823 births, 1908 deaths, Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Samuel Canning outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Samuel Canning in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Samuel Canning means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Samuel Canning out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Samuel Canning in simple terms?

Sir Samuel Canning (1823–1908) was an English pioneer of submarine telegraphy. Life Born at Ogbourne St.

Why does Samuel Canning matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Samuel Canning?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Samuel Canning.