E. C. Cracknell

Cracknell was born in Rochester, Kent, England, and educated at Oxford. In November 1855 he left for Adelaide in company with (later Sir) Charles Todd, head of the South Australian Post and Telegraph Department, having been selected by Todd as his assistant and future successor. They both came out to South Australia aboard the Irene, and promptly set about installing the line from Adelaide to Port Adelaide and The Semaphore, replacing a less permanent privately operated line financed and constructed by James MacGeorge.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48735023 |title=Pioneers of Australian Telegraphy |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=LVIII |issue=14,408 |location=South Australia |date=17 January 1893 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} Around the end of 1857, he was appointed assistant to Ben Hay Martindale ("Captain Martindale"),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14628927 |title=Death of Colonel Martindale |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=20,719 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 August 1904 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}} Superintendent of Telegraphs in New South Wales, and on 26 January 1858 opened the telegraph line from Sydney to Liverpool, a distance of {{convert|22 |mi |abbr=on}}. This was the third line opened by the Telegraphic Department, the first being between Sydney and Parramatta, and the second Sydney with South Head.

Cracknell succeeded Captain Martindale as Superintendent in 1861, with P. B. Walker{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article156793542 |title=Death of Mr P. B. Walker |newspaper=National Advocate |volume=11 |issue=232 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=6 August 1900 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} as assistant. In 1880 he represented New South Wales at the Berlin Postal Conference. He was a strong advocate for the illumination of Sydney by electric light.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48738674 |title=Death of the New South Wales Superintendent of Telegraphs |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=LVIII |issue=14,407 |location=South Australia |date=16 January 1893 |access-date=17 March 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Cracknell was interested in military science, and prominent in promoting the shore defence of Sydney Harbour by means of torpedoes.{{efn|Obsolete terminology for submarine mines. See Submarine mines in United States harbor defense for more details and relevance to electric telegraphy.}} In April 1874 he was commissioned lieutenant in the Torpedo Corps of the Naval Brigade, which in 1877 became the Submarine Miners Corps of the NSW Military Forces, and was promoted to the rank of major. On 6 April 1886 he was gazetted lieutenant colonel commanding.

He prepared "torpedo" defences at Port Jackson, Newcastle and Botany Bay.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70596856 |title=Edward Charles Cracknell, Esq. |newspaper=Australian Town and Country Journal |volume=XVIII |issue=463 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 November 1878 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Cracknell died after a heart attack, and was accorded a full military funeral before burial at Waverley Cemetery.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13893721 |title=The Late Lieutenant-Colonel E. C. Cracknell |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=17,105 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=16 January 1893 |access-date=17 March 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

P. B. Walker succeeded him, as Engineer-in-Chief of Telegraphs.

Cracknell married Margaret Cunningham in Rochester c. 1853;{{cite book|author1=Martha Rutledge |author2=J. L. Affleck |title=Australian Dictionary of Biography 'Cracknell, Edward Charles (1831–1893) |chapter=Edward Charles Cracknell (1831–1893) |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cracknell-edward-charles-3283/text4985 |year=1969 |access-date=18 March 2024}} they had three surviving daughters and one son:

• Ada Sophia Cracknell (27 September 1856 in North Adelaide – ) married Ernest Collingwood Colquhoun on 28 August 1885{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13596945 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=14,801 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 September 1885 |accessdate=18 March 2024 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• Edward William Cracknell (born 26 November 1858 – 15 December 1931) was architect and engineer{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19011943 |title=News from Yesterday's Sydney Papers. |newspaper=The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser |volume=XLIX |issue=6897 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=5 July 1892 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} remembered for advocating alternative route for South Gippsland railway line.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203729619 |title=Mr E. W. Cracknell's Death |newspaper=The Age |issue=23,925 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 December 1931 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• Eva Florence Cracknell (29 April 1861{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50017135 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXV |issue=4538 |location=South Australia |date=3 May 1861 |accessdate=18 March 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} – ) married A. C. F. Webb on 23 November 1892{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13887465 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=17,061 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 November 1892 |access-date=18 March 2024 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• Alice Ellen Cracknell (c. 1872 – 13 April 1891)

They had a home "Richmond" on Edgecliffe Road, Sydney

His brother William John Cracknell (died 1 December 1898) was for many years Superintendent of Telegraphs in Queensland.

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Category:1831 births

Category:1893 deaths

Category:People from Rochester, Kent

Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia

Category:19th-century Australian public servants