Bell's telephone in operation Size:M: 60 x 45cm Thompson wears a blue sash

Thompson wears a blue sash and a just-visible decoration

1854-1855 (c1850s)

Bully Dawson was a notorious gambler

and the other in the possession of Mr

Bell's telephone in operation Size:M: 60 x 45cm Thompson wears a blue sash'Bell's telephone in operation', late 19th century. Scottish born American inventor Bell (1847 1922) filed the patent for his telephone at the United States Patent Office at 3pm on 14 February 1876, just 2 hours before a rival device developed by Elisha Gray. In 1878 he demonstrated the telephone to Queen Victoria at her residence, Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight. On the evening of 14 January 1878 contact was made with nearby Osborne Cottage and