In the year of 1873 an Englishman called Willoughby Smith continued the research of the photovoltaic effect when he was examining which materials that were fitted to build a new telegraph circuit to France

Could you correct the punctuation please?
In the year of 1873 an Englishman called Willoughby Smith continued the research of the photovoltaic effect when he was examining which materials that were fitted to build a new telegraph circuit to France.