TELEGRAMS

Before the telephone and for many years after the instruction of the telephone, the Telegram was really the only public service for sending information to a remote location.  There were many early devices such as fires, flags, semaphore signals etc but these were mainly for military purposes.  Telegrams and later the Telex service was a public service and was seen as a legal contract, as if a letter had been sent.  A Telegram could be traced due to all internal transactions being time stamped.

Nothing had more urgency than a telegram, as it is normally signed for by the receiver with the telegram itself being a message with legal document status.

As the system was work force dependent, trying to cut costs was a big issue and the telegram service was always expensive, but it was also dependable with many telegrams being received within one hour in the UK.  The service became world wide, but this was expensive due to high charges made by the companies who owned the interconnecting cable routes across the globe.

So, how did Telegrams work?

1. The sender would either go to a Post Office, where the counter clerk would write the message onto a form, or when telephone use reached a high level they could call the Phonogram Service and dictate the message.  In large Post Offices the customer could write the message, as a table was made available for this purpose.

2. Payment was by purchase of stamps which were affixed to the form, or in the case of a Phonogram, an account would have been opened.

3. Using the form, the sending Post Office would either use a Telegraph machine, Telephone or Teleprinter to send a message to the local telegraph office.

4. The local telegraph office would then resend the message to the receiving Post Office, maybe via other telegraph offices.  In the case of international telegrams the Central Telegraph Office in London handled all these.

5. Eventually the telegram would reach the local telegraph office which would probably be a Post Office and the message would be printed automatically or written onto a paper strip.

6.  The paper strip would be gummed to a Telegram form  (or special greeting form if specified) and then sealed in an envelope.

7. A Telegram boy would be dispatched to the address on the envelope.

8. On delivery, the Telegram boy would ask if there was a reply and if there was, he would accept payment and then take the message back to his local office.

The service was very efficient and quick, as the boys only normally delivered one telegram at a time and Telegrams were dispatched as soon as they were received by the receiving Post Office.

Special greetings telegrams were introduced in 1935 and even though they were popular they did not stop the decline in the service.  By the 1980's the system was running at a loss and the business was restructured, which reduced the services provided and which allowed a reduction in staff and costs.  The "Telemessage" was introduced in 1981 and these costs £3 for up to 50 words, plus VAT.  These could only be phoned in up to 8pm on Mondays to Saturdays and were delivered anywhere in the UK by first post the next working day.  The original Telegram service finally closed in April 1983.  The Telemessage service was closed by BT in July 2003 and sold to Telegrams Online.

It is rumoured that Spike Milligan, who had an upstairs office in his house, once telegrammed his wife to make him a cup of tea!

Phonogram Service
Telegram boys
Telegram forms

A large Post Office with a Telegram counter
There is a table for writing the Telegram on a form, the form is then taken to the window on the left
Note the Telegram boy at the counter, the telephone cabinet at the rear for making calls and the post box for normal mail

The pictures below are from large Telegraph offices

Morse operator sending a Morse message of the telegram
The Morse tapper can just be seen below the form, he is holding
Picture taken 1934

Morse operator sending a Morse message
Note the sounder, which is in a rotatable silence hood, called a sounder screen
The sounder is used to hear incoming Morse messages
Picture dated 1934

Message received on a Creed Teleprinter
The operator retrieves the paper tape with the message printed on it
Picture dated 1934

Message received on a Creed Teleprinter
The operator wets the gum on the retrieved tape
Picture dated 1934

Message received on a Creed Teleprinter
The operator sticks the gummed tape onto the telegram form that will be delivered
Picture dated 1934