HISTORY OF
| |||||||
| 1882 A vote by the city's businessmen showed only 28 out of its 600 members supported the installation of a telephone service. 1900's Local authorities were asked to bid for telephone licenses. 55 out of 1334 expressed an interest. 1902 Hull Corporation, part of the City Council was granted its first license to operate telephone services in the Kingston upon Hull Area. 1903 The Telephone Committee appointed its first manager to look after the network, Mr T Holme. He had experience of telephone networks as he was financial controller of the Portsmouth Telephone Department. 1904 The Hull Telephone Department opens its first exchange at the former Trippett Street Baths. 1911 Across the UK, the Postmaster General had secured a monopoly by buying out the National Telephone network. Many of the other local authority services had disappeared following bad planning or commercial failure. 1914 On renewal of their telephone license, Hull's bid was conditional on the purchase of National Telephone networks infrastructure at a cost of £192,423. The council approved the purchase and the sole municipally owned corporation survived and prospered. 1947 The first combined classified and alphabetical listing listing was produced . Directory information was transferred from works orders and transposed onto a master copy. Once the annual edition had be sent to print, the department immediately began updating the next copy. 1952 This year saw the launch of Information Services following a request from Cllr. J.M. Stamper. On a visit to Vienna, he can across a recorded children's story service. The Hull Corporation introduced a Christmas Story line with over 18,000 calls from children who could listen to the sound of sleigh bells and a Christmas message from Santa Claus. This service still continues today and has expanded to include recipes, the speaking clock and a guide to local attractions. 1954 To celebrate the Hull Corporation Golden Jubilee in 1954, the Golden Pages, a forerunner to the Yellow Pages', was distributed with the classified section printed on gold paper. 1961 With an ever growing business, the company began the building of Telephone House. Its new headquarters for administrative staff. 1964 The new head office opened its doors for the first time. Facilities included a shop for people to pay their telephone bills. 1987 The Hull City Telephone Department became Kingston Communications (HULL) PLC, a company in its own right. The council still retained its 100% share holding in the company. 1989 The company completed its network conversion to create the first all digital network in the UK. 1999 The Kingston Communications Group makes its debut on the Stock Exchange with a partial flotation. The City Council retains a 44.9 per cent stake in the company. |
|||||||
Last revised: July 23, 2025FM |