PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Messrs COX AND WILLIAMSON Although the Post Office made the first move to provide a telephone service to Plymouth it was a private company that became the first telephone operator. An announcement in the Western Daily Mercury for May 25th 1881 told of the trial the previous day of a central telephone exchange installed by Messrs Cox and Williamson in their offices at Bedford Chambers, Plymouth. The exchange was licensed by the Postmaster-General and it linked Mr Sanders Stevens on the Barbican with Messrs Fox, Roy & Company in Old Town Street and Messrs Fox & Sons in Hoe Gate Street. The switch-board was capable of dealing with thirty subscribers. Those within half a mile of the Exchange paid £15 per annum, with a maximum of £25 for up to 2 miles. Discussions were under way about linking the Exchange with the Central Telegraph Office. Less than a month later, on June 21st 1881, the Western Daily Mercury reported that ‘There have been several ineffectual attempts to establish a Telephonic Exchange in Plymouth, but from what we hear, it seems very probable that at last all the difficulties have been overcome, and within a month from date the telephone will be in active operation in the Three Towns’. As if to dispel any anxieties the business community might have, just two days later, on Thursday June 23rd 1881, an advert appeared in the Western Morning News stating that the Telephone Exchange, Bedford Chambers, Plymouth, was 'now in full operation and additional subscribers are being received daily'. Furthermore, it said: 'This is the only Exchange that is licensed by Her Majesty's Government for the Three Towns and Suburbs'. It was not long before Messrs Cox and Williamson were looking to expand their network into Devonport and Mutley. On July 9th 1881 they announced the opening of branch exchanges at 1 St Aubyn Street, Devonport, and at the Post Office, North Hill, for the Mutley and Mannamead districts. Wires were to be run from them to the Central Exchange at Bedford Chambers. Read the list of subscribers to the Cox and Williamson Exchange.......... On December 29th 1881, the Western Daily Mercury commented that 1881 had been a year when Messrs Cox and Williams and the United Telephone Company 'came into serious collision'.
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