PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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POST OFFICE TELEPHONES TO 1911
On Thursday March 17th 1881 the Western Daily Mercury announced that the Post Office was to establish a telephone exchange in Plymouth. Their representative, a Mr D Snell, from the Private Wire Department, had been in the area for two days eliciting promises of support. The service would cost each subscriber £14 10s per annum but telegrams would cost only 3d. Mr Snell made a second visit at the end of September 1881 during which he signed up many supporters and announced that an exchange would be open during October. Although it is claimed in official histories that the Post Office opened their telephone exchange in Plymouth on December 15th 1881 it is curious to note that on December 29th 1881, the Western Daily Mercury commented, in reviewing the year in which the Post Office authorities and the United Telephone Company 'quarrelled badly', that 'The Post Office authorities promise that the town shall not be forgotten'. This suggests that the exchange was not, in fact, open at that time. However, it must have opened at some point because the Western Morning News commented on July 17th 1884 that there were now only 42 subscribers to the Post Office exchange and there had never been more than 46 over the past three years. The Post Office Exchange came in for a further mention in the Western Morning News of May 2nd 1885. It states that before their customers would transfer to the new Western Counties and South Wales Telephone Company they had 'expressed a desire that all the privileges granted by the Post-office and some additional ones should be offered them by the limited company...'. This the directors had agreed and the subscribers were now to pay just £12 per annum for a 24-hour service, with free access to all call offices in the Three Towns and free connections with the Post Office, thereby enabling them to send and receive telegrams at any time of day or night. In addition to that service the Company also offered a "domestic" rate of £10 per annum for a service between 9am and 7pm every day except Sundays along with free access to the call rooms. The Company was not operating at that time but was looking to sign up a minimum of 100 subscribers and was offering discount rates: £12 for one year, £11 per annum for four years and £10 per year for seven years. The newspaper commented: 'The telephone is destined to become in England as it is now in America - an absolute necessity for business and domestic comfort'. To which it added: 'But we move very slowly in this country, especially in the western districts'. The Post Office had ceased to operate a telephone exchange in Plymouth by 1890. Althoiugh during 1896 the Post Office took over the trunk system operated by the National Telephone Company, the Company continued to operate the local exchange system. It was not until the General Post Office took over responsibility for the telephone service from the National Telephone Company on January 1st 1912 that they once again operated in Plymouth.
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