EARLY DAYS OF THE TELEGRAPH SERVICE
Before the General Post Office was given the monopoly for the Telegraph Service by Act of Parliament in 1869 there were several private companies providing a limited service nationally. In June 1846 an Act of Parliament the first commercial service was established by the Electric Telegraph Company.
Other Telegraph Services were provided by the various Railway Companies and after a further Act of Parliament in 1850 The Magnetic Telegraph Company, the British and Irish Telegraph Company and several smaller companies were formed.
The E.T.C. had by March 1864 opened offices at 1, Millstone Lane Leicester and the Midland Railway Station in Campbell Street.
A picture of one of the E.T.C. Messengers was kindly sent to me by Harry Robinson a Ex Messenger from Hull in Yorkshire. The pouches worn by the E.T.C. messengers were adopted for use by the G.P.O. when they took over the National Service as they were considered better than the small bags used by their own boys.
A picture of the boys in their mess room at Hull Central Telegraph Office was also provided and a copy of a Telegram sent on 17th November 1859 from Stafford to Hull via the E.T.C. at this time all telegrams were hand written.
In Leicester a rival to the E.T.C. was the United Kingdom Telegraph Company which had an office at 2, Hotel Street Leicester sometime after 1864.
