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Will Secretaries please keep me updated with all changes, Secretary change,
Venue change, Email Address, ect
East
Midlands & East Anglia Philatelic Federation
21 AUGUST 2010
and
will be held at Girton College, Cambridge.
At
this event will be a one off competition sponsored by Royal Mail. This
competition will be in ADDITION TO THE FEDERATION COMPETITIONS.
The
rules of this competition are: Each entry shall consist of 16 sheets.
Only
one entry shall be eligible from each society.
The
entry shall be THEMATIC in nature.
Entries
will be required at the same time as those entering federation competitions,
details of this will be sent to you at a later date.
Cambridge
Philatelic Society
The Cambridge Philatelic
Society is honoured to host the East Midlands and
East Anglia Federation's Annual Convention in its 90th Anniversary Year.
Past President. The Society
was founded on 22 Oct. 1920 by a group of enthusiastic philatelists in the Cambridge area. Previously, letters had been published in the
local press, and as a result, twenty people attended the inaugural meeting.
At the next meeting on Nov 12th, the first meeting proper, a committee of six
was elected with Dr J.N.Keynes (father of John Maynard Keynes) as President.
The first few meetings were
held in Ram Yard, Bridge St. (the then Cambridge Photographic Society's premises) and subsequent
meetings over the years have been held at the following sites over the years:
-
The Liberal Club, Downing St.
The Sidgwick Rooms, Corn Exchange St.
Y.M.C.A. main hall, Alexandra St.
The Cambridgeshire Technical College
Wesley Schools Hall (1951 - 88)
and currently on first Friday & third Wednesday
Odd Fellows
Hall, 131 Newmarket Rd.,
Cambridge at 7.00pm for 7.30pm.
The society hosted The
Philatelic Congress of Great Britain at Trinity College in 1980 and several members have served as Chairman
of this body in the past.
Membership from all walks of
life, town & gown has fluctuated over the years as might be expected, and
presently stands at 89. Meetings are
held throughout the year consisting of displays by visiting speakers;
members' displays, competitions plus an annual auction of members' spare
items.
Many members take advantage
of the circulating packet that rarely come to meetings however there is
usually an attendance of up to 30 per meeting.
Several local joint
meetings have been arranged with neighbouring philatelic societies and within
the next 12 months two such meeting are planed.
In addition the society has
a very comprehensive library to which members can view at an evening meeting
or loan books for up to 1 month at a time.
New members are always
welcome, and, if you are interested, please contact our secretary Peter
Morton via our web site www.cambridgephilatelicsociety.co.uk
Ray Revell,
Hon. Web Master
As
I now have Email address for all but one member club, both the Hon Secretary
& Web Master will use this means to contact member club secretary’s
in the future.
Convention 2011 — Fenland Stamp Club
on 9th April 2011 (For the 60th year of stamp collecting in Wisbech).
At
the Trinity Methodist Church Hall
Wisbech PE13-1BL 10am-4pm, Trinity is on Church Terrace very close to
the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, with a car park opposite.
Convention 2012- No offer Yet
Convention 2013- Kings Lynn
Election
of Officers & Committee 2009/10
President
Allan Stringer
Vice
President Gilbert Smith
Hon.
Secretary – Terry Wagg
Hon
Treasurer - Susan Cattermole
Hon.
Youth Officer - Susan Cattermole
Hon.
Comp Secretary - Bill Quirk
Hon.
Web Master - Brian Needs.
Committee
Members
1.
David Belton 2. David Leonard 3. Ray Revell
4.
John Pearce 5.
Next
A.G.M on 13 NOVEMBER 2010
A display in morning at 10.00 am
followed by AGM @ 2.00PM
Committee Meetings 2010
11 September at 10-30am
At the Arbury Centre, Cambridge, CB4 2LD
All Societies please note that the 2011 CONVENTION will be back to April,
so arrange your programme for next year to get your competitions done in
time. (As competition entry form will be required in by
5th March 2011).
East
Midlands & East Anglian Philatelic Federation
Income
and Expenditure Accounts year ending 31 St March 2010
Income
Expenditure
Subs 2010 329.70 Convention 412.95
Donation 25.00
Insurance 117.75
Exchange Pk. 135.33
Competition Exp. 22.76
Raffle 37.00
Hire of Hall 36.00
Competition
6.00
Secretary Exp 37.44
Youth
Officer Exp 100.00
Web Master Exp 29 36
Engraving 8 50
533 03 764
76
Bank Account
Balance at 1St April 2009 346.60
Expenditure 764.76
Transfer from B/S account 250.00
Income 533.03
Balance at 31 March 2010 364.87
Building Society A/C
Balance at 1St April 2009 3949.12
Transfer to currant A/C 250.00
Interest 1.82
Balance at 31St March 2019 3700.94
I have examined the Income and
Expenditure Account for the year ended
31St March 2010 together with the book and vouchers of
the Federation
I certify that to the best of
my knowledge and belief the book and accounts
of the Federation are in
order.
P.L. Newlands
Societies Reports
Banbury Stamp Society
Secretary:
John
Davies
3 Longfellow Road
Banbury
Oxfordshire OX16 9LB Telephone:
01295 255831 Email: davies1890@btinternet.com
BANBURY TO HOST FESTIVAL OF STAMPS
Banbury Stamp Society is to
host a major event for stamp collectors in the Autumn as part of the national
Festival of Stamps in 2010. This year
is seeing a year-long celebration of philately across the UK which started with the London 2010 International
Exhibition in May. Banbury’s event will feature the Midland Philatelic
Federation Autumn Convention annual competitions and a Stamp & Postcard Fair. It will take
place on SATURDAY 23rd OCTOBER
2010 at BROUGHTON HALL, BANBURY SCHOOL, Ruskin Road, Banbury, OX16 9HY from 10.00am
– 4.00pm. There will about 20 stamp dealers taking part.
There is also a limited quantity of
rooms available for Specialist Societies who wish to arrange a regional
meeting. Refreshments will be available all day. Ample free parking is
available to visitors. There is also a Railway Station at Banbury on the
Chiltern Line (Marylebone – Birmingham) for those travelling by train.
Free Valuations of stamps
and postal history will be available from Midlands expert valuer, Tony Lester, for anyone thinking of selling all or
part of their collection. There is also a Design a Stamp Competition for
children (under 18) being run in association with some local schools with the
prize of a Penny Black for the winner.
Commenting on plans for the
Festival, Chairman. Leslye Dunkley said “It will be an event not to be
missed for all new and experienced philatelists. There will be some displays by some of the
leading collectors in the Midlands. It will be a great opportunity to meet fellow
collectors, buy some new items for your collections and learn more about the
hobby.”
Secretary, John Davies
added “We have invited some of the top Societies in the UK to take part in the event including the British
Thematic Association, so there will be some fantastic displays to look
forward to.”
For more information
contact John Davies on davies1890@btinternet.com
or telephone 01295 255831.
Member of THE MIDLAND PHILATELIC FEDERATION, THAMES VALLEY FEDERATION
and THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH PHILATELIC
SOCIETIES
Report from a Cambridge P.S. Member
I was recently invited to
display my glass on stamps Thematic collection at the 15th
Cambridge Glass Fair, Iwas kindly given a table in the foyer on which I had
three frames and 26 sheets.
I tried to tell the story
of glass and some of its uses from the glass kilns with the glass blower and
his team using blow pipes for masking free, moulded and pressed blown items,
to the cutting of lead crystal as shown on stamps from Denmark, Poland and Sweden.
There was Decorative glass
on beakers, decanters, goblets and flasks showing different types of
finishes, wheel and diamond point engraving, overlay and enamelled. Then came
oil lamps with their glass chimneys,. Paintings from well known artists showing
drinking vessels, glass personalities such as Otto Schott and Koloman Moser.
P.H.Q. cards and covers with ships in bottles.
Borosilicate (PYREX) glass
showing different types of laboratory ware. There is a window duty tax
receipt from 1804, stained glass windows with two registered F.D.C. from
Budapest 1972.
Finishing with advertising
with post cards and meter marks, also Cinderella labels for Chippendale glass
with each showing some of their glass and one letter of the word Chippendale
on each label.
A German Woman said she has
seen one of the items shown on a West Berlin stamp in a Cologne museum. The
display had a lot of surprised visitors all day and a lot of questions asked.
Brian Mynott
Cambridge Philatelic
Society.
Report from Fenland Stamp Club
18th September 2010
Fenland S.C. have a Stamp Fair at the Trinity
Methodist Church Hall Wisbech PE13-1BL
10am-4pm, Trinity is on Church Terrace very close to the church of St. Peter
and St. Paul, with a car park opposite.
Report from the Huntingdonshire Philatelic Society
Huntingdonshire Philatelic Society Competition Results
The society held its annual competition on the 26th January. The two judges
Alan Berrisford and Gilbert Smith from the Peterborough Society remarked on
the quality of the entries saying that there were only a few marks separating
them.
AWARDS
Traditional (Lewin Cup)
1st Alan Becker with “ New Zealand Advertising “ issue
Postal History (Hadfield Shield)
1st Alan Becker with Italy- Registered mail from abroad
2nd Bill Gibb with British Consular Post in Lisbon
3rd Bill Gibb with Penny Posts of Kirkcaldy
Aero Philately (Gibbons Partridge Shield)
1st Frank Blincow with Sweden “The flying Post Office
2nd Betty Blincow with “Early Airmails of France”
3rd John Sims with “First regular Airmail England to Australia”
35 Year (35 Year Trophy(
1st John Sims with (Cyprus Refugee stamps)
Novice (Novice Cup)
Frank Blincow with Sweden “ The Flying Post Office”
At the meeting of the society on the 9th February two of their own members
Bill Gibb and John Sims gave displays.
Bill Gibb showed the Virgin Islands The first Post Office was opened in 1878.
The earliest letter he had was one of 1809 sent from Liverpool to Tortola.
Their first stamps were issued in 1866 and we were shown the stamps along
with Proofs and Colour Trials. They joined the Federation of the Leeward
Isles in 1871 and the Universal Postal Union in 1879
Up until 1878 Nissen and Parker held the contract for printing the stamps.
From 1878 up until the reign of George Vth De La Rue printed the stamps.
Along with stamps from the 19th to the 20th century we were shown Censored
Mail, Postal Stationery ,Air Mail Letters and First Day Covers.
John Sims showed us Modern Cyprus Postal History. Which covered the period
from 1960 to date. Rural village postmarks covered the first part of his
display followed by Stamp Booklets and News Paper Wrappers.
Next came Military and Refugee Mail from the Turkish Invasion of 1974 along
with Post War Cancels, slogans and Obligatory Tax Stamps which were added in
addition to the normal postage rates.
Auctioneer Bob Carr from Cambridge Philatelic Auction was our guest
speaker at our meeting on the 23rd February.
He started by turning the tables on us by making us the dealers and
offering us stamps for sale which we had to put a price on that we would be
willing to buy them at. These were expensive stamps with a high catalogue
value or so we were led to believe. Having put a price on them we then found
out that they were either Re
Perforated, Re Gummed, Repaired, Forgeries, or had false cancellations added.
The reason for the false cancellation was that the stamp as a mint copy was
extremely common but as a used one was very rare which was why a false post
mark was added to a mint one. This meant that they were only worth a fraction
of their catalogue value and only useful as a space filler.
It is difficult deciding what shade of colour a stamp is and we were shown
reference sheets of King George VIth high value Commonwealth stamps where all
the shades had been identified.
For the second half of the evening we were shown stamps that had been
submitted to the experts to ascertain whether they were genuine or not. A
certificate can make all the difference if one is trying to sell a rare
stamp.
The last items were three 1965 World Cup Postcards signed by Bobby Moore,
Alf Ramsey and Geoff Hurst.
.
At the meeting of the society on the 23rd March Mike Brindle showed
philatelic items from Belgium.
Their first issue of stamps like Great Britain did not show the country of
origin on the stamp and examples were shown. Many charity stamps were issued
for winter relief and the restoration of Orval Abbey.
Amongst Famous Belgium's featured on stamps were Peter Paul Reubens
(Painter), Adolphe Sax (Inventor of the Saxaphone), Mercartor (Cartographer),
Peter Magritte (Painter) and Queen Astrid.
After the end of the First World War Belgium was given part of the German
Rhineland which consisted of Eupen, Malmedy and St Vita. Examples of mail
sent from Post Offices set up in the regions were shown.
Railway mail cancellation marks and Prisoner of War mail bought a very
interesting evening to a close.
New members are always welcome at any of our meetings for further
information please contact Mr D Birkert on 01480 468037.
Hinckley
& District Philatelic Society
Reports
5th JANUARY, 2010
- Members’ Night
“Take it As Red
The weather on the evening of
this meeting was so bad with heavy snow still falling at 7 p.m. that the meeting
was cancelled. Mick Rose and Richard Flemming (standing in as Chairman for
Bob Storer who was in sunnier climes in Australia
!!) turned up to see if anyone else appeared. Along with the caretaker Mick
and Richard were probably the only persons at John Cleveland that night.
The “Take It As
Red” evening will now be held on the first Informal Evening - the 15
June.
19 JANUARY, 2010
- Auction and Display by Bill
Glover
Because of the cancellation of
the meeting on the 5 January no lots were entered for the Auction part of the
evening.
Also, because of injury, Bill
Glover was unable to give his display. Bill is now recovered and has been to
some subsequent meetings.
As a consequence of the
foregoing, at short notice, our esteemed President, Bill Shepherd entertained
the 37 members and visitor present with 200 plus sheets of his German
collection - this time the emphasis was on military personnel who fought in
both World Wars, including heroic females on both sides of the conflict.
DON’T
FORGET THE SOCIETY FAIR IN OCTOBER
The Date is the 10
OCTOBER, 2010
The Venue is JOHN CLEVELAND COLLEGE
26 JANUARY, 2010
- Members’ Night -
“Heavenly Bodies
With only one week between
meetings there was great anticipation that a mass of entries would be
forthcoming for this meeting. But only five members brought material to
display so Richard Flemming rushed home to rummage through his filing cabinet
and brought some more of his postal history to display. Richard gave a
display of the nine receiving houses of the Devizes Penny Post. This was then
followed by a five frame display of Channel Islands
mail sent to and from France whereby special arrangements had been set up
from the exchange of mail between the Channel Islands
and France without the need for the mail to travel to London.
(Richard does the Meeting
reports for The Posthorn. but as he had gone home to get more material to
fill in the evening he missed the displays o the other entrants. Apologies to
those who have not been mentioned in this report. Editor).
My thanks to Mick Rose for the
following information.
BFPO CLOSURE PLANS
As an apparent cost saving
move the Ministry of Defence has instructed the closure of some Forces Post
Offices (FPO’s) that provided support to the UK
elements of NATO HQ’s. As a consequence savings will also be made to
the cost of the contracts for the movement of mail. These savings have to be
realised by the 30 September, 2010
- the closures will have to be made before or around this date.
The following BFPO locations
will be affected
SHAPE BFPO 26; Brunssum BFPO
28; Ramstein BFPO 109;
Stavangar BFPO 50; Karup BFPO
150; Rome BFPO 65;
Milan
BFPO 61; Lisbon BFPO 6; Valencia
BFPO 62; Norfolk
VA BFPO 63.
9 FEBRUARY, 2010
- Subject Letter ‘J
It is that time of year when members
put their thinking caps on and delve deeply into their collections to try to
come up with an original display (or not so original) to reflect a letter of
the alphabet. This year the letter was “J” and there was a
fantastic response with 12 members displaying one, two or three frames (or
just part of a frame).
As there are so many members
to list I will record them in order of appearance with the title of the
display.
Bill Shepherd
Germany
with a “J”
Bob Storer Jungle
Book and Just So Stories
Bob Mason Jersey and
the Occupation
Terry Tompkins Journey Into Space
Roger Simmons Jubilee Issues of Great
Britain
Roger Bucknall Jamboree
Derek Moseley John Cabot
Richard Flemming Jersey
Handstarnps
Antony Bishop Jets
Rebecca Mansfield Jersey Birds
Issue
Roy Butler Jazz and Jungle
Roger Holmes Jets
Many thanks to all who took
the trouble to put on a display. Without your efforts there would not be a
Members Evening. Next year the letter will be “K” so there must
be lots of members who can put nine sheets together. King Edwards VII
and VIII, King Georges V and VI, Kipling, Krage cancels, Kangaroos. Kites,
Kestrels, Killer Whales, Kenya,
etc., etc., are just a few suggestions.
9 MARCH, 2010
- COMPETITION NIGHT
Competition Night is a time
for members to delve deeply into their collections to try to put an entry
together for judging at the Annual Competition of the Society. In total, 11
members entered twenty displays for the seven classes. Please note that three
of the classes only had one entry, although Cohn Searle, the judge on the
night, said that they were very good displays.
Two classes attracted five
entries (Thematics and Postal History) and one class (Foreign stamps)
achieved four entries. Bill Shepherd played safe with the Caldecote Trophy
for Transport by providing all three entries for judging - surely there must
be a member who is into “transport” as a thematic collection to
challenge Bill next year.
The award for the classes with
appropriate marks are provided below:
JON BAKER MEMORIAL TROPHY
(Thematic)
1 Roger Holmes Adolf
Hitler. etc. (74%)
2 Roger Holmes SS
Great Britain
(71%)
3rd Avril Butler Whales
(68%)
RAY
BEAL CUP (Postal History)
1st Richard Flemming St.Malo
Handstarnps on CI Mail 1776-1842 (88%)
2 Chris Hailstone Tanganyika
Government Airmail Service (85%)
3rd Charles Burford Post Due
Marks of Chile
(81%)
SILVER SALVER (Foreign Stamps)
1 Charles Burford Chile
- Presidents’ Series (98%)
2 Paul Clarke Rhodesia
(78%)
3 David Black Bolivar
(68%)
MERVIN WALLACE TROPHY (Great
Britain)
1st Richard Flemming
Independent Issue Jersey 1969 (82%)
KEN RATHIERIIAM CUP (Novice
entry of 6 sheets)
1st Bob Storer Just
So Stories (75%)
SID
SEARS TROPHY (Social Philately)
1St Bill Shepherd Unification
of Germany
(70%)
CALDECOTE TROPHY (Transport)
1st Bill Shepherd TPO’s of Germany
(72%)
1St Bill Shepherd German Motor Industry (72%)
3 Bill Shepherd German
Steam Engines (70%)
A big thank you to those who
helped to set up the rooms with frames so that we could get the show on the
road. A big thank you also to Cohn Searle who kindly gave up his time to come
and judge the entries for us.
All the foregoing Meeting
Reports have kindly been supplied
by Richard Flemming. the
Society Archivist.
23 MARCH 2010
- JAMAICA
by DENNIS CHARLES WORTH
This evening we were
entertained to a wonderful display by Dennis Charlesworth of Jamaican
material. Dennis explained that he has been collecting stamps and postal
history since 1946 and is now a keen member of the British
West Indies Study Circle.
Dennis explained that Jamaica
was discovered by Christopher Columbus in approximately 1492. The next point
of interest in the history of Jamaica
is that it was taken over by the British, from the Spaniards, in 1655. Twenty
years later letters were beginning to be sent from London
to Jamaica
and vice versa, usually on official business. In 1695 letter forwarding
agents became established in Bristol
for the transfer of letters to Jamaica;
by 1702 the Dunner Mail Packet Service had started. However, by 1711 this
service went bankrupt and from then until the 1750s mail was transported
across the Atlantic by either naval or merchant ships.
Dennis showed early post
cancellations, including Montego Bay, Lucea Falmouth,
Lacovia, Green Pond and Spanish Town.
Two early Ship Letters were also displayed, one sent via Dover
and the other via Cork. This was
followed by a nice example of the Ship Letter/Jamaica handstamp. Dennis then
showed examples of the Too Late and Late Fee applied to mail from Jamaica
to the British Isles. By 1840 handstamps were
introduced showing the postal rates and by 1858 British stamps were being
used cancelled with the Jamaica AOl barred “killer”, again Dennis
showed examples of both. In 1860 Jamaica
got its own stamps and examples of various stamps used on mall were shown.
Interestingly, a 1d bisect was used for the newspaper rate as no ½ d stamp was available.
The last section before the
interval included examples of soldiers’ mail. squared circle handstamps
(two designs), “To Pay” marks, Jamaica
rail covers. “War Stamp” overprints and the 1920s slogan
handstamps.
Following the interval Dennis
opened with the 1932 Jamaican pictorial issue, George Vth Silver Jubilee and
George VIth Coronation. In 1938
new definitives were issued
which were also included in stamp booklets. World War II saw Americans on Jamaica
as part of the “Lease Lend” programme which produced its own
postal history. Jamaica
was also set up to receive Prisoners of War (POWS) (Germans and Italians) which
again produced its own unique mail requirements (postal stationery,
handstamps, etc.). Obviously, British servicemen were required to look after
the POWs and a forces air mail service was established.
In 1945 Jamaica
had a new constitution and Dennis showed stamps from that period and also the
1952 International Boy Scout Camp stamps. Dennis also explained about the
airmail service being established in 1921, with mail being sent via Haiti
and an American naval team. Mail was also flown between Jamaica-Trinidad and
Jamaica-Cuba (not via Miami).
Examples of Zeppelin mail from the 1st, 3 and 10 flights were also displayed
and by 1937 experimental flights, with a variety of cachets to support those
flights, were being tested between Jamaica.
the other West Indies Islands
and the USA.
At the end of the evening Bob
Storer kindly gave the vote of thanks. Richard Flemming, Archivist.
13 APRIL, 2010 - THE CRIMEAN WAR by DAVID HOOD
Again those members present
were entertained by a quality display and talk. This week it was David Hood
showing his extensive collection of Crimean War postal history and ephemera
and giving an enlightening talk on the history of the Crimean War 1854-56. I
am sure that we can remember some of the action from our history lessons at
school; the Charge of the Light Brigade and the Siege of Sevastopol to name
but two, but there was so much more to the conflict as explained by David.
David explained that at the
time of the Crimean War, mail to this area via the Mediterranean
Sea was non-existent, and how we had to rely on the French
packet mail service for the sending and receipt of letters. Initially the
rate to send a letter was lid but this was soon reduced to a concessionary
rate of 3d (30 centimes) for a letter <½oz and a registered letter was
1/6d. Mail travelled via Southampton-Calais-Lyon-Marseilles Crimea. This was
supported by David displaying two Post Office Notices regarding the sending
and receiving of mail from Crimea. Mail was cancelled
initially by a cipher obliterator. This lasted for 4 months, and was replaced
by the famous “OXO” obliterator. This was later replaced by a
London Inland Numeral Cancel together with a London P0 backstamp POST
OFFICE/BRITISH ARMY/Date/Code letter (either A, B or C). David was able to display
one cover with the type 1 cipher, two covers with the “OXO”
cipher and letters with the Post Office backstamp showing A, B and C codes.
One letter was from Queen Victoria
to one of the senior officers in the Crimea
complaining about her baker saying that he cannot make bread rolls.
David was also able to show a
cover that was sent at the earlier lid rate that went via Athens.
This was followed by several letters at the 3d and 6d double letter rates,
including a letter from a junior officer to his sister describing in graphic
detail the Battle of Balaclava and the Charge of the Light Brigade. It was
interesting that David was able to explain what happened to a lot of the
senders and receivers of these letters.
This was particularly so in
the second half where many of the letters spoke of personal tragedy,
conditions at Crimea, battle scenes and the effects of
disease. Several letters were from soldiers at Scutari hospital, made famous
by Florence Nightingale. one inscribed by the soldier’s mother that
‘he is now gone’ (died) soon after she received the letter. One
letter home was from an unfortunate officer who was being dismissed from the
army because of a stolen £50 from a regiment’s pay issue. He (the
officer) said that he knew who stole the money but could not prove it and, as
a consequence, he was feeling so wretched at being made culpable for the
loss. Finally. David showed examples of railway letters arid letters talking
about the armistice.
At the end of a very
interesting evening Bob Storer gave the vote of thanks.
Richard Flemming, Archivist.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE POST
OFFICE
- from 1558 to the Present Day
- PART 5
Postal Mechanisation
Preparing mail by hand for
despatch has always required large numbers of sorters, resulting in a heavy
wage bill for the Post Office. The proportion of income spent on labour rose
after WWII and prompted research into the introduction of machines to do the
work. As a result machines exist which separate packets from letters and long
letters from short: turn letters round so that all stamps are in the same
corner; and sort letters to at high speed.. These are fully automatic
machines requiring only to be fed and cleared. Postal codes, which can be
“read” by machines make the system even more efficient.
The Telegraph Service
The first practical telegraph
instrument in this country was given a trial between Euston and Camden
Town railway stations in 1837. In
1839 a regular telegraph service, the first public telegraph in the world,
was opened between Paddington Station in London
and Slough in Buckinghamshire. The service was quite
expensive and it was some years before it became popular. Until the I 920s
most telegrams were sent by “morse”, a code introduced by Samuel
Morse who was closely connected with early telegraphic experiments. The
teleprinter replaced morse senders on the inland service.
In 1851 the first under-water
telegraph cable was laid between England
and France,
followed by another from England
to Belgium in
1853. In 1858, after an earlier attempt had failed, a cable was laid under
the Atlantic from Ireland
to Newfoundland. Queen Victoria
and President Buchanan of the United States
exchanged messages. It was 1866 before the first really serviceable cable was
laid between the same two points.
Until 1868 the telegraph service
was largely in the hands of private companies, but in that year the
Postmaster General acquired the whole of the inland telegraph system.
Overseas telegraphic communications, except for cross-channel cables to the
Continent, which were controlled
by the Post Office, were still
operated by privately-owned companies. In 1950 the operation within the
United Kingdom of Cable and Wireless Ltd., was transferred to the Post
Office.
The Telephone
Like the telegraph, the
telephone owes its development to the Post Office and partly to the
enterprise of private companies. But in 1912 the Post Office acquired the
responsibility for almost the whole of the telephone service. The first
practical telephone was demonstrated to Queen Victoria
at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight in 1878 by its
inventor Graham Bell, a Scotsman who had settled in America.
About a year later the telephone service was established in this country.
The new service grew rapidly
leading to the steady development in opening up new lines. 1891 saw the first
telephone call between the UK
and Paris. In 1926 London
was established as the International Telephone Centre.
Early telephone exchanges were
operated by hand, but they quickly became automated. In the early part of 1963,
International Subscriber
Dialling was introduced,
allowing London subscribers to
dial direct to Paris.
Conclusion
This brief survey has shown
that the Post Office is always changing; absorbing new ideas, developing new
techniques, meeting new challenges. Under Queen Elizabeth I a start was made
towards centralising the postal system which, in turn led to more and more
changes; changes which are still happening today.
THE
END
Up Dated 27th July 2010
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