This volume illuminates some of the manifold ways in which Britain’s communication infrastructure affected everyday life in nineteenth-century Britain. Accordingly, it highlights socio-economic, cultural, and material repercussions of selected aspects of mediated communication. It covers:
- The rise and role of the communication worker and the Post Office’s status as Britain’s largest employer as well as pioneering employer of women.
- The campaigns surrounding Sunday labour.
- The connections between new leisure opportunities and activities and new media of communication such as the postcard.
- Concerns about morally suspect uses of new media and technologies of communication, e.g. the use of the telegraph for gambling.
- The presence of changing communication practices in material culture, e.g. the increasing popularity of greeting cards and new types of stationery.
This volume illuminates some of the manifold ways in which Britain’s communication infrastructure affected everyday life in nineteenth-century Britain. Accordingly, it highlights socio-economic, cultural, and material repercussions of selected aspects of mediated communication.
Volume 3: Cultures of Communication
General Introduction
Volume Introduction
Part 1: Professionalism and Communications Work
1.1 Occupational Health
1. Augustus Waller Lewis, Medical Officers Report for the Year 1857, in
Fourth Report of the Postmaster General on the Post Office (London: Eyre and
Spottiswood, 1858), pp. 68-71.
1.2 Telegraph Operator Handbooks
2. R. Bond., extract from Handbook of the Telegraph: Being a Manual of
Telegraphy, Telegraph Clerks Remembrances and Guide to Candidates for
Employment in the Telegraph Service (London: Virtue Brothers & Co. 1862), pp
1-
12.
3. W. McGregor, Questions on Magnetism, Electricity, and Practical
Telegraphy for the Use of Students', in Handbook of the Telegraph (London:
Lockwood & Co. 1873), pp. 140-45.
1.3 Staff Grievances and Protest
4. Strike of Telegraph Clerks, London Evening Standard (9 December 1871),
p. 6
5. The Telegraph Strike, London Evening Standard (14 December 1871), p.
5.
6. A.K. Donald, The Revolt in the Post Office, Time, no. 8, (August 1890),
pp. 861-868.
7. Postal Agitation, Lloyds Weekly Newspaper (13 July 1890), p.
10.
8. Extract from Henry Cecil Raikes, 37th Report of the Postmaster General of
the Post Office (London: Her Majestys Stationery Office, 1891), p.
3.
9. A Postmens Manifesto, Liverpool Mercury, 19 September 1891, p.
5.
10. The Grievances of Telegraph Clerks, Pall Mall Gazette (7 October 1892),
p.
7.
Part 2: Women and Communication Work.
2.1 Women in Telegraphy
11. Female Clerks of the Electric Telegraph Company, The Ladys Newspaper
No. 405 (30 September 1854), pp. 193-194.
12. Womans Work at the Postal Telegraph, Englishwomans Domestic Magazine,
vol. 12, no. 85 (1 Jan. 1872), pp. 23-25.
13. Women in the Civil Service, The Englishwomans Review No. 25 (1 May
1875), pp. 195-202.
14. Post Office Young Ladies, clippings from the Daily Chronicle
a. Letter from A.W.K., Post Office Young Ladies, Daily Chronicle (24
January 1882), n.p.
b. Letter from E. A. S., 25 January 1882, Daily Chronicle, n.d, n.p.
c. Letter from A Business Woman to the Editor of the Daily Chronicle, 25
January 1882), Daily Chronicle
d. Letter from One of the Offenders (28 January 1882)
e. Letter from An Ear-Witness' (28 January 1882)
f. Letter from Fairness (28 January 1882)
g. Letter from An Admirer (28 January 1882)
h. Letter from A Man of Business (28 January 1882)
i. Letter from J. W. S., Postmaster (2 February 1882)
j. Letter from Courtesy (2 February 1882)
15. Illustration: Our Post-Office Pets, Funny Folks: A Weekly Budget of
Funny Pictures, Funny Notes, Funny Jokes, and Funny Stories Vol. 8, No. 376
(11 February 1882), p.
43.
16. Illustration: Post Office Young Ladies, Funny Folks: A Weekly Budget of
Funny Pictures, Funny Notes, Funny Jokes, and Funny Stories Vol. 9, No. 463
(13 October 1883), p.
323.
17. Post Office Young Ladies on Their Good Behaviour, St. Jamess Gazette
(June 14, 1892), p. 12
2.2 Trollope and Young Women at the Telegraph Office
18. Anthony Trollope, The Young Women at the London Telegraph Office, Good
Words 18 (June 1877):
37784.
Part
3. Pensions, Benefits, and Working Conditions
3.1 Pensions and Job Security
19. John Tilley, evidence to the Select Committee on Civil Service
Superannuation, Report from the Select Committee on Civil Service
Superannuation (House of Lords, 1856), pp. 329-332
20. Extract of evidence from Mr Francis Salisbury, Postmaster, Liverpool. in
Minutes of evidence to the report of the Royal Commission on Superannuation
in the Civil Service, together with appendices and index.
1902. Cd. 1745, pp.
102-105. 2845-2878, 2899-2941.
3.2 Sunday Labour
21. Illustration: Sunday Rural Posts (Working Mens Lords Day Association,
c.1866).
22. Edward Capern, The Rural Postman's Sabbath' in Poems by Edward Capern
(London: David Bogue, 86, Fleet Street). 1856, pp. 18-19
23. Extract from Report of the commissioners appointed to investigate the
question of Sunday labour in the Post Office (London: Her Majestys
Stationery Office, 1850), pp. 3-6.
24. Robert K. Grenville, A Letter to the Most Honourable The Marquess of
Clanricarde, Postmaster General, On the Desecration of the Lords Day in the
Post-Office Establishment (Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter, 1850).
25. The Post Office and the Sabbath Question (London: Chapman, 1850).
26. Anon., The Sunday Screw', Household Words, 1.13 (22 June 1858): pp.
289-292
27. The Sunday Mail Day: The Bombay Protest', The Times of India, 8 October
1889, p.
4.
Part 4 Cultural Representations of Communication Work
4.1 Rural Postman
28. Edward Capern, 'The Rural Postman', Poems by Edward Capern (London: David
Bogue, 86, Fleet Street). 1856, pp. 158-164.
4.2 Family and Postal Work
29. Hesba Stretton (alias Sarah Smith), The Postmasters Daughter. All the
Year Round, Vol. 2, no. 28 (5 November 1859), pp.
3744.
4.3 John Critchley Prince, The Postman
30. John Critchley Prince, The Postman, in The Poetical Works of John
Critchley Prince, Vol. 2 (Manchester, 1880), p.
226.
4.4 Rambles of a Pilgrim Reformer
31. Malabari, Behramji M., The Indian Eye on English Life; or, Rambles of a
Pilgrim Reformer (Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company, 1893),
p.142-143.
Part 5: Commerce, Consumerism, and Thrift
5.1 House-top Telegraphs
32. John Hollingshead, House-top Telegraphs, in Odd Journeys in and Out of
London (London: Groombridge and Sons, 1860), pp. 233-245.
5.2 Postal Medicine
33. Pice Packets of Quinine, The Indian Forester, 19:11 (1893), pp.
446-447.
5.3 Parcel Post
34. The Parcels Post, Saturday Review, 56.1449 (4 August 1884), pp.
140-141.
35. Illustration: The Man for the Post, Punch (15 April 1882), page
175.
[ Credit: Mary Evans Picture Library Ltd].
5.4 Thrift
36. Henry Fawcett, The Post Office and Aids to Thrift (London: Her Majestys
Stationery Office, 1881).
5.5 Pryce Pryce-Jones: Mail-Order Pioneer
37. Her Majesty and Welsh Manufacturers, Cambrian News, 12 December 1868,
p.
3.
38. Advert for Pryce-Jones, Kenilworth Advertiser, 29 June 1878, p.
2.
39. Illustration: Cover for the 1893 Catalogue of Pryce Jones, Royal Welsh
Warehouse (Credit: Amoret Tanner /Alamy)
5.6 Shopping by Post
40. Shopping by Post, The London journal, and weekly record of literature,
science, and art, 27.696 (17 April 1897): p.
338.
41. J. Henniker Heaton, Cash on Delivery, or Shopping by Post, The
Nineteenth century and after: a monthly review 54.322 (1903): p. 981
42. Shopping by Post for the Small Man: How Local Shopkeepers Might Make
Money, Answers, (23 September 1905): p.
470.
5.7 Communication and the Commerce of Literature
43. J. C. Loudon, The Effect of a General Penny Post on Periodical
Literature, The Times, 9 May 1839, p.
5.
44. John Chapman, 'The Commerce of Literature', Westminster Review, 57.112
(April 1852), pp. 552-554
45. Rowland Hill, Minute recommending the expediency of still further
facilitating the transmission of Books or other printed matter by means of
the Post Office.
46. J. O. Halliwell, To the Editor of the Times, The Times, 15 May 1851, p.
8 and A Sufferer, Books by Post: To the Editor of The Times, The Times,
19 May 1851, p.
8.
5.8 Telegraph and the Stock Market
47. Gambling by Telegraph, Pall Mall Gazette (26 August 1886), p. 11
Part 6: Learning, Literacy, and Epistolary Etiquette
6.1 Post Office Libraries and Literary Associations
48. Extracts from Proposal to Establish a Post Office Library and Literary
Association and Report of a Meeting to Establish a Post Office Library and
Literary Association (London: Post Office, 1858), pp. 3-35, 44-50.
6.2 Epistolary Etiquette
49. Samuel Johnson, extracts from The New London Letter Writer (London: T.
Sabine, 1790), pp. 9-11, 20, 41-43, 63-65, 74-75.
50. Extract from The Comprehensive Letter Writer (Glasgow: Cameron, Clark &
Co; London: Richard Griffin & Co, 1858), pp. 3-4, 13-14, 18-19,
55.
51. Anon., Certain Attentions in Letter-Writing', Chamberss Edinburgh
Journal, 123 (9 May 1846), p.
304.
52. Anon, Idle Letter-Writing', Chamberss Journal 822 (27 September 1879),
pp. 618-619.
53. The Art of Letter-Writing', Saturday Review 72, 1877 (17 October 1891),
p.
439.
6.3 On the Western Circuit
54. Thomas Hardy, On the Western Circuit, Lifes Little Ironies (London:
Osgood, McIlvaine, and Co, 1894), pp. 89-122.
6.4 Language Learning by Letter
55. How to Learn a Language by Letter, The Review of Reviews, 15 (Jan 1897):
pp. 77-78.
56. Learning a Language by Letter Writing, The Review of Reviews 15 (Feb
1897): p.
181.
57. Learning Languages by Letter-Writing', The Review of Reviews 19 (1899):
p. 93
Part
7. Crime and Scandal
7.1 The Salt-Hill Murder
58. Suspected Murder, The Examiner, 4 January 1845, p.
10.
59. Charles Maybury Archer, Tawell, the Murderer Taken by the Electric
Telegraph, in Guide to the Electric Telegraph (London: W.H. Smith & Son,
1852), pp. 44-47.
7.2 A Case for the Prisoner
60. Edmund Yates, A Case for the Prisoner, All the Year Round, 10.233 (10
October 1863), pp. 164-168.
7.3 Communication and Crime Fiction
61. Hesba Stretton, 'Mugby Junction: No.4 Branch Line: The Travelling Post
Office', in All the Year Round, Volume 14: Christmas 1865 (10 December 1866),
pp. 35-42.
62. A Post Office Case, All the Year Around 17.413 (23 March 1876), pp.
307-312.
63. AED, Trapped by a Telephone, Bow Bells (May 1890), pp. 426-427.
7.4 The Cleveland Street Scandal
64. Illustration: The West End Scandals, some Further Sketches, Illustrated
Police News, 4 December 1889, p.
1.
65. The Scandal of Cleveland Street, Pall Mall Gazette (20 November 1889),
p. 6
Part
8. Romance and Communications
8.1 Post Office Romance
66. F. Arnold, A Tale of the Post Office, Gentlemans Magazine (August
1872), pp. 162-178
67. Margaret Westrup, Trat! Trat!, Quiver, (January 1897), pp.
1035-1038.
8.2 Communication, Marriage, and Family Life
68. Dinah Mulock Craik, An Honest Valentine, Poems (Boston: Ticknor and
Fields, 1860), pp. 37-40.
69. Illustration: Electric Telegraph for Families, Punch (1846)
8.3 Romance by Telegraph
70. C. Sears Lancaster, Valentine or the Electric Telegraph: A Shocking
Story, The Court and Ladys Magazine, Vol. 30 (February 1847), pp. 125-159.
71. Josie Schofield, Wooing by Wire, in Lightning Flashes and Electric
Dashes, Third Edition (New York: W. J. Johnston, 1882), pp. 93-98.
72. William Lynd, Love-Making by Telegraph, The Telegraphist Vol. 1 No. 1
(1 December 1883), p. 4-5.
73. T.S. Clarke, A Lay of the Telegraph Office, St-Martin's-le-Grand: The
Post Office Magazine, 1 (January 1891), p. 94-95.
74. Captain Jack Crawford, Carrie, The Telegraph Girl: A Romance of the
Cherokee Strip, Strand Magazine Vol. 11 (1896), pp. 506-512.
8.4 Telephone Romance
75. By Telephone, Bow Bells, 38 (16 May 1883), pp. 499-500.
Bibliography
Index
Karin Koehler is a Senior Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature at Bangor University. Her research explores the relationship between nineteenth-century literature and connective infrastructure, focusing on Anglophone and Welsh-language material.
Nicola Kirkby held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at Royal Holloway, London (2019-2023), investigating nineteenth-century infrastructure and literary culture. Her works include Railway Infrastructure and the Victorian Novel (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press).
Kathleen McIlvenna is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Derby. Her research focuses on histories of work, health and retirement in Victorian and Edwardian Britain.
Ellen Smith is a historian and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bristol. Her work explores communication cultures in colonial South Asia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Harriet M. Thompson is Visiting Research Fellow in nineteenth-century literature and culture in the Department of English, Kings College London. Her research explores the relationship between communications technologies and print culture.
Eleanor Hopkins is a Senior Policy Adviser in Higher Education & Research at the British Academy. She provides strategic oversight of the Academy's Research & Development (R&D), innovation and skills policy.
