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The Universal Private Telegraph Company, Limited was formed in 1861 to exploit Professor
distantwriting.co.uk 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011
Archived here.
/ref> The company's first directors were Charles Wheatstone and
Distant Writing telegraph site.
* {{Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom Telegraph companies of the United Kingdom 1861 establishments in England Defunct telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom Telecommunications companies established in 1861 British companies established in 1861
The Universal Private Telegraph Company, Limited was formed in 1861 to exploit Professor Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for di ...
’s 1858 ''Universal Telegraph''. The company was meant to "carry out a system by which banks, merchants, public bodies and other parties may have the means of establishing a telegraph for their own private purposes from their houses to their offices, manufactories or other places".The Universal Telegraph: Lost Future of Telegraphy by Steven Roberts.distantwriting.co.uk 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011
Archived here.
/ref> The company's first directors were Charles Wheatstone and
William Fairbairn
Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet of Ardwick (19 February 1789 – 18 August 1874) was a Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer
Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems ...
, CE, the Manchester ironmaster. It employed Thomas Page as the engineer, Lewis Hertslet as the secretary, and Nathaniel Holmes as the electrician.
Archives
As a nationalised company, the firm's records are now in the British Telecom Archives.Stamps
The company issued a number of stamps which are of interest tophilatelist
Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...
s and are still some of the most common British telegraph stamp
Telegraph stamps are stamps intended solely for the prepayment of telegraph fees. The customer completed a telegraph form before handing it with payment to the clerk who applied a telegraph stamp and cancelled it to show that payment had been ...
s found. It is unclear, however, whether the stamps were ever used as only unused copies are known of. The stamps mentioned the year in the corners. Hiscocks, Steve. ''Telegraph & Telephone Stamps of the World: A priced and annotated catalogue''. Woking: S.E.R. Hiscocks, 1982, pp. 138-139.
See also
*List of historical British telcos
This list of historical British telcos is a list of telecommunications companies that either existed prior to British Telecom's (BT) privatisation, or, if created subsequently to BT's privatisation, took over telecoms networks that existed prior ...
References
External links
Distant Writing telegraph site.
* {{Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom Telegraph companies of the United Kingdom 1861 establishments in England Defunct telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom Telecommunications companies established in 1861 British companies established in 1861