The Development of Telecoms - Stoke on Trent

According to an interesting article by Factory Night @ Old Telephone Exchange, Stoke-on-Trent * until 1861, the only means of sending a “wire” was from Stoke Railway Station. 

In 1862, the United Kingdom Electrical Telegraph Company succeeded in obtaining permission from Parliament to lay lines to all parts of the UK and in that same year Manchester was connected to Harecastle. By November 1862, a line was brought from Stoke to Hanley Railway Station; this office then moved to premises in Fountain Square. By 1863, telegraph offices had been opened throughout the Potteries with the exclusion of Fenton.

During the latter part of the 19th century, the popularity of the telephone grew. In 1890, there were 211 subscribers in the area and all the main police stations had been connected. The telephone was still a great novelty and on a Sunday in April, 1891, the National Telephone Company invited people to their premises in Cheapside to listen to a church service from Birmingham; 40 receivers were used for the occasion.

As the system developed, so did the need for such a means of communication. By 1899, the National Telephone Company, recognising its essential role in the everyday life of the Potteries, decided to build a new and much larger exchange. For this purpose it acquired approximately 600 square yards at the corner of Marsh Street and Mill Street (Trinity Street). The National Telephone Company’s directory of 1904-5 covered all the country and the number of subscribers in the Potteries and district was about 2,200.

Continued improvements saw the introduction of the 999 emergency service, inaugurated in the City by the Lord Mayor, Mr. Peter Williams, from his parlour in Stoke Town Hall, during his term of office in 1945-6.

Almost half the telephones in this compact area covering 803 square miles were concentrated in Arnold Bennett’s well known “Five Towns” in which pottery, coal, iron and steel were produced.

The area includes Leek, centre of the North Staffordshire silk trade; Crewe, the famous railway town and Stafford, the county town whose main industry was heavy engineering. The remainder of the area is agricultural and in the North East, the beautiful moorland country is a favourite haunt of ramblers.

In 1950, the Post Office had 74 exchanges, 60 of which were automatic, 25,883 exchange lines, 44,398 stations and a total staff of 816 including 648 engineering

* Rednile.org. 2022. Factory Night @ Old Telephone Exchange, Stoke-on-Trent, Factory Nights 2009-10 available at: - http://www.rednile.org/factory-nights/old-telephone-exchange-stoke-on-trent/