Working at the Post Office

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Sub-Postmasters and Mistresses  at other Post Offices 

West Cross Post Office 

Due to the expanding population and the growth of tourism in the area, more post offices were opened.  The Kelly’s Directory of 1884 records Mary Ann Nicholas as ‘sub-postmistress at West Cross’. By 1891, she had been succeeded by Harriet Waring, wife of the Collector of the Poor Rates for Oystermouth, aged 38 who accompanied by her daughter, Mary Ann as Post Office Clerk,  ran the  business from their home on the seaward side of Mumbles Road, a few doors from The Currant Tree Inn. By 1906, Miss Edith Pencroft had taken over from Mrs Waring and by 1914, was succeeded in turn by Miss Gertrude Maslen, who ran the post office from her home a little further towards Mumbles, at Albion Cottage, West Cross.  

By the 1940s, the Evans family were running the West Cross Post  Office from their home in Spring Gardens (now occupied by the  Baywash Launderette). 

In the early 1950s, their daughters, Hilda Pelham and Peggy Ladums transferred the business and, with their husbands, Ron and Don, ran it from 13, Alderwood Road, West Cross, one of a brand new row of shops.  In addition, they had a kiosk at West Cross railway station, open for an hour or two each morning, selling papers to people travelling to work. 

Newton Post Office

 Newton villager, Charles Williams opened his post office on Newton Road a few doors down from The Rock and Fountain in 1885, when his premises was described as ‘grocer and baker, post office, maker of Smith’s patent Hovis Bread. (Hovis was a shortened name taken from ‘Hominis Vis’— strength of the man).’ By 1901, Mary Bevan was the The new West Cross Post Office sub-postmistress living there with her husband, James, an insurance agent and three children. 

 Norton Post Office

In 1937, Mrs. G. Morgan opened a new post office in Norton on Castle Road adjacent to Raddon’s Forge and was succeeded for a short while by William Roderick. 

Postal Staff

Various postwomen were employed by James Orrin through the years – Mary Jones, (his sister-in-law), Mary Davies of Hall Bank, Mary Rosina Gebhardt (later to run the Southend Post office) and postman, Francis Pond. James may have been given an allowance to pay his staff instead of them being paid directly by the General Post Office.   Near neighbours to the Orrins were the Thomases of Somerset House, who all worked for the Royal Mail — William, 18 was a postman, his sister, Margaret, a post girl, who later worked for the Orrins and their brother Thomas as a telegraph boy from the age of 14.   

The 1891 census confirms that John Edwards, 23, of Park Street was a postman, Frederick Gibbs aged 16 of  Landsowne Place, was a Letter Carrier; John Bisco of Longfield Cottage,   Norton and William Tucker of the Caswell area were post office Clerks.   

In July 1919, the Mumbles Press announced that ‘Miss Mary Davies who has been a postwoman for forty-four years has been suitably   recognised by the Postmaster General on her retirement.’ During the Second World War, Fred Mitchell of Chapel Street worked as a Postie during the day and along with this role, served in the evenings as Company Sergeant Major in the Mumbles Home Guard. 

Uniform

 In major towns, postmen might have been issued with uniforms comprising a frock coat, which had previously been predominantly red (hence they sometimes came to bear the nickname ‘robin’). But from 1861, the coats were blue, with red collar, cuffs and facings, emblazoned with G.P.O and their  identification number on the shoulder. The post-ladies were not issued with uniforms until the outbreak of war in 1914, when more of them were needed to take on the jobs vacated by the men. These comprised a blue serge skirt, coat and blue straw hat. In 1929, the straw hats were replaced by a felt ‘slouch’ hat and in 1941, by a peaked felt cap plus, for the first time,       trousers, which may have been worn by Mollie Palmer and Maudie   Webborn, two of the post-ladies then working the Mumbles ‘round.’   

Wages

  In May 1917, the Postmaster General revealed that, ‘it has been decided to pay the supplementary employees . . . the war bonus paid to the permanent staff hands. All hands, male and     female will get a bonus of 5 shillings from 1st January, with the exception of those who are . . . not yet 18, who will get the same amount, but only from May.’ By 18 September 1917 the Cambrian Daily Leader was reporting that ‘post office servants are making a demand for their present war bonuses to be converted into wages and raised to 15 shillings a week for every full-time employée male or female.’ 

Money Orders

Had been instituted in 1856 in values of up to £5 as a safe way to transport money. Postal orders were launched in 1880, with denominations from one shilling to twenty shillings, plus a charge from ½d to 2d and necessitated a date stamp. One could make the amount up to any interim sum by affixing postage stamps to the order. There was a bewildering array of official forms, such as the Blue Savings Bank or the Postal Order abstract. The cash was kept in a drawer divided into three for the gold, silver and copper coins to be stored separately (paper money was rarely seen) and counted at the end of each day, when the totalled amounts were filled in on a cash account sheet. 

Parcel Post

Although there had been a private parcel service for many years, it was not within the reach or finances of the  ordinary person. When in 1880, Henry Fawcett became Postmaster General, he believed that the Post   Office should provide a parcel service in addition to its other duties. Called the ‘Inland Parcels Service,’ it began on 1 August 1883, following negotiations with the railway companies, which had agreed to carry parcels in return for 55% of the gross postage value. Each post  office    counter was issued with a scales, sealing wax to seal the string and cork hand-stamps to postmark the stamps on the parcels. Following its largely faultless introduction, the main problem according to Mr. Fawcett was that of ‘the public inexperience in the art of packing!’   

Postmen on bikes had begun to be seen delivering mail in 1880. The parcel post was introduced initially with a 7lb weight limit, the charge for postage being 3d per pound up to 1/- for 7lbs. This meant a heavier and slower delivery time for the letter  carriers and their job description then changed from being that of ‘Letter Carrier’ to ‘Postmen/women.’ Additionally, the popularity of postcards led to problems for the Letter Carriers as this ‘had thrown an immense amount of work onto them,’ which was compounded by ‘the   unwillingness of many recipients to attach letter boxes to their premises,’ consequently causing delays in the deliveries. 

During the Great War, the Government implemented the ‘Separation Allowance’ payments, to be paid through the Post Office to the wives of men who had left to go on active service. The allowance amounted to 12s..6d per week  for the wife, 15s..0d for the wife and one child and 2s..0d for each additional child. For the    bereaved widows and orphans of post office workers, there was assistance from the ‘post office relief fund,’ to which other post office employées were encouraged to donate. 

Postboxes on the Railway

With the increased use of the postal service, in 1896, it was decided  to install posting boxes on the Mumbles Railway  coaches, which would be cleared at Rutland Street station and the mail transferred quickly and securely to the main post office in Wind Street, ‘a convenience highly appreciated by business people.’ This service remained in operation until the line was electrified in 1929. 

Collections and Deliveries

 The Mathew’s Directory of 1816 recorded that ‘the post goes out from the Mackworth Arms Inn in Wind Street, Swansea which had taken delivery earlier from the London Mail Coach, (every day) the Cambrian Post Coach (Monday, Wednesday and    Friday) or the General Picton Post Coach (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday), but is only delivered to Gower including Mumbles on  Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Outgoing post from Mumbles was sent in the evening on the relevant days. 

By the 1840s in Mumbles, Mary Jones was taking care of one collection and one delivery of post per day. By 1865, there were two deliveries at 6.45 am and 3.15 pm and three dispatches 9.45am, 1.45pm and 5.15pm every day to and from James Orrin’s post office. This had increased to three of each by 1869, much of it transported on the horse-drawn    Mumbles train. It was estimated that the cost of this was £40 p.a. By 1895, there were four deliveries and three dispatches per day.  The frequency was the same at the other post offices, but the times differed slightly. The Kelly’s 1901 directory notes that there was a 7am collection and a 6.35am dispatch of post on Sunday.  

By 1950, post offices on ordinary working days were open from 8.30am until 6.30pm, Mondays to  Saturdays, 9am until 10.30am on   Sundays and 9am until 12 noon on bank holidays. During the week, there were five collections from post boxes throughout the day and one on       Sundays. The records also show that there was even one delivery of letters and parcels on Christmas Day, Good Friday and Bank Holidays, with the exception of Boxing Day.  

The incoming post was sorted by the Postmaster/mistress and given to each postman/woman for delivery to each house. Hours for all the employées were long and started when the early morning post arrived and carried on until 8pm, although there might be breaks throughout for meals. However during October 1915, it was announced that ‘because of the restrictions in the illumination of streets and houses and the consequent danger in effecting the delivery of correspondence after dark, the last postal delivery will be made from Monday next at 4pm instead of 6pm.’ This service continued until September 1923, when post office vans were   introduced in Swansea instead and were first used on the Mumbles route that year.   

Occasionally, the counter staff might be asked to write a letter for people who were nervous of writing one themselves or reading incoming mail for those who could not read. 

In the 1950s, Eunice Brain lived with her mother in Dunns Lane and it became the custom for the Postie commencing his ‘round’ at the sorting office, to enter through their front door and exit their back one, on his way to his deliveries in Walters Crescent and beyond, sometimes perhaps stopping for a quick cuppa!  

The Great War was to usher in many, albeit temporary, changes in the operation of the postal service. In 1914, every male employée in Britain was sent a letter encouraging them to enlist and by December of that year, 28,000 had done so. Many local lads enlisted, among them Alfred Morgan, employed in the Swansea Post Office, who joined the Royal Engineers. He would be one of 36,000 United Kingdom postal workers  serving in the fighting forces by 1915. As the Postmaster General said in his speech to the House of Commons in July 1915, ‘it is planned to increase the numbers by the release of sorters, labourers and postmen desirous of enlisting . . . labour deficiencies to be made good by employing women and men not fit for the army. But those measures are for the duration of the war only . . . there was to be special leave for postmen obtaining harvest work.’  

Llais Llafur of 15 March 1919 believed that ‘it is very unlikely that the full postal service in force before the war will ever be resumed on the old scale. The object of this is to secure better and more regular working hours for postmen.’ 

Tragedies

On Saturday 9 September 1893, when after watching the Regatta at Southend, sub-postmaster, James Orrin began to walk home along the track of the Mumbles Railway and fell into a tank of boiling water at Southend station. This was a receptacle situated between the tracks to catch the boiling water from the steam train on its arrival at its terminus (Southend at that time). The Cambrian reported on the inquest, which was held at Mumbles Police Station, commenting that ‘his death has cast a gloom over the quaint little seaside resort.’ Prior to the hearing, Sergeant Meyler had empanelled a jury, which first went to inspect the water tank, before convening at the Police Station for a hearing in front of the Deputy district Coroner, Mr. Talfourd Strick. Following statements from various witnesses, a verdict of ‘Accidental Death’ was given. The funeral was held on 14 September at Oystermouth Cemetery. 

In 1910,  two artillery men, Walter Andrews, aged 29 and Raymond Wheeler,  aged 26,  had been to the mainland from the Fort on the lighthouse island, to post some letters and were trying to return there, when their boat overturned and they drowned.  

In July 1908, William Devonald of 13, Gloucester Place was killed while  trying to board a train at Swansea Gaol. He had only recently started work at the Swansea Post Office as a trainée telegrapher and had ‘not yet received his uniform.’  

The Telegraph Service

 Methods of communication were now starting to change for ordinary people and one of the new inventions of the day was soon to come to the post offices at Mumbles village.  

The Cambrian reported on 17 March 1871, that George Grant Francis (Mayor of Swansea back in 1854) had written to the Postmaster General asking that a post office telegraph  system be installed in Mumbles.  He wrote, ‘I was greatly disappointed on going to the post office to find that it could not send a message of importance . . . I can hardly imagine that you would willingly permit such an important place as this [Mumbles]  . . . the Roadstead . . . oyster fishery . . . limestone trade . . . Fort and Coastguard Station . . . visitors and rapidly expanding population . . . to remain without such a facility.’ By July, a letter had been received announcing ‘the start of a telegraph extension to Mumbles’ In 1872-3, the Postmaster General was authorized to pay the Duke of Beaufort (the owner of the shoreline)  two guineas per annum ‘for the right to erect telegraph poles and wires between Blackpill and  Mumbles’. The remains of these poles can still be seen below the sea wall at Oystermouth.   

The Docks telegraph office, which also served Mumbles, had been opened in Gloucester Chambers in 1867. The Post offices of James Orrin and William Jones and later, the one at West Cross, were now connected to the telegraph service, for which there would be a financial payment to cover the cost of delivering telegrams to a recipient’s door.   

Staff had to be trained in the transmission and reception of telegrams. In the larger post offices, the message would be typed in Morse code on to a piece of perforated tape using a keyboard-like device called a ‘stick punch’. Then the tape was automatically run through the system, which transmitted the message and the recipient’s machine punched the  incoming Morse code message on to a paper tape, with the printer decoding it into ordinary script.   

The smaller offices operated an ABC system which was read by sight. The telegraphist would turn a handle, which guided a pointer from letter to letter on a dial marked with the alphabet and with the other hand, depress a key thus spelling out the message. There was also a ‘receiver’ dial for incoming messages.  

Each town had a code eg. Swansea’s was SS or SX and the telgraphists were taught how to write the messages using as few words as possible, e.g. 1st would be classed as two words whereas ‘first’ would be one.  Inches, feet and percent had to be written as such and not as ", ‘or %, but small words such as ‘a’, ‘the’ or ‘we’ could be omitted.  The word ‘STOP’ had to be placed between different sentences, but not at the end of the message. The minimum charge to the customer was for ten words. Now  ordinary people could contact their families and friends or receive messages within hours instead of days. 

Telephone Services

The initial telephone services had a complicated inception from when the first telephones were introduced in Swansea in 1881, with three companies jockeying for position in the new emerging market. A little later, the Swansea Telephone Company was formed, which in 1884, was  merged with the Western Counties and South Wales Telephone Company, which in turn, became part of the National Telephone Company in 1892. Progress was rapid and soon the Western Mail of 28 May 1904 was reporting that Swansea Chamber of Commerce had met to discuss the installation of telephones at the docks and at Mumbles Lighthouse. In 1905, a third system, the Swansea Corporation    Telephone Department commenced, but was sold to the National Telephone Company in 1907, which in 1911 became part of the Post Office telephone service.  

 From 1891, the ‘South Wales and District Telephone Company’ had a branch office at the Oystermouth Stores at Clements Row, (later used as a shop by John Jones, the Dairy and now occupied by the Mumtaz Indian Restaurant), but by 1901, it had moved to a premises on Newton Road. The 1906 Kelly’s trade directory recorded that Miss Ethel Davies was the Operator at the ‘Swansea Corporation Telephone Exchange at Castleton and the Kelly’s directory of 1926, showed that Miss Winnie Baker was the ‘Caretaker and Operator of the Post Office Telephone Exchange at 3, Chapel Street’.  The operators would connect one line to another manually at the exchange. Later, ‘trunk’ calls would be arranged to enable longdistance conversations to be held.   

Various adverts began to appear complete with both telegraph and telephone numbers. A national service was introduced in 1911, when some adverts carried the ‘local’ as well as the ‘national’ phone numbers. Very few people had private phones at home, but by the 1920s, many banks and traders did e.g. Lloyd’s Bank at 6, The Dunns had telephone number 260; Chamber’s Fishmonger of 16, Newton Road had the phone number 390;  Frizzell the Grocer of 2, Woodville Road was number 166 and Peachey Cab Company was number 272.   

Bringing telephones to Mumbles was not always straight forward however, as illustrated in the case of George Powell, who on 4, August 1905 while working, fell forty feet from a telephone pole at Norton. Amazingly, he got up and walked home to Southend, where he collapsed and was found to have broken his collar-bone and two or three ribs! Later that month, the Mumbles Weekly Press and Gower News reported that the  telephone committee had decided that ‘His case did not come within the Workmen’s Compensation Act and therefore the man’s wages would be stopped!’ 

During the Second World War in his 1940 budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir John Simon, increased the costs of using the telephone by 15% and the sending of telegrams by 25%. Pay-phone boxes in the street became more common, but it would be many years before people generally had a private telephone in their homes. 

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Acknowledgments 

My grateful thanks go to Wendy Cope, Archivist of Oystermouth Historical Association; The Staff at West Glamorgan Archive; to Louise Southall and Ian Thomas, grandchildren of PC Ted Southall; Roger Jones, grandson of sub-postmaster, William Jones; Carl Smith, grandson of Mary Smith, sub-postmistress of Southend Post Office; Ronald Austin for help with material on West Cross Post Office; Audrey Vincent, daughter of Sergeant David Price; Pat Thomas and Gill Langcastle, daughter and granddaughter of Sergeant Edward Shear; Kate Elliott Jones; Hazel Hickson; Rosemary Hixon; David Jeffries, Grafton Maggs and Lorna Palmer. 

More: Shopping Down the Years Collection >

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Also by Carol Powell:    Everyday Life in the Police Service >