EHL227. GPO Wall Plate. c1938-1972. 9 Old Orchard Road, Eastbourne. what3words location: skill.oven.market

GPO joint marker ‘No4’.  Cast iron wall plate marking the position of buried couplings, and buried jointing chambers for telephone cables.

Historic Context:  A number of privately owned electrical telegraph companies operated in the UK from 1846 onwards.  Among them were: Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company, which developed a nationwide communications network; British & Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company; British Telegraph Company; London District Telegraph Company; and the United Kingdom Telegraph Company.  The Telegraph Act 1868 passed the control of all these to the Postal Telegraphs Department of the newly formed General Post Office (GPO).  The Telegraph Act 1869 granted the GPO a monopoly over communications.  With the invention of the telephone in 1876 the GPO began to provide telephone services from some of its telegraph exchanges.  It was confirmed in 1880 that the 1869 Act included telephony even though the telephone had not been invented when the Act was first conceived.  

In 1882, the Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett started to issue licences to operate a telephone service to private businesses.  The telephone system grew under the GPO in some areas, and under private ownership in others.  The GPO's main competitor, the National Telephone Company (NTC), emerged in this market by absorbing other private telephone companies.  The NTC controlled most of the telephony in Britain before the 1880 ruling on the Telegraph Act 1869 mandated a nationalised service.  This was instated in 1911 prior to the absorption of the NTC into the GPO in 1912.

A few municipally owned services remained outside of GPO control. These were Kingston upon Hull, Portsmouth, and Guernsey.  Hull still retains an independent operator, Kingston Communications, though it is no longer municipally controlled.

References: Information on marker plates from ‘britishtelephones.com’ website (an historical website run by Bob Freshwater about UK customer telephone apparatus and systems).  

History of the GPO from Wikipedia.

EHL226. GPO Wall Plate. c1938-1972. Farrington Court, 16 Old Orchard Road, Eastbourne. what3words location: pirate.stow.across

 

GPO joint marker ‘No4’.  Cast iron wall plate marking the position of buried couplings, and buried jointing chambers for telephone cables.

Historic Context:  A number of privately owned electrical telegraph companies operated in the UK from 1846 onwards.  Among them were: Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company, which developed a nationwide communications network; British & Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company; British Telegraph Company; London District Telegraph Company; and the United Kingdom Telegraph Company.  The Telegraph Act 1868 passed the control of all these to the Postal Telegraphs Department of the newly formed General Post Office (GPO).  The Telegraph Act 1869 granted the GPO a monopoly over communications.  With the invention of the telephone in 1876 the GPO began to provide telephone services from some of its telegraph exchanges.  It was confirmed in 1880 that the 1869 Act included telephony even though the telephone had not been invented when the Act was first conceived.  

In 1882, the Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett started to issue licences to operate a telephone service to private businesses.  The telephone system grew under the GPO in some areas, and under private ownership in others.  The GPO's main competitor, the National Telephone Company (NTC), emerged in this market by absorbing other private telephone companies.  The NTC controlled most of the telephony in Britain before the 1880 ruling on the Telegraph Act 1869 mandated a nationalised service.  This was instated in 1911 prior to the absorption of the NTC into the GPO in 1912.

A few municipally owned services remained outside of GPO control. These were Kingston upon Hull, Portsmouth, and Guernsey.  Hull still retains an independent operator, Kingston Communications, though it is no longer municipally controlled.

References: Information on marker plates from ‘britishtelephones.com’ website (an historical website run by Bob Freshwater about UK customer telephone apparatus and systems).  

History of the GPO from Wikipedia.

EHL225. GPO Wall Plate. c1938-1972. 14 Old Orchard Road, Eastbourne. what3words location: coffee.attend.blend

GPO joint marker ‘No4’.  Cast iron wall plate marking the position of buried couplings, and buried jointing chambers for telephone cables.

Historic Context:  A number of privately owned electrical telegraph companies operated in the UK from 1846 onwards.  Among them were: Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company, which developed a nationwide communications network; British & Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company; British Telegraph Company; London District Telegraph Company; and the United Kingdom Telegraph Company.  The Telegraph Act 1868 passed the control of all these to the Postal Telegraphs Department of the newly formed General Post Office (GPO).  The Telegraph Act 1869 granted the GPO a monopoly over communications.  With the invention of the telephone in 1876 the GPO began to provide telephone services from some of its telegraph exchanges.  It was confirmed in 1880 that the 1869 Act included telephony even though the telephone had not been invented when the Act was first conceived.  

In 1882, the Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett started to issue licences to operate a telephone service to private businesses.  The telephone system grew under the GPO in some areas, and under private ownership in others.  The GPO's main competitor, the National Telephone Company (NTC), emerged in this market by absorbing other private telephone companies.  The NTC controlled most of the telephony in Britain before the 1880 ruling on the Telegraph Act 1869 mandated a nationalised service.  This was instated in 1911 prior to the absorption of the NTC into the GPO in 1912.

A few municipally owned services remained outside of GPO control. These were Kingston upon Hull, Portsmouth, and Guernsey.  Hull still retains an independent operator, Kingston Communications, though it is no longer municipally controlled.

References: Information on marker plates from ‘britishtelephones.com’ website (an historical website run by Bob Freshwater about UK customer telephone apparatus and systems).  

History of the GPO from Wikipedia.

EHL209. GPO Wall Plate. c1938-1972. 6 & 6a Ratton Road, Eastbourne. what3words location: normal.gates.rinse

 

Boundary wall of 6 & 6a Ratton Road, midway between the two entrance gates, and adjacent to a modern BT pavement inspection cover. 

GPO joint marker ‘No4’.  Cast iron wall plate marking the position of buried couplings, and buried jointing chambers for telephone cables.

Historic Context:  A number of privately owned electrical telegraph companies operated in the UK from 1846 onwards.  Among them were: Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company, which developed a nationwide communications network; British & Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company; British Telegraph Company; London District Telegraph Company; and the United Kingdom Telegraph Company.  The Telegraph Act 1868 passed the control of all these to the Postal Telegraphs Department of the newly formed General Post Office (GPO).  The Telegraph Act 1869 granted the GPO a monopoly over communications.  With the invention of the telephone in 1876 the GPO began to provide telephone services from some of its telegraph exchanges.  It was confirmed in 1880 that the 1869 Act included telephony even though the telephone had not been invented when the Act was first conceived.  

In 1882, the Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett started to issue licences to operate a telephone service to private businesses.  The telephone system grew under the GPO in some areas, and under private ownership in others.  The GPO's main competitor, the National Telephone Company (NTC), emerged in this market by absorbing other private telephone companies.  The NTC controlled most of the telephony in Britain before the 1880 ruling on the Telegraph Act 1869 mandated a nationalised service.  This was instated in 1911 prior to the absorption of the NTC into the GPO in 1912.

A few municipally owned services remained outside of GPO control. These were Kingston upon Hull, Portsmouth, and Guernsey.  Hull still retains an independent operator, Kingston Communications, though it is no longer municipally controlled.

References: Information on marker plates from ‘britishtelephones.com’ website (an historical website run by Bob Freshwater about UK customer telephone apparatus and systems).  

History of the GPO from Wikipedia.

Ordnance Survey Benchmark. Prior to 1875. King Edward's Parade, Eastbourne. what3words location: cheek.took.ritual

A combined War Department Boundary Stone and Benchmark (plus Bath Chair Stand Licence Plate).

Boundary wall of the Wish Tower opposite the Lansdowne Hotel near entrance to Western Lawns. 

From OS: The horizontal marks are used to support a stable ‘bench’ for a levelling stave to rest on – hence ‘benchmarks.’  Used to ‘record height above ordnance datum’ for mapping purposes.  Although no longer used (OS now use GPS), the records still exist and the markers will remain until they are eventually destroyed by redevelopment or erosion.

Historic Context:  Ordnance Survey has its roots in military strategy due to the mapping of the Scottish Highlands following a rebellion in 1745.  Later, during the French Revolution there were fears the bloodshed might sweep across to our shores.  The government ordered its defence ministry of the time – the Board of Ordnance – to begin a survey of England’s vulnerable southern coasts.  Until then, maps had lacked the detail required for moving troops and planning campaigns.  The date of 21 June 1791 is officially recognised as the birth of Ordnance Survey. The term ‘Ordnance Survey’ was not used at all until 1801 when its director wrote it on a draft document. The name was not printed on a map until the 1810 ‘Ordnance Survey of the Isle of Wight and part of Hampshire”.  In the mid-1830s, height was introduced to Ordnance Survey maps (this is where benchmarks come into the picture).  In 1841, the Survey Act gave surveyors a legal right to ‘enter into and upon any land… for the purposes of making and carrying out a survey’.  In 1983 the last military personnel left Ordnance Survey, making it a wholly civilian organisation.  The War Department’s broad arrow remained in the Ordnance Survey Logo a further 21 years afterward, a nod to its military past.

References: -

Ordnance Survey website for OS history and benchmark information.

EHL131. Eastbourne Electric Light Co Ltd. De Roos Road where it meets Ratton Road and Mill Road, opposite corner to VR Pillar Box, Eastbourne. what3words location: wins.tables.cubes

Grace’s Guide: Eastbourne Electric Light Co Ltd. 

c.1883 Established the first system of district electric lighting in the UK using underground mains. 

c.1883 The Lowrie-Hall system of electric lighting, using the Goulard-Gibbs transformer (otherwise spelled as Gaulard-Gibbs), was deployed by Hammond & Co (Electrical Engineers) for Eastbourne Electric Lighting Co; Mr William Lowrie was the chief engineer of Hammond and Co.

By 1889 mains of 20 miles length were in use.

From ‘Bygone Eastbourne’ by J. C. Wright published in 1912 the following chapter titled ‘The Pioneer of Electricity on the South Coast’ is reproduced in full: -

The inhabitant of old Eastbourne as he chatted in the chimney-corner during the dark days of winter and lit himself to bed by the aid of a farthing rushlight did not dream that posterity should possess a light which ‘without heat, without smoke, without smell, and shut up inside an empty bulb, should emit a beam with powers denied even to the solar ray.’  It is true these advantages were not secured all at once.  The Electric Light Company was unable to avail itself of the incandescent system for some time.  Founded in 1882, the company initiated an undertaking which has become of considerable importance to the town.  Soon after its formation, it applied to the Local Board for permission to carry its wires ‘over streets or over roofs of houses or in gas-tubing under streets for the purpose of carrying the electric light into the shops and houses of such ratepayers as may desire to use it.’  The company also asked the local authority if it was willing to try the ‘Brush Arc Light’ of 2,000 candle-power in a few selected parts of town.  Though there was some opposition, the request was grant by a majority of four and it was arranged that sixteen lamps should supersede ninety existing gas lamps. 

It is amusing to read the discussions of the Board respecting the new light.  It was stated the several companies were intending to compete with the original Eastbourne Company, that they would have the power to come and break up the roads, and could not be dislodged for twenty-one years.  A few members thought ‘the more the merrier,’ but others of a more serious turn of mind regarded the outlook with feelings far removed from equanimity, and the Clerk was instructed to watch the question in the interests of the Board.  The ‘watching’ was effectual; anyhow no rival company appeared on the scene.  With youthful ardour the company urged that the Board should allow them to light one or two streets.  But the Board, desiring above all things to appear fair, resolved to put the Gas Company on a similar footing.  Accordingly the Electric Light Company was asked to give a price for lighting up the route from the drinking fountain near the railway station to the top of Victoria Place; and the Gas Company to give a price for lighting the road from the Anchor Hotel to Mr. Dicker’s shop in South Street.  The Gas Company took offence, because, said one of the members, they had ‘had a nice thing for a long time, and did not want it taken away.’  So the company refused to give a price.  But an agreement was entered into with the rival company to light fourteen arc lamps in Devonshire Place, Terminus Road, and Seaside Road.  This arrangement was not carried out in its entirety, but Devonshire Place was actually lighted by the company for some time.  The direct current was at first employed, but this gave place to the alternating current, and along with it the system of incandescent lighting, the first place to be lit by the company being the new Town Hall.

As the pioneers of electric lighting on the south coast the company had frequently to pay heavily for their experience, for essentially it was an experimental company in its early days, and but for the assistance of capitalists introduced by Mr. Robert Hammond, the well-known consulting electrical engineer, under whose superintendence the company’s system was originally laid down, the undertaking might have collapsed.  After 1890 the company ‘turned a corner’ and began paying dividends, which in the year prior to its transference to the Corporation reached 10 per cent.  Many of the principal boroughs, including that of Dublin, and several of the London vestries visited Eastbourne to inspect the company’s operations, and at the opening of the works in Junction Road in 1885 the Chinese Ambassador, the Marquess T’Seng, was present. 

The original directors were Mr. George Boulton (chairman) and Messrs. J. G. Langham, Wm. Routledge, Caleb Diplock, and J. A. Skinner; and from the incorporation of the company Mr. Henry Towner acted as secretary and accountant. Latterly Mr. H. W. Wilkinson was the electrical engineer.  Since the undertaking came into the hands of the Town Council, it has been found necessary to erect new works at Roselands.

EHL129. Eastbourne Electric Light Co Ltd. De Roos Road where it meets Ratton Road and Mill Road, Eastbourne. what3words location: flame.miss.rash

Grace’s Guide: Eastbourne Electric Light Co Ltd. 

c.1883 Established the first system of district electric lighting in the UK using underground mains. 

c.1883 The Lowrie-Hall system of electric lighting, using the Goulard-Gibbs transformer (otherwise spelled as Gaulard-Gibbs), was deployed by Hammond & Co (Electrical Engineers) for Eastbourne Electric Lighting Co; Mr William Lowrie was the chief engineer of Hammond and Co.

By 1889 mains of 20 miles length were in use.

From ‘Bygone Eastbourne’ by J. C. Wright published in 1912 the following chapter titled ‘The Pioneer of Electricity on the South Coast’ is reproduced in full: -

The inhabitant of old Eastbourne as he chatted in the chimney-corner during the dark days of winter and lit himself to bed by the aid of a farthing rushlight did not dream that posterity should possess a light which ‘without heat, without smoke, without smell, and shut up inside an empty bulb, should emit a beam with powers denied even to the solar ray.’  It is true these advantages were not secured all at once.  The Electric Light Company was unable to avail itself of the incandescent system for some time.  Founded in 1882, the company initiated an undertaking which has become of considerable importance to the town.  Soon after its formation, it applied to the Local Board for permission to carry its wires ‘over streets or over roofs of houses or in gas-tubing under streets for the purpose of carrying the electric light into the shops and houses of such ratepayers as may desire to use it.’  The company also asked the local authority if it was willing to try the ‘Brush Arc Light’ of 2,000 candle-power in a few selected parts of town.  Though there was some opposition, the request was grant by a majority of four and it was arranged that sixteen lamps should supersede ninety existing gas lamps. 

It is amusing to read the discussions of the Board respecting the new light.  It was stated the several companies were intending to compete with the original Eastbourne Company, that they would have the power to come and break up the roads, and could not be dislodged for twenty-one years.  A few members thought ‘the more the merrier,’ but others of a more serious turn of mind regarded the outlook with feelings far removed from equanimity, and the Clerk was instructed to watch the question in the interests of the Board.  The ‘watching’ was effectual; anyhow no rival company appeared on the scene.  With youthful ardour the company urged that the Board should allow them to light one or two streets.  But the Board, desiring above all things to appear fair, resolved to put the Gas Company on a similar footing.  Accordingly the Electric Light Company was asked to give a price for lighting up the route from the drinking fountain near the railway station to the top of Victoria Place; and the Gas Company to give a price for lighting the road from the Anchor Hotel to Mr. Dicker’s shop in South Street.  The Gas Company took offence, because, said one of the members, they had ‘had a nice thing for a long time, and did not want it taken away.’  So the company refused to give a price.  But an agreement was entered into with the rival company to light fourteen arc lamps in Devonshire Place, Terminus Road, and Seaside Road.  This arrangement was not carried out in its entirety, but Devonshire Place was actually lighted by the company for some time.  The direct current was at first employed, but this gave place to the alternating current, and along with it the system of incandescent lighting, the first place to be lit by the company being the new Town Hall.

As the pioneers of electric lighting on the south coast the company had frequently to pay heavily for their experience, for essentially it was an experimental company in its early days, and but for the assistance of capitalists introduced by Mr. Robert Hammond, the well-known consulting electrical engineer, under whose superintendence the company’s system was originally laid down, the undertaking might have collapsed.  After 1890 the company ‘turned a corner’ and began paying dividends, which in the year prior to its transference to the Corporation reached 10 per cent.  Many of the principal boroughs, including that of Dublin, and several of the London vestries visited Eastbourne to inspect the company’s operations, and at the opening of the works in Junction Road in 1885 the Chinese Ambassador, the Marquess T’Seng, was present. 

The original directors were Mr. George Boulton (chairman) and Messrs. J. G. Langham, Wm. Routledge, Caleb Diplock, and J. A. Skinner; and from the incorporation of the company Mr. Henry Towner acted as secretary and accountant. Latterly Mr. H. W. Wilkinson was the electrical engineer.  Since the undertaking came into the hands of the Town Council, it has been found necessary to erect new works at Roselands.