Post by Matt James on Apr 13, 2009 14:29:42 GMT
Originally posted by Roger Green
Telegram Messenger Boys Life in the 1940's
at Grimsby Head Post Office
Inspectors
Robinson, Tibby Watson, tan Doughty, Jim Turner
Higher Grade Postmen
Herbert Motley, Jim Rothwell
Messengers
Brian Hunter, Gordon Brown, Terry Arnold, Peter Bass, Ernest Whitby, Charles Barker, David Sparks, Geoffrey White, Peter Groce, David Hill, Sydney Oglesby, Derek Machon ( a refugee from the Channel Isles ) Norman Drewery, Douglas Aisthorp, Byron and Roy Leonard, Gordon Parker
Conditions of service .
Must be 14 years . Wages 12 shillings and sixpence per week
Hours varied 7-30 � 15-30 earliest and 12-00 � 20-00 late shift
One Sunday morning per month
Free medical and dental service.
Sick pay and holidays with pay
Pensions and gratuity upon retirement
Compulsory attendance Wintringham Grammar School Eleanor Street Peterbrough
Monday and Tuesday evening 19-00 � 21-00
Uniform Supplied included
Hat � tunic � trousers � boots � gaiters � gloves � overcoat � cycling cape (oilskin)
Leather belt and pouch
Belt and pouch to be polished with black boot polish, cap badge , tunic buttons and belt buckle polished with Brasso
Duties
To deliver telegrams (and accept replies) by cycle or foot over an area from the Grimsby Head Post Office in the town centre to Suggits Lane , Old Clee, Louth Road, Waltham Road, Bradley x Roads Great Coates Road, Pyewipe, CleethorpeRoad.
Thursday afternoon due to the village post offices closing the area was extended to cover as far as East Ravendale, Healing, Laceby.
The Messengers room was situated to the rear of the sorting office yard in Osborne Street and consisted of two rooms. The main room had a long wooden table and forms to sit on and a desk for the Inspector. The second room contained a sink and taps and a personal steel locker for each messenger.
The day�s work began an inspection of your uniform and then waited to be Called .
The telegrams would arrive by pneumatic tube from the Telegraph Room on the third floor to the Inspectors desk. He would sort them into areas and then call the messengers by his number ( I was T41 )
Each Telegram had a serial number which was entered on a docket headed with your number. The time of departure was noted and the expected time of return. This was done so often that any journey could be calculated to within 10 minutes. If you failed to return on time then an explanation was shown on your docket . The usual excuses were not that you had stopped off to look round wollies or what films were on at the Tower but that you had to await for a reply or the person was not at home and you had to leave a form to say you would call back or the old favourite you had had a puncture. This was the best excuse as we all carried pins behind our tunic lapels.
If the person who received the telegram wished to send a reply they would be given a blank telegram form and you would calculate the cost of the message. It was something like a penny a word including the address. You would then take the reply and the cost to the nearest telegraph post office hand it in and pay the charge. If you made an error and it cost more, then you could either go back or pay the difference out of your own pocket. If you had overcharged then in theory you should return the difference. As the amount involved was small then it was swings and roundabouts. If the telegram were to a trawler which was usually sent via Aberdeen or Wick Radio Station or was to an overseas address the cost was higher. So more care was taken in the charging.
I recall there was a stockbroker opposite the Head Post Office who had many priority telegrams and these were usually delivered within 10 minutes of their acceptance in London.
The variety of the messages were many ranging from the bad news such as missing in action, killed whilst on active service, lost at sea, relatives dying, serious illnesses and P.O.W.S There was also a delivery to the Fleet Mail Office (HMS Beaver) situated at the Basin of the Docks. This meant passing the policeman at the entrance who sometimes would ask to see your identity pass but usually we biked through just waving it at him. There was also a Home Guard on duty at the Telephone Exchange and if you had to go there you rang the bell at the gate and he would turn out and demand to see your pass before he would let you in.
I often wondered how he could think any little 14 year old could be a Nazi Stormtrooper in disguise but he always wanted to see your pass.
We also had to deliver messages to merchant ships in dock and if they were neutral then it was a good thing as you nearly always got a good tip and sometimes chocolate.
This delivery was difficult in the dark winter nights. You had first to find the ship. Although the address was given as say, North side Alexandra dock it might have moved so you would have to go back to the Portmasters Office at the Cleethorpe Road railway crossing to find where it was.
It was a bit scary cycling through the docks in the dark with only half shielded cycle lamp due to blackout regulations and very difficult to spot the name of the ship if it was unladen and high out of the water. When you eventually found it then the most common means of boarding was a ladder and in the dark on a frosty night with no one around it was a little frightening. It never occurred to me that a slip off the ladder would cause you to fall into the dock and unlikely that anyone would hear your shouts. Once on board you had to search for the galley for the night watchman and he was usually asleep. You would give him the telegram, he would open it, grunt and you would ask was there a reply hoping for the tip. He usually took the hint.
Another experience was the delivery of telegrams to Pelwears factory that I think was in Holme St. The factory was full of girls and we were whistled at and remarks made, which I wont, repeat when we walked through to the office. In Orwell St it was the habit of housewives to sit in chairs outside their houses chatting and if we saw them we would ride up slowly as tho we were looking for an address and checking our pouches. We would go slower and slower until we were alongside and then press on our pedals and ride off with the shouts from the ladies ringing in our ears. The good news that everybody hoped for was the telegram from Littlewoods or Vernons that you had won the football pools.
Then came the news of captured and alive POW camps I recall one overjoyed lady emptying her purse into my hands. Sometime on the early shift you would have to get people out of bed and one lady came to the door in her dressing gown took the telegram and opened it with both hands causing her gown to open wide and reveal everything. What an experience that was. Common deliveries were birthday and wedding congratulations. Sometimes at the reception you may get something to eat and generally a tip, arrival times of relatives and friends visiting and trawlers arriving home. I suspect that sometimes these gave the wife time to remove her boyfriend. Prior to the invasion of Europe there were many Americans in town and I recall them opening the door to my knocking and shouting out upstairs for the lady of the house. I would then be greeted by the lady sometimes in her dressing gown who would read the telegram �have not heard from you is everything alright� and she would ask me in to write a reply. In the house would be other soldiers drinking and smoking. The reply would be �everything ok writing tonight�. At 14 years of age it seemed odd to me what was going on there. Ah sweet innocence.
Another good delivery was to the Plaza Cinema. These messages were to give notice of forthcoming films and their delivery dates. This was a super call as you always got two free tickets and a sixpence. Another problem was dogs. At the Weelsby Rd end of Legsby Ave there was a house with a very long driveway. It also had a beware of the dog sign on the gate. You always left the gate open as most times the bulldog would be loose and you had to leg it for the gate and wait for the lady to come to you. I would run like hell to the gate and just slam it when the beast would stand on its front legs over the gate snarling and barking furiously. It wont harm you the lady would say but I never took the chance. I can still remember that house today.
Sometimes it rained heavily and you would get soaked to the skin. You would then be allowed to go home and change into your ordinary clothes and continue to get another wetting. Some winters if the snow made cycling impossible you would walk or have to take the bus. You had to hand in your used bus ticket upon return.
We were allowed a free drink every morning of Namco which was powdered milk cocoa and sweeteners mixed with water. This was doled out by one of the lady cleaners of the Post Office. The person in charge of the messengers was not allowed this but one in particular always pushed his mug forward and someone had to get him a drink. This was resented by the lads so one day they put ink and glue in the mug before the water etc. was added and he never found out what he had drank. We all had a laugh at this. Like all the lads we were into mischief. New boys had an initiation ceremony which was ducking their heads in the sink and hanging them by their belts round their waist to the clothes pegs in the locker room.
Another prank was when delivering on the docks one of the fish merchants in Rowlandson St had offices on the second floor. There was no light in the corridor and the new lad was told there was a large hole in the centre of the corridor and you had to walk carefully at the edge. We all fell for this gag. Sneaking into Salisbury for a tea and bun was a risk worth taking provided you wolfed it down before anyone spotted you.
Part of the duties of the Inspector was to cycle round the town looking for us but the word would get round that �Tibby� was out and we would be careful not to ride on pavements, down passages between rows of houses and to wear out hats and keep out tunics buttoned up. I recall Inspector Robinson shouting at me in Victoria St on a busy hot day �messenger, put that hat on�. Nowadays he would have probably got a two finger salute.
If any misdemeanour was considered severe then you would probably be handed a report to fill in which asked you to explain why you were late back from delivery so many times, why you filled another messengers hat with water and placed it on top of the lockers so he got drenched when he took it down. Why you refused to go on delivery when you had just returned after cycling to Great Cotes in the rain and was told to go back again with more telegrams. The list of crimes was endless. The reply usually consisted of remorse and apologies and that you would never do this again and ended Your Obedient Servant. These reports were kept by the Head Postmaster. I don�t think they had much effect on our behaviour. Most of us resented having to attend night school. The subjects were basic English Arithmetic and Geography. To enable all messengers to attend all the duties were changed to make certain you turned up. There was a register kept and forwarded to the Head Postmaster to check absentees. I think the teachers name was Hollingsworth. At age 16 you sat the Boy Messengers Examination. Depending on the outcome your career could branch into many fields of the postal service such as telephone engineer, sorting clerk, teleprinter operator. I chose the teleprinter as it meant only a short training spell compared to the engineers who had to attend classes until they were 21. It was quite a time for a 14 year old.
Charles James Newman (T41) Grimsby
Charles Newman 1946 Grimsby
Charles Newman alongside the mobile Post Office at Lincoln Agricultural Show 1946
Telegram Messenger Boys Life in the 1940's
at Grimsby Head Post Office
Inspectors
Robinson, Tibby Watson, tan Doughty, Jim Turner
Higher Grade Postmen
Herbert Motley, Jim Rothwell
Messengers
Brian Hunter, Gordon Brown, Terry Arnold, Peter Bass, Ernest Whitby, Charles Barker, David Sparks, Geoffrey White, Peter Groce, David Hill, Sydney Oglesby, Derek Machon ( a refugee from the Channel Isles ) Norman Drewery, Douglas Aisthorp, Byron and Roy Leonard, Gordon Parker
Conditions of service .
Must be 14 years . Wages 12 shillings and sixpence per week
Hours varied 7-30 � 15-30 earliest and 12-00 � 20-00 late shift
One Sunday morning per month
Free medical and dental service.
Sick pay and holidays with pay
Pensions and gratuity upon retirement
Compulsory attendance Wintringham Grammar School Eleanor Street Peterbrough
Monday and Tuesday evening 19-00 � 21-00
Uniform Supplied included
Hat � tunic � trousers � boots � gaiters � gloves � overcoat � cycling cape (oilskin)
Leather belt and pouch
Belt and pouch to be polished with black boot polish, cap badge , tunic buttons and belt buckle polished with Brasso
Duties
To deliver telegrams (and accept replies) by cycle or foot over an area from the Grimsby Head Post Office in the town centre to Suggits Lane , Old Clee, Louth Road, Waltham Road, Bradley x Roads Great Coates Road, Pyewipe, CleethorpeRoad.
Thursday afternoon due to the village post offices closing the area was extended to cover as far as East Ravendale, Healing, Laceby.
The Messengers room was situated to the rear of the sorting office yard in Osborne Street and consisted of two rooms. The main room had a long wooden table and forms to sit on and a desk for the Inspector. The second room contained a sink and taps and a personal steel locker for each messenger.
The day�s work began an inspection of your uniform and then waited to be Called .
The telegrams would arrive by pneumatic tube from the Telegraph Room on the third floor to the Inspectors desk. He would sort them into areas and then call the messengers by his number ( I was T41 )
Each Telegram had a serial number which was entered on a docket headed with your number. The time of departure was noted and the expected time of return. This was done so often that any journey could be calculated to within 10 minutes. If you failed to return on time then an explanation was shown on your docket . The usual excuses were not that you had stopped off to look round wollies or what films were on at the Tower but that you had to await for a reply or the person was not at home and you had to leave a form to say you would call back or the old favourite you had had a puncture. This was the best excuse as we all carried pins behind our tunic lapels.
If the person who received the telegram wished to send a reply they would be given a blank telegram form and you would calculate the cost of the message. It was something like a penny a word including the address. You would then take the reply and the cost to the nearest telegraph post office hand it in and pay the charge. If you made an error and it cost more, then you could either go back or pay the difference out of your own pocket. If you had overcharged then in theory you should return the difference. As the amount involved was small then it was swings and roundabouts. If the telegram were to a trawler which was usually sent via Aberdeen or Wick Radio Station or was to an overseas address the cost was higher. So more care was taken in the charging.
I recall there was a stockbroker opposite the Head Post Office who had many priority telegrams and these were usually delivered within 10 minutes of their acceptance in London.
The variety of the messages were many ranging from the bad news such as missing in action, killed whilst on active service, lost at sea, relatives dying, serious illnesses and P.O.W.S There was also a delivery to the Fleet Mail Office (HMS Beaver) situated at the Basin of the Docks. This meant passing the policeman at the entrance who sometimes would ask to see your identity pass but usually we biked through just waving it at him. There was also a Home Guard on duty at the Telephone Exchange and if you had to go there you rang the bell at the gate and he would turn out and demand to see your pass before he would let you in.
I often wondered how he could think any little 14 year old could be a Nazi Stormtrooper in disguise but he always wanted to see your pass.
We also had to deliver messages to merchant ships in dock and if they were neutral then it was a good thing as you nearly always got a good tip and sometimes chocolate.
This delivery was difficult in the dark winter nights. You had first to find the ship. Although the address was given as say, North side Alexandra dock it might have moved so you would have to go back to the Portmasters Office at the Cleethorpe Road railway crossing to find where it was.
It was a bit scary cycling through the docks in the dark with only half shielded cycle lamp due to blackout regulations and very difficult to spot the name of the ship if it was unladen and high out of the water. When you eventually found it then the most common means of boarding was a ladder and in the dark on a frosty night with no one around it was a little frightening. It never occurred to me that a slip off the ladder would cause you to fall into the dock and unlikely that anyone would hear your shouts. Once on board you had to search for the galley for the night watchman and he was usually asleep. You would give him the telegram, he would open it, grunt and you would ask was there a reply hoping for the tip. He usually took the hint.
Another experience was the delivery of telegrams to Pelwears factory that I think was in Holme St. The factory was full of girls and we were whistled at and remarks made, which I wont, repeat when we walked through to the office. In Orwell St it was the habit of housewives to sit in chairs outside their houses chatting and if we saw them we would ride up slowly as tho we were looking for an address and checking our pouches. We would go slower and slower until we were alongside and then press on our pedals and ride off with the shouts from the ladies ringing in our ears. The good news that everybody hoped for was the telegram from Littlewoods or Vernons that you had won the football pools.
Then came the news of captured and alive POW camps I recall one overjoyed lady emptying her purse into my hands. Sometime on the early shift you would have to get people out of bed and one lady came to the door in her dressing gown took the telegram and opened it with both hands causing her gown to open wide and reveal everything. What an experience that was. Common deliveries were birthday and wedding congratulations. Sometimes at the reception you may get something to eat and generally a tip, arrival times of relatives and friends visiting and trawlers arriving home. I suspect that sometimes these gave the wife time to remove her boyfriend. Prior to the invasion of Europe there were many Americans in town and I recall them opening the door to my knocking and shouting out upstairs for the lady of the house. I would then be greeted by the lady sometimes in her dressing gown who would read the telegram �have not heard from you is everything alright� and she would ask me in to write a reply. In the house would be other soldiers drinking and smoking. The reply would be �everything ok writing tonight�. At 14 years of age it seemed odd to me what was going on there. Ah sweet innocence.
Another good delivery was to the Plaza Cinema. These messages were to give notice of forthcoming films and their delivery dates. This was a super call as you always got two free tickets and a sixpence. Another problem was dogs. At the Weelsby Rd end of Legsby Ave there was a house with a very long driveway. It also had a beware of the dog sign on the gate. You always left the gate open as most times the bulldog would be loose and you had to leg it for the gate and wait for the lady to come to you. I would run like hell to the gate and just slam it when the beast would stand on its front legs over the gate snarling and barking furiously. It wont harm you the lady would say but I never took the chance. I can still remember that house today.
Sometimes it rained heavily and you would get soaked to the skin. You would then be allowed to go home and change into your ordinary clothes and continue to get another wetting. Some winters if the snow made cycling impossible you would walk or have to take the bus. You had to hand in your used bus ticket upon return.
We were allowed a free drink every morning of Namco which was powdered milk cocoa and sweeteners mixed with water. This was doled out by one of the lady cleaners of the Post Office. The person in charge of the messengers was not allowed this but one in particular always pushed his mug forward and someone had to get him a drink. This was resented by the lads so one day they put ink and glue in the mug before the water etc. was added and he never found out what he had drank. We all had a laugh at this. Like all the lads we were into mischief. New boys had an initiation ceremony which was ducking their heads in the sink and hanging them by their belts round their waist to the clothes pegs in the locker room.
Another prank was when delivering on the docks one of the fish merchants in Rowlandson St had offices on the second floor. There was no light in the corridor and the new lad was told there was a large hole in the centre of the corridor and you had to walk carefully at the edge. We all fell for this gag. Sneaking into Salisbury for a tea and bun was a risk worth taking provided you wolfed it down before anyone spotted you.
Part of the duties of the Inspector was to cycle round the town looking for us but the word would get round that �Tibby� was out and we would be careful not to ride on pavements, down passages between rows of houses and to wear out hats and keep out tunics buttoned up. I recall Inspector Robinson shouting at me in Victoria St on a busy hot day �messenger, put that hat on�. Nowadays he would have probably got a two finger salute.
If any misdemeanour was considered severe then you would probably be handed a report to fill in which asked you to explain why you were late back from delivery so many times, why you filled another messengers hat with water and placed it on top of the lockers so he got drenched when he took it down. Why you refused to go on delivery when you had just returned after cycling to Great Cotes in the rain and was told to go back again with more telegrams. The list of crimes was endless. The reply usually consisted of remorse and apologies and that you would never do this again and ended Your Obedient Servant. These reports were kept by the Head Postmaster. I don�t think they had much effect on our behaviour. Most of us resented having to attend night school. The subjects were basic English Arithmetic and Geography. To enable all messengers to attend all the duties were changed to make certain you turned up. There was a register kept and forwarded to the Head Postmaster to check absentees. I think the teachers name was Hollingsworth. At age 16 you sat the Boy Messengers Examination. Depending on the outcome your career could branch into many fields of the postal service such as telephone engineer, sorting clerk, teleprinter operator. I chose the teleprinter as it meant only a short training spell compared to the engineers who had to attend classes until they were 21. It was quite a time for a 14 year old.
Charles James Newman (T41) Grimsby
Charles Newman 1946 Grimsby
Charles Newman alongside the mobile Post Office at Lincoln Agricultural Show 1946