TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES
Britain had its own public telephone service just three years after Alexander Graham Bell first rang his
assistant Thomas Watson. The first Phone book was published in January 1880, with 248 names in London
but with no numbers listed – you simply gave the name to the operator for connection. By 1896 there
were more than 80,000 numbers across the nation.
Today 38% are ex-directory out of more than 23 million
landlines. An estimated 14% of adults only use a mobile
phone. Nevertheless, for over a century phone books were a
key document for finding people, even though today exdirectory, mobiles, email and ‘spam’ is bringing it to an end.
1,780 directories from 1880 to 1984 can be accessed online at
Ancestry
(http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1025). 280
million names in England, Scotland and Wales and Ireland
prior to 1922.
The content of phone books has remained remarkably consistent including names, address, telephone
exchange and number since the earliest days. Some very early ones included occupation. All four can be
searched on Ancestry.
HISTORY SNIPPETS
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell calls on his new invention “Mr Watson, come here, I want you”.
1879 – The first telephone exchange is opened in
Coleman Street in London. There are just seven
subscribers.
1880 – Launch of the first phone book.
1896 – The first national phone book is published listing
1,350 pages and 81,000 entries.
1912 –The phone network is nationalised under the
Post Office except Hull and Guernsey. By now, 560,000
subscribers.
1914 – 1.5 million phone books printed annually. The
nation’s largest printing contract.
1926 – The start of automatic exchanges and dial telephones with three-letter codes for exchanges.
1938 – Over 2 million calls are made in UK and to overseas.
1966 – Three-letter codes are replaced by all numerals.
2003 – Phone books have a new style combining business and classified lists with domestic ones.
In the earliest years there had been several companies operating with the National Telephone Company
emerging as largest in the mid-1890s beside the Post Office network. Hull Corporation bought the local
service in 1914 and it remains the only non BT network on the mainland of Britain, now renamed as
Kingston Communications. Yellow Pages began in 1969 and a complete set is held at the Berkshire Record
Office.
Owning a telephone was for many years a status symbol so an early listing
might indicate significant wealth. It was largely a business tool in the early
days but domestic lines were more common from the 1920s. By 1928
over a billion calls were made in one year. But even as late as 1972 only
40% of households had a telephone.
Only the head of household is usually listed, generally a male. As in
directories, phone books often include local advertisements but you will
not be able to search these via any index. Used with other resources
telephone books can be an excellent research tool for the twentieth
century.
Ofcom reserves certain phone numbers purely for use in fiction. 01632 is
the Coronation Street Wetherfield code for example.
RESOURCES
Dublin 1913 – www.lennonwylie.co.uk/1913PhoneList8.htm
Scotland 1901 – http://s251.photobucket.com/home/PhoneScotland1901
BT Archive – www.btplc.com/Thegroup/BTsHistory/BTgrouparchives/Informationandaccess/index.htm
BT catalogue – www.dswebhosting.info/bt
Current BT phone directory – www.thephonebook.bt.com
Current Irish phone directory – www.eircomphonebook.ie
Berkshire Record Office – www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk
British Library – www.bl.uk
See also – www.192.com