Universal Private Telegraph Company
Encyclopedia
The Universal Private Telegraph Company, Limited was formed in 1861 to exploit Professor Charles Wheatstone
’s 1858 Universal Telegraph. The company was to "...carry out a system by which banks, merchants, public bodies and other parties may have the means of establishing a telegraph for their own private purposes from their houses to their offices, manufactories or other places".
The company's first directors were Charles Wheatstone and William Fairbairn
, CE, the Manchester ironmaster. It employed Thomas Page, engineer, Lewis Hertslet, secretary and Nathaniel Holmes, electrician.
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s found. It is unclear, however, whether the stamps were ever used as only unused copies are known. The stamps carried the year in the corners.
Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS , was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope , and the Playfair cipher...
’s 1858 Universal Telegraph. The company was to "...carry out a system by which banks, merchants, public bodies and other parties may have the means of establishing a telegraph for their own private purposes from their houses to their offices, manufactories or other places".
The company's first directors were Charles Wheatstone and William Fairbairn
William Fairbairn
Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet was a Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer and shipbuilder.-Early career:...
, CE, the Manchester ironmaster. It employed Thomas Page, engineer, Lewis Hertslet, secretary and Nathaniel Holmes, electrician.
Archives
As a nationalised company, the firm's records are now in the British Telecom ArchivesBT Archives
BT Archives is an archive preserving the documentary heritage of BT and its public sector predecessors. It is designated an official place of deposit for Public Records, for those records created prior to BT's privatisation in 1984....
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Stamps
The company issued a number of stamps which are of interest to philatelists and are still some of the most common British telegraph stampTelegraph stamp
Telegraph stamps are stamps intended solely for the prepayment of telegraph fees. The customer completed a telegraph form before handing it with payment to the clerk who applied a telegraph stamp and cancelled it to show that payment had been made...
s found. It is unclear, however, whether the stamps were ever used as only unused copies are known. The stamps carried the year in the corners.