Our history through the post

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Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Our history through the post
2

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Our history through the post
3

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Our history through the post
4

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Our history through the post
5

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Our history through the post
6

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Our history through the post
7

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Our history through the post
8

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Our history through the post
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Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Our history through the post
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Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
The daily life of a London telegraph messenger
would only be one official, monotonous duty if it
were not for the different sights that one is
brought into contact with, in the course of a
day. The daily routine is on arrival, signing on
duty, then delivery till dinner after dinner,
delivery till ten, then one again delivery till
your duty terminates. A kitchen is supplied for
the boys, over which an overseer presides.
A Day in the Life of a Telegraph Boy An article
for boys, written by one of them Titbits, 21
December 1895.
Our history through the post
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Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
You sign on duty, and almost the first message
you have is for a very rough neighbourhood
indeed, and you experience some difficulty in
getting attention, and on reaching the house,
find the streetdoor open, no knocker or bells,
whilst crowds of squalid children crowd around
the entrance. At length a broken-down specimen of
a woman approaches and eyes you suspiciously.
A Day in the Life of a Telegraph Boy An article
for boys, written by one of them Titbits, 21
December 1895.
Our history through the post
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Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Hello, says she, what der yer want? A
telegraft! Who for, anybody dead? No, you
reply, Its for Bung. Theres nobody or that
name lives ere as I knows of but wait arf a
tick. She goes to the foot of a dirty and
tumble-down staircase and calls out in
non-meolodious tones Mrs. Muggins, are yer
there?
A Day in the Life of a Telegraph Boy An article
for boys, written by one of them Titbits, 21
December 1895.
Our history through the post
13

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
There comes no answer to her call, but presently
you hear a rather heavy footfall making its way
downstairs, and Mrs. Muggins at last makes her
appearance. Theres no name of bung here, is
they? says my first. Yus, there was, at least
up to last night, when he got pinched dont yer
remember he dosed at the top ! replies Mrs.
Muggins. Then, turning to me, she says, It aint
here hes gone to prison.
A Day in the Life of a Telegraph Boy An article
for boys, written by one of them Titbits, 21
December 1895.
Our history through the post
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Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
So the message goes back to the office
undelivered. Later on, another is given you for a
rather prosperous merchant, who after opening it
smiles, says Thanks, and after giving you
twopence, wishes you Good morning. You can
always do with these. Thus we go, from poor to
rich. Our delivery also embraces most of the big
theatres. Towards the afternoon you have one for
a certain theatre, where you are allowed to cross
the stage to reach the offices.
A Day in the Life of a Telegraph Boy An article
for boys, written by one of them Titbits, 21
December 1895.
Our history through the post
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Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
Oftentimes I have stopped at rehearsals, being in
the midst of cowboys, Indians, etc. I have seen
one of the most thrilling scenes of a popular
play whilst waiting for a reply at the
footlights. You may now have one of one of those
lofty business houses where, although there is a
lift, the hall-porter refuses to take you up. On
inquiring of the hall-porter on what floor it is,
he calmly replies, with a sarcastic sneer,
Five, and as we well know he wont run us up,
the only way out of the difficulty is to walk.
A Day in the Life of a Telegraph Boy An article
for boys, written by one of them Titbits, 21
December 1895.
Our history through the post
16

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
I well remember an incident relative to this. A
lift-man met one of the boys on the third floor,
and the boy asked him to take him down. Jump
in, said he, and the boy jumped. Closing the
door, he took the boy to the sixth floor, told
him to get out, as he wanted to grease the rope,
shut the door, went down, and left the boy at the
top of the building to walk down. Needless to
say, that boy was me. Apart from the daily life,
the boys have a generous spirit. Many of the
hawkers have benefited by us, and there is one
who was started in business (if you may call it
such, selling matches, etc.) by the boys over two
years ago, who still pursues his humble calling,
round about the office.
A Day in the Life of a Telegraph Boy An article
for boys, written by one of them Titbits, 21
December 1895.
Our history through the post
17

Victorian Childhood - Post Office Boy Messengers
But, with another, a subscription was raised, and
he was foolishly given between 3s. and 4s. in
money, and the same evening he was hauled past
the office, drunk, in charge of a policeman. That
settled it no more for us. Altogether the life
of a London telegraph messenger, at a good
central office, is not one to be despised, for
the experience you gain, as you must in that
capacity, stands you in good stead, and enables
you to become wide, and a man of the world.
A Day in the Life of a Telegraph Boy An article
for boys, written by one of them Titbits, 21
December 1895.
Our history through the post