The telephone exchange

The telephone exchange.
JLP Archive Collection

In the days before call centres, only one or two Partners manned the switchboard.  Calls were then directed to the shop floor where the telephone had to be answered within six rings.

Comments about this page

  • Jane is wearing the “Natalie” business dress blouse.

    By Jo Spence (24/04/2008)
  • In those days there were two telephone systems.  One for external calls and one for internal calls.

    If you wanted to make an external call, you lifted the receiver of an external phone and asked the operator for a line, you could then dial the number.

    The internal system was only for communicating within the branch.  Calls to other branches had to be made via the external telephone system.

    By Michael Horniman (29/09/2007)
  • The telephonist here is Jane Hudson, a Saturday only assistant who occasionally helped out on the switchboard.

    By Ian Hudson (19/09/2007)

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