Communications

It is difficult now to imagine a world without modern communications. At the beginning of the Victorian era, there would have been few newspapers, no regular postal service, no telephone service, and very slow links with other parts of the world.

By the end of Victoria’s reign, communications around the world had improved enormously. This was doubtless due in part to the need for frequent and speedy contact around the British Empire, and also to the spirit of invention and discovery that characterised the Victorian age.

Newspapers were one of the earliest ways to find out about events happening in other parts of the world apart from the Islands. The Times newspaper started in London in 1764 and Jersey’s first proper newspaper dates from a similar time. There have been a lot of newspapers associated with the Island, giving local, national and international news. They are also a rich source of advertisements for a fascinating range of products and services.

The postal service also improved in the mid nineteenth century. Gradually it became possible to send letters over larger distances, and it was often the postal services which were at the forefront of providing rail and sea links to speed the mail. Some of the first post boxes were in Jersey.

The telephone service grew from a late nineteenth century invention that made immediate communication between two nearby places possible, to the global service we now expect with instant international connections.

Telegraph posts were a development from earlier signalling posts, and were designed to pass on small amounts of information quickly. These were developed primarily for military purposes, and then the invention was extended to enable other people to use the services. This development pattern has been repeated in many areas, not least the Internet, which was initially developed for military use.

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