Greetings telegrams in Britain in the 1930s

In the 1930s it was often difficult to attend weddings one was invited to. This was because cars were rare luxuries. So travelling long distances normally involved taking a bus to the local station, then a train journey - frequently changing trains in London - and a bus at the other end. When someone had to decline a wedding invitation, it was customary to show enthusiasm and support for the event by sending a greetings telegram. This was timed to arrive so that the the best man could it out to all the guests as part of this speech at the reception.

This practice like so many others, was interrupted during World War Two. I remember it well in the early 1950s when it was common practice for the best man to read out quite a number of telegrams. Then it gradually died out as faster technologies were developed.

This page shows the greetings telegrams sent for my parents' wedding in 1938.

regular telegrams and greetings telegrams - examples

Click an image to enlarge it.

Greetings telegram, 1938.

Greetings telegram, 1938.

Standard style telegram on cheap paper sent as a greetings telegram, 1938.

Three designs of telegram were sent as greetings at my parents' wedding in July 1938. Two were decorative and presumably cost more than the standard sort which was normally sent only in emergencies. Presumably senders chose the style of the greetings telegram at the time of sending, although whether their choice would be available at the destination Post Office was probably uncertain.

The centre design in the above pictures was by far the most popular; there were only two of the first style and only one of the standard style. Whether the sender of the standard style selected it on the basis of cost or whether the destination Post Office ran out of greeting forms can only be guessed at.

It is interesting to note that all the telegrams were handwritten by the staff at the destination Post Office. The West Wratting receiving Post Office was small in an extremely rural village which would not have had the latest equipment to print out the message onto paper tape.

The enlarged images show that the Post Office wrote the standard telegram in pencil, whereas they wrote the greetings telegrams in ink, seemingly - but somewhat unsuccessfully - trying to make them look neater and more professional.

You may be surprised that the address of the recipients is given as a Post Office rather than a personal address. It was actually 'The Old Post Office', the house where my mother's parents lived, which had formerly been a regular Post Office.

Note the brevity of the messages - which can be read clearly in the enlarged images. Telegrams were charged per word, so every attempt was made to keep the number of words down. Eventually a form of shorthand developed, not unlike that used in text messages today.

On the right is a telegram sent a year earlier in 1937 to send greetings on the first anniversary of a marriage. It is of particular interest because it shows the message in teletype rather than as handwriting. This would have been because the receiving Post Office, Edgware, was relatively new with what was then the modern technology which the rural Post Office in West Wratting lacked. The message was received on a teletype paper strip and stuck onto the greetings paper.

       

   

This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as Join me in the 1900's and is © Pat Cryer.

The 1930s is also written as the 1930's