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How phone numbers changed through the 20th Century in the UK

Childhood recollections of changing phone numbers, from the webmaster with original firsthand contributions from others, edited together by the webmaster.

This page traces changes in telephone numbers from early single-numbers through letters-with-numbers to all-long-numbers. It introduces Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) and describes the impact it had on people. Also discussed are the logic behind text area codes and how callers could find numbers they needed from telephone directories and enquiring through the operators. Public reactions are included.

Early single-digit telephone numbers

Phones started creeping into wealthier households in the early 20th century. These phones did have their own phone number which were usually only a single digit, as so few people were on the phone. Perhaps the manor house was 1 and the village butcher was 2. These numbers identified each phone served by the small local telephone exchange, and only by that exchange. They were not unique outside the area served by that exchange.

Even locally, there was no way that anyone could use their phone to connect directly to another local number. It couldn't just be dialled, because there was no dial on these early phones. The only way that a connection could be made was via someone at the telephone exchange. Users had to jiggle the receiver up and down which would ring a bell at the exchange to attract the attention of someone there who could make the connection manually. Quite likely that person was serving at the front of their shop at the time, so it took a while to answer.

The person looking after the exchange could see which phone was trying to attract his or her attention because its contact socket would light up. Then they would listen to what number was required and connect a cable between the two sockets to connect the two phones.

The exchange could also make a to other exchanges, which could make connections to other exchanges, and so on, all via a person who would later be called the operator. There were no automatic connections.

The next development was for the phones - stilll normally candlestick ones - was to have their own phone number marked on the centre of their dial. With this type of phone, one subscriber could dial another but only on that very small exchange which meant only in the small local area.

Phone numbers with letters as area codes

The following old poster shows that by the 1930s, phones in some areas could make connections directly to phones in other areas. This was because exchanges had become larger with permanent connections to more exchanges and with many more operators. The system required every phone to have a new phone number which showed its area. This was called an area code which had three letters. Where possible, this was simply the first three letters of the town concerned, but as phones and telephone exchanges became more numerous, more area codes were required and which did not at first sight seem related to the area.

Thus a subscriber's phone number became the three-letters area code followed a number of four numbers. Yes, the result was still called a number even though it included letters.

Around this time most subscribers went over to the more modern phones which held both the speaker and ear piece.

A 1940s domestic phone with a letters and numbers dial and phone number

How telephone letters-with-numbers were spoken

These phone numbers were always spoken with the full name of the area code. So, with our STO 8105 telephone number, we announced who we were on answering our phone, by saying, "Stonegrove 8105", not STO 8105. Incidentally, it was considered very bad form just to say "Hello". How times have changed!

Telephone directories

There were telephone directories of subscribers' telephone numbers. They were supplied free of charge to those households with phones and to public phone boxes. They were huge tomes, even though the print was tiny and the paper flimsy. A single book was out of the question because there were so many telephone numbers. So the directories came in several books. I remember that the first one was A-D by surname of the head of the household, but I can't remember the others. Inside, heads of households were listed by their surname and the initial of their given name followed with their address and telephone number. (Subscribers could choose not to be included for the sake of privacy, i.e. to be 'ex-directory'.)

The first photo below gives an indication of the size of telephone directories. compared with a normal the phone book. You can just see them stacked on the right-hand-shelf. Ours at home were kept on a shelf under what was called our telephone table. The Post Office updated them regularly, but I can't remember how frequently.

A separate directory with a yellow cover gave business telephone numbers. Everyone called it the 'Yellow Pages'.

A full set of telephone directories in a telephone box. The whole telephone box is included for scale to give an indication of the size of the directories.

Pile of telephone directories: massive, heavy and unwieldy

As another indication of the size and thickness of telephone directories, there was a typical strong-man turn at fairs who demonstrated that he could manage to tear one apart. Visitors were invited to have a go, but only a very small few could manage it.

Area code displays in call boxes

Telephone directories didn't last long in telephone boxes as people took them for various reasons, but there was a display of area codes mounted on the wall of each box. One is shown in the following photo. It enlarges to a legible size on tap/click, but there is also a transcription below.

Information mounted on the wall of London area telephone boxes showing all the London letter-based area codes. Notices in other telephone areas would show their own area codes. Photographed in Tilford Rural Life Centre. See the transcription below.

Area codes for the wider London area

Some areas on the outskirts had an area code which did not readily indicate the area concerned and could not necessarily be pronounced as a word. For example for Orpington you had to dial the area code of MX followed by the number. If you are interested in more in the list, magnify the above image to a legible size and look at the lower section.

Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD): long all-number telephone numbers

As more and more people went on the phone, more numbers were needed, and it was decided to change area codes from letters to numbers and to bring the whole of the UK into a direct dialing system. The idea was that more numbers could easily be added at any stage by putting an extra digit in front of the original numbers. The system was called Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD for short). The word 'trunk' came from trunk call which, with its old meaning, was now a thing of the past as people no longer needed to go through the operator to make a long distance call.

Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) was a big step forward in telephone communication. It was a system whereby callers no longer had to go through an operator to connect to a phone outside their local area but could dial it directly using a just a number. It began in 1958 in the UK and was completed in 1979.

All area codes began with a zero. The area code for London, for example, was 01 and for Manchester was 061. The resulting phone numbers were long, starting with the numerical area code and continuing with the four-figue number for the phone concerned.

The change meant that O could no longer be used to dial the operator, so this was replaced by 100. Remember that O, the letter, and 0, the number, were treated as identical on the earlier phones.

Codes were later changed again as more numbers were needed with increasing numbers of subscribers.

Public reactions to Subscriber Trunk Dialling

Most people I knew were irritated rather than impressed by the change. For a start, dialling O for the operator seemed so much more sensible than having to dial 100, which felt like change for change's sake, and telephone numbers with letters were much easier to remember than all-number ones. Also people had invested in printed headed writing paper showing their address and telephone number which was now out of date. Some people decided to buy new, showing the all-number phone number, only to find that after a very short time, this phone number was again out of date as more digits were added. The benefit of being able to dial directly to another part of the country paled to insignificance.

Of course, we have all got used to it now.

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