Telegraph stamps of Great Britain. Until recently, only the Post Office telegraphs were well known. This is changing but the printed information is still out of date. I hope to gather further information and present it here. This site has been expanding. Click here for a site-map.

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Intelligence Department.

First organised by the Electric Telegraph Company in 1848.
Laying miles of cable and setting up a functional Telegraph Office was an expensive and time consuming process.
The companies needed to be profitable and it was vital to know what locations held the greatest potential for profit.
Market research was needed from the earliest days.
BT Archives contains many documents relating to the early Telegraph companies, including records relating to the Electric Telegraph Company's Intelligence Department.
However the 'Intelligence Department' of the P.O. was perhaps not quite the same thing as that of the Electric Telegraph Company,
which according to Raymond Lister (1961, Pg.4) was for the transmission of news. They gave as example London clubs receiving half-hourly reports of proceedings in Parliament.

The topic was extensively covered by Steven Roberts (1950-2012) in Distant Writing - The News.

When the Post Office took over operations there was a lot for them to prove.
The Post Office had to show the Government that it could manage the Telegraphs profitably.
The public wanted to see telegraph services extended to all business areas.
Though the objectives had changed slightly, an 'Intelligence Department' was still vitally important,
as well as being visible to influential people.

As with the Events page, this topic has been extensively covered in an exhibit by Ian Pinwill.

With permission, this is adapted from an exhibit by Dr. Ian Pinwill FRPSL.

Cancellations of the Intelligence Department

Exchange circular date stamps were used by Intelligence Department “telegraph only” offices and are generally not found on stamps used for postage:

A: Royal Exchanges:

(2 Types)

Format: ROYAL EXCHANGE / GLASGOW (MY 10 1872 & DE 19 1877)

(Lloyds)

B: Stock Exchanges:

(2 Types, includine forgery of the 1/- Green)

Format: STOCK EXCHANGE / EDINBURGH (MY 8 1872 )

Format: STOCK EXCHANGE / GLASGOW (MR 12 1881)

C: City Exchanges:

Birmingham

Liverpool

D: Exchanges:

Lombard E.C.

Plymouth B.O.

Sunderland

Coal Exchange B.O. E.C.

E: Corn Exchanges:

CORN EXCHANGE BIRMINGHAM (MR 7 1878)

Newark

CORN EXCHANGE EDINBURGH (AU 14 1878)

Leicester

F: Other Exchanges:

Sugar

HOP EXCHANGE S.E. (FE 3 1881)

Wool

Exchange News Room / Liverpool

Commercial Sale Room

Baltic Coffee House (Later the Baltic Exchange)

Baltic Coffee House

G: Markets:

CATTLE MARKET DEPTFORD (MR 4 1889)

HORSE MARKET DARLINGTON (AP 7 1887)

There are many Market cds’s in the proof books, mostly fish, cattle and horse but very few seem to have survived.

FISH MARKET B.O / GLASGOW (AP 5 1886)

The fish markets then lead us into one of the largest and most lucrative businesses for the intelligence department, that of dockside telegraph offices, starting with Grimsby fish dock.

H: Docks and Port Offices:

FISH DOCKS GRIMSBY (SP 25 1877)

EAST DOCK CARDIFF (MR 29 1878)

THE DOCKS SWANSEA (FE 17 1872)

SWANSEA DOCKS (AP 8 1872)

GLOUCESTER DOCKS (AU 15 1872)

CANADA DOCK (DE 10 1877)

TYNE DOCK SOUTH SHIELDS (AU 3 1876)

TROON DOCK P.O. (MR 2 1878)

MONTROSE DOCKS (FE 27 1877)

DUNDEE DOCKS (DE 12 1877)

Comments, criticisms, information or suggestions are always welcome.

Please include the word 'Telegraphs' in the subject.

Last updated 22nd. December 2025

©Copyright Steve Panting 2012-25 except where stated.
Permission is hereby granted to copy material for which the copyright is owned by myself, on condition that any data is not altered and this website is given credit.