Demonstration Telephone For Schools

GPOGPO1660–1969The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific sender to a specific receiver ; it was overseen by a Government minister, the Postmaster General. Over time its remit was extended to Scotland and Ireland, and across parts of the British Empire.Read more on Wikipedia → · British · Source: Science Museum Group (website)
Demonstration Telephone For Schools

About This Phone

'School telephone' in polished wood case, made by the General Post Office, 1921-1940. During the first half of the twentieth century the British Post Office undertook many campaigns to promote the use of telephones. This ‘opened-out’ telephone would have been one of a pair taken round to schools to show pupils how telephones worked and to encourage familiarity in handling them. It was intended to introduce schoolchildren and others to the new automatic telephone system being introduced in the 1930s. It was entirely self contained so did not need a subscriber's line to function.