A typical streetscape or rural scene from the Victorian Era was remarkably uncluttered with man made objects other than the obvious structures for industry, commerce and habitation.
In contrast today's views of town and countryside are a mass of what is loosely called street furniture at normal eye level and then above that an array of masts, pylons, satellite dishes and slung cables.
It is difficult now to appreciate that proposals for an increase in the number of simple wooden telegraph poles in the early to mid 1800's were seen as intrusive, sinister and something to be feared.
They were required for the large scale expansion of the electrical and Morse telegraph system, very much the technological marvel of that age but that needed the consent from landowners and other interested parties for their physical siting across the nation.
There was of course an existing network which had for convenience and practical reasons just followed the railway lines in a co-operative agreement with the Railway Companies. In return for running poles and wires parallell to main rail routes the likes of the GNER, LNER and LMS were able to use them for signalling purposes.
However, this very linear form did not serve towns and villages which were in areas off the rail network. Much of Scotland, parts of East Anglia and Cornwall had very poor coverage under the old systems.
The major problem with the telegraphic network in Great Britain and Ireland which persisted until 1868 was that it was in private ownership and run by a multitude of individual businesses.
Their prime motivations were profit and the interests of their shareholders rather than providing a public spirited and widely affordable service.
For example, a 10 word telegram to be sent within a 100 mile radius cost at the time two shillings and sixpence or in todays money £80.
The telegram was not, as popular literature of the Victorian era would have us believe, the method of communication for every use and purpose however small or insignificant.
In fact the cost of a telegram was beyond the budget and means of the bulk of the population.
The system was very much the domain and almost exclusively for the likes of businesses, stockbrokers, mining companies, merchants, those indulging in betting, speculation and the trading in perishable goods.
The duplication of services by the many telegraph operators was seen by the Government as wasteful and not at all to the benefit of the general public.
In an unprecedented, for that time, move a State Budget of £8 million pounds was allocated for Nationalisation of the Telegraphic system. This was opposed widely as State interference and a means for Government Departments to probe into the everyday dealings of the individual but in 1868 a Bill was passed to that effect.
The first action of the new central management was to cut the cost of sending a telegram.
As a bit of a nod towards the future it was decided that a limit would be placed on the number of words used. In this way a 12 word message cost a shilling. The opting for 12 words had come from a detailed study which revealed that between 10 and 15 words was sufficient for most purposes. In reality it appears that 4 to 5 words could convey everything in most circumstances as in "Send Money, in dire need", "Arriving by train next tuesday" and "Aunt Ethel passed away yesterday".
The cost was seen as acceptable by the public and this was more than illustrated in useage figures after Nationalisation.
In the first year, 1869, some six and a half million telegrams were sent and in the next 12 months this went up to ten million. By 1880 the thirty million telegrams sent represented one for every head of the population. In 1900 the annual number was around 90 million.
Technology had been embraced and championed by the Victorians.
This was in spite of reports of spinsters fearing that the new telegraph wires would bring the electric juice into their bedchambers and villagers tearing down the newly erected telegraph poles in a forerunner of a "not in my back yard" campaign.
The nationalisation and rationalisation of the Telegraphic network was a huge success but had been at a huge cost to the State, at todays prices around £900 million.
However, it's contribution to the wealth, prestige, power and influence of Britain and Ireland and its citizens in the 19th Century was perhaps beyond calculation.
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