FAMILIAR FIGURE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4693, 14 May 1935, Page 3

FAMILIAR FIGURE

LONDON MESSENGER BOY. JACK OF ALL TRADES. After those of the Life Guards, the Metropolitan Policeman's, and the so-called Beefeater's at the Tower, probably the most familiar of London's many uniforms is that of the District.Messenger,Boy, with its dark blue tunic and jauntily-perched pill-box hat, more often like a nimbus than an article of headgear.. The District Messenger Boy, hardy less than the Life Guard and the Beefeater, indeed, is become a London institution, and this year he reaches the maturity that is conferred by a fortyfifth birthday. In 1890, in a London of jingling hansom cabs, "stage-door Johnnies," gaslight, and few telephones, a company was formed, in the official phrase "for the purpose of introducing in London the District Messenger and Electric Call Boy System." The first staff consisted of six messengers and the solitary office was at No. 4, Charing Cross, where it remains today. As for the Electric Call Box System, it was considerably more revolutionary than world-wide television would appear to us to-day. For a nominal sum the subscriber had fitted in their houses or business premises a call-box, enabling him to call the police, the fire brigade, a cab, a doctor or a messenger boy. The call had merely to be put through to the messenger office with which the subscriber was connected, and" the company did the rest, escorting the fire brigade or the doctor or the police, or whoever was required.

Night Watch System.

This, in the London of the nineties, must have seemed to herald the arrival. of the new age of miracles. Some ten years later the company introduced a further "miracle" in the shape of a night watch system. This was (and is) worked by installing call-boxes in different parts of a building. These boxes are rung at stated intervals during the, night by the watchman on duty. The electrical signals thus produced are recorded on Morse tape in the company's office. Should the signals fail to come through a messenger-boy is at once dispatched to find out the cause, and perform such action as may have previously been agreed on. "Over 22,000 boys have passed through our hands since the company was founded," said Mr. Arthur Lord, the managing director, who has still vivid recollections of those early days at No. 4, Charing Cross, in an interview with a representative of the "Observer," and of these few have not had odd adventures in their time. A boy may come on duty in the morning and by the early afternoon find himself hurtling northwards in an express train en route for the Hebrides, or in the boat train for the South of France or • the. UnitedStates.

"Our messengers have been sent as far afield as Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and France. One had a great honour in the form of an Industrial Order of Merit conferred upon him by the Sultan of Turkey for delivering a dog safely in Constantinople. Another holds the record less than 27 days.

Hero of the Hour.

"One of the first, and perhaps the most notable considering the times, was the trip made by Jaggers, one of our most famous messengers to the United States. He was dispatched with urgent messages from London to Chicago, New York, and PhilaPhiladelphia, and was instructed to deliver the letters and return to London by a certain date. This was many years ago, and on his return to London Jaggers found himself the hero of the hour. Later he was presented to the Queen. "Others have less orthodox jobs to perform. One was engaged to take a bottle of medicine to Aix-les-Bains. Another was dispatched to Paris to settle up an Englishman's bills with various Parisian tradespeople. Another was employed over a long period in taking a small.girl to and from school, another spent a whole day in London buying penny toys for a foreign potentate.

"Others have acted as ball boys in tennis tournaments, waiting at table, sitting up with sick people, exercising hunters, leading blind people, taking dogs out for walks, and on one occasion one was employed for several days wiring daily election results to a Cabinet Minister in Germany.

"And what happens to the boys afterwards? It is an interesting fact that boys remain as messengers for much shorter periods than they used to. They usually find good employment on leaving the service, and many of them' write to tell us how they are getting on."