This series encompasses the surviving records of a number of early domestic and international telegraph companies which pioneered the development and growth of the public telegraph network.

Records of the Post Office Engineering Union (POEU), formerly the Post Office Engineering and Stores Associstion. 1916-1917, 1926-1928, 1947-1960, 1964-1968, comprising:
Post Office Engineering and Stores Association, Electric Light and Power Branch: Branch and Committee minutes, 1916-1917;
Post Office Engineering Union: Eectric Light and Power Branch: Committee minutes, 1926-1928;
POEU: Post Office Railway (London) Branch (Mount Pleasant): branch minutes 1947-1960;
POEU LPR Branch (St Martin Le Grand later Mount Pleasant): branch minutes, 1964-1968.

Transcriptions of source material and notes by Douglas on Elizabethan and Stuart journalism, [1935-1954], mainly comprising typed transcriptions of newspapers, pamphlets and similar sources of news, 1566-1622, with associated notes and references by Collins, and including typescript of 'Elizabethan journalism, 1590-1610' by Collins; manuscript and typescript introduction, table of contents and bibliography of A Handlist of News Pamphlets, 1590-1610 (Walthamstow South-West Essex Technical College and School of Art, London, 1943) by Collins; file of correspondence with archivists (mainly at Essex Country Record Office, the Bodleian Library and Chester City Record Office), concerning sources of Elizabethan and Stuart journalism and pamphlets, 1948-1954, with a manuscript copy of an interim report on the subject, [1949]; notebook containing research on the early modern postal service; manuscript notes on Sixteenth Century French news pamphlets and related material, including research undertaken on Collins' behalf by Robert J North, with covering letters from North to Collins, 1934.

Letter from Thomas Hoskins Webb of Camden, Maine to Joseph Hume, 11 Aug 1849. Thanking him for his 'kind attention to my inquiries relative to the important subject of Postal Reform'; sending him a copy of a pamphlet issued by 'our Free [sic] Postage Association, wherein you will find an extract from one of your letters to me, and in an Appendix the statistics by you kindly funished'; offering to send extra copies should Hume or Mr Rowland Hill desire any. Webb mentions 'another subject or project designed for the public good. I mean a "People's Library". Altho' we abound in Charitable, Literary, and Scientific Institutions, we have nothing of this description. We have Athenaeums, Social Libraries, Circulating Do., Mercantile Do., Apprentices' Do., Historical Do., but not one People's Library... The great mass of the community, the People, emphatically so called, have no right of admission to any of these places...'.

Autograph, with signature. A note in another hand states that a reply was made on 28 Aug 1849; initialled: 'D'.

Letter from Thoomas Algernon Dorien-Smith of Tresco Abbey, Isles of Scilly, Cornwall to James Hooper, 28 Dec [1883-1884]. Intending to send flowers by the next mail. Discussing the demerits of the parcel post for the flower trade's deliveries. The islands are suitable for growing flowers, espcially narcissi, but strong winds prevent fruit-growing.

Autograph, with signature.

London Parcels Delivery Company records comprise: board of directors' minutes, 1837-46; and notes concerning the early history of the company, circa 1926-9. No other records of London Parcels Delivery Company are known to survive.

Minutes of annual general meetings of the China Submarine Telegraph Company Limited.

Minutes of the Companhia Telegrafica Platino Brasileira, later the London Platino Brazilian Telegraph Company Limited.

Records of the Eastern and South African Telegraph Company Limited comprising minutes, Directors' annual accounts, balance sheets, general ledgers, cash books and journals.

Europe and Azores Telegraph Company Limited records comprise minutes of Board meetings and Annual General Meetings, Directors' annual reports and accounts, details of balance sheets, a journal, ledgers and a private ledger.

Marseilles, Algiers and Malta Telegraph Company Limited records comprise minutes of board meetings.

River Plate Telegraph Company Limited records comprise minutes of board meetings, including directors' annual reports and accounts and a ledger.

Papers of Cuthbert Grasemann, consisting of original documents, together with Grasemann's notes and transcripts either used in his book or intended for use in a book on Isle of Wight transport. Relating to the latter subject are transcripts of letters extracted from the Ryde Pier Company's letterbook, 1848 to 1852; original letters and office copies of correspondence between local officers of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and of the Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company with their respective general managers, 1870 to 1872. Relating to cross-channel services are lists of the vessels employed, 1790 to 1939; of Newhaven to Dieppe steamers, 1856 to 1933; of the steamers of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company, 1845 to 1896; a table of passengers carried on South Railway routes to the Continent, 1850 to 1938. In addition there is an illustrated book of the lights and buoys on the south and east coasts of England from Harwich to Land's End, prepared ca.1832 for Captain David Stephenson (c 1779-1846), an Elder Brother of Trinity House, and containing detailed sailing directions.

Papers of Lt Col Leonard George Gage, on service with Army Postal Service, 1939-1945; principally comprising correspondence on the introduction and operation of the airgraph service to the Middle East; letters of congratulation on mention in despatches, 1941, and award of MBE, 1944; photographs of army postal services in France, 1939-1940 and the Middle East, 1942-1945; copy of Parade No.124, 26 Dec 1942, containing illustrated article 'Mail Up for Christmas'

This series consists of records relating to the supervision of the General Post Office's financial business, including correspondence relating to authorisation of expenditure, development of services and applications for pensions.

POST 1 is commonly used by researchers investigating their family history. This is because a large proportion of this class consists of documentation relating to pensions and gratuities awarded to individual Post Office employees for the years 1686-1959. Amongst the numerous bound volumes of treasury letters are the pension details of thousands of employees. Additional information is often included such as the officer's name, rank and office, date of birth, career history, last salary, cause of retirement or date of death and a statement of reference. Case statements, reports and correspondence are sometimes included where retirement was on grounds of ill-health or the cause of death under investigation. The names of these individuals can be traced through the pension and gratuity indexes, which can in turn be found in separate POST classes, usually made available on microfilm.

Researchers pursuing their own family history are advised to consult the 'Guide to Family History' which can be found in the Search Room and is available to download online. This guide provides step by step advice on how to trace pension records, as well as appointment records.

The majority of these pension records can be found in Sub-Series 1 'Treasury letters, general correspondence' and Sub-Series 6 'Pensions and gratuities applications and awards' (pp. 1-259 and 271-349 of the POST 1 printed catalogue respectively).

Sub-Series 1 'Treasury letters, general correspondence' accounts for the majority of the material held in POST 1. In addition to pension records, this series comprises a record of communications between the Treasury and Postmaster General concerning the financial management of the inland, foreign and colonial services. This includes Treasury authorisation for expenditure on salaries and allowances; new establishments, buildings, facilities and equipment; extension of postal routes, services and postage rates. Developments in transport and technology, rapid expansion of the GPO and increasing complexity of the Civil Service are reflected in the letter books from the early nineteenth century. Volumes contain correspondence concerning road surveys; conveyance of mails by steam packets and railways; contracts for building work and ship conveyance; extension of telegraphic and telephonic communications; Post Office Savings Bank; Civil Service grades and pay scales.

Many of the letters in Sub-Series 2-5 are helpfully grouped and indexed by subject, such as Sub-Series 4 containing copies of letters authorising expenditure on postal telegraphic and telephone services. However, many of these letters are in fact duplicates of the records found in Sub-Series 1.

This Post Class contains statistics relating to Post Office business, including returns of delivered, posted and registered mails, 1839-1913; comparative summaries of annual returns of work and staff hours from Head Post Offices in the United Kingdom, covering 1923-1966; returns of work and staff on Travelling Post Offices and Sorting Carriages, 1951-1974; and postal business key performance statistics, 1973-1985. Also includes statistics relating to Quality of Service (1985-1989 and 1992).

This series relates to the operation of counters business and services. The majority of the records relate to the policy on the establishment, closure and up-grading of sub-offices and the review of the scale payment sub-office system.

This class comprises reports, papers and correspondence relating to the establishment, development and operation of Britain's Inland Letter Post service, spanning the period from 1635 to 1989. At present, POST 23 is divided into 14 Sub-Series, containing some pieces originally in POST 22. There is a small amount of material that relates to seventeenth and eighteenth century developments (see Sub-Series 1 'Establishment and Introduction of the Inland Letter Post' and Sub-Series 5 'Introduction of the Penny Postage'). However, the majority of the records held in this class relate to developments that occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which was the period in which a great expansion and modernisation of the inland letter service occurred within Britain. For the nineteenth century, there is interesting general information in Sub-Series 2 'Inland Letter Post, General' and, in Sub-Series 3 'Missing Letter Branch Case Papers', there are over 50 files of records created by the Missing Letter Branch, who investigated mail thefts between 1839-1859. The largest group of records within this class for the twentieth century is Sub-Series 8 'Two-Tier Inland Letter Service, Correspondence and Reports' which relates to the substantial changes that occurred from the 1960s that accompanied the introduction of a first class and second class postal service, amongst other changes that further modernised the system. Other than Sub-Series 14 'Seditious, obscene and libellous publications sent through the post' which comprises records for the years 1876-1927, the latter half of this class (Sub-Series 9-13) is filled with reports, business plans and material related to other significant developments that have occurred within Britain's letter post service from the late 1960s to the late 1980s.

Reports, correspondence and memoranda relating to the introduction, implementation, policy and operation of the inland parcel post service. Some pieces relate to the introduction of both the inland and overseas parcel post.

This series relates to the introduction and implementation of the registration service, the compulsory registration scheme and compensation for the loss and damage to registered mail.

It also includes items relating to the Recorded Delivery Service and other Special Delivery Services designed for sending valuable items or items required to arrive on a specific date and at a specific time via the postal system.

This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to Ireland for the period 1841 to 1960. 'Minuted' papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry. At first, the papers 'minuted' tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files on a common subject spanning many years. The date range of the files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed. The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance.

This series comprises accounts of British packet services and overseas posts, including records of agents and postmasters, packet stations, and packet boats. The accounts cover income, expenditure, salaries, allowances and disbursements.

This record series comprises copies (mainly published and submitted to the House of Commons) of conventions and articles of agreement made between the Government and/or The Post Office of the United Kingdom and overseas governments and/or postal administrations, for the exchange of mails and the regulation of these services. The conventions lay down the offices of exchange, despatch and delivery times, weight and dimension limits and postage rates.

POST 46/57 relates to the formation of the Universal Postal Union in 1875.

POST 46/62 relates to the establishment of an Imperial Penny Postage, introduced in 1898 and POST 46/63-65 concerns the payments of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company for the conveyance of mail.

On 1 April 1914, under authority of an Order in Council, responsibility for both the manufacture and distribution of postage stamps and related items passed from the Board of Inland Revenue to the Post Office. The work transferred included control of the contracts for the manufacture of watermarked paper, adhesive postage stamps, stamped stationery and postal orders. The records listed here are those created by the Post Office's Stores Depot, more recently known as the Royal Mail Stamp Depot. It was the latter which, in 1989, discovered this collection lying forgotten in its store, and transferred it in its entirety to the Post Office Archives. In 1995 material was sent to the Archive from Hemel Hempstead, and as other items have come to hand, they too have been transferred and added to this list. Please refer to the individual sub-series for the dates that they cover.

This series comprises minutes, reports, correspondence and statistics relating to postage stamps. It relates to the design, selection of designs and production of postage stamps and stamp books, matters concerning responsibility for production costs, the use of stamps as remittance, the introduction of King George V postage stamps, and questions regarding postage stamps put to the Postmaster General through Parliament.

This Post class comprises material on how the Post Office operated during wartime and civil emergencies. The greater part of the collection relates to the vital task of maintaining communications, including handling prisoners-of-war mail, censorship and civil defence arrangements during the First World War (1914-1918) and the Second World War (1939-1945). Among the early papers are documents relating to the South African War of 1899-1902 and some nineteenth century notices and field manuals of the Post Office Rifles Association.

Some records have been transferred from POST 14.

This series relates to the provision of medical care for staff through the appointment of medical officers, the monitoring of sick leave and the establishment of the Post Office Ambulance Corps.

This series consists of Royal Letters Patent to Postmasters General and Receiver Generals giving the sovereign's written authority to perform their duties. The series also contains a letters patent for the office of Court Post. The patents give: name of appointee; dates of appointment; salary and duties. All have their seals missing but the original seal attached.

Schedules of annual property and income tax assessments made upon the salaries, annuities, and pensions of employees in the General Post Office in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, with signed certificates of affirmation and verification by the GPO Assessors and Commissioners (senior officers in the GPO, notably from the offices of the Secretary and Receiver General).

Accounts are arranged mainly by department or section and cover: establishments in GPO headquarters in London, Edinburgh and, from 1854, Dublin, including the Postmaster General, Secretary, Accountant General, Receiver General, Solicitor, Surveyors, heads of departments such as the Inland, Money Order, Returned Letter and Circulation offices, and their inspectors, clerks, sorters, stampers and messengers; letter carriers and receivers in London, under the General Post (up to 1856), Twopenny Post (up to 1844) and London District Post (from 1844); superannuated officers; provincial establishments in England, Wales, Scotland and, from 1854, Ireland, including postmasters, sub-postmasters, clerks, letter receivers and messengers; Colonial agents and postmasters; mail guards; officers of the railway or travelling post; telegraph and engineering establishments (from 1871); and Savings Bank staff (from 1862).

Entries state the name of employee, office or position held, amount of income assessable, exempt amount of income, duty payable and rate, rebates allowed and total deducted.

From POST 7/2 onwards, volumes consist of standard, printed schedule and certificate forms. POST 7/1 contains various pasted-in summary lists and certificates, covering 1813-1818. It is divided into Domestic and West Indies taxes assessed by the Receiver General.

This series is a useful source for family historians, containing lists of staff employed in the GPO between 1843 and 1884 and in 1891, including their position and annual salary.

This class consists of papers spanning the period from pre-regionalisation, when the country was separated into Districts run by District Surveyors, reporting directly to the Postmaster General, up until the early 1990s.

It includes papers on Regional surveying duties and the stretching of resources in the light of an increase in work load due to rapid expansion of the Post Office in the nineteenth century.

In addition it incorporates papers from various Committees including:

-The Decentralisation Committee, appointed to consider devolution of powers in the light of mounting criticism of centralisation of Post Office administration leading to inefficiency and an inability to concentrate on development of policy.

-The Committee of Enquiry on the Post Office (Bridgeman Committee) appointed to consider change in Post Office administration, which had various wide ranging recommendations, including that of the introduction of a Regional system with powers devolved on Regional Directors.

-The Committee on Metropolitan and Regional organisation (Gardiner Committee), appointed to carry through the recommendations of the Bridgeman Report, culminating in the creation of two experimental Regions in Scotland and the North East.

-The Working Party on Regionalisation appointed to assess the progress of Regionalisation and to recommend further innovations if necessary.

It also includes papers from the experimental Regions and various Regional Conferences, as well as papers from the individual Regions. Subjects covered by this material include papers covering the civil disturbances in Northern Ireland and papers relating to the London Postal Service and the inauguration of the London Postal Region. Also included are papers concerning the input of the London and Midlands Regions into the several reviews of efficiency of the Post Office conducted by McKinsey and Company.

There are also papers relating to the split of the Post Office into two separate divisions: Postal and Telecommunications, and how this might best be carried out across the Regional structure.

The papers incorporate a wide range of material, including annual reports, meeting minutes and papers, financial paperwork, organisational diagrams, Regional Board papers, Regional publications, reviews, strategic plans and photographs of Regional representatives.

This series consists of reports, memoranda and accounts relating to the organisation, structure, functions and operations of Post Office factories and the Factories Department.

Post Office publications. This series consists of publications produced by the Post Office with the purpose of disseminating news throughout the organisation, and publications intended for the general public. Publications cover annual reports and accounts, the provision of postal services throughout the country, and staff newsletters from across the organisation, lecture notes, philatelic publications, and publications regarding postal history.

Records of central administration of the Post Office Telegraphs and Telephones (later Post Office Telecommunications) including records of the Post Office Board (including meeting papers TCB 54), Post Office Advisory Committee and other central functions.

The records concern both strategic telegraphy and telephony activities, such as policy, planning, legal papers (including on the takeover of the National Telephone Company) and routine reporting, and central operational activities including personnel and communications (including Joint Production Council publications, staff magazines, press notices, media coverage and training school and studio photographs).

These central administration records also include the minuted papers relating to telecommunication services 1889-1977 that, for various reasons, fell outside previous archival transfer. The subjects in these minuted papers (TCB 2) include satellite communications (Early Bird), international telephone services, policies toward staff and unions, telephone information services (including ship telephone services, roads and weather, teletourist service, speaking clock and the Santa Claus service), and technological developments (including telephone kiosks, the answering machine, "Amplifying Telephone" and "Laryngaphone").

This series of records comprises the private office papers of Rowland Hill including, Rowland Hill's Post Office Journals, extracts from the volumes of Secretary's minutes to the Postmaster General and some original documentation relating to those minutes, volumes of Rowland Hill's minutes to the Postmaster General, correspondence and general material relating particularly to postal reform and including a copy of all volumes of 'History of Penny Postage' by Sir Rowland Hill, KCB (published by William Clowes & Sons).

Photo library created by a number of different departments within the Post Office, including the Public Relations/Communications department.

Papers of the Post Office Investigation Department (POID), consisting of reports, instructions, memoranda, annual reports and research notes.

This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to all manner of Post Office matters.

'Minuted' papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry. At first, the papers 'minuted' tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files. On a common subject spanning many years. The date range of files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed. The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance.

Some abbreviations used in file titles (not an exhaustive list):

BFPO: British Forces Post Office

DG: Director General

IHDS: International Household Delivery Service

IMP: Integrated Mail Processor

IMS: Institute of Manpower Studies

IOC: International Olympic Committee

IPBS: Infectious Perishable Biological Substances

IPC: International Post Corporation

IPT: Industry and Parliamentary Trust

ISIS (pay): Individual Salary Increase System

ISIS (postage stamps): Immediate Sales Indicator Systems

ISM: Information Systems Manager(s)

LPR: London Postal Region

NPM: National Postal Museum

PMG: Postmaster General

POB: Post Office Board

POC: Post Office Circular

POP: Post Office Preferred

POUNC: Post Office Users' National Council

P&TO: Postal and Telegraph Officers

PRU: Pay Research Unit

RFU: Rugby Football Union

TPO(S): Travelling Post Office(s)

UPW: Union of Post Office Workers

This class relates to the arrangements for circulation of mails in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland between the 18th and 20th centuries. It comprises three major sections: letter copy books of the Inland Office, 1794-1836, order and notice books of the Inland Office and Circulation Department, 1794-1868, and volumes and files relating to the revision of rural posts in the mid-19th century. The rest of the class is made up of a variety of items on the management of inland mails, including a number of London Postal Service order books, records of the Dead Letter Office, Bye and Cross Road Letter Office and Twopenny Post Office. Due to the incorporation of the Foreign Office with the Inland Office in 1840, a number of records in this Class also refer to the circulation of overseas mails, particularly the orders and notices books of the Inland Office and Circulation Office, (14/289-334).

This series relates to the postal draft system from its inception in 1912 until it ceased in 1969 with the introduction of Girobank services. It comprises correspondence between the Post Office and government departments, committee minutes, reports, and specimens of postal drafts.

This series relates to the conveyance of mail on the railways. In the latter half of the 19th century railway mail services were known as Travelling Post Offices and sorting tenders. During the early 19th century sorting tenders became known as sorting carriages. In general terminology sorting carriages were also often referred to as TPOs. The railway mail service also included bag duties or tenders. TPOs and sorting carriages comprised either special trains run exclusively for conveyance and sorting of mails or carriages on passenger trains hired to convey and sort mails. Bag duties were run solely for transportation of mails.

This series includes papers on the mail bag exchange apparatus, TPO mail circulation and sorting lists, railway rolling stock lists and diagrams, schedules of TPO services, minutes of the TPO Whitley Sub-Committee and files on TPO staffing, during railway strikes and after service alterations.

Manuscript volume of financial abstracts relating to Customs and Excise duties, Exchequer bills and the Post Office, as follows:
1.'A true copie of the table of proportion whereby the money received out of the country upon the account of excise is applyed to the severall duties of excise...Excise Office, London, 9 July 1703', from an original signed by Deane Mountague'.

2. 'A state of the Exchequer bills issued by vertue of three act of Parliament that passed on the 8th, 9th and 12th year of the reign of William III computed from 26th April 1697 to 27th August 1703'.
3. Account of the Salt Act bills of credit, 1696-98.
4. Account of principal and interest paid on the several registers following, between Michaelmas 1702 and Midsummer 1704.
5. Account of the revenue of the General Post Office, 1702-1703.
6. Penny Post Office account 23 Sep-23 Dec 1702.
7. 'List of the officers and messengers belonging to the Peny Post Office with their several salaries and wages'.
8. 'Gross and net produce of the whole excise from 24 June 1704 to 24 June 1705'.

Papers relating to railways, 1839-1983, including reports, evidence and petitions relating to the construction of new lines and stations; papers relating to fires, 1522-1974, including papers on the provision of fire fighting equipment, the introduction of fire insurance policies and the establishment of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade; papers relating to the Great Fire of London, 1667-1966, including acts, orders and financial accounts relating to the rebuilding of the City of London including receipts from Christopher Wren, papers relating to the investigation into the cause of the Fire, financial accounts of funds to relieve those affected, descriptions and accounts of the Fire; papers relating to Royal and Municipal Commissions, 1816-1969; papers relating to war 1692-1995, including papers relating to the Corporation's activities during World War One; air raid precautions and casualties, Roll of Honour of Civilian War Dead in the City of London and papers relating to the bombing of Guildhall, World War Two and City of London salute to the task force, Falklands Campaign, 1982.

Papers relating to transport, 1663-1985, including hackney coaches and hackney carriages, carts and carmen, stage coaches, river traffic, tramways, omnibuses and buses, subways, Heathrow and Fairlop Airports, the London Underground and the Channel Tunnel terminal in London; papers relating to shipping, 1610-1989; papers relating to trades and crafts, 1510-1991, including bills, wages, regulations, acts and petitions regarding bricklayers, carpenters, carters, founders, glaziers, masons, painters, paviors, plasterers, plumbers, smiths, wireworkers, button makers, butchers, chimney sweeps, hairdressers, ironmongers, spoon makers, paper makers, tanners, tailors, rakers, midwives, engravers, clock makers and printers; papers relating to the Honourable Artillery Company, 1503-1967.

Papers relating to the history of London, 1565-1994, including "An exposicion of the Kinges prerogative collected out of the great abridgement of Justice Fitz-Herbert and other olde writers of the lawes of England" by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, 1565, "Londinopolis: An Historicall Discourse or Perlustration of the City of London, The Imperial Chamber, and chief Emporium of Great Britain: Whereunto is added another of the City of Westminster, with the Courts of Justice, Antiquities, and new Buildings thereunto belonging" by James Havel, 1657, and various other antiquarian and modern books, articles and pamphlets on the history of London; papers relating to health and medicine, 1657-1994, including bills of mortality, papers relating to the outbreak of plague in London, 1665-1666, letters, reports and conference papers relating to the control of cholera; papers regarding provisions, 1607-1990, including warrant authorising the Mayor to receive venison out of the Royal Parks, 1607 and papers of committees investigating the high price of provisions, 1767-1822; papers relating to the government of the City of London and Greater London, 1849-1993; papers relating to the provision and price of gas, 1828-1918; papers relating to the supply of water to the City, 1538-1992; papers relating to the placing, erection and upkeep of statues and monuments in London, 1680-1995; papers relating to weights and measures, 1678-1997, including records of action taken against those using false weights and measures and registers of weighed goods; papers relating to seals and medals, 1285-1995, including examples of medieval seals and register of documents sealed; papers relating to insignia and plate, 1650-1993, including information on the Collar of SS, Diamond Badge or Jewel, Mace, Crystal Mace, Swords, City Purse, Mayoralty Seal, Robes and Sceptre and inventories of City plate; papers relating to the population of the City of London, 1719-1982, including "A compu tation of the increase of London and parts adjacent; with some causes thereof, and remarks thereon", 1719, population returns, 1821-1897 and population studies and articles; papers regarding tolls, 1605-1833, including Acts, bonds, exemptions and leases; papers relating to the postal service, 1741-1938, including examples of early stamps and papers relating to the Penny Post; papers relating to the carrying out of writs, 1460-1965, including writs of habeas corpus, certiorari, subpoenas and jury summons; papers relating to the textile trade, 1674-1995, including orders, rates, inventories, petitions relating to the production of textiles including cloth, lace and wool, bonds of searches and sealers of tanned leather, 1699-1804, and articles on the history of textiles.

Papers relating to probate, 1693-1786, including estate inventories, letters of administration and notes on legal customs; papers relating to the regulation of fireworks and bonfires within the City, 1673-1857; papers relating to archaeological investigations in the City of London, 1972-1989; extracts relating to archery in Finsbury Fields, 1521; reports and articles relating to the armorial bearings of the City, 1216-1973; bullion certificates, 1696-1819; licences issued for the right to use calcium carbide, 1897-1919; papers relating to convex lights, 1692-1694; papers relating to conveyancing, 1770-1948 and various other papers relating to aspects of the administration of the City of London including common soil, conservation, criminal prosecutions, city customs and liberties, the Customs House, erection of hoardings, gifts and presentations, regulation of gunpowder, income tax, the London Building Acts, licensing, lotteries, regulation and licensing of petroleum, precedent books, precepts issued by the Mayor or Common Council, bills for printing and stationery, the Olympic Games, pageantry, proclamations, brewers and public houses, the Shops Act, smoke abatement and clean air, street cleaning, theatres, the unemployed, Viewer's reports, wharves, woods and forests, newspapers and cuttings, fishing, the Festival of the City of London, coffee houses, coinage, the Bank of England and other financial institutions.

Records of the Globe Telegraph and Trust Company Limited, with records of predecessor and subsidiary organisations as listed below. The records include: minutes and papers presented at meetings, annual reports, constitutional documents, deeds, reports, financial records, administrative files, staff magazines and histories. Deeds which survive from 1717 pre-date the establishment of the business.

Predecessor/subsidiary companies with records in this collection:
Globe Telegraph and Trust Co Ltd;
Aberdeen, Ceylon and Eastern Trust Ltd;
Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London Trust Ltd;
African Direct Telegraph Co Ltd;
Associated Cable Companies;
British Australian Telegraph Co Ltd;
British Indian Extension Telegraph Co Ltd;
British Indian Submarine Telegraph Co Ltd;
Cable and Wireless (Holding) Ltd;
Cable and Wireless Ltd;
Cables Investment Trust Ltd;
China Submarine Telegraph Co Ltd;
Companhia Telegrafica Platino Brasileira;
Connaught Trust Ltd;
Deutsche See Telegraphen Gesellschaft;
Direct Spanish Telegraph Co Ltd;
Eastern and South African Telegraph Co Ltd;
Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Co Ltd;
Eastern Telegraph Co Ltd;
Electra House Ltd;
Europe and Azores Telegraph Co Ltd;
Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta Telegraph Co Ltd;
Great Western Telegraph Co Ltd;
Marseilles, Algiers and Malta Telegraph Co Ltd;
Mediterranean Extension Telegraph Co Ltd;
Pacific and European Telegraph Co Ltd;
River Plate Telegraph Co Ltd;
Share Investment Trust;
Victoria Embankment Properties Ltd;
West African Telegraph Co Ltd.

Records of the British Australian Telegraph Company Limited comprising minutes of annual general meetings, meetings of the board and meetings of liquidators.

Reports of the Deutsche See Telegraphen Gesellschaft.

Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta Telegraph Company Limited records comprise minutes and agendas of Board meetings and Minutes of joint committee meetings.

Great Western Telegraph Company Limited records comprise rough minutes only.

Mediterranean Extension Telegraph Company Limited records, which comprise minutes and directors' annual reports and accounts.

West African Telegraph Company Limited records comprise minutes and agendas of board meetings, and of annual general meetings, directors' annual reports and accounts, balance sheets, journal, ledgers and a map showing telegraphic communication lines around the coast of Africa.

Documents created during the publication of Publishing News magazine. This includes a complete run of the magazine, copies of other publications by Publishing News, research files on companies and individuals associated with the book trade pulled together by the editors of the magazine, photographs used in the magazine, documents relating to the British Book Awards, reference books on the book trade, and some digital records. Publishing New's website has also been archived and can be searched at http://www.ehaus2.co.uk/pnarchive/ .