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One of the family stories told by my grandmother was that her cousin received a medal, wrote Beverley Bainton from Australia. Many years later when I began putting together my family history I thought this would be a good piece to include.
I had no idea what the medal was for but I did know the person involved. When my husband and I visited England in 1981 we were able to meet my distant cousins but at that time I had not started my family research and so missed a great opportunity to ask all the relevant questions.
Over the next two years I have been able to put together the following story about Grandma's cousin:-
Elsie Jane DAGNALL was born 29th May 1899, the sixth child of Elijah DAGNALL and Elizabeth (nee FOOTE) in Curragh Camp, County Kildare Ireland. Elijah at the time was stationed there. He was a Quarter Master in the Royal Engineers.
Her younger sister Beatrice Hannah (later known as Bobbie) was also born there on 30th May, 1901. The sisters never married.
An article was printed in the Bournemouth Echo in 1959 and is reproduced as follows:-
'P.O. MEDALS FOR MAN AND WOMAN'
A Bournemouth man and woman who recently retired from the post office service have been awarded the Imperial Service Medal by the Queen.
They are Miss Elsie Jane Dagnall of 25 Frampton Road who was an assistant supervisor and retired postman Mr. ..rry Pope of 21 Burcombe Road Kinson. Their GPO service totalled 44 and 26 years respectively.
Miss Dagnall was a temporary sorting clerk and telegraphist at Andover before being transferred to Bournemouth as a temporary telephonist in 1919.
She was appointed assistant supervisor in 1932 and at the time of her retirement was at the Winton telephone exchange.
Mr. Pope was a postman during the whole of his GPO career in Bournemouth. He joined the post office service after being in the army for nine years and since 1946 had worked in the Winton delivery area.'
At last I was able to identify what the 'medal' was in the family story. When we returned to Australia I had lost touch with Elsie and Bobbie. I knew they had moved from their home into the Berkeley Rest Home but
could not find an address.
I placed a letter in the Bournemouth Echo and several people replied stating they were former employees at the Bournemouth Telephone Exchange and were happy to tell me their memories of working there and of Miss Dagnall.
Mrs Patricia Wilnecker from Dorset wrote:
'I stayed with BT until I took early retirement in 1987, having gone from being a telephonist to clerical officer, then to the Telephone Manager's office as a Telecoms officer in charge of telex.
I remember 'Daggie' well. She was very strict and we dreaded being in her section as she wouldn't stand any nonsense. Remember how she used to say 'Excuse Me', lean across and check the tickets and woe betide us if
our figures were badly written.
Having said that, she was very fair. She usually wore a tweed skirt, silk blouse and brogue shoes. She was friendly with Nancy Fayre (although we wouldn't have DARED use her Christian name!) and they both wore their hair short in an Eton crop.
'Daggie's' hair was mousy brown. They used to cycle everywhere together I believe. Nancy too is now dead.
I believe the ISM was for long service. I seem to remember hearing that Miss Dagnall had been in telephones all her life, but have no records to confirm this."
Another from Mrs Joan Gray (nee Davies) of Surrey:-
'Miss Dagnall -- What can I say about her, not a lot as she was a Supervisor when I joined the GPO in 1947 so telephonists and supervisors just did not mix - it was a 'them' and 'us' situation.
She was very friendly with Nancy Fare also a supervisor, the latter being quite awesome. They were quite an odd match, we girls always called them 'Nance & Dag' -- Nancy being tall and angular, Dag was much shorter and fairly thick set.
The pair of them were cycling fanatics -- but when they went on their cycling holidays they used a tandem (that I would like to have seen). I remember somebody told me they always stayed in youth hostels
because it was cheap!!
I believe again, I didn't witness this occasion, they were seen on their bicycles in what we used to call their 'Skipper Sardine' outfits, in other words their waterproofs. I know 'Dag' had a large green oilskin that she used to drape over her cycle handlebars.
When I joined the GPO as a telephonist in 1947 straight from school, well almost, I could cope with the strict discipline but a lot of the girls were drafted to work in the exchange straight from the armed forces.
I can tell you many didn't last long. We weren't allowed to speak to the engineers when they came to work on faults on our switchboards. Overalls or smocks had to be worn over your clothes whilst on duty, that was gradually phased out as the ex service girls refused to conform.
Too many toilet breaks and you were sent to the PO doctor to check that there wasn't anything wrong. Everytime you asked for a toilet break, your supervisor in your section noted it on her chart, all this happened before the telephonists were allowed to join the UPW.
Our retiring rooms in the Exchange in P O Road were disgusting. If you were on a late shift finishing at 8.00pm you'd hear the rats scampering about. I think this was due to a sandwich café alongside of the Exchange and also girls kept food in their awful green tin stacked lockers.
But despite all the discipline we managed to have so much fun, and made lots of friends.
I worked at Bournemouth Exchange from 1947 until 1959 when I was transferred to the new Exchange in Bath Road where I worked in the training School that Mary Rootham ran until I left in 1963. After I left the old Exchange I lost track of Miss Dagnall and Nancy Fare. I cannot recall where they were transferred to.'
The following is from Mrs Joan Foster of Dorset who enclosed the above letters with her own memories:-
'There were a lot of girls working at Bournemouth Exchange as it was a very large one -- one very large room -- oblong shaped with positions all round plus a relief exchange upstairs. Lots of stairs to climb at break time and to get to our lockers.
I imagine Miss Dagnall received the Imperial Service Medal for long service in the Telephone Exchange which was part of the Post Office at that time.
I was sent to other Exchanges occasionally if they were short staffed. I went to Winton, New Milton and Christchurch, all smaller exchanges but very busy. They were manual then but have been automatic for years.
I well remember going into the Exchange after lunch and I had a sweet in my mouth, one of the supervisors noticed me chewing and demanded I take it out! How different life is today!
I remember the morning when King George VI died, suddenly the phones all went mad and we were so busy it was incredible - it was in 1952.
The Exchange closed down and every thing moved to Bath Hill which was automatic. I don't know what the old buildings in P O Road are used for now. I haven't been able to find out about the Rest Home or church yet but will see what I can do.
I remember we used to do a number of different shifts, the best was 8 - 4.30, also 9 5.30, 9-6 and a split duty until 8 pm. We could also change with other people but it had to go into a book and be signed by a supervisor. Also if we wanted a day off we could pay for a member of the night staff to cover for us.
I lived at the YWCA hostel in Boscombe as my home was the other side of Wimborne. Looking back I realise how awful it was, rules and regulations there too and the food left a lot to be desired.
The woman in charge was a bit of a dragon, I can't remember her name. Young Women's Christian Association, I don't know where the
Sincerely Joan Foster
I really enjoyed these letters and appreciated the time and effort they took to send them to a complete stranger on the other side of the world. It gave me another side of my cousins.
I had grown up in Sydney Australia hearing of them because my grandmother regularly wrote to them. When we met them they were already over 80. They were having a holiday in Worthing and as we were working in Epsom, Surrey we hired a car for the weekend and joined them.
We arrived on the Friday night and had an evening meal with them. After dinner, Elsie suggested a walk on the promenade. We agreed thinking it will be a quick stroll but the 'old dears' strode out at a brisk pace for the whole distance and back again and it was a bit of an effort for us to keep up and we were only in our 20s.
Obviously all that cycling developed Elsie's stamina! The next day we visited Sheffield Park and strolled through the beautiful gardens, had a hearty lunch at a typical English pub and in the afternoon suggested a scenic drive through the countryside.
This was memorable for us even now 20 years later, first of all we couldn't see a damn thing of the countryside because the quiet back roads we took had hedges of both sides well over 10 feet high and blocking our view and secondly, both Elsie and Bobbie were in the back seat sound asleep.
We had also visited them at 25 Frampton Road.
I had lost touch with Elsie and Bobbie when we returned to Australia but knew they had moved into a Rest Home but could not find a current address for it.
In response to my letter in the Bournemouth Echo I received the following two replies:-
The first was from Barbara, the owner of the Berkeley Rest Home who informed me that the home had closed in November, 1999 but knew Elsie and Bobbie and was able to put me in touch with their nephew and great-niece who has helped me tremendously with the family history.
Barbara told me:
'Elsie was a supervisor at the Post Office telephones in Bournemouth for many years, whilst Bobbie stayed at home to care for her parents and when her parents died she went to live with Elsie at 25 Frampton Road where she 'kept house'.
Elsie received a medal for war service but I know very little of how she attained it. I actually saw it once but she never spoke about it.'
And finally one last letter from Sylvia Young of Dorset:-
"A short while ago I saw your letter in the Bournemouth Echo asking for information about your cousins, Elsie and Bobbie Dagnall.
Although I had known them by sight when shopping in Charminster Road and also attending St. Alban's Church, I came to know them much better when my husband's aunt went to live at Berkeley Rest Home at approximately the same time as they did, December 1989.
They were a great support to Aunty whose powers of communication were limited after a stroke and they were all of a similar age. You are right in saying that they had a connection with the Post Office as I
understood Elsie was in charge of the telephone operators prior to her retirement.
Unfortunately the Rest Home closed in November 1999 but the proprietors are still living in the Bournemouth area. They may be able to supply more details about your cousin's last few years.
I am sorry to say that Elsie Dagnall died at the end of December 1997 (Bev's note: it was in fact 3rd January, 1998 age 98 years) and her funeral was held on the 13th January 1998. You may be aware that Bobbie suffered with very poor eyesight and had been very dependent on Elsie for their last years together.
They were very close and Bobby was deeply affected by her sister's death. She did not survive her long and died in April 1998. Her funeral was held on the 21st April and I attended both funerals to represent my aunt and on my own behalf.
Although we visited Aunty regularly it was always a relief to know that Elsie and Bobby were kind enough to look out for her and keep her company daily and could let us know how she had been. At their deaths both sisters were in their late 90s and Aunty, who has survived and is now in a nursing home is 96.
Yours sincerely, Sylvia Young'
If anyone has memories or photos of the Exchange we would be most interested to see them.
Beverley Bainton, New South Wales, Australia, 2002
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