Finding a Workforce

By 1942 the GPO had lost a third of its work force to active service, 15% in the first week of the war. Women were recruited to fill the gaps, help came from the forces and even schoolchildren lent a hand over the Christmas period. 

Working in blackout conditions, often in temporary buildings, staff worked and risked their lives to keep services going. It fell to many of the new women staff to keep the telephone exchanges (often sited at the tops of buildings) running during the blitz. Postmen collected mail from pillar boxes buried in rubble as nearby bombs were being defused.

Staff carried on their war effort after hours, with 50,000 postal workers entering the Home Guard all over the British Isles. Their main responsibility was to defend the telephone and telegraph systems in the event of an invasion. 

Staff were required to keep a stiff upper lip:

'All members of the staff must know that it is their duty to STAND FIRM and to CARRY ON with their normal vocations along with the rest of the civilian population, unless they are definitely instructed to the contrary.'

Instructions regarding what Post Office staff should do in the event of an invasion, July 1941.