Pager

Forgotten Technology · 1954

Published

Britain's early hospital paging system was developed by Peter Styles of St Thomas' Hospital with Multitone Electronics. The system used selective radio calls to alert staff carrying compact receivers, with deployment recorded in 1956.

Why It Mattered

Paging made mobile staff reachable without tying them to a telephone or public announcement. Although general use later declined, the simple and resilient technology remained valuable for specialist critical communications.

The hospital bleep system

- St Thomas’ attributes its 1954 “first bleep” system to Peter Styles working with Multitone; this is an institutional claim about that British hospital system. - Multitone dates installation of its closed-loop paging system at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, to 1956. - A 1956 advertisement describes a magnetic induction loop, pocket receiver, selective calling and direct speech messaging.

From selective calls to radio messages

- A 1957 Multitone advertisement says St Thomas’ had 70 receivers in use, activated through push-button calling. - Later dedicated radio networks supported numeric and alphanumeric messages; POCSAG variants operated at 512, 1,200 and 2,400 bit/s. - The Science Museum Group places radio pagers in use by mobile professionals from the mid-1970s and calls the 1980s their heyday.

Specialist use and preservation

- A 2000–02 Motorola Pager One Minicall in the Science Museum Group collection was supplied to London Ambulance Service cycle responders. - In 2019, the Department of Health and Social Care said NHS trusts should phase out pagers for non-emergency communications by the end of 2021, allowing retention in some emergency circumstances. - Preserve a pager with its assigned number, battery and charger, manuals, service and coverage records, and the user’s role; the device is part of a communications system.

Associated With

Peter Styles of St Thomas’ Hospital Electronics Department, working with Multitone Electronics - inventor, developer or manufacturer

Defining Feature

Portable selective-call receiver; early St Thomas’ system used a magnetic induction loop and direct speech messaging

Status

Active - Later radio paging declined from general use but remains supplied for specialist critical communications

Primary Records

- **St Thomas’ Hospital: history and innovations — Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust** - **Our History — Multitone** - **Multitone Staff Location System advertisement, Wireless World, October 1956** - **Multitone Personal Call advertisement, Wireless World, June 1957**

Image Sources

- **Image 1** - **Image 2** - **Image 3** - **Image 4** - **Image 5**

Rights Notice

Images are included for historical and archival reference. Rights holders may contact Forgotten Archive through the publishing account to request a credit correction or removal.

Gallery

Black British Telecom Series 1200 Message Master pager standing on a dark surface, with a blank rectangular screen, two arrow buttons and red-outlined front label.
Source
Credit

Science Museum Group Collection

Licence

Historical Ephemera

Displayed for commentary and research. Fair dealing under the UK CDPA 1988 applies only where its conditions are met. No permission for reuse is granted.

Caption

BT’s MessageMaster put incoming text on a small portable screen, offering a way to receive messages without carrying a mobile telephone.

Black Motorola Pager One Minicall pager on a white background, shown at an angle with a blank screen, three front buttons and a curved lower clip or cradle-like attachment.
Source
Credit

Science Museum Group Collection

Licence

Historical Ephemera

Displayed for commentary and research. Fair dealing under the UK CDPA 1988 applies only where its conditions are met. No permission for reuse is granted.

Caption

The Motorola Pager One shows the compact, clipped-on hardware associated with one-way personal paging.

Scanned catalogue page titled “Pagers,” showing several pager models with product descriptions, prices and network advertisements.
Source
Credit

Argos Superstore 1999 Spring/Summer by Retromash - Issuu

Licence

Historical Ephemera

Displayed for commentary and research. Fair dealing under the UK CDPA 1988 applies only where its conditions are met. No permission for reuse is granted.

Caption

A catalogue comparison presents pager models and network offers side by side, preserving how the service was sold to buyers.

Black-and-white operation manual page for an A01/XL2000 pager, with a labeled line drawing of the pager, a feature list, LCD icon key, and instructions for powering on, selecting vibration or beep mode, reading and clearing messages, locking messages, setting time and date, and other functions.
Source
Credit

YUMPU

Licence

Historical Ephemera

Displayed for commentary and research. Fair dealing under the UK CDPA 1988 applies only where its conditions are met. No permission for reuse is granted.

Caption

The A01/XL2000 manual explains alerts and display controls, revealing the everyday operation behind a pager’s simple exterior.

Front view of a black Motorola Talkabout pager with its flip-up screen open; the green display reads “Hello Medium,” above a compact QWERTY keyboard with yellow secondary labels.
Source
Credit

Debugger - Medium

Licence

Historical Ephemera

Displayed for commentary and research. Fair dealing under the UK CDPA 1988 applies only where its conditions are met. No permission for reuse is granted.

Caption

Motorola’s Talkabout keyboard shows the move from receiving short messages to composing replies on a two-way pager.