The Post Office Research Station (Dollis Hill) in the ‘long Cold War’

Established in 1921, the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill in north London was one of the largest and most significant sites for technological innovation by the modern British state. This is one of three linked studentships which will explore the history of Dollis Hill and Post Office research across the twentieth century. The project is in collaboration with the Science Museum, London, where the award holder will spend some time working with the external supervisor on the Museum’s telecommunications collections.

By the late 1930s, the Post Office Research Station was one of the largest research establishments operated by a UK state agency, and had an international reputation in an extensive network of telecommunications research, testing and manufacturing facilities encompassing other state civil and military establishments, research associations and industry. This project will explore the institution’s organisational development, its technical work and its changing relationship with the state and other institutions from the mid-1930s through WW2, the post-war years and the Cold War up to the 1960s.

There is significant scope for the student undertaking this project to develop their own thematic and empirical interests, but among the relevant topics that might be covered are: the mobilisation of Dollis Hill for war work on radio and electronic computers for code-breaking during WW2; the development of submarine cable and repeater technology, culminating in the transatlantic submarine telephone cable in 1956; work on automatic dialling and switching on long-distance telephone circuits and national trunk-mechanisation; electronic speech and artificial devices for telephone measurements; the development of microwave radio relay transmitters and the establishment’s work on the Goonhilly satellite ground station; electronic switching and pulse code modulation; and the beginnings of fibre optics. Cutting across all these topics, the project will analyse Dollis Hill as a deep reservoir of skilled practice: its labs and workshops maintained huge expertise on materials and production processes – initially valves and crystals, later semiconductors and transistors. It will also explore the ways in which Dollis Hill was central to the British state’s role as a provider of communications infrastructure both for public use and for national security purposes.

Among the sources for this exciting PhD project are the BT Archives, which contain extensive Post Office records; the National Archives at Kew; and the telecommunications collections of the Science Museum. There will also be opportunities for oral history.

Applicants should have a good Master’s degree (or equivalent) in history of science/technology or a related subject, and will need to satisfy AHRC academic and residency eligibility criteria. Applicants will also need to demonstrate a commitment to collaborative research with fellow PhD students, partner archives, museums and universities, and a willingness to engage with wider publics in sharing the results of their work.