KELLY'S - Directory of Cardiff by Jan Evans
Some of you may just be old enough to remember using a ‘Kelly’s Directory Of Cardiff’ in your work place.
When I started work in Commercial Union as a Routine Clerk, I had never heard of the ‘Kellys’, but it soon became an invaluable tool for my everyday job. How often we would receive a handwritten letter, with no policy number and a barely decipherable signature. It was the Routine Clerks job to try and find out who the writer was. If there was a legible address on the top of the letter, you could reach for the ‘Kellys’, look up the address and then hopefully find the name of the writer. It didn’t always work, but invariably it did.
The last Kelly’s directory was printed in 1972 and I am not quite sure how I managed to track down Policyholder’s after that, who didn’t give us all the info.
These directories are now quite collectable and the older ones were produced by The Western Mail.
We are lucky enough to have a small collection of these directories, the oldest being 1911 and newest 1972. You may think it is an odd thing to collect, but they are a constant reference point in our house, with Peter using them for research, me being curious and my Dad just wondering who lived in his street when he was growing up in the 1930’s and 40’s.
Whilst browsing through some on a wet day during lockdown, I happened to see an advert for Commercial Union in the 1911 directory, which inspired me to look for more adverts and have a look at where some of our Offices were situated in Cardiff in times past.
A copy of some of these adverts are herewith. Sadly, I cannot find an advert for General Accident and at some time a previous owner of our 1911 directory had defaced various pages.
When I started work in Commercial Union as a Routine Clerk, I had never heard of the ‘Kellys’, but it soon became an invaluable tool for my everyday job. How often we would receive a handwritten letter, with no policy number and a barely decipherable signature. It was the Routine Clerks job to try and find out who the writer was. If there was a legible address on the top of the letter, you could reach for the ‘Kellys’, look up the address and then hopefully find the name of the writer. It didn’t always work, but invariably it did.
The last Kelly’s directory was printed in 1972 and I am not quite sure how I managed to track down Policyholder’s after that, who didn’t give us all the info.
These directories are now quite collectable and the older ones were produced by The Western Mail.
We are lucky enough to have a small collection of these directories, the oldest being 1911 and newest 1972. You may think it is an odd thing to collect, but they are a constant reference point in our house, with Peter using them for research, me being curious and my Dad just wondering who lived in his street when he was growing up in the 1930’s and 40’s.
Whilst browsing through some on a wet day during lockdown, I happened to see an advert for Commercial Union in the 1911 directory, which inspired me to look for more adverts and have a look at where some of our Offices were situated in Cardiff in times past.
A copy of some of these adverts are herewith. Sadly, I cannot find an advert for General Accident and at some time a previous owner of our 1911 directory had defaced various pages.
These adverts were taken from the 1911 directory and at that time The General Accident’s Office was situate 9 Working Street.
Norwich Union Insurance Societies were at 6 Working Street and Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd were at 119 Queen Street. By 1927 Commercial Union had moved to 131 Queen Street. Norwich Union also advertised.
|
As most of you were probably working in or around the Cardiff area in the 1970’s, I am also showing the page with Insurance Brokers listed. How many do you remember? How many upset you more than once?
I hope these adverts are of interest to you and if you want to know who lived in your house in 1911, drop me a note!
I hope these adverts are of interest to you and if you want to know who lived in your house in 1911, drop me a note!