Leeds nostalgia: June 1970: Telecoms pioneer marks 100th
Celebrating his 100th birthday on June 3 was Gledhow resident William Tate, one of the pioneers of the telephone and telegraph system in Leeds. Mr Tate, of Denton Avenue, was pictured at Scarborough, where he was spending the summer with his 76-year-old wife, Ethel.
Barnsley-born, Mr Tate started with the Post Office in Stanningley and later became a sorting clerk and telegraphist and eventually traffic superintendent of telephones in Leeds.
One of his jobs was to walk the streets of Leeds, visiting business premises to encourage the use of the six-penny telegram.
A self-taught cello player and organist, he occasionally played the organ at Roundhay Congregational Church, where he had been a member since the church’s inauguration.