The Telegrams - Up Helly Aa
Lyndon Nicolson, Guizer Jarl, in the person of Knut the Great, visited the Museum and Archives yesterday. It was a fine occasion, songs were sung, including pumping renditions of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck and Queen’s We Will Rock You. Then simply a lot of meeting people, selfies, friendship and laughter. One of the reasons that the Jarl’s squad is often 20 (or more) minutes late at our venue is that Up Helly Aa is a festival of renewed communication, among all the other roles, and it all takes time.
In the past, people made considerable efforts to congratulate the Jarl and his squad on their big day. If you weren’t in Shetland, a letter is the obvious one – there can’t be many now – telephone calls too, and telegrams. The latter is a messaging system now out of use. Perhaps the best way to describe a telegram is to say it was an analogue text message, or a primitive digital text message.
The Victorian Internet is a popular term now, for a system of messages sent over cables using a code, but arriving at an address in writing. Victoria had been on the throne for over 30 years by the time Shetland connected to the telegraph system in 1870. There were problems if the undersea cables broke (there’s nothing new really) but by that time it was possible to send a message from Shetland to much of the world. If you could afford it.
Telegrams were an expensive habit, but like modern text messaging (a cheap communication), abbreviations and minimal grammar all helped shorten word use. A terse message was an affordable one. Governments and companies made extensive use of them. For most people, they were for emergencies, or special occasions – births and marriages, Christmas and New Year, and in Shetland that special occasion, Up Helly Aa.
Above: A telegram sent to James Young, also known as Sonny, the Jarl in 1961. D1/291/12
Someone gifted the Archives with telegrams sent to James Young, aka Sonny, the Jarl in 1961. D1/291/12 if you want to look in our catalogue. Sonny Young (1913-1993), who was a whaler with Salvesens, was a popular Jarl – there are over 60 items in the folder. The first one says, in the style of the Up Helly Aa Bill ALTHOUGH BEARDED HE IS STILL YOUNG GOOD NIGHT SONNIE. That was from PEERIE DICKIE and sent from Glasgow. It isn’t shouting, the printed format that arrived was all caps.
The Shetland diaspora communicated from all over the UK, Toronto, and Wellington (of course), in New Zealand. The Shetland Society there sent a telegram of its own. A couple of lines, though, was a long message. It did cost money. Most of the telegrams are on cheap Post Office paper. Some, labelled Greetings Telegram, and better quality paper, have a bright illustration on the bottom, showing people partying on.
Above: Sonny Young, Guizer Jarl 1961, in the galley at the Esplanade (SL07726)
Another category is the Ship Letter Telegram, – with an illustration of a single-funnel merchant vessel steaming away, and on the left side via Portishead Radio. One is from the MV Hurunui GREETINGS FROM THE SOUTH PACIFIC HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD NIGHT = SHETLIES [sic] MIV HURUNI. You could have typos on telegrams too. Sydney Johnson, on another vessel, sent his own telegram WITH BEST WISHES FOR THE BEST UP–HELLY-AA EVER AND A BIG BLAZE.
What is Up Helly Aa really about? A regular question – Vikings maybe? Certainly the biggest visual, but it would never work with that alone, the telegrams show community and comradeship extended from one end of the earth to another.
