Frank Ives Scudamore

Frank Ives Scudamore (1823–1884) was an English Post Office reformer and writer.

Life

The son of John Scudamore, a solicitor, by his wife Charlotte, daughter of Colonel Francis Downman, R.A. and niece of Sir Thomas Downman, he was born at Eltham in February 1823, and educated at Christ's Hospital; Sir Charles Scudamore, was his uncle. On leaving school he entered the General Post Office (1841), and, on the amalgamation of the receiver-general's and the accountant-general's offices in 1852, was appointed chief examiner of the new department.^[1]

In 1856 Scudamore became receiver and accountant general. He was, after George Chetwynd of the money-order office, heavily involved in the scheme for government savings banks. Scudamore explained to William Ewart Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer the proposed machinery, and had support and obtained authorisation from parliament in 1861.^[1]

In 1865 Scudamore drew up a report on the advisability of the state acquiring the telegraphs, which were then in the hands of a few private companies, on lines suggested by Frederick Ebenezer Baines. In negotiations Scudamore was employed as chief agent, and the way was prepared for the Telegraph Act 1868 entitling the state to acquire all the telegraphic undertakings in the kingdom, and the Telegraph Act 1869 giving the Post Office the monopoly of telegraphic communication. In 1870 the Irish telegraphs were transferred to the Post Office.^[1] Sir John Tilley, Scudamore's superior, did not support the nationalisation, but allowed Scudamore to run the resulting state telegraph system.^[2]

Scudamore had been promoted assistant secretary (1863) and soon afterwards second secretary, of the Post Office, and in 1871 he was made C.B. Clashes over his impatience of obstacles led to his resignation in 1875. Among other changes made by Scudamore was the introduction of female clerks into the postal service. He then accepted an offer of the Ottoman government to go to Constantinople to organise the Turkish international post office; the sultan conferred on him the order of the Medjidieh in 1877; he gave up his post on encountering delays. He continued to live at Therapia, and wrote.^[1]

Scudamore died at Therapia on 8 February 1884, aged 61, and was buried in the English cemetery at Scutari.^[1][3]

Works

Scudamore wrote:^[1]

• People whom we have never met (1861), a lecture on fairies.
• The Day Dreams of a Sleepless Man, London, 1875.
• France in the East; a contribution towards the consideration of the Eastern Question (London, 1882), which is a plea for the good intentions of France in south-eastern Europe, and against the policy of preserving the integrity of the Ottoman empire.

Scudamore also contributed to Punch, and in The Standard, The Scotsman, the Comic Times, and other papers.^[1] He wrote for The World under Edmund Yates.^[4]

Family

Scudamore married in 1851 Jane, daughter of James Sherwin, surgeon, of Greenwich, and left issue.^[1] They had at least one son called Leonard George Scudamore who was a casualty during the First World War. He was buried in the Commonwealth war graves cemetery of St Leonard's Church at Sutton Veny.^[5][6]

Notes

1.  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Scudamore, Frank Ives". Dictionary of National Biography 51. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
2. Perry, C. R. "Tilley, Sir John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48345. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Frank Ives Scudamore at Find a Grave
4.  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1900). "Yates, Edmund". Dictionary of National Biography 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
5. Leonard George Scudamore at Find a Grave
6. "Casualty Details: Scudamore, Leonard George". Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Scudamore, Frank Ives". Dictionary of National Biography 51. London: Smith, Elder & Co.