Maritime Mail 1952

[Andrew Brooks]

Another from the Dr. Beer collection. The cachet is only partly clear. 'H.M. Astronome../ Royal Observatory/ Official Free. Dated 30/3/52. It has a British stamp and air mail label. Any suggestions where it might has come from?

[Neil Williams]

That's interesting!

The cachet is Her Majesty's Astronomer, Royal Observatory, commonly known as the Astronomer Royal. That Observatory was in Greenwich.

rather odd that an airmail label has been applied for it to get to Cambridge. However, Greenwich had an outstation 'Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope' and that looks like a South African air mail label. It could have gone with the RN mails from Simonstown.

I would think that a possible solution!

Neil W

[Andrew Brooks]

Hi Neil,
Many thanks for your reply. I think that you are correct with your suggestion that it could have been sent from the 'Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope'. The air mail label is South African and the only reference that I could find before I posted was the Cape Town Observatory but I did not think it was possible.
Andrew

[Neil Williams]

Andrew

Stranger things happen in astrophysics!

Pity it's not endorsed with a signature or something. The then Astronomer Royal, Harold Spencer Jones, had previously been head of the Cape Observatory.

Neil W