And, like many other soldiers, he bought postcards to send home or to keep as a record of his visit. For this post I've selected several of his postcards from a visit to Hampton Court Palace. None of these has been posted or written on the reverse. The Palace is outstanding even in the UK so I can only imagine how overwhelming it must have appeared to Roy.
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| Entrance to Vine and Gardener's Cottage, Hampton Court Palace. Postcard c1918. |
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| South-East Front, Hampton Court Palace. Is it possible that the lawn was dug up for vegetable gardens in WW!? |
It is also Hampton Court Palace and shows the ghost of Jane Seymour. Apparently she was seen every night! I wonder if she still appears. Roy must have been intrigued because we don't have a lot of ghosts her in Australia and especially not in his home town of Mitiamo that was only about 40 years old at the time.
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| The Hampton Court Palace Ghost. Queen Jane Seymour's Ghost. As seen nightly near the private stairway, leading to apartments formerly occupied by her. |
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Now, close your eyes if you are easily shocked. You've been warned.
This an old sepia photograph taken by a member of a photography club in Melbourne in the 1950s. It is one of a collection of photos donated to the Genealogical Society of Victoria.
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| Experimental photography and development techniques. |
I see they still run regular ghost tours at Hampton Court but I bet they don't guarantee any sightings :-)
ReplyDeleteYou have got to be kidding. Experimental photography ! Are there any others in the series ? Do you know which photography club ?
ReplyDeleteYes, there are quite a few more but we haven't added them to GSV's Flickr page because I thought it might attract the wrong sort of traffic. I'll tell you all about the photography club (and a court case) when I see you:)
DeleteExperimental photography and "developmental techniques?" Development of WHAT -- of photographs, or that woman's chest? This made me laugh out loud!!!
ReplyDeleteGood ideas for the Halloween post! I have not seen any of those cards before.
ReplyDeleteWhoever produced the Hampton Court Palace Ghost postcard needed the help of the Melbourne photography club. Jane is just a little too small judging by the staircase. Fun post, Lorraine!
ReplyDeleteI guess the eyewitness descriptions of the ghost of Jane Seymour were a little vague - or did she always cover her face when seen?
ReplyDeleteWow - some different photographs on show here! Down to the prosaic, I recall reading that during the war the gardens of Hampton Court were given over to food crops.
ReplyDeleteI bet Roy Phelan, the country lad, might have been more surprised by your local apparition than by all the ghosts in England, LOL!
ReplyDeletePoor Jane Seymoure got a pretty rotten deal. I don't blame her for showing up to scare people!
ReplyDeleteA good ghost story will always sell more postcards. And so will experimental photos!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the comments above as much as these great pictures Lorraine!
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