The Yeoman Body in full dress if not full colour

The Yeoman Body in full dress if not full colour

Date sent: 7 JANUARY 1950

Sender: N/A 

Recipient: Miss M Paddy, “Brampton”, 13 Mayfield Road, Whitby, Yorkshire. 

Transcription: c/o Central Club, Y.W.C.A, Gt Russell Street, W C 1 

Friday pm 

Dear Margaret 

Well we have just got back from the Albert Hall and are having a lovely time sight seeing etc.  I shall have to tell you all when I get back. Love to all  

Thelma 

I saw the Tower today & Westminster Abbey yesterday. T. 

Early 20th century official tower postcards were produced by HM Office of Works, and by the 1930s the Authorised Guide to the Tower’s map of the site included a Postcard Stall (marked “E”). In January 1946, when the Tower re-opened after the second World War, the Ministry of Works had taken on that role and by 1947, the postcard stall no longer graced the official map, its former place still dig for Victory allotments.  

Thelma probably bought Margaret’s postcard with her entry ticket from the Ticket Office. Pictures of the Tower Yeoman in full-dress uniform, even in black and white, would be instantly recognisable and a safe bet. They are shown catching the sun with the King’s House, southwest corner of the Inner Ward, behind them.  For any stamp collectors out there, from May 1950 the 2d stamp changed to red-brown, pale orange demoted to its 1/2d cousin. 

Related stories