Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Greenwich Hospital School Medal for Attainments and Good Conduct, 2 ornate clasps engraved, ‘Semper Paratus’, ‘Spero Meliora’, obverse: bust of Nelson left; reverse: inscribed, ‘Robert T. Pett 1873’, 41mm., silver, claw and straight bar suspension, some edge bruising, good very fine £100-140

Attributed to the Astronomer Robert Thomas Pett. Pett served as a Computer and Observer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1876. Held the appointment of Third Assistant at the Royal Observatory, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, 1876-1919. Mr David Gill, Astronomer Royal at the Cape, sent Pett to supervise the construction of the building and the installation of the telescope at the Natal Observatory during 1881/82, the work being expedited so that it would be ready in time for the Transit of Venus in 1882. This being done, Pett was recalled to the Royal Observatory, Cape Town in October 1882, to take his share in the transit observations there. With some copied notes.