Has anyone further news of Alec Hill's colleagues - Crown servants, meteorologists, professors?
I mentioned Dr Alexander Pedler in an earlier post: a close colleague and an expert on cobra poison, so possibly of interest if one is looking for sources for "Rikki-tikki-tavi".
Another colleague worth a look is T H Hendley, surgeon-major and art historian as well as meteorological reporter, well known to both RK and JLK. He's in "Letters of Marque". He and Alec had common experience of the costly, fiddly Belgian meteorographs. Alec had one at the observatory in the grounds of his Allahabad villa (the supposed setting for R-t-t); Hendley had one, rather more reliable, in Jeypore. Hendley had fair technical knowledge, as on his trip home in 1883 he called at the workshop in Belgium to discuss repairs - new metal springs, battery cells etc.
The ground plan for Hendley's Jeypore Museum shows a prominent room for “Scientific Appliances”. I wonder if the Professor's remark in "From Sea to Sea"
It would pay us to put the whole Empire in a glass case and mark it, "Hors Concours," Exhibit A
points at Alec's experience of museums and South Kensington glass cases.
best wishes
Chris
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