2-889-543 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Grand Procession at Plymouth, on the First Despatch of the Cape Mails, 1850. '...the port was first opened as a Government Mail-Packet Station. The Corporations of Plymouth and Devonport conveyed the first despatch of Cape mails [mail to Cape Colony, a British colony in present-day South Africa] from the Post-office in grand procession through the town...The procession [seen here passing the theatre] consisted of flags and banners, bands of the Royal Marines, the 4th (King's Own) Regiment and the Royal Welsh Fusileers...an open carriage, drawn by four white horses, [containing] the Mayor of Plymouth and the Mayor of Devonport, in their full robes...[an] omnibus, drawn by four white horses, and containing the postmaster of Plymouth and other authorities...members of the corporation and many influential persons, with the letter-bags piled up on the top...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.