Today's Google doodle commemorates Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), the first woman astronomer. She was the sister of astronomer William Herschel (who discovered the plant Uranus), and he was the father of astronomer Sir John Herschel.
And the heraldic aspect? Well, John Herschel worked in South Africa for four years (1834-38), studying and mapping the southern skies. On his return to England in 1838, he was created a baronet, and granted arms. These are his arms, taken from the 1840 edition of Debrett's Baronetage :
The story goes further. The 40-foot telescope depicted in the arms was the one he had used in SA. When he dismantled it prior to his departure, he placed a marker in the ground, and a granite obelisk was erected on the spot a few years later. It is still there, but the open fields that originally surrounded it are now a residential suburb named Claremont. When the Claremont municipality assumed arms around 1900, it chose the obelisk as the crest (sorry, I don't have a decent picture of the arms).
Grove Primary School was built near the obelisk. The school arms, designed in 1968, depict the obelisk and three stars (and two trees to represent the grove) :
Incidentally, Sir John may have been the person who chose the protea as the floral emblem of South Africa, but that's another story.
Herschel heraldry
- Martin Goldstraw
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Re: Herschel heraldry
Very interesting Arthur. Thank you.
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