Celebrating our history through commemorative plaques

I've been lucky enough this last week to be able to attend a couple of events that celebrate the contribution made t our local society by a number of individuals.

I'm sure you've heard of the Leicestershire County Council green plaque scheme, and the Charnwood Borough Council brown plaque scheme. There are some examples of green plaques on the blogpost called Walking the Plaques, and some brown plaques make an appearance in 'Secret Loughborough'. 

Basically, they're a bit like the London blue plaque scheme, which is currently administered by English Heritage, and is essentially focussed on London. This particular scheme has been run by English Heritage since 1986, but had already been running for over 120 years, by other organisations. English Heritage tried extending the scheme to the whole of the country, but found that local councils and other organisations already had things covered, so they remained focussed on London. As an example, Harrogate in North Yorkshire, has over 80 brown plaques honouring people, places and events related to the town.

Leicestershire County Council's scheme has been going for about five years now, and around 24 commemorative plaques have been revealed across the county, honouring people and places - like John Heathcoat, Angel Yard, and William Cotton - and Sunloch, the winner of the Grand National in 1916 (these are just examples from Loughborough). Suggestions are made by the public and a longlist is made, the public then voting for their six choices.

This week I went along to the unveiling of a green plaque commemorating two Suffragettes from Loughborough, sisters, Kathleen and Nora Corcoran. They were active in the movement and members of the local Labour History Society have been researching their story, and produced a booklet describing the life and events in the story of the sisters. As they used to live in a property called The Shanty, on Casteldine Street, the plaque has been mounted on the wall of a property on that street. The houses have now lost their original names, and now have numbers, but, for a number of reasons, the plaque is on the wall of the house next to the one the sisters lived in.

The event was popular, and was attended by quite a number of people. First, there was a reception event with speeches about the sisters, followed by the unveiling in situ, and then a further reception event along with a visit to the Red House on Burton Street, the site of a fire, allegedly started by the sisters. You can read more about the sisters on the county council website, and the full text of the booklet produced by Mike Shuker of the Labour History Society can also be read on the web.

Inside the hall

Speeches in the hall

Awaiting the unveiling

About to perform the deed!

The unveiling

The plaque unveiled

Refreshments back in the hall

Inside the Red House

Over in Rothley the previous week, I was at the Rothley Court Hotel, once home to the Knights Templar, for the unveiling of a Charnwood brown plaque honouring Lord Macaulay, who was born here. Thomas Babington Macaulay, lived from 1800-1859, who amongst other things, was an historian, and Whig politician, serving under two prime ministers, Lord Melbourne, and Lord John Russell. The Encyclopedia Britannica have an excellent biography of the man.

Before the plaque unveiling, we perused the information stand and listened to a speech about Lord Macaulay and his life. Making our way outside, the weather was not brilliant but the rain was light enough not to detract from the actual unveiling of the plaque.

Here's a link to the official Charnwood Borough Council report of the unveiling of the plaque to Lord Macaulay:

https://www.charnwood.gov.uk/news/2019/10/29/charnwood_heritage_plaque_revealed_to_honour_local_historian

And here's how to nominate someone, something or a place for a brown heritage plaque: https://www.charnwood.gov.uk/pages/heritage_plaques

The entrance to Rothley Court

The information stand

Some of the literature available

Before the unveiling

The speeches

The unveiling

Some of the attendees to the event

The plaque unveiled

Close-up of the plaque

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Celebrating our history through commemorative plaques. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/11/celebrating-our-history-through.html  [Accessed 3 November 2019]

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Lynne