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Who's Who in and Around Leicester
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� Who's Who in and Around Leicester � |
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� This is Page One � Section Two
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Historically Significant ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ |
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� Some of the people in this section, although of historical significance, are neither world-famous� or even all�that well-known in Britain - although some ought to be. Nevertheless, the� following�list contains�the names of some pretty remarkable people: � Click on the name for additional information |
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Before moving to Dannet�s Hall Dr Alexander (after whom Alexander Street is named) lived at Stoneygate House. One day he was waylaid by three Irish soldiers who knocked him down and robbed him of his money and gold watch. The men were soon caught; two were sentenced to be transported and the third, James Murray, sentenced to be hanged. On the passing of the sentence Dr Alexander, unsuccessfully, petitioned the judge to reprieve the condemned man. Then, on 16 August 1800, two days before the date set for the execution, Murray escaped from gaol and was never seen again; rumour was that the good doctor himself had had a hand in the escape! Mrs. Alexander was an inveterate reader. As well as being well-read in French, Italian, Latin Greek and Hebrew, she also studied mathematics, astronomy, theology, metaphysics, ethics, chemistry, medicine and botany. A no mean musician and a 'very neat' performer on the harpsichord (she never liked the piano), her favourite composers were Scarlatti and Handel. The author of this entry is Max Wade-Matthews. Taken from his CD "A Walk Round Leicester." |
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~ Nicholas Alsop ~ |
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The first known framework knitter in Leicester was Nicholas Alsop of Wanlip who set up in Northgate Street in 1670; however, some of the first frames in the area were those of William Illiffe, who set up a workshop in his native Hinckley in 1641. From then on the trade grew and throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries knitting was virtually the only industry in the town. The only known existing examples of former framework knitters houses are a row of houses in Darker Street, Leicester that were built with large windows to allow as much light as possible to enter into the rooms, so that the knitters could work on their frames. The origins of framework knitting go back to the late sixteenth century. At that time in wool-producing areas, such as the East Midlands, many poor people (men, women and children) supplemented their income by hand knitting socks. The Framework Knitters' Society was founded in Leicester in 1814 as a means of preventing the hitherto constant depression of wages. At the first general meeting it was agreed that men in employment would give 6 pence and women and boys 3 pence a week towards a fund to be used for paying unemployed knitters six shillings a week (women three shillings). To augment this fund a public subscription was entered into which raised �1,800. In 1817 a statement was issued whereby it was agreed not to raise wages but to secure what they already won and also that the knitter would not work for less than the agreed rate. In 1819, at a time when one in ten were unemployed, it was reported that the knitters regularly worked fifteen hours a day, sometimes as many as twenty in order to earn an amount hardly sufficient to provide his family with the necessities of life. Author: Max Wade-Mathews |
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~ Gerard Andrews ~ |
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In 1757 Gerrard Andrews, who was educated at Westminster School, became Vicar of St Nicholas and Master of the Grammar School. A cheerful, happy man he was well loved by his scholars and under his direction the school earned a wide reputation for excellence. Among the thirty boarders taught by Andrews were the three sons of the Earl of Sandwich and Joseph Cradock, who was to build Gumley Hall and become High Sheriff of the County. In his role as preacher Andrews was, according to Throsby, considered one of the "brightest ornaments of the clerical profession". Gerard Andrews died in 1764 and is interred in St. Nicholas church. The author of this entry is Max Wade-Matthews. Taken from his CD "A Walk Round Leicester." |
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~ Black Annis ~ |
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Black Annis was a blue-faced hag who supposedly lived in a cave in Bower Close, a small natural outcrop on the Dane Hills, west of Leicester on the way to Glenfield,� Leicestershire. The cave was said to have been dug out of the rock with her own nails. Situated in front of it is a great oak in which she hides to leap out and catch and devour stray children and lambs. Every year on Easter Monday, it was customary to hold a drag hunt from her cave to the Mayor's house. The bait was a dead cat drenched in aniseed. She was famous for the prophecy made in regard to King Richard III: when King Richard went past her on his way to the battle at Bosworth and his spurs struck a stone pillar on the West Bridge, she said "it'll be his head that'll hit that stone when he comes back." After losing the battle, the crown and his life at Bosworth Field, his naked body was thrown across the saddle of a horse and, entering the city by that same bridge his head hanging down as low as the stirrups, hit that very stone. Click on the name above for more about Black Annis. |
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~ John Bainbridge ~ |
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Born 1582, in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, Died. Nov. 1643, Oxford. Astronomer noted for his observations of comets. Bainbridge practiced medicine at Ashby-de-la-Zouch from 1614 to 1618. Soon after he moved to London, he was appointed (1619) Savilian professor of astronomy at the University of Oxford, largely on the basis of his Astronomical Description of the Comet of 1618 (1619). Although this work accepted to a point the superstitious belief that comets appear as signs of impending disaster, in Antiprognosticon (1642) he recanted and vigorously denounced astrological superstition that based predictions on conjunctions of the planets and appearances of comets. His other publication includes the translation of 5th- and 2nd-century Greek astronomical works: Procli Sphaera et Ptolomaei de Hypothesibus Planetarum (1620; "Proclus' On Spheres' and Ptolemy's On the Hypotheses of Planets" '). Encyclopedia Britannica. |
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~ Robert Bakewell ~ |
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(1725-1795). The original farmhouse of Robert Bakewell survives at Dishley Grange (just North of Loughborough). It has been said that he did more to revolutionise English farming in the eighteenth century than any other man. Pioneer of animal genetics and a prime influence on both Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and Gregor Mendel (1822-84). Bakewell and his sister Hannah lived at Dishley Farm, just north of Loughborough. Using innovative techniques of breeding in he managed to change the shape of animal livestock, creating faster maturing animals with more flesh. It is said that without Bakewell�s livestock there would not have been enough meat to satisfy the population of the Industrial Revolution. Robert Bakewell not only challenged formal breeding methods but also challenged the understanding of genetics. Until that time it had been assumed that animals acquired their distinctive heredity from the land. Although he had many followers in Europe, in Austria and Moravia particularly, he lacked a classical education and was not easily accepted in English society. From (in part) the Borough of Charnwood website section: "History of Charnwood." For the rest of the story, just click on the name above.� |
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(1825-1892) Born in Leicester, this naturalist and explorer was a friend of the amateur naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and a contemporary of Charles Darwin contributing to the debate on the origin of species. He was engaged in Amazonian exploration (1848-1859). Bates remained 11 years, exploring the entire valley of the Amazon, where he collected about 14,712 species, mostly of insects (8,000 previously unknown). On his return to England (1859), he began work on his huge collections and the preparation of his famous paper, presented in 1861 as "Contributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley." In 1864 Bates was appointed assistant secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (London) and held the position until his death. Author of the "Naturalist on the River Amazons," in 1864. He gave his name to Batesian mimicry whereby a harmless creature evolves to resemble a poisonous or dangerous one. |
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~ Francis Beaumont ~ |
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At Gracedieu, John Beaumont esquire (of Cole Orton) got the site (of a former monastic house dissolved at the command of Henry VIII) and built himself a great house, incorporating much of the medieval nunnery among his Tudor brickwork, probably between 1539 and 1552, and here it was that Francis Beaumont the dramatist was born in 1586. Very little remains of this fine house today... From the book "The Heritage of Leicestershire" by W. G. Hoskins. Francis Beaumont was the youngest son of Sir Francis Beaumont of Gracedieu in Leicestershire, one of the justices of the common pleas, and brother of John Beaumont, author of Bosworth Field. He was born probably in 1585, was educated at Broadgates hall (afterwards Pembroke college), Oxford, and was entered as a member of the Inner Temple in the year 1600. A long poem, after the model of Marlowe�s Hero and Leander, entitled Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, which was published anonymously in 1602, was afterwards attributed to him; but the evidences of authorship are by no means conclusive. He became acquainted with Jonson very early, and wrote a copy of verses in 1605, �To my dear friend Master Ben Jonson, upon his Fox� (that is, the comedy Volpone, in which he declared that to Johnson alone the English stage owed the rules of dramatic art. He paid a similar compliment to two subsequent plays, The Silent Woman and Catiline; and in all these pieces he expressed a contemptuous opinion of public taste. A tradition reported by Dryden tells us that Beaumont wasso accurate a judge of play that Ben Jonson, while he lived, submitted all his writings to his censure, and �t is thought used his judgement in correcting, if not contriving, all his plots. In the freedom of his conversations with Drummond, Jonson let fall the remark that �Francis Beaumont loved too much himself and his own verses.� Fletcher also, as we have seen, was on terms of friendship with Jonson; and the two young dramatists may have become acquainted with one another through him... Continued at the website Bartleby.com - Great Books Online.� |
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Jessie Boucherett came from a conservative family of Huguenot stock which had been settled in Leicestershire for two hundred years. She left home to join the group (the organised suffrage movement) in Langham Place and, with the aid of the young poetess, Adelaide Proctor, and in connection with the Englishwomen's Journal began the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women. Another member of the group was Clementia Taylor who was the wife of Peter A. Taylor, the radical Member of Parliament for Leicester. Jessie was an opponent of protective legislation for women and this is reflected in "The Condition of Working Women" written in 1896 in conjunction with Helen Blackburn (author of "Women's Suffrage..."). To Jessie Boucherett, proportional representation provided the ideal solution to disputes that might arise between husband and wife (since each could vote for different candidates without direct conflict), and a means of campaigning for the votes for married women. However, by the early 1870s such schemes hardly seemed a practical possibility. Articles on women's suffrage were reprinted as pamphlets, and extracts were likely to appear in the Englishwoman's Review begun by Jessie Boucherett. Two leading members of the Women's Movement, Frances Power Cobbe and Jessie Boucherett remained faithful to their families' conservatism while supporting causes that seemed to go against it. Quite apart from the standard support for higher education and the suffrage, Jessie Boucherett passionately resisted all attempts to introduce protective legislation governing women's work and routinely invoked the language of the political economists (usually seen as aligned with the Liberals) to defend her case. Yet at the same time she seems to have been prepared to accept that trade unionism might provide answers to many of women's employment problems -- and this at a time when it was still regarded with suspicion by the political economists. Jessie Boucherett revived the "English Woman's Journal" under the new title, "The Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions." Her essay on "Superfluous Women," advised men in England to emigrate in order to leave room and occupation for women. She pointed to the ways in which the temperance movement could help to increase the proportion of male wages reaching the working-class wife, making it less necessary for her to work, and leaving female occupations to the single.. |
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~ William Brown ~ |
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He was one of the men involved in the famous Mutiny on the Bounty affair. He was born in Leicestershire about 1761 and at the age 26 was selected as a member of the botanical team appointed to sail on the ill-fated H.M.S. Bounty due to set off on a high-priority scientific voyage to the South Pacific. Commander Bligh described him as 5 feet 8 inches tall, with slender build, fair complexion, and dark brown hair. His face was terribly disfigured with a scrofula scar on one of his cheeks which contracted his eyelid, and ran all the way down to his throat. Although Brown took absolutely no part in the mutiny, he had no intention of returning to England with Bligh, so he willingly threw in his lot with Christian, and settled on Pitcairn Island. He was later murdered there during the polynesian crew's uprising in 1793. |
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~ Robert Burton ~ |
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(1577�1640). Clergyman and scholar from Leicestershire, educated at Oxford. He served as librarian at Christ Church, Oxford, all his life; in addition he was vicar of St. Thomas, Oxford, and later was rector of Seagrave, Leicestershire. A bachelor, he led an uneventful, scholarly life. His famous work, The Anatomy of Melancholy, appeared in 1621 under the pen name Democritus Junior. Enlarged and revised several times before his death, this treatise originally set out to explore the causes and� effects of melancholy, but it eventually covered many areas in the life of man, including science, history, and political and social reform. The work is divided into three main portions: The first defines and describes various kinds of melancholy; the second puts forward various cures; and the third analyzes love melancholy and religious melancholy. Burton's prose style is informal, anecdotal, and thoroughly idiosyncratic, and he includes quotations from a wide range of literature - the Bible, the classics, and the Elizabethan authors. |
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~ Lord Byron ~ |
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Scandal and accusations of outrageous behaviour followed the poet Lord Byron wherever he went and the ripples created by his reputation were even felt in the tiny village of Kirkby Mallory. For it was in Kirkby Mallory Hall that his wife, the mathematician Annabella Milbanke, took refuge when her one-year old marriage to the great symbol of Romanticism and political liberalism collapsed at the beginning of 1816. The hall was the home of her parents, who owned estates in the surrounding countryside, and it provided sanctuary for Annabella and her infant daughter Augusta Ada Byron. Predictably, the breakdown was accompanied by yet more scandal and in the weeks that followed Annabella's mother, Lady Judith Noel, gathered all the evidence that she could of Byron's indiscretions with a view to a legal separation. The separation eventually took place on 23rd April 1816 and guards were posted at the lodges at the entrance to the hall in case Byron tried to kidnap his daughter. Far from travelling to Leicestershire, Byron left England altogether and wrote the poem "Fare Thee Well" as a parting gift to his wife. He never returned to England, even though his mother-in-law left him an equal share in the Noel family's estates when she died in 1822. Within two years Byron was also dead - a victim of a fever contracted in Greece after becoming embroiled in the Greek political struggle for independence. From "The poet Byron - mad, bad and dangerous to know...." (From Hinckley Online). In 1824, the funeral cortage of Lord Byron, en route from the coast where he was put ashore, to Hucknalll Torkard where he was to be buried, rested the poet's body at Melton Mowbray in the dining room on the first floor of "The Swan" Inn. |
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~ Lord Cardigan ~ |
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James Thomas Brudenell, the Seventh Earl of Cardigan, was (after his retirement) a resident of Brooksby Hall in Leicestershire. This military man, forever associated with the "Charge of the Light Brigade," was very much to the manor born. He was, in his early adulthood, a striking figure; tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed. He had a reputation as a daring horseman, excelled at swordsmanship, and was a fine shot. He was, much of the time, every bit the martinet that Flashman described. He was also a reasonably complex human being who didn't quite fit the Lord Haw-Haw image. Brought up at home among his sisters, he grew up as such boys do, spoilt, domineering, and headstrong. No arm was stronger than his. No rude voice contradicted him, no rough shoulder pushed him. From his earliest consciousness he was the most important, the most interesting, the most influential person in the world. A legend grew that, at age fourteen, Cardigan had been thrown from a horse and struck his head on a gate; emerging from a weeks-long recuperation, his disposition had changed to a far more harsh, domineering style, and he was subject to flights of extraordinary rage. |
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~ Dr. Samuel Carte ~ |
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Carts Lane, just off the High Street, Leicester, is named after Dr Samuel Carte (1652-1740) who was the vicar of nearby St Martin's church. The Lane is shown, but not named, on Stukeley's map of 1722. Carte was born at Coventry and educated at that town�s Grammar School before going up to Magdalen College Oxford where he was ordained in 1677. He came to Leicester in 1700 and soon immersed himself in the town's history, indeed, a manuscript by him, on the antiquities of Leicester, is preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The author of this entry is Max Wade-Matthews. Taken from his CD "A Walk Round Leicester." |
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~ Lawrence Carter ~ |
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Lawrence Carter was born in 1771. His father, at his own expense, improved the town�s water supply by constructing cisterns on the corner of High Street and Highcross Street. These were fitted with pipes that led to various parts of the town. Lawrence Carter was M.P. for Leicester three times: 1688, 1701 and 1724. He was called to the Bar and succeeded Sir Nathan Wright as Borough Recorder in September 1698, a post he held until 1729. In 1723 he was made a Sergeant at Law and the following year the King�s Sergeant at Law. He was knighted in 1724 and became Baron of the Exchequer in October 1726. The Corporation celebrated Carter�s advancement by sending round to his house five-dozen bottles of wine and three and a half pounds of sweetmeats. Lawrence Carter lived in a many gabled house on the site of the present Hawthorn Building of De Montfort University. Such was Carter's influence that for many years after his death in 1744 the house was still being referred to as �Baron Carter�s House. The author of this entry is Max Wade-Matthews. Taken from his CD "A Walk Round Leicester." |
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In the Victorian period, the coming of a regular police force to Leicestershire made a great difference to the maintenance of law and order. The man who made the most significant contribution to effective policing in Hinckley was Walter John Chapman who was born in Mountsorrel in 1834 and was the son of a builder. He worked for his father after leaving school but in 1859 decided to join the Leicestershire Constabulary. At that time, the Force was commanded by Chief Constable Goodyer who had been the architect of the Leicestershire Borough Police after 1835 and the county force in the 1840s. John Chapman began his police service in the rural parts of West Leicestershire, far removed from the crime-laden metropolis of Leicester. His first appointment was in Newbold Verdon and, after a year in that village, he moved onto what he anticipated would be the rural idyll of Sutton Cheney. This was not to be...� - Story By Hugh Beavin. Follow the link (name above) for a continuation of this story from Hinckley Online. |
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~ Geoffrey Chaucer ~ |
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In the Middle ages, Geoffrey Chaucer, English poet and author of "the Canterbury Tales" was married (his second) to� Philippa "of Hainault" de Roet, a lady-in-waiting in the Queen's household, in St Mary de Castro Church, Leicester in 1366...� John Chaucer, a vintner and citizen of London, married Agnes, heiress of one Hamo de Copton, the city moneyer, and owned the house in Upper Thames Street, Dowgate Hill (a site covered now by the arrival platform of Cannon Street Station), where his son Geoffrey was born. John Chaucer was connected with the Court, and once saw Flanders in the royal train. Geoffrey was educated well, but whether he was entered at either university remains unknown. He figures by name from the year 1357, presumably in the capacity of a page, in the household books of the Lady Elizabeth de Burgh, wife of Prince Lionel, third son of King Edward III. The lad followed this prince to France, serving through the final and futile Edwardian invasion, which ended in the Peace of Bretigny (1360), and was taken prisoner at "Retters", Thence Chaucer was ransomed by the king, who, when the Lady Elizabeth died, took over her page and later (1367) pensioned him for life. Chaucer was married before 1374; probably the Philippa Chaucer named in the queen's grant of 1366... continued just click on this link --> [Link] |
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(1688-1752) Surgeon to King George II and teacher of anatomy and surgery. He who wrote Anatomy of the Human Body (1713) and Osteographia, or the Anatomy of the Bones (1733). Both books were used as texts by anatomy students for nearly a century. Born in Somersby, Leicestershire, he was apprenticed to a Mr. Wilkes, surgeon of Leicester. He also studied under the anatomist William Cowper in 1703 and under James Ferne, a surgeon and lithotomist at St. Thomas' Hospital. By 1711 he was already established as a lecturer in anatomy. Cheselden was named assistant surgeon at St. Thomas' in 1718 and was elected one of the institution's principal surgeons the following year. Queen Caroline appointed him to be her surgeon in 1727. Cheselden was known for his swift and skillful operations; it was reported that he could perform a lithotomy (removal of gall stones) in 54 seconds. For a first class article by Leicestershire Past & Present's Elizabeth Batt, click on the name above. |
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In the early 19th century Hinckley received a number of notable visitors. These people usually came to the town in search of medical treatment from Dr Robert Chessher who established an international reputation for his skill in medical practice. Robert Chessher was born in Hinckley in 1750 but sadly his father died while he was still a young boy. His mother remarried and her new husband was William Whalley, a Hinckley surgeon. The headstones of the Whalley family may still be seen in the churchyard of St Mary's. Robert became an assistant to his stepfather, particularly in the treatment of fractures. At the age of 18, Robert was sent to London where he competed his medical studies under the direction of John Whyatt and Dr Thomas Denman. He also attended the lectures of John Hunter, the famous Scottish anatomist. After completing his instruction from Dr Denman, Robert Chessher took a post at the Middlesex Hospital as House Surgeon. In 1778 Mr Whalley died and Robert returned to Hinckley where he took over his late stepfather's extensive practice. He was also bequeathed a large amount of property in Hinckley. - Story By Hugh Beavin. Follow the link (name above) for a continuation of this account from Hinckley Online. |
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~ Agnes Clarke ~ |
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Legend tells us that Richard III, when he stayed at the Blue Boar Inn in August 1585, brought his own bedstead with him, and left it at the inn when he marched on to Bosworth, expecting to return to the town victorious. About 100 years later, as Agnes Clarke, the landlord's wife, was making the bed a gold coin rolled out onto the floor. Curiosity aroused, the bed was examined and was found to have a double bottom. Imagine the surprise when it was discovered that the space between the two bottoms was filled with 300 more gold coins of the time of Richard III and earlier. The landlord, Thomas Clarke, concealed the cause of his family's good fortune and in due course was twice selected as mayor (in 1583 and 1598) of the town. Clarke died in 1603 and his widow carried on the business. In November 1604 a man named Harrison stayed at the inn and formed a relationship with Alice Grimbold, the maid. When Grimbold told her lover that her mistress had a lot of money in the house the two of them, with some other men, hatched a plot to steal the money. The plan was put into effect on Sunday evening 3 February 1605 and in the course of the robbery one of the men, named Bradshaw, murdered Agnes. The miscreants were soon caught and Bradshaw was sentenced to be hanged and Grimbold to death by burning. The author of this entry is Max Wade-Matthews. Taken from his CD "A Walk Round Leicester." |
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~ John Cleveland ~ |
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The most popular English poet in the mid-17th century was John Cleveland, who grew up in Hinckley where his father, Thomas, was the vicar. He was born in Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1613 but the family moved to Hinckley in 1621 after his father's appointment. In 1627 he was accepted at Christ's College, Cambridge and stayed at university for 16 years until the outbreak of the English Civil War, whereupon he joined the Royalist camp. At the end of the war, and with the Royalists defeated, he disappeared from sight and died a few years later in 1658. Today his name lives on, though, as the former Hinckley Grammar School was renamed the John Cleveland College in his honour in the mid 1970s. From "England's most popular poet.... " (Hinckley Online). |
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~ Thomas William Coke ~ |
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Thomas Coke was the celebrated Coke of Norfolk who, during a reign of sixty-six years from 1776 to 1842, greatly improved the Holkham estate which became famous for its advanced methods of husbandry.� People interested in farming flocked here from all over Britain and also from further afield, the more distinguished being lavishly entertained in 'Coke's rustic palace' with an abundance of partridges, pheasants and woodcock to divert those of them whose tastes were sporting as well as agricultural. The annual Holkham sheep-shearings, known as "Coke's Clippings," rivalled the Derby as a national event. For most of his long life, the princely owner of Holkham was content to be plain Mr. Coke, though he could easily have obtained a peerage. "I had rather remain the first of the ducks than the last of the geese," he used to say. There is a story of how, when the Prince Regent was displeased with him, he threatened to knight him. When told of this threat, Coke is reputed to have said: "If he tries to knight me, by God, I'll break his sword." In 1837, however, Coke accepted a new earldom of Leicester, a reason for his change of heart being that his second wife, whom he married in 1822 when he was approaching seventy, had presented him with four sons.� By his first marriage, Coke of Norfolk had only daughters. One of them married the 1st Viscount Anson; another married Admiral Sir Henry Digby and was the mother of the beautiful but wayward Jane Digby, known as "Aurora, the Light of Day," who, after leaving her first husband, Lord Ellenborough (a future Governor-General of India) had a succession of husbands and lovers and ended up happily and respectably married to a Bedouin Sheikh. From: "Ancestral Houses," by Mark Bence-Jones, Leo van de Pas.� Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester of the second creation was painted as a young man with his spaniels at Holkhan Hall, Norfolk by both Pompeo Batoni and Gainsborough Link --> [� [Link] ] |
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~ Thomas Cooper ~ |
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At 11, Churgate in Leicester, there is a blue plaque near the first floor window of this two-storied house, built in 1717, which states that Thomas Cooper 1805-1892 had a coffee shop at this address in which he organised the Chartist movement in Leicester. Thomas Cooper was born near the West Bridge. Shortly afterwards his family moved from Leicester to Exeter, however within a year his father died and his mother returned to her home town of Gainsborough. Thomas became an apprentice shoemaker and in his spare time committed whole plays of Shakespeare to memory as well as learning to read Latin, Greek, French and Italian. After serving his time he left his trade to become a schoolteacher and lay preacher. When Cooper returned to Leicester in 1839 the abject poverty of the framework knitters so shocked him that he joined the Leicester Working Men's Association, a society that had been founded a few months earlier, on the six principles of the Charter namely: Secret ballot; Equalisation of electoral districts; Payment of Members of Parliament; Abolition of the property; qualification in voting; Annual parliaments; Complete suffrage for all men. By April 1841 Cooper had become the leader of the local Chartists and was giving Sunday-evening open-air lectures in All Saints Open. By August meetings were being held in a room in the Open and, a few months later, in the Humberstone Gate Amphitheatre's Shakespearean Rooms from whence Cooper's Chartists became known as the Shakespeareans. Within a year, due to Cooper's efforts, the membership of the Leicester Chartists had increased from 300 to 2,600. Cooper was also active in other areas in the Midlands and in October 1842 was arrested on charges of aiding in a riot in Stafford. He was found guilty of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to two years imprisonment. This entry from Max Wade-Matthews' CD "A Virtual Walk Around Leicester." |
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~ George Davenport ~� |
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George Davenport (1758-1797) - The Dick Turpin of Wigston. The Davenport family came to Wigston in the 1570s. They were prosperous and in 1650-1700 they were known as "peasant gentry", owning up to 200 or more acres of land in the parish. A George Davenport who died in 1713, had a personal estate worth �795. 5s. 6d. and crops both growing and in the barn were valued at �420, his livestock was worth �l86. In 1752 Samuel Davenport built a three storey house in Bushloe End, known as the Elms, but today it is the British Legion Club. Possibly in this house the George Davenport of whom this story tells, was born in 1758. George was baptised at All Saints' Church, Wigston, on 5th November, 1759; it was little thought then the havoc and terror he was to cause later on in his lifetime. A small book, published in 1797, stated that his father, who had originally been a farmer, later sold ale in Great Wigston. George was described as a "ready lad" and when he was old enough he was placed as an apprentice to a framework knitter, but this didn't last long; obviously good honest work was not George's forte. According to the book "he associated with young men of immoral and libertine habits, with whom he soon became if not the chief of drunkards, almost the chief of wrestlers, bowlers, jumpers and the like." George now decided to turn his hand to highway robbery and fraud, at which he seems to have made a substantial living... For the full story, just click on the name above. This story is taken from the publication "Selected Legends of Leicestershire" by Susan E. Green - published by Leicester Research Facilities. |
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Little is known of his early childhood or the exact year of his birth; however, it is believed that he was born circa 1208, in Montfort, Ile-de-France.� The younger son of a French noble, he received the claim to the earldom of Leicester, which he inherited from his Grandmother.� In approximately 1229-30, he departed France for the shores of England. He died on August 4th 1265 at the Battle of Evesham. De Montfort's Parliament of 1265 is seen to have laid down the foundations for the eventual development of the House of Commons. For the full story go to Elizabeth Batt's article (click on the name above).�Not the most pleasant of characters apparently, and his wife Alice was no better. In that regard, for a different perspective, see this link to "The Concise History of the Baptists" sections 11 and 12 for details of their cruelties in France ---> [Link]� � |
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The night that drove old Dixie down... Many of the stories and legends that surround Bosworth Hall in Market Bosworth (now a plush hotel) date from its most notorious inhabitant, the fourth baronet Sir Wolstan Dixie. Sir Wolstan, who lived from 1700 to 1767, was belligerent and arrogant and his behaviour was typified by an event that occurred with a local Waggoner. The Waggoner was working for Major Mundy of Osbaston Hall and was driving along a public road through Bosworth Park when a furious Sir Wolstan stopped him and gave him a sound thrashing. Major Mundy was outraged by the attack and decided to seek his revenge, so the following day he dressed as the Waggoner and drove the cart himself through Bosworth Park. Sure enough, Sir Wolstan again attacked the "Waggoner", but this time it was he who took the beating. Years later, when Sir Wolstan was introduced to King George ll, the king said: "Bosworth? Big battle at Bosworth wasn't it?" Sir Wolstan replied: "Yes Sire, but I thrashed him." On another occasion Sir Wolstan appointed his butler as headmaster of the grammar school to prove to people that he could do anything he wanted to, and nobody could stop him. But in 1758 tragedy finally resulted from one of Sir Wolstan's ill-conceived actions. He heard that his daughter Ann was surreptitiously meeting a young man in Bosworth Park and resolved to put a stop to the liaison. He put man-traps out to catch the young suitor but caught his daughter Ann instead. Although she was rescued from the trap and carried back to the hall, nothing could be done to staunch her wounds and she bled to death. Even today her ghost is said to haunt the hall...� From "Sir Woolston Dixie - A Notorious Baronet" (Hinckley Online). |
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~ Elliot Galer ~ |
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Elliot Galer was the first manager of the Leicester Royal Opera House (1877) and was married to the singer Fanny Reeves. Born in Cambridge, Elliot, an amateur actor and playwright, had trained as an architect in Norwich before going to Milan for voice training. In May 1879, during Elliot's tenure as manager of the Opera House, Leicester had the honour of being the first provincial town to hear Bizet�s Carmen sung in English. This link will take you to a webpage called "Musical Leicester," a fascinating look at the music scene in the City during the 18th and 19th centuries. The author of this book is the Leicester resident Max Wade-Matthews; Max has made numerous contributions to Who's Who. |
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~ Lady Jane Grey ~ |
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The "Nine Days Queen." Born in 1537, and lived at Bradgate Manor, Leicestershire where she remained until she was nine years old.� Her parents, Henry Grey (Duke of Suffolk) and Frances Brandon, named her Jane in honour of Jane Seymour.� Nine days after being announced queen, Jane's father received orders telling him that Jane was to relinquish the title. Jane gave up the title willingly, a title that she had never wanted in the first place. All she wished to do was to return home to Bradgate. Sadly, she would never get that chance. Lady Jane was led to the executioners block on Tower Hill and beheaded on February 12th, 1554.� Jane died branded a traitor to the Crown of England. She was only sixteen years old.�� |
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~ Thomas Grey ~ |
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(1623-1657). Lord Thomas Grey was born in Leicestershire at Bradgate house - one of the earliest unfortified houses in England - a true country house in a noble park, built for the pleasure of living, and with no thought of lawless attack. He was the eldest Son of the 1st Earl of Stamford. (direct descendants of Lady Jane Grey, the nine day Queen). In 1642 he was appointed Major General of the Midland Association and fought at Edgehill on Essex's right wing. As an MP for Leicester he belonged to one of the most powerful families in the Midlands. The Grey Family were related to the Earl of Essex and Thomas seems to have been a surrogate son to him. His Regiment of Foote consisted of Five Companies and in Lord Greys absence, the Colonels company was commanded by His Cousin Col Henry Grey. As well as being present at Edgehill, he also took a detachment to the aid of Essex and so help him to prevent the fall of Gloucester. He was then present at the First battle of Newbury. One of Lord Greys Passwords for obtaining passage through Leicester and surrounding midland towns was 'God Prosper Us'. During his military career his Colours were of various Designs, most were of 'Red and Blue' and bore the Motto 'Per Bellum ad Pacem' This meant 'Through war to peace' At times most of his Regiments which included, Horse, Dragoone and foote were garrisoned in and around the Midlands and at one time amassed to around 4,000 men. Having took the 'self denying ordinance' in late 1644, He continued to command some of his own forces, but a large body of his men were amalgamated into the New Model Army from 1645 to the End of the War he continued to Command his Garrisons in and around the Midlands but also concentrated on building his political connections both in the Army and in Parliament. When Charles The First was brought to trial, Lord Grey sat as a member of the high court of justice. Lord Grey was second to sign the Death warrant after John Bradshaw (the President of the court). After the Trial, he was appointed a member of the Council of State and was described at time to be at most sympathy with the Levellers He took up his military career again by raising forces for Parliament and was present at the Battle of Worcester. For his service to the Parliament cause , he was awarded many houses and land in London and for a time was the owner of Holdenby House and Coombe Abbey. In 1657 he died most probably of gout at the young age of thirty four, thus never becoming the Second Earl of Stamford. This was left to his son, also named Thomas... From "The Sealed Knot - Lord Grey's Regiment of Foote." --> Link [Link] |
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One of the 18th century's greatest pieces of music was composed at a country house near Market Bosworth. George Frederick Handel was a frequent visitor to the Gopsall Estate and composed the music to his masterpiece "The Messiah" under a temple in the grounds of the estate. The words were written by his friend, Charles Jennens, whose grandfather Humphery Jennens owned the estate. Charles was a writer of some note and also wrote the words to Handel's "Saul" in 1737. As well as his literary aspirations, Charles was well known for his affluent life-style and commuted in first class comfort on the "Flying Shuttle" stagecoach between his grandfather's 1,000 acre estate and a town house in Great Ormond Street, London. It was during this time that Charles and Handel became close friends and regular visitors to the Gopsall Estate. "The Messiah" was premiered in March 1743 at Covent Garden in London in the presence of King George II, who reportedly rose to his feet at the Hallelujah chorus. However, the Gopsall Estate didn't enjoy such approval. When Humphery Jennens died in 1747, Charles did not think the Jacobean manor house matched his life-style. So, using his inheritance, the house was demolished and replaced with the lavish Gopsall Hall at a cost of �100,000. The residence's opulence was completed by an impressive interior and art collection, including an organ played by Handel now housed in Packington Church near Coventry. After Charles Jennens' death in 1773, the estate changed hands several times and eventually fell into decay. All that now remains is one of the ruined temples. From "George Frederick Handel" (Hinckley Online). |
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~ Joseph Hansom ~ |
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Ask people to conjure up a scene of Victorian London and one of the images that comes most readily to mind is that of Hansom cabs clattering along crowded, cobbled streets. The Hansom cab was one of the principal means of transport for decades because of its twin virtues of stability and privacy. It was also invented in Hinckley. he famous architect Joseph Hansom was living in Hinckley when, in 1835, he drove the first prototype of his newly-invented cab along Coventry Road and the Watling Street. Although the later design of the cab was rather different from Hansom's first attempt, the origins of the 19th century cab were firmly rooted in the Regent Street workshops. Hansom had a prolific career, designing Birmingham Town Hall, Plymouth Cathedral and many other churches, convents, schools and mansions; as well as bringing out the very first edition of the "Builder" magazine. But it is for the cab bearing his name that he is best remembered - even though he never received a penny from his invention. After selling the company, the new owners defaulted on the debt.� The main part of the gallery of the Leicester Museum on "The New Walk" was also designed by Joseph Hansom, with an imposing facade with 4 gargantuan columns. It was built in 1836. The Corporation of Leicester first decided to have an art gallery in 1881, and from the beginning the idea was strongly supported by artists with links to the town - Alfred Paget, President of the School of Art there, James Orrock, previously resident in the town, and J. F. Fulleylove. |
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~ Sir Israel Hart ~ |
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The Leicester Hebrew Congregation was founded in the nineteenth century, expanded as a result of the immigration of Eastern European Jews before the first World War, and grew considerably as the result of the second World War. The years after 1945 saw it becoming steady at its present size, although its detailed shape and structure has changed greatly through the movement of individual families into and out of the area over the past thirty years. There are traces of a Jewish community in Leicester during the middle ages, but by the early thirteenth century there was no longer any community, and the "Jewry Wall" refers not to Jews but to the 'Jurats' (aldermen) of the borough. In more modern times, the eighteenth century saw some itinerant Jewish peddlars in the county, but it is in 1849 that the first residents who can be identified as Jews are to be found. Many of them were shopkeepers, often associated with various clothing or tailoring manufacturing trades, but they were also to be found retailing, not least of all in the long-established Leicester market. It was after the foundation of the partnership between Israel Hart of Canterbury and Joseph Levy of Leicester to form what became the nationally known firm of Hart and Levy that the community began to take formal shape. Israel Hart moved to Leicester and bought himself a big house in the suburbs, and it was at about the same time, in 1874, that there begins to be some mention of the Leicester Hebrew Congregation in the Jewish Chronicle. Religious persecution as well as economic pressures drew small numbers of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe to Leicester. Several set up successful clothing or tailoring businesses, among them Alderman (later Sir) Israel Hart, Leicester's first Jewish Mayor, who donated the fountain in Town Hall Square. The former Grand Clothing Hall on High Street was built by Stockdale Harrison in 1903. These were the premises of Hart and Levy's, ready-to-wear clothing shop, which was established in 1859. By 1896 the business had expanded to 36 branches all over the Midlands. Israel Hart, who gave the town the fountain in Town Hall Square, was mayor of Leicester for the three consecutive years 1884, 1885 and 1886 and again in 1893... Acknowledgments (in part) to "A Brief Survey" in the Leicester Hebrew Congregation Information Pack, to "Faith and Festivals" (thisisleicestershire) and to Max Wade-Mathews' CD: "A Virtual Stroll Through Leicester." |
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~ William Hastings ~ |
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One of Leicestershire's most important families was the Hastings family of Kirby Muxloe and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, whose two most famous members were Lord William Hastings (c. 1430-1483) and Henry Hastings, Third Earl of Huntingdon (1536-1595). 1985 was the quincentenary of the Battle of Bosworth Field, which saw the downfall of the House of York which Lord William Hastings had served so well. The career of Hastings was to a large extent mapped out for him by his ancestors for they were enthusiastic and fervent supporters of the House of York and so Lord William Hastings spent his life in the service of the Yorkist party and it was his great tragedy after working so hard for them that he should be put to death by a Yorkist King Richard III. The first Yorkist magnate whom William Hastings supported was Richard, Duke of York, the Yorkist leader for part of the 15th century. It was natural that Hastings should serve this nobleman, for his father, Sir Leonard Hastings, was a firm friend of the Duke, being a member of his Council. When Sir Leonard died in 1455, William continued the family policy of allegiance to the Yorkists and soon became a member of the Duke's household. Thus, he was at the side of the Duke when the latter was decisively defeated in 1459 at the Battle of Ludford Bridge by the Lancastrians. When the Duke was killed in the following year at the Battle of Wakefield, William immediately joined the household of the Duke's eldest son, Edward, Earl of March and it was this nobleman who was crowned Edward IV on 4 March 1461, that William was to serve for the rest of his life. William married Catherine Neville, daughter of Richard de Neville and Lady Alice de Montagu, Before 1461. (Catherine Neville was born About 1435, died About Mar 1503-1504 and was buried in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. From "William, First Lord Hastings" by Bernard Elliot. For the continuation of this entry, just click on the name above. Footnote: One of William Hastings' descendents was the 32nd President of the United States: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. |
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~ Robert Heathcoat ~ |
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(1832-1859). Inventor, born in Duffield, Derbyshire. He designed the first effective machine for making lace (patented in 1809), and set up a factory in Mill Lane, Loughborough. Until that time good quality lace could only be produced laboriously by hand. In 1816 his factory was attacked by so-called Luddites. Shortly after he moved his business to Tiverton in Devon, installing greatly improved machines. He also invented machinery to make ribbon and net, and devised methods of winding raw silk from cocoons. His technology was adopted by lacemakers in Nottingham which subsequently became renowned for fine machined lace. From the Borough of Charnwood website section: "History of Charnwood."� |
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(1769-1831) Social reformer, anti-slavery abolitionist; helped form the "Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves." In 1824, Elizabeth published a pamphlet, " Immediate not Gradual Abolition." In this pamphlet she argued in favor of an immediate end to slavery in the British Colonies. This argument differed from that of the "Anti-Slavery Society" who advocated gradual abolition. Elizabeth devoted herself to social reform. She campaigned against bull-baiting and became a prison visitor. She wrote eighteen pamphlets on various subjects including one on the "Corn Laws." Click on the name (above) for another article by Elizabeth Batt.� |
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~ John Howard ~ |
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There can be no question that John Howard merits the accolade of being the father of prison reform. His very name gave rise to the international movement known as the "John Howard Society." Born in 1726 and though not of the nobility, he aspired to a gentleman's esteem. Having been left a comfortable fortune and all the family's property he was generous and caring to the tenants on his estate at Cardington in the county of Bedford. However, it is difficult to understand how he came to make this cause his life's work. At age 50 he was unknown, at age 60 he was an international hero. In the 1770's, John Howard began making his way around England to assess the conditions inside of prisons and houses of corrections, or as they were then known, Bridewells. One of the places that Howard visited was Leicester. There were five prisons in Leicester that Howard visited, many more than the average town, reasons for the larger numbers date back to Medieval times. The prisons were, "The County Gaol and Bridewell or House of Correction, the Borough and County Gaol and the Town Gaol and Bridewell." For a continuation of the story of John Howard, visit the webpage "Biography of John Howard" (link above) by Gordon Hay. For more information on Leicester Gaols, visit "Leicestershire Past & Present for an article by Beth Batt and Janet Courtney --> link --> [Link] |
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~ Johnnie Johnson ~ |
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James Edgar Johnson was born at Melton Mowbray and educated at Loughborough School and Nottingham University, where he read engineering. He was Britain's most famous WWII air ace who brought the principles of wildfowling to air combat and notched up the record score of RAF combat victories in North West Europe. The highest scoring RAF fighter pilot to survive the war, Johnnie Johnson shot down 38 enemy aircraft in the skies over Western Europe between June 1941 and September 1944. This tally is remarkable on two counts. Johnson began his operational career after the end of the Battle of Britain, which provided such a rich harvest of combat victories for many of his peers as the Luftwaffe's air fleets attacked virtually day after day. Kills were much harder to obtain on the fighter sweeps over enemy territory which succeeded the battle, operations for which the Spitfire was much less suited than it had been to the role of air defence in the summer of 1940.� Before the war he worked as a civil engineer and also applied to join the Auxiliary Air Force. But, unknown to him, a broken collarbone sustained while playing rugby had not properly set, and his application was turned down. Undaunted, he enlisted in the Leicester Yeomanry, TA. With war clouds gathering, however, he was able to join the RAF Volunteer Reserve for weekend training. In August 1939 he was called up and after gaining his wings was first posted to 19 Squadron. But No. 19 was far too heavily involved in the Battle of Britain to absorb a 'rookie' pilot... for a continuation of this obituary from the Times, click on the name above. |
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~ Samuel Johnson ~ |
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In 1732 Johnson found employment as an usher at Market Bosworth Grammar School in Leicestershire. Samuel Johnson was born on September 18, 1709 (N.S.) in the country town of Lichfield in Staffordshire, the son of Michael Johnson, aged 50, a bookseller and stationer, and his wife Sara, aged 37. The elder Johnson was prone, as his son would be, to bouts of melancholy, but he was a man of some local repute--at the time of Johnson's birth, he was Sheriff of the city. Johnson, a sickly child, was not expected to live: in 1711, at the age of two, he was taken, nearly blind, partially deaf, suffering from scrofula and a tubercular infection, to be touched for the "King's Evil" by Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts to rule England. No miraculous cure, however, took place. In 1716 Johnson, sensitive, clumsy, and precocious, entered the Lichfield Grammar School which was headed by the scholarly but brutal John Hunter, who beat his students, as he said, "to save them from the gallows." Later in life Johnson would insist that had he not been beaten he would have done nothing, but under Hunter's tutelage he learned Latin and Greek and began to write poetry. In 1725 at the age of sixteen, a very provincial Johnson came for a six-month visit with his cousin, Cornelius Ford, a sophisticated and somewhat rakish former Cambridge don, and became aware for the first time of the existence of the larger intellectual and literary world represented by Cambridge and London... Continued at The Victorian Web: Samuel Johnson: A Brief Biography by David Cody, Associate Professor of English, Hartwick College. Click on the link (name) above. |
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Elizabethan diplomat and merchant Anthony Jenkins was born in Market Harborough and his travels took him to many of the countries of Europe, to the Russia of the Tsar Ivan the Terrible and to Persia. His vivid accounts of his travels and adventures form part of an exhibition at the Harborough Museum. Jenkinson was an experienced trader, having worked as such in the Levant from 1546 onward. In 1557, after Richard Chancellor's death, Jenkinson became the Muscovy Company's main agent in Moscow. He intended to extend the Muscovy Company's trade beyond Russia. On his first voyage he made an attempt to reach Cathay (China) from Moscow by land. He reached Moscow, using the normal round around Scandinavia and through the White Sea, in December 1557. One thing he noticed in Moscow were the peculiar Russian marriage custom of... For a continuation of this account, click on the link (name) above.� |
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~ Lord Kitchener ~ |
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Horatio Kitchener was born near Ballylongford, County Kerry in 1850. Educated at the Royal Military Academy he entered the Royal Engineers in 1871. Kitchener served in Palestine (1874-78), Cyprus (1878-82) and the Sudan (1883-85). In 1898 Kitchener became a national hero when he successfully led the British Army in the fight to win back the Sudan. As a result of his victory at Omdurman he was granted the title Lord Kitchener. Lord Kitchener used to visit his father who lived at Cossington for the last 13 years of his life. His Father is buried in�that� village's All Saint's churchyard. This entry courtesy of Leicester author and historian Max Wade-Matthews.� |
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~ Ronald Knox ~ |
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(1888-1957) Born in Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire. He was an author, theologian, and dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church, best known for his translation of the Bible. Born into an Anglican family, he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and in 1912 was appointed chaplain of Trinity College, Oxford. He became a Roman Catholic in 1917. From 1926 to 1939 he served as Roman Catholic chaplain to the university. Knox gave witty expression to the perplexities that bedeviled him between his graduation and conversion in "Some Loose Stones" (1913) and in "Reunion All Round" (1914). He chronicled his struggle and its resolution in "A Spiritual Aeneid" (1918). The final expression of his position appeared in "The Belief of Catholics" (1927). Knox also wrote inventive and complex detective novels; "Still Dead" (1934) is generally considered the best among them.� |
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~ Daniel Lambert ~ |
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(1770-1809) The famed Leicester gaoler and heavy-weight topped the scales at 739 Lbs; however, there is a lot more to this man than his girth. As a boy, Daniel was athletic and healthy and often taught children to swim in the river Soar. At 14, Daniel was sent to work in Birmingham as an engraver and letter-cutter. He worked there for seven years, returning to Leicester to replace his father as Keeper of the County Bridewell (House of Correction) on Highcross Street in Leicester. The prisoners appeared to hold Daniel in high regard. A report in 1809 states, "He never forbore to make the greatest exertions to assist them at the time of their trials." Apparently several prisoners left the prison pledging their gratitude for Daniel's support, and most apparently also left in tears. Footnote: My sister Angela in Nevada reminded me that, as kids, we use to call him "Daddy Lambert." |
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~ King Lear ~ |
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Leyre was some tyme kyng of Bretayne the more, that now is called Englond. This Kyng Leyre made the towne of Leycetur [Leicester], and called it after his name Leycetur. This kyng had thre doughters; the name of the fyrste doughter was Gonoryll; the seconde was Regan; the thrid Cordell, that was beste taughte, and wiseste. Leyre, here fadre, was feble and olde, and wolde marie his doughters or he deyed, But fyrste he wolde wete [to know], which loued hym moste, shuld be beste mariede. On a day he askid his Eldiste doughter, how mych she louyd hym? "Sir," she seide, "I loue you as mych as myn owne lyfe." "for sothe," seide the kyng, "that is a grete loue; I may no more aske." Then he asked the seconde doughter, how mych she louyd hym she sayde, she louyd hym aboue all Criatures of the worlde. "for sothe," seide Leyre, " I may no more aske." Than ho asked of the yongeste doughter, how mych she louyd hym? "Sir," she seide, "my systers han seide to you wordes of glosyng [flattery], but I say to you trouthe. I love you as mych as I owe to loue my Fadire, and for to make you more Certayne how mych loue is worthe, I shall say you, as mych as ye han so mych are ye worthe, and so mych I loue you. Taken from the English version of the Gesta Romanorum --> [Link] which is preserved in the British Museum. Spell check that! And to think my wife gets after me for my spelling. |
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~ William Lilly ~ |
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Famous 17th Century astrologer, William Lilly was born in 1602 at Diseworth, Leicestershire, the eldest son of William and Alice Lilly. In 1613, Lilly went to Grammar School at Ashby-de-la-Zouch where he is taught by John Brinsley, one of the finest teachers of his time. In 1618, Lilly is forced to leave school as his father cannot afford to send him to university. He teaches at the village school in Diseworth. The following year, Lilly's father in debtor's prison and Lilly leaves Leicestershire and walks to London and finds employment as servant of Gilbert Wright, salt merchant, in the Strand. In 1633 the death of Lilly's first wife occurs; she leaves him a fortune of nearly �1,000. Lilly buys thirteen houses on the Strand and the lease on the corner house (Mr B.'s houses). In 1632 he takes lessons in astrology from John Evans of Gunpowder Alley. At Diseworth in North Leicestershire, the home of William Lilly still survives, an interesting example of a timbered building of the Tudor period. William Lilly died in 1681. The foregoing was taken (in part) from the website "The English Merlin." Just click on the name above for more information about William Lilly. |
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~ Mary Linwood ~ |
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Born in Birmingham in 1755, moved with her family to Leicester in 1780. When her father, Matthew, a wine merchant, died in 1783 her mother, Hannah, opened a day school on Belgrave Gate. Taken over by Mary on her mother's death in 1804, the school operated for almost 50 years. She commenced needlework when she was thirteen and went on to produce many exquisite pieces up to her 78th year. In 1795 her work was exhibited in St Petersburg where the Tsar offered her 3,000 guineas for "Salvator Mundi," while Tsaritsa Catherine offered her �40,000 for the whole collection! Offers which Linwood declined, explaining that she did not want any of her works to leave England. Presented to most of the crowned heads of Europe, she was one of the very few English people to visit France during the Napoleonic Wars. Reputed to have been the last person in Leicester to use a sedan chair Mary Linwood died, aged 89, on 11 March 1845. She was buried with her parents in the south aisle of St Margaret's Church. This entry courtesy of the Max Wade-Matthews Website - click on the name above to visit this site and learn more about Mary Linwood and other notable characters from Leicester's colourful 19th Century period in the section "Leicester in 1834." |
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~ Agnes Litherland ~ |
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The Lady of Ulverscroft. Surrounded by the forests of Charnwood, the priory of Ulverscroft is today a picturesque ruin. It was founded by Robert Bossu, one of the Norman Earls of Leicester about 11 30, for the Augustinian order, formerly known as the Black Canons. Although Henry Vill at first reprieved the Priory, it was eventually dissolved in 1539. However, attached to this ruin is a legend of Romance. Once upon a time, in the North Country, lived a wealthy knight by the name of Sir Ralph Litherland. Sir Ralph had a beautiful daughter, called Agnes, who was promised in marriage to William de Mavesyn, a brave knight from Northumberland, much renowned for his feats in battle. He was tall and good looking and Agnes was not displeased with the idea of marrying him. However, before getting married, Agnes persuaded her father to take her abroad for a time; it was arranged that William should meet them at a later date and Sir Ralph and his daughter set off for the Continent, eventually arriving at Cadiz. Agnes was the toast of Cadiz, her beauty captivated the Spaniards, who pestered her whenever she went out and also tried to call on her... There was one man more determined than the rest, his name was Don Giraidi Sforza. He was rich and came from one of the oldest families in Spain, so he was tolerated with more patience than the rest and was allowed to call upon Agnes. Agnes was rather flattered by his smooth talk and tender affections towards her... For the full story, just click on the name above. This story is taken from the publication "Further Legends of Leicestershire and Rutland" by Susan E. Green - published by Leicester Research Facilities. |
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~ Ned Ludd ~ |
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Born in Anstey - a village and township in Thurcaston parish, picturesquely situated in the vale of a rivulet, 4 miles North West of Leicester - he lent his name to the legendary General Ned Ludd and the Luddite movement which was partly inspired by the French Revolution and the writings of Thomas Paine. For a time the Luddites enjoyed great power through sabotage and machine breaking across the country. There was, however, little bloodshed and they seemed to enjoy popular support. Their cause was acceptable working conditions and the restoration of reasonable compensation for loss of work. The movement ended when over a thousand Luddites attacked a mill in Lancashire in April 1812 and were repulsed by troops. Although sometimes referred to as slow, retarded or even as the village idiot, little is actually known about Ned Ludd, though his name carried the weight of armies. |
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Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron (English historian, essayist, and statesman) was born in the house of an uncle in Rothley Temple, Leicestershire. His father, Zachary Macaulay, the son of a Presbyterian minister from the Hebrides, had been governor of Sierra Leone; an ardent philanthropist and an ally of William Wilberforce, who fought for the abolition of slavery, he was a man of severe evangelical piety. Macaulay's mother, a Quaker, was the daughter of a Bristol bookseller. Thomas was the eldest of their nine children. He died in Campden Hill, London, December 28, 1859. His career: Whig Politician, essayist, poet, historian; 1830 elected to parliament; 1834-38 member of Supreme Council in India; 1842 publishes Lays of Ancient Rome; 1843 publishes Collected Essays, 3 volumes; 1848 publishes first two volumes of History of England (to 1861); 1849 Lord Rector of University of Glasgow; 1855 publishes History of England, Vols. III-IV; 1861 the last volume of the History of England was published by his sister Hannah. Quote: �The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.� |
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~ John Manners ~ |
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Granby Street is named after John Manners, Marquis of Granby (1721-1770), the eldest son of the Duke of Rutland, who owned much of the land on which the street was laid out. The marquis was a professional soldier and saw action in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and in Flanders (1747). During the Seven Years' War (1756-63) his actions as commander of the British Troops made him a popular hero with many inns being named after him. In 1766 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army and in 1775 promoted to major general. Granby Street is first recorded by name in 1804; previously it had been part of London Road.The author of this entry is Max Wade-Matthews. Taken from his CD "A Walk Round Leicester." |
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~ Ben Marshall ~ |
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(1768-1835) He was one of the greatest British horse portraitists, and although he spent much of his life in Newmarket he was, in fact, born in Leicestershire. Among his most illustrious patrons were George III, George IV, Earl St Vincent, Lord Darlington and George Osbaldeston. Henry Villebois (1778-1847), whose initials appear on the feeding sieve of the painting shown in this link, was a regular patron of Marshall from whom he commissioned paintings of his hacks, carriage horses and hunters. Ben Marshall quote: "I discover many a man who will pay me fifty guineas for painting his horse, who thinks ten guineas too much for painting his wife." |
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~ Thomas Moore ~ |
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In April 1556, St Margaret's church saw the examination of one Thomas Moore, a husbandman who was taken before John White, Bishop of Lincoln, on charges of heresy. On being asked what he saw upon the altar he replied that he saw nothing but the trappings of the altar. �This is my faith, that in the sacraments of the altar is not the body of Christ; no more than I myself should give one a piece of bread and say �Take, eat, this is my body�.� Found guilty of heresy against the Church of Rome poor Thomas was cruelly burnt at the stake the following June. If only he could have seen the day in 1568 when the vicar, John Lounde, finally pulled down all the �popish monuments of superstition,� and consigned them to the filth of the town ditch, which ran along the line of the present Church Gate. The church is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, patron saint of expectant mothers (feast day July 20), who lived during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (284-305). Built outside the town walls, it is believed that the present building is on the site of the first church to be consecrated for Christian worship in Leicester, soon after the conversion of the Mercian King Penda in AD 653. Three years later the church became Bishop Diuma's Cathedral, with the surrounding church land becoming known as the Bishop's Fee. This, in time, became St Margaret's Parish and covered the whole of the eastern part of the town. The foregoing taken, with kind permission, from Max Wade-Matthews CD: "A Virtual Stroll Through Leicester." |
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~ Alderman Newton ~ |
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(1683-1762). Alderman Gabriel Newton was originally a Leicester woolcomber, he became a Freeman in 1702, a councillor in 1710, an Alderman in 1726 and Mayor of Leicester in 1732. Largely as a result of three marriages, he amassed great wealth, and when his only son died at the age of 18, this caused him to settle a sum of� �3,250 towards the schooling and clothing of� thirty-five boys. Many other schools besides Alderman Newton's were supported in many other centres beside Leicester. He laid down strict rules as to dress and religious instruction, and Newton, deeply religious, was eccentric in the extreme and a stickler for orthodoxy and detail. This brought him in to conflict with many of his contemporaries - from bell-ringers to clergymen. When he died, he was afforded a civic funeral and was buried at All Saints Churchyard, Leicester. Find out more about Alderman Newton, in conjunction with the Leicester Clock Tower, by following the link (click on the name above) to the website "Leicester Research." Then go to "Leicester in 1834." |
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~ S W A Newton ~ |
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The photographer S W A Newton had a shop in King Street, Leicester. About one hundred years ago, he embarked on a self-imposed crusade and voluntarily set himself the task of photographing the whole of the construction of the then new Great Central Railway, in reality an extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, for which students of the Railway have been grateful ever since. His negatives are now the preserve of the Leicester Museum Service. Hundreds of fragile plate glass negatives in their care hold a record of the people who built this line in the last years of the last century, armed with archaic-looking diggers representing the first earth moving machinery, battling though the mud of winter and the dust of summer. Newton tried to capture as much of the work and progress on the GCR as possible covering all aspects of the task including demolition as well as the construction of buildings, industrial locos, works tracks, the mainline itself and of course the men (the navies) who build the railway. In the book The Illustrated History of Leicester Railways by John Stretton, there is a section on the Great Central and many of S W A Newton's photographs around Leicester can be seen therein. A wonderful legacy for all the people of Leicester - not just for the railway enthusiasts.� |
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~ John Nichols ~ |
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John Nichols was born in Islington in 1745 and was a baker's son who became apprenticed to a printer, William Bowyer. In 1766 he became Bowyer's business partner, marrying Anne Craddock in the same year. In 1776, Anne died and in the following year William Bowyer also died leaving John Nichols as owner of the firm, now located in Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, Hinckley. In 1778, John married Martha Green, a widow of Hinckley, thus beginning his interest in the history of this area. In the same year that he married Martha, John became joint editor of the Gentleman's Magazine which published articles of antiquarian and historical interest. He frequently contributed articles and in 1782, John produced his "History and Antiquities of Hinckley in Leicestershire." This was the first recorded history of the town and included the earliest known street plan of Hinckley, drawn by John Robinson. In 1787 John wrote the "History of Aston Flamville and Burbach (Burbage)" followed three years later by the "History and Antiquities of the Town and Country of Leicester..."� - Story By Hugh Beavin. Follow the link (name above) for a continuation of this account from Hinckley Online. |
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~ Joseph Noble ~ |
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Joseph Noble was born in 1798 at Frisby where his father, John, was the vicar. After graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge, Nobel returned to Leicester, where, in 1834, he was appointed chairman of the committee to consider the establishment of a new school in the town to take the place of the old Elizabethan grammar school in Highcross Street. The new school was built in Prebend Street and opened in 1836. In the December 1835 council elections Noble was elected a member for West St Mary�s Ward. In 1839 he was appointed a J.P. and two years later an Alderman. Elected Mayor in 1858, he resigned the following April to contest the Borough for Parliament - being elected with 1,496 votes. To celebrate this victory some 7,000 people attended a grand open air f�te held in the garden of his home at Danett�s Hall. In the winter of 1860, while he was on holiday in Malaga, cholera broke out. Dr Nobel immediately offered his services, but sadly fell victim to the infection and died. A hospital in Malaga was named in his honour and three streets in Leicester are named after the family - Noble, Flora, and Kate Streets (the last two named after two of the doctor�s daughters). In 1850 Dr Noble arranged for a Roman tessellated floor, which had been found by his father in 1783 while digging in his cherry orchard, to be excavated and presented to the town museum. It is now on display in the Jewry Wall Museum. This monument is in St Anne�s Chapel, which was rebuilt by Joseph Noble�s daughters in 1861 in memory of their father. the author of this entry is Max wade-Matthews, and it was taken from his CD "A Walk Round Leicester." |
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~Thomas Paget ~ |
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An advocate of free trade and municipal reform, in 1830 Paget unsuccessfully stood for parliament. Strongly opposed to the influence and patronage of the duke of Rutland he had addressed the voters from the Castle Yard in opposition to the Corn Law, Negro slavery, the game laws, the tax levied on tea and, on a more positive note, the reform of parliament. He lost by only 800 votes, without having spent a single penny on his campaign. The following year he stood again and was elected, only to resign his seat the following August having accomplished the two great objects of his life, namely the overthrow of the system of aristocratic domination and the obtainment of municipal reform. Known by his political enemies as "The great and mighty Plum Pudding Orator," Thomas Paget died in 1862 and was buried at Ibstock where there is a memorial to his memory. This entry courtesy of the Max Wade-Matthews Website - click on the name above to visit this site and learn more about Thomas Paget and other notable characters from Leicester's colourful 19th Century period in "Leicester in 1834." |
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~ John Penny ~ |
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The effigy of John Penny in St Margaret's church is one of, if not the last, effigy of a Roman Catholic bishop to be erected in an English parish church. John Penny was one of the last abbots of Leicester Abbey. John Penny was a local man who was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford. He was admitted as a freeman of Leicester in 1475, appearing on the roll as "John Pene pardonner." A pardoner being a person entitled to sell Papal Indulgences [payments were made to the pardoner in order to receive forgiveness of sins]. In 1481 Penny became a monk at the abbey and on the death of the Abbot, John Shepished, on 23 August, 1485, the day after the Battle of Bosworth, John Penny and his fellow monk William Stoughton were sent to the new king, Henry VII, then in Leicester, to obtain leave to elect Gilbert Manchester as their new Prior. In 1493 Penny himself was elected Prior and, three years later, admitted Abbot. John Penny died at the end of 1519 and, by his own wish, was buried in St Margaret�s Church, to which he and his father, who had been mayor of Leicester in 1481, had been special benefactors. John Leland, who visited the town in 1538, tells us that Penny�s effigy was in the church then and that it had been Penny who 'made the new brick works of Leicester Abbey, and much of the brick walls'. Parts of these walls still stand. Author Max Wade-Matthews. Taken from his CD "A Walk Round Leicester." |
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~ Richard III ~ |
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Richard III is the only British monarch to be buried in Leicester. After being displayed in the town churches, Richard's body was finally interred in the church of the Grey Friars which stood almost opposite St Martin's Cathedral. Richard, who was crowned on 6 July 1483, is one of England's most maligned kings. This is mainly due to Shakespeare's portrayal of him as an evil, conniving hunchback (there being no proof either way that he did have the 'Princes in the Tower' killed, nor for that matter that he was a hunchback). It is known that Richard visited Leicester at least twice. In October 1483 he spent a few days at the Castle and again in 1485 on his fateful march to Bosworth. In August 1485 Richard was at Nottingham when news reached him that Henry, Earl of Richmond, had landed in Wales and was advancing to engage him in combat for the Crown. Richard expected to meet up with the invading force at Shrewsbury, but events proved otherwise. Richard marched to Leicester where he spent the night at the White Boar (afterwards hastily renamed the Blue Boar) before advancing to Bosworth. This entry is courtesy of Max Wade-Matthews; the remainder of the article on Richard III can be found on his website. Just click on the above name.� |
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~ Thomas Robinson ~ |
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Thomas Robinson was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire and attended that town's grammar school. He did so well that in 1768 he was accepted, as a sizar, into Trinity College, Cambridge. On his ordination he was given the joint curacies of Witcham and Wichford (Isle of Ely), a post he held for about a year. In 1773 Robinson moved to Leicester as the Afternoon Lecturer of All Saints and Chaplain to the newly-founded Infirmary. Two years later he gained his M.A. and was made a fellow of his college. In 1778 he was appointed Vicar of St Mary�s, a post he was to hold till his death. A man of "large mind and a capable and active organiser," Robinson was instrumental, in 1785, in establishing the earliest parochial school in the town. He was not a man afraid to say what he thought ought to be said. Indeed, one Sunday the Mayor returned home in a rage, saying to his wife: "I�ll never go to hear that fellow again. He even says that there�s harm in an innocent game of cards!" At first, not even the churchwardens liked his ideas and on one occasion they even locked him out of the church and he had to go to the magistrates to obtain an order to have the door broken open! On Sundays he was often to be seen walking through the town�s streets speaking to the idlers on the corners, and going into the public houses to talk to the drinkers about desecrating the Sabbath. Once he went into a cake shop and told the owner that she should close her shop on Sundays. "Blow my Life!" she replied, "I can�t do that. I get more on a Sunday than all week." Robinson asked her how much she usually made on a Sunday. On being told about four shillings he proposed that if she closed her shop "because it is the Lord�s Day" he would give her four shillings a week "Until the Good Lord made it up to her". She came to him every Saturday night for her four shillings until, one day she told him that she did not want it any more as "God had doubled her profits". Robinson died at Leicester on 24 March 1813 and was buried in the chancel of St Mary�s five days later. The funeral was conducted by his friend and colleague Dr Edward Thomas Vaughan, Vicar of St Martin�s and father of David Vaughan, who did so much for adult education in late 19th century Leicester. Author Max Wade-Matthews. Taken from his CD "A Walk Round Leicester." |
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~ Mary Royce ~ |
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Mary Royce (1845-1892), a lady who shunned publicity (she refused to have her photograph published), but whose work for her fellow man made lasting impressions on all who came into contact with her. In 1868 she started a Sunday school in Sanvey Gate. However, such was her commitment that, knowing it was silly to expect the boys to be 'little angels' all week, she decided to institute classes on two evenings a week where she taught them the rudiments of the three Rs - for many it was the only education they had. She also took her class on outings to places such as Charnwood Forest where she would point out the beauties of nature as well as joining in the young men's games. In time her evening classes expanded to cover such subjects as Chemistry, Anatomy, Geography, French, Latin and Greek. Before long the class, which, through the kind invitation of the headmaster Mr. T Adcock, had now moved to rooms in Slater Street School, had become her life and she was devoting almost all her time to her charges' welfare. She introduced Saturday evening socials where the young men were allowed to bring their girl friends or wives. In 1875 the medical degree was opened to women and Miss Royce was one of the first women in the country to train to become a doctor. This meant that she had to spend most of her time in London, for there was no teacher in Leicester qualified to teach the nine subjects necessary to matriculate. Even during the thirteen years that she spent studying for her degree she never once missed the Saturday evening social and Sunday classes. Mr. Adcock had by now become head of Desford Boys School and one year he invited Dr Royce to bring over her boys for a game of cricket. This became an annual event. This first game was important in another way, for it was her connection with Desford that caused her to give the money to start a brass band - what became the famous championship winning Desford Colliery Band. One day while Dr Royce was walking down Churchgate, she saw two houses for sale. She bought them and for the first time the class had its own home. She also bought the two adjacent house from where she conducted her medical practice. One day, while attending a sick woman in the workhouse, Mary Royce caught erysipelas. Her condition grew worse and on 30 October 1892 one of the most wonderful people who has ever lived in Leicester died. The memory of Mary Royce lives on in the institute that bears her name. This entry courtesy of the Leicester author Max Wade-Matthews. The link (name) above will take you to his website "Leicester Research." |
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(1882-1963). He became Principal of the Loughborough Technical Institute, the forerunner of the University, in 1915. Early education at the college was founded on the principle of "Training on Production," a pioneering form of vocational training which had begun as a quick and effective method of training munitions workers in the Great War. Working with the County Council, large areas of land and property were purchased to create an extensive campus on the site of Burleigh Hall. Halls of Residence were established in surrounding properties. He developed both physical and artistic education in the College and this is still most evident in the sports and art school traditions. From the Borough of Charnwood website section: "History of Charnwood." |
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~ Robert Sherard ~ |
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Robert Harborough Sherard, was (according to Spartacus Schoolnet - Link --> [Link]) born in Melton Mowbray in 1861. He was the son of Rev. Bennet Sherard Kennedy and a great grandson of William Wordsworth. After being educated at Oxford University, Sherard became a professional journalist working for a wide variety of different newspapers and magazines. He was particularly interested in writing about working conditions and urban poverty. A series of articles in Pearson's Magazine, was eventually published as The White Slaves of England (1897). Sherard was also commissioned by the editor of The London Magazine to write several articles on child labour. These collected articles were published as The Child Slaves of Britain in 1905. Robert Sherard died in 1943. However, Robert Sherard is known today mostly as a friend of Oscar Wilde. He wrote the first biographies: "Oscar Wilde: The Story of an Unhappy Friendship (1902)," "The Life of Oscar Wilde (1906)," and "The Real Oscar Wilde (1917)," and was an especially close friend of his in 1883 in Paris and in London in 1895 during and after Wilde's three trials. Although Wilde once described Sherard as "that bravest and most chivalrous of all beings," Sherard lost this esteem, and his many appearances in the modern biographies of Wilde by Hesketh Pearson, Montgomery Hyde, and Richard Ellmann leave mainly the impression that he was either a madman or simply a besotted fool. For more on Robert Sherard click on the name above. |
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George & Robert were to become associated with Leicestershire through the Leicester & Swannington Railway and the Whitwick and Snibston Collierys.George Stephenson was the son of a mechanic who operated a Newcomen atmospheric-steam engine that was used to pump out a coal mine at Newcastle upon Tyne, Stephenson went to work at an early age and without formal schooling; by the age of 19 he was operating a Newcomen engine. His curiosity aroused by the Napoleonic war news, he enrolled in night school and learned to read and write. He soon married and, in order to earn extra income, learned to repair shoes, fix clocks, and cut clothes for miners' wives, getting a mechanic friend, the future Sir William Fairbairn, to take over his engine part-time. His genius with steam engines, however, presently won him the post of engine wright (chief mechanic) at Killingworth colliery. Stephenson's first wife died, leaving him with a young son, Robert, whom he sent to a Newcastle school to learn mathematics; every night when the boy came home, father and son went over the homework together, both learning. The Leicester & Swannington Railway was the country's third public railway. It came about when it was realised that coal from Derbyshire could be sent to Leicester by canal cheaper that the locally produced coal, from the Coleorton and Whitwick collieries, which had to be transported to Leicester by horse and cart. Towards the end of 1828, local businessman John Ellis went to Liverpool to consult George Stephenson, who had just built the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, with a view to building a railway to connect the Leicestershire coalfields to the county town. Being too busy himself Stephenson put his twenty-seven year old son Robert in charge of the project. While the Swannington to Leicester railway was being constructed the Snibston Estate came up for sale. Robert Stephenson spoke to his father on the subject of purchasing it. George Stephenson had been impressed with the potential of the mine at Whitwick. So along with two associates from Liverpool Stephenson became the new owner of the estate, and so saw the beginnings of the Snibston Colliery Company. George Stephenson moved from his then home in Liverpool to Alton Grange, situated out on the way to Ashby-de-la-Zouch, so that he could personally supervise the work involved in the setting up of the of the new colliery. After encountering early problems with water while sinking the first Snibston shaft coal production was ready to take advantage of the new railway in 1833. In fact it was Stephenson's Snibston coal that was the first to leave Long Lane on the Leicester to Swannington Railway. |
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~ George Stevenson ~ |
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Although Leicester was in fact the third town in the country to have a municipal museum - after Sunderland and Warrington - in the matter of libraries, the story was almost exactly the opposite. It was one of the last big towns in England to have a public library, supported from the rates. When in the end it secured one, in 1871, that was due almost entirely to the persistent pressure of one man, George Stevenson. It was Stevenson who drove the Council, most unwillingly, into establishing the Library, into buying the New Hall for the purpose, and the remaining stock of books from the defunct Mechanics' Institute, and into agreeing to support it on the proceeds of a halfpenny rate. Stevenson was a Liberal, a Nonconformist, a man of strict sabbatarian principle - he resigned from the Committee when it was decided to open the Library on Sundays. When he died, at a great age, in 1904, it was remarked that "his name deserves to be bracketed with those of Wyggeston and Newton, as the local heroes of education." Unfortunately, in that regard, he has been forgotten. Taken from the book "Life in Victorian Leicester" by Jack Simmons. |
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~ Clement Edwin Stretton ~ |
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A former Lord Mayor of Leicester. Clement Edwin Stretton was a Victorian era engineer and an authority and author on the design of steam locomotives. One of his publications was The Development of the Locomotive 1803-1896, Clement Stretton, published 1896, reprinted 1989 by Bracken Books, ISBN 1 85170 247 4, 251 pages. British History. Clement Edwin, who was educated at Rugby, wrote over 100 books and pamphlets on railways. Clement Edwin Stretton, Consulting Engineer, Son of Clement Stretton JP (alderman and Mayor of Leicester 1878-1879) Died February 20 1915 and is buried in a family plot in Welford Road Cemetery. |
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~ Jonathan Swift ~ |
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(1667-1754) Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels, was the grandson of a Royalist vicar of Yorkshire, whose three sons sought their fortune in Ireland. One of the sons married Abigail Erick (or Herrick), daughter of a Leicestershire family, and obtained a legal post in Dublin. He died before his expected child (Jonathan) was born. In 1689, when James II landed in Ireland and the country was plunged into turmoil, Swift (age 22) left there to stay with his mother's family in Leicestershire. |
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~ Thomas Tallis ~ |
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(1510-1585) His connection with Leicestershire is somewhat tenuous. Thomas Tallis was an organist and composer whose career spanned the reigns of four monarchs and a long period of religious change. He was organist of Dover Priory in 1532 but moved to London (Saint Mary-at-Hill) and then to Waltham Abbey, where the excellent choir and acoustics probably inspired him to compose his early Latin motets. He was referred to as "The Father of English Cathedral Music." |
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~ James Thompson ~ |
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(1817-1887). As well as being editor of the The Leicester Daily Mercury, James Thompson was a local historian and archaeologist. Although he was often busy recording the deeds of the past, he was also doing his part in the present. He was a founder member of the Leicester Mechanics' Institute and one of the founders of the Leicester Archaeological and Architectural Society - the present Leicestershire Archaeological Historical Society. He was honorary curator of the town museum and for a time was a Liberal Councillor for East St Margaret's. This entry from the CD "A Virtual Walk Through Leicester" by Max Wade-Matthews. |
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~ Matthew Townsend ~ |
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Matthew was born 14th of February 1817, in the village of Cropston, Leicestershire. His father was a Framework Knitter, one of many at that time. This is the trade that Matthew would have learnt from a very early age, probably as young as ten, the apprenticeship being the usual seven years. By the age of twenty, he was living and working in the city of Leicester, as a fancy hosier making such things as gloves, shawls and cravats. He soon built up enough business and became a hosiery manufacturer, owning two factories with a workforce of around 400.Ever since the invention of the knitting machine by William Lee in 1589, the bearded needle had been the primary knitting tool, it did the job very well but the knitting process was slow. What was needed was a new kind of needle. Matthew designed a machine which resulted in his first patent in 1847. The machine used two needles, one drawing the thread from the other to form a loop, however this design was not successful, as the methods adopted for casting off the old loops were not practicable. The problem of dispensing with the presser for the purl needles, upon which so much depended was still unsolved. Matthew discovered the answer to this problem in France. Pierre Jeandeau had taken out a patent for a latch needle as far back as 1806, but had not perfected it. Matthew having seen its potential developed his own latch needle, and in 1849 applied for a patent. He also developed the new machinery that was now needed to use his needle. This resulted in a further three patents, one in 1854 and two in 1856. Although Matthew had achieved his ambition, it was to be at a price. Because of reckless trading, he was declared bankrupt in 1857. Everything he owned was sold at auction. He decided to start a new life, so in 1860 emigrated to America. The foregoing text was taken from the website "Industrial Heritage." Click on the name above for more information on Matthew Townsend. |
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Sir George Otto Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet. Born 1838, in Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, died 1928, Wallington, Northumberland. English historian and statesman remembered for his biography of his uncle Lord Macaulay and for his part in the political events surrounding Prime Minister William Gladstone's introduction of Irish Home Rule (1886), which Trevelyan first opposed and then reluctantly supported. Trevelyan was a Liberal member of Parliament from 1865 and served in various governmental capacities until 1897, when he retired from politics. His Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, 2 vol. (1876), regarded as one of the best biographies in English, presents its subject in the round and, though sympathetic, is never partisan. His historical works include the Early History of Charles James Fox (1880) and six volumes on the U.S. War of Independence. Trevelyan succeeded his father in the baronetcy in 1886. |
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~ Dick Turpin ~ |
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In the 1730s the Cock Inn at Sibson, near Hinckley, Leicestershire was the haunt of the this notorious highwayman. After working the Watling Street near Ullesthorpe, he would take refuge in the chimney in the inn's bar. Normally he resided with his parents in a small cottage in Fen Lane, which is situated between Upton and the village of Shenton. His famous horse, "Black Bess," was kept in a clearing in Lindley Wood. In 1738 he was arrested and taken to York Castle to await trial for horse stealing. Identified as Dick Turpin the murderer and highwayman, he was tried and convicted and publicly hanged in 1739. For an in depth treatment of this notorious character (thug actually) and another excellent article by Elizabeth Batt, got to "Leicestershire Past and Present," by clicking on the name above. |
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~ Dorothy Vernon ~ |
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Dorothy Vernon was the daughter of Sir George Vernon, known as "King of the Peak," because of his immense wealth. He lived at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. Since Sir George had two daughters and no sons, all his lands would pass to his daughters on his death, so good marriages had to be made. The eldest, Margaret, was betrothed to Lord Stanley's youngest son. The Stanleys owned much land in Lancashire and should the two families unite their wealth would have been considerable. Dorothy Vernon was five years younger than her sister; she was supposed to be the "most beautiful of all beautiful women" despite the rather contradictory evidence of her portrait. Nevertheless, she had the most wonderful hair. John Manners had been trying to gain Dorothy's hand, but her father refused his suit, calling John "that Nobody, the second son of a mushroom earl." Sir George thought that Manners, who had recently (1526) been raised to the peerage, was an upstart who had married money in the form of the De Roos heiress. Furthermore, the Manners were Protestants, whereas the Vernons were Catholics. Dorothy had other ideas, since she had no wish to be sacrificed to her father's ambitions; she wanted John Manners and must have pleaded often with her father, but Sir George had her put under close surveillance and she was refused any communication with the world outside the Hall... For the full story, just click on the name above. This story is taken from the publication "Selected Legends of Leicestershire" by Susan E. Green - published by Leicester Research Facilities. |
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~ George Villers ~ |
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The Duke of Buckingham. This unworthy favourite of James I, was a native of Leicestershire, born in Brooksby (1592) in a large sixteenth century manor house (still existing, but greatly enlarged in more recent times). His father was a Knight and Sheriff in the County. The unpopularity of George Villiers with parliament was seen as part of the long-term reasons for the English Civil War, which was to change the position of the British monarchy forever.� In 1628 at the age of 36 he was stabbed to death in Portsmouth, resulting in general jubilation in London. He had apparently conducted himself with so much pride and insolence as to excite popular hatred and disgust. Modern newspaper quote: "He was possibly the most successful tart of all time. The 'favourite,' for which read glorified rent boy, of James I. He rose from unremarkable origins to occupy positions of enormous power in 17th. Century England." |
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~ Henry Walker ~ |
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Most great businesses begin with the inspiration of just one person, and Walker's Snack Foods Ltd. is no exception. Thanks to the efforts of Henry Walker, a successful pork butcher, Walkers is now one of the most prominent manufacturers of snack foods in the UK. Walker moved from Mansfield to Leicester in the 1880's and took possession of an established business in High Street. Determined to offer quality meats, his diligence was rewarded with prosperousness and new premises were acquired in 1912 at Cheapside. The Second War World brought severe meat restrictions and the shelves in the shop were empty come 10 a.m. It was soon decided that something needed to be done to provide work for staff at premises which were functioning at a mere 50% capacity. Enter the potato crisp. Not only were they popular fare but they weren't rationed either, so it was all systems go! The foregoing was "borrowed" from Leicestershire's premier website: "Leicestershire Past & Present." Click on the name above and the link will take you to the rest of the article by Elizabeth Batt. |
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~ Hugh Watts ~ |
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Hugh Watts, the county�s Receiver General, proposed fitting out the town with earthen pipes that would serve the town with fresh spring water. However, when it was realised that the venture would entail a rate of one shilling and six pence for every house dweller the idea was rejected. He was a generous man and encouraged the early hosiery businesses by lending money. It was said that he had been the first to present a cup of liquor to William on his landing in England in 1688. Hugh Watts lived at Dannet�s Hall, which stood between Bow Bridge and Fosse Road. It was connected to the town by a narrow wooded road called �Watts Causeway� - the present King Richard�s Road. Hugh Watts died in 1656 (age 45 years) and his monument can be found in St. Mary de Castro church. From the CD "A Walk Round Leicester" by Max Wade-Matthews. |
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~ Sir Thomas White ~ |
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Though he never set foot in Leicester, Sir Thomas White is honoured by being included in the four statues on the Clock Tower. He is one of the City�s most generous but least well known benefactors. Sir Thomas White (1492-1567) is also the only one of the four statues that is based on a living likeness, Barfield having access to the portrait owned by the Corporation. White, who was born in Reading, was a wealthy tailor who became Lord Mayor of London in 1546.In his will he bequeathed the sum of �1,400 for the purchase of lands, the revenues from which to be advanced by way of an interest-free loan to young men, under the age of 35, "of fair name and fame," for a period of nine years, to enable them to commence or help them in business. Five towns benefited from the bequest, the money annually rotating between Leicester, Coventry, Northampton, Warwick and Nottingham. The first loans to Leicester people were distributed in 1610 when four young men each received �10. The charity is still in existence, although the income is such that now each city is now able to lend between �300,000 and �400,000 a year. Interest free loans are given to young people to either establish a business (�10,000) or to help with their education (�2,000). Founded in 1542, the loan charity has been the cornerstone of many successful Leicester businesses over the years. The aim of the charity is, and has always been, to assist young people establish their own businesses with the offer of interest free loans, and is as relevant today as when is was first conceived some 450 years ago. From (in part) the CD "A Walk Round Leicester" by Max Wade-Matthews. |
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~ Cardinal Wolsey ~ |
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Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1475-1530), English statesman, was among the last great clergymen to dominate political life in England... In 1529 Wolsey's enemies succeeded in having him tried and convicted of violating an old law against holding a foreign court in England. Divested of all his official posts and honors except for the archbishopric of York, to which he retired, Wolsey was subsequently charged with treason and ordered to London. Illness forced him to stop on the way, and he died in Leicester Abbey [the remains of which can be seen in Abbey Park] on November 29, 1530... Wolsey was born in Ipswich and educated at the University of Oxford. He was ordained a priest in 1498 and was made chaplain to the English king Henry VII. With the accession (1509) of the young Henry VIII to the English throne, Wolsey began to acquire great power and wealth. He received his first major secular appointment in 1511, when he was made a privy councillor. In 1513 he assisted in planning and carrying out the highly successful English invasion of France; in the following year he secured a peace with France. By the time he was made (1515) lord chancellor of England, he already virtually controlled both foreign and domestic affairs for Henry. Wolsey raised royal authority in England to a new height, but in doing so he incurred many enemies. In the popular mind, Wolsey, as the executor of policy, was responsible for the imposition of heavy taxes to pay for wars. He also was unpopular with Parliament and the nobility because of his power over the king and his ostentatious displays of wealth at a time when there was increasing resentment against the clergy. In affairs abroad Wolsey attempted to make England arbiter of the struggle for power between king Francis I of France and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Wolsey played the two rivals against each other, giving England the balance of power in Europe until 1529, when Francis and Charles made peace with each other... Although arrogant and immoderately ambitious, Wolsey proved himself an able and just administrator and succeeded in his aim of making England a leading power. Also a patron of learning, he founded a college (now Christ Church) at the University of Oxford. |
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(1467-1536), a native of Leicester, a wealthy merchant, and four times Mayor of Calais as well as Mayor of Leicester in 1499 and 1510. His two marriages produced no children, so he devoted his money and energies towards charitable work; the chief of which were the founding of a Chantry chapel (1512) and a hospital (1513). The Chantry House has now been incorporated as part of the Newarke Houses Museum; the hospital, originally sited to the west of St. Martin's church was transferred to new buildings near the corner of Hinckley Road and Fosse Road South in 1869; this was removed in 1966/67. The original site was incorporated in the playground of the Wyggeston Boy's School in 1877 and is now used by Alderman Newton's School.�Find out more about William Wyggeston, in conjunction with the Leicester Clock Tower, by following the link (click on the name above) to the website "Leicester Research." |
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