History society goes on outing around town
IN June, Hinckley Family History Society held their annual ‘outing’.
This year members and a visitor met with local historian Greg Drozdz outside Hinckley Museum Framework Knitters Cottages for a tour of Hinckley’s Blue Plaques – both actual and potential.
On the wall of the museum itself is a plaque to William Iliffe. William didn’t actually live at the museum site (he lived in the Market Place, where we went later in the tour) but it is the most appropriate place for the plaque because he is credited with bringing the stocking frame to the town.
Inside the museum are examples of the type of early stocking frame that would have been found within many homes around the town.
Opposite is the Atkins Building, once a hosiery factory which gave employment to many in the town and surrounding villages. The Atkins family bought the Framework Knitters Cottages to house their Board Meetings.
A spokesperson for the society takes up the tale of the tour in their own words.
“We walked up Baines Lane (a cobbled street under the tarmac – showing in some places) to the Great Meeting Unitarian Chapel, where Greg told us a little of the history of prominent men associated with the chapel. Joseph Dare, a domestic minister who concentrated on widows and orphans, the education of children and the foundation of a Sunday School. Dare, Greg told us, is buried in Welford Road cemetery.
“Greg explained that another worthy Blue Plaque could be dedicated to John Gent Brooks, who lived in the vicinity of the original Hinckley Workhouse.
“Brooks was educated by the Widows and Orphans Society and acted as commissioner to the governmental report on the Condition of the Poor in the town.
“He moved to Birmingham to be a Unitarian minister there.
“Also connected with the chapel is Philip Doddridge, a dissenting minister who gave his first sermon here in July 1722. Doddridge wrote many hymns. He died in Lisbon.
“We moved on to Stockwell Head to look at Brookes Yard, where Greg told us of the family history of the Brookes family.
“A blue plaque could be placed here for Boultby Brookes, who created the leather sprung bicycle saddle. He died in 1921 a millionaire, and his estate is now a golf course.
“Moving on to the corner by the Union public house, Greg pointed out that a blue plaque should be sited on The Dog and Gun Public House for Myra King Merrick. The King family lived in the vicinity and moved the USA where Myra became the first female GP.
“The King family had travelled by canal to Liverpool, onto New York and then settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where Myra married a Merrick. Myra was known for her work on the health of women and was GP to the Rockefeller family.
“We next visited the site of Pickering Printers and Stationers. Arthur James Pickering (1875-1972) was a talented individual who was also a historian and archaeologist.
“On the opposite side of the road sits the United Reform Church where we were introduced to the Reverend Matt Buckham, who was born in Hinckley preached in the USA. He became President of the Vermont State University.
“We also heard about Joseph Gill, who travelled as a missionary to Africa, and would have been a contemporary of David Livingstone who mentions him in his writings.
“Alongside the United Reform Church would have been Joseph Aloysius Hanson’s workshop. In 1835 he applied for the patent of the Hanson Cab. Hanson was born in York, trained as an architect but came to Hinckley from Birmingham, bankrupt but with a sponsor. Eventually, there were 14,000 Hanson cabs in London.
“In the Market Place, Greg explained that there were no blue plaques but there could be for one Charles James Appleby (1778-1843), a journalist who wrote for the Sporting Review and other books.
“In the Market Place, at the corner of Castle Street, would have been The Bull’s Head – and on this site, William Iliffe lived.
“Moving on up Castle Street we stopped outside Santander, where there would have been a printing firm of the Burgess family. Joseph ‘ Tom’ Burgess was a journalist and social historian.
“He wrote 14 illustrated short stories, including four about Hinckley.
“Further up Castle Street, at number 35, we saw the Blue Plaque to Charlotte Brame and heard the ‘rags-to-richesand-back-to-rags-again’ story of her life and her family fortunes.
“Her books were published well past her death (until 1920) and you can still request a copy. It is noted that her short stories were serialised in the UK papers but she received no royalties for those published in the USA.
“Travelling to the middle of Castle Street, Greg reminded us of the three brewers Blue Plaques recently mounted for links to Hinckley of Bass, Butler and Worthington beers.
“Further along and into Upper Castle Street, we heard about the career of pugilist Nat Langham, who lived near the entry to Cross Keys Yard. Greg told us a little of his life, from being a street urchin to becoming a significant promoter and publican.
“Also, in Upper Castle Street, we heard about preacher William Gadsby (1773-1844). Born in Attleborough, Nuneaton, he became a Calvinist and married a Hinckley girl. They travelled the country, preaching and fund raising to build chapels. Finally, Greg then told us of the remaining Blue Plaques just out of the town centre, at New Parks Primary School, St Peters Primary School and the Convent Apartments.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative evening, revealing so much about the history of our town that, maybe, many were not aware of.”
The society will not meet in July – it is taking its annual holiday – but will be back on August 2 at St John’s Church Centre, Coventry Road, when they will hear about the Hinckley Workhouse in the 20th century. Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Refreshments are provided and nonmembers welcome.
For further details contact Hinckley 612261.