Blue Plaques Project (draft – in preparation)
2025 will see the 70th anniversary of the formation of our History Society and we are planning a variety of activities to celebrate this. We wish to include a project to celebrate the historic contribution to Bishop’s Stortford of a number of individuals by placing blue plaques on relevant buildings in the town.
We have therefore invited three partners into the project: Bishop’s Stortford Town Council, Bishop’s Stortford Museum, and Bishop’s Stortford Civic Federation. We have held meetings with representatives from these bodies and have agreed a long list of ten names for these memorials. This list has been prepared to be as diverse as possible within the confines of historical cultures.
The Long List
The long list is (in no particular order):
Francis Barber (c1742-1801) Former slave, valet, secretary to Dr Samuel Johnson and schoolmaster
Sir Walter Gilbey, Bt. (1831-1914) Wine and spirit merchant, horse breeder and philanthropist
Mrs Tresham Gilbey (1865-1941) Appointed a magistrate in 1920, one of the first such women in England, benefactor and active in local societies
George Edward Pritchett F.S.A. (1824-1912) Noted architect, local antiquarian and electrical engineer
Baron Thomas Dimsdale (1712-1800) Eminent physician, inoculator, banker and politician
John Laybank Glasscock Junior (1852-1929) Local historian, builder and architect
Sir George Jackson, Bt. (1725-1822) Creator and owner of the Stort Navigation
Joseph Dorrington Day (1858-1937) Builder, brickmaker and Monumental Mason
Daisy Day F.R.P.S. (1888-1983) “The Cecil Beaton of Bishop’s Stortford”
- Elsie May Barrett (1888-1947) The first lady elected as a councillor in Bishop’s Stortford and the first lady Chairman of the Urban District Council
Short biographies of each of the candidates is provided below in Appendix I . The proposed wording for each plaque is provided in Appendix II. More detailed biographies can be found in this document.
We aim to install five plaques in 2025 and five more in 2026.
In December 2024, we were successful in applying to the Brazier Trust for a grant of £3,000 towards the cost of the project. The History Society and the Civic Federation are each contributing £500.
Your opinion matters
With funding secured, we are now in a position to go ahead with the next step in the project which is to open up the list to public consultation. We welcome your views on which candidates should be selected for the first set of five plaques. We would also welcome any suggestions you may have about who should also be considered for future inclusion. Our criteria are that the person should have lived or worked in Bishop’s Stortford, made a significant local or national contribution, in the broadest possible sense, and should have been dead for at least 20 years.
Please download a consultation document, complete and return to bsblueplaques@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can pick up / hand in a form at the Town Council Offices, Windhil, the Library or Bishop’s Stortford Museum. The closing date for submissions is 31 March 2025.
Appendix I: The Long List – Short Biographies
Francis Barber (c1742-1801) Former slave, valet, secretary and schoolmaster
Francis Barber was the black manservant of Dr Samuel Johnson from 1752 until Johnson’s death in 1784. He was born a slave on the Bathurst sugar plantation in Jamaica, brought to England by his owner Richard Bathurst, whose son was a close friend of Johnson’s. After Johnson’s wife died the younger Bathurst sent Francis to be Dr Johnson’s valet. After a short period, he left during which he served as a sailor in the Navy, returning to Johnson in 1760. In 1767 Dr Johnson sent Francis to be educated at the old Grammar School in Bishop’s Stortford for a period of about 5 years until 1772, where he lodged with the headmaster’s wife in Windhill. After returning to Johnson, he was able to act as valet, secretary and assistant. He married an English woman and had children; the family living with Dr Johnson. On his death in 1784, the Barber family moved to Lichfield with money left to the family in Dr Johnson’s will. Francis taught in a nearby village school but despite his inheritance became destitute and died in Stafford Infirmary in 1801.
Sir Walter Gilbey, Bt. (1831-1914) Wine and spirit merchant, horse breeder and philanthropist
Walter Gilbey was born at Windhill, Bishops Stortford in 1831. From quite lowly beginnings he amassed an immense fortune in London through his successful wine and spirits company, W & A Gilbey. He returned to Bishop’s Stortford, living firstly at Stansted and later Elsenham. He was a JP, a major local benefactor and an expert breeder of livestock and horses. He laid out the Hockerill Park estate in Bishop’s Stortford and was responsible for the Kings Cottages almshouses in South Street, as well as the Elsenham to Thaxted branch line. He was a friend of both royalty and people in distress.
Mrs Tresham Gilbey (1865-1941) Appointed a magistrate in 1920, one of the first such women in England, benefactor and active in local societies
Mrs Tresham Gilbey (nee Annie Barker) was one of the first one women in the country to be appointed a magistrate, in 1920, and for many years, was the only woman magistrate on the bench for Bishop’s Stortford. She was also active in local society, leading several local organisations and actively involved in affairs at St Michaels Church. Her father was Sir John Barker, founder of Barkers of Kensington and she was married to Tresham Gilbey, third son of Sir Walter Gilbey. From 1906, she lived at Whitehall, on Dane O’Coys Road.
George Edward Pritchett F.S.A. (1824-1912) Noted architect, local antiquarian and electrical engineer
George Edward Pritchett (1824-1912) was an architect practising in Bishop’s Stortford for over 55 years, from about 1846, responsible for several new churches, many church restorations / extensions, many village schools and several other buildings in the local area. He was also a noted local antiquarian as well as being interested in electrical technology. Active across a range of diverse fields, he appears to have been mostly self-taught. Although born at the Charterhouse, Islington, he came to the area in 1835, living first in Little Hallingbury where his father was rector, in North Street after 1855, and, then, after marriage in 1864, at Oak Hall, Chantry Road, a house he had designed.
Baron Thomas Dimsdale 1712-1800 Eminent physician, inoculator, banker and politician
Physician, banker and Member of Parliament. His family were members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He was renowned for successfully inoculating Empress Catherine of Russia and her Court against smallpox in 1768. The Empress awarded him a pension, gave him a large cash sum, and made him an hereditary Baron of the Russian Empire. His work helped to popularise inoculation as a successful method of combatting smallpox, then a deadly disease. In 1779, he married his second cousin, Elizabeth Dimsdale, his third wife. Her father, Joseph, was a surgeon in Bishop’s Stortford. Elizabeth was a diarist and recipe collector. Thomas, Elizabeth, Joseph, and several other members of the Dimsdale family are buried in the Friends Graveyard in Newtown Road. The Society of Friends gave the graveyard to Bishop’s Stortford Town Council 1n 1935. It has since been maintained as a public garden.
John Laybank Glasscock Junior (1852-1929) Local historian, builder and architect
John Laybank Glasscock was the third generation to own the Glasscock building company later known as J L Glasscock and Son. His abiding passion was for local history and in the 1870s embarked on a mission to transcribe the records of St Michael’s Church, as well as to transcribe the monuments and gravestones within the church and churchyard. His work was published in 1882, and remains a useful and informative tool for local historians. He was active in local politics, becoming the Chairman of Bishop’s Stortford Urban District Council in 1908. Whilst Chairman, he instigated the purchase of the Castle and surrounding land to be put to public use, an amenity enjoyed today by many inhabitants and visitors to the town.
Sir George Jackson, Bt. (1725-1822) Creator and owner of the Stort Navigation
Sir George Jackson was born in 1725 in Yorkshire. He entered the Navy Office in 1743, transferred to the Admiralty in 1766 where he was Second Secretary, and became Judge Advocate of the Fleet, a position he held from 1768 until his death. His patronage of Captain Cook led to Cook naming several places after him on his voyage of discovery. He served as a Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis and for Colchester. He was created Sir George Jackson, baronet in 1791. In 1797, he inherited his wife’s family’s ancestral estate, and, under the terms of the will, had to change his name to Duckett. He was instrumental in rescuing the Stort Navigation project which had initially failed but, under his guidance, received a second chance. The project was ultimately completed in 1769. The Stort Navigation was the major factor behind the changes in the town’s fortunes from the 1760’s up to 1870’s when rail became capable of taking over. He was considered to be an honorary citizen of Stortford and, when he died, chose to be buried at St. Michael’s Church.
Joseph Dorrington Day (1858-1937) Builder, brickmaker and monumental mason
Joseph Dorrington Day was a prolific builder, brickmaker and monumental mason responsible for building numerous buildings and houses in Bishop’s Stortford, many of which survive today. Born in to a farming family in Gaston Green, Little Hallingbury, he trained as a mason, and later took up large scale building work in Bishop’s Stortford. One of his most enduring works is the Hertfordshire & Essex High School in Warwick Road, which opened in 1910. He was also responsible for building the old post office in South Street in 1921. A walk around the old cemetery reveals many records of his monumental masonry work, and their lack of ageing bears testament to his skill. A lifelong teetotaller, a deacon and elder of the Congregational Church in Water Lane, he was a man of high principles. In 1909 he achieved fame as the man who unearthed the “Maple Avenue Horse”, an archaeological marvel of its day. A deacon of the Congregational Church in Water Lane, he died in 1937, aged 78, at the house he built in South Street, which survives to this day. The monumental masonry business he founded traded until recently from Station Road and continues to be one of the town’s oldest businesses.
Daisy Day F.R.P.S. (1888-1983) “The Cecil Beaton of Bishop’s Stortford”
Daisy Day was the daughter of Joseph Dorrington Day (1859-1937), a monumental stone mason and prolific builder, of 100 South Street, Bishop’s Stortford. Daisy was born in 1888. She achieved fame as a photographer with commissions for many local people as well as royalty. She exhibited her work at her studio and at the Drill Hall in Bishop’s Stortford. She also frequently exhibited her work in London and, on one recorded occasion, in Luzern, Switzerland. In 1936 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, an enormous achievement at that time. She ceased her professional work in 1948 but continued to judge work locally, particularly for the Bishop’s Stortford Camera Club. She died in 1983 aged 95.
Elsie May Barrett (1888-1947) The first lady elected as a councillor in Bishop’s Stortford and the first lady Chairman of the Urban District Council
Elsie Barrett took a prominent part in the life of Bishop’s Stortford. In 1934 she became the first woman candidate to seek election to the Council, and in 1946 the first lady Chairman of the Council. In 1946 she also became the first lady elected to Herts County Council, representing Stortford’s Western Division. She was a stalwart supporter of many good causes and organisations in the town. She was a supporter of the Herts Society for the Blind, and it is for that cause that she is remembered to the present. She was a daughter of Alfred Slapps Barrett, who co-founded the Holland and Barrett grocery and the Barretts clothing business,
Appendix II – Proposed Plaque Text & Mock up of Plaque
Francis Barber c1742-1801 Former slave, valet, secretary and schoolmaster Lodged and attended the Grammar School here
Sir Walter Gilbey Bt. 1831-1914 Wine and Spirit Merchant, Horse Breeder and Philanthropist Born here 2 May 1831
Mrs Tresham Gilbey 1865-1941 Appointed one of England’s First Lady Magistrates, she sat in the Magistrates’ Court here.
George Edward Pritchett FSA 1824-1912 Architect, Antiquarian and Electrical Engineer Architect of the Post Office which opened here in 1890
Baron Thomas Dimsdale 1712-1800 Eminent Physician, Inoculator, Banker and Politician Lies here in the Quakers’ Burial Ground
John Laybank Glasscock 1852-1929 Local Historian, Builder and Architect Worked from his office near this place
Sir George Jackson, Bt. 1725-1822 Creator and Owner of the Stort Navigation Resided at Wharf House which once stood near this place
Joseph Dorrington Day 1858-1937 Builder, Brickmaker and Monumental Mason Built and lived in this house
Daisy Day F.R.P.S. 1888-1983 “The Cecil Beaton of Bishop’s Stortford” Worked from her studio on this site
Elsie May Barrett 1888-1947 The first lady elected as a councillor in Bishop’s Stortford and the first lady Chairman of the Urban District Council