A Who’s Who of Loughborough & surrounds
This page is a work in progress. Email lboro.history.heritage@gmail.com to suggest someone to be added to the list, particularly if you can supply the entry for them.
Harry Adcock: 24 March 1877 – 1968
Formerly a soldier, seeing action in both the Boer War and World War One, Harry was Macebearer to successive Loughborough mayors and Keeper of the Town Hall from 1922 to 1943.
Nicholas Alkemade: 10 December 1922 – June 1987
A market gardener and later furniture-maker of Loughborough who is famous for having survived a parachute-less fall from a plane during WWII.
Robert Bakewell: 1725 to 1st October 1795
British agriculturalist who revolutionised farming practices in England – particularly the breeding of sheep and cattle to increase their yield of meat – and is therefore said to have ‘fed the industrial revolution.’
James Bickham: clergyman, scholar and rector of Loughborough from 1761 until his death in 1785. A collector of books from childhood, Bickham left his library of almost 700 volumes for the use of his clerical successors at the rectory. These were kept first in the rectory itself, then the Parish Church, before being relocated first to Loughborough Technical College (later to become Loughborough University) and then Manuscripts and Special Collections at the University of Nottingham, where they remain.
Thomas Burton:
Henry Fearon: 20.6.1802 – 12.6.1885
Rector of All Saints’ Parish Church and Archdeacon of Leicester, who had a significant bearing on local educational reforms and the provision of filtrated water to the town. See here and here here.
William George Dimock Fletcher: 4 January 1851 – 6 December 1935
Handsworth-born Fletcher trained as a solicitor in Loughborough for a time before taking clerical orders in 1878. A scholar with a love of writing, Fletcher wrote a number of books on the history of the town, and elsewhere.
George Green:
Bartholomew Hickling:
Wallace Humphrey:
Former headmaster of Shelthorpe Primary School and author of a number of books on the town’s history.
James Edgar ‘Johnnie’ Johnson (1913-2001):
A policeman’s son born in Barrow on Soar, James Johnson attended Cobden Street School and Loughborough Grammar School (1924-32), where he excelled at sport. He studied civil engineering at University College, Nottingham, working for Melton Urban Council before joining the RAF in 1939 on the commencement of war. A Spitfire pilot, Johnson flew more than 700 combat missions and shot down 38 enemy aircraft, making him the top-scoring RAF pilot of World War 2.
Ian Keil:
Former president of Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society and prolific author of books and articles on the area’s history.
William Lee (1778-1863)
An inspector sent by the General Board of Health in London in 1848 to assess the sanitary conditions in Loughborough. He led similar enquiries across the country, including in Leicester in 1852.
Ralph Lemyngton: unknown birthdate – early 1521
See extracts of Ralph Lemyngton’s will here.
Jack Monk was a lockkeeper on Loughborough Canal in the 1970s, his cottage being at Bishop’s Meadow Lock.
Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Earl of Moira and 1st Marquess of Hastings: (9.12.1754 – 28.11.1826)
Born in Moira, County Down, Francis was the son of the first Earl of Moira and Elizabeth Hastings of Donington Hall in Leicestershire. He became Earl of Moira himself in 1793 and Marquess of Hastings in 1816. A close friend of the Prince Regent (later King George IV), Francis was considered for the role of Prime Minister in 1812, instead becoming Governor-General of India from November 1812 to 1821. Francis inherited titles and property on the death of his mother in 1808, including the ownership of much of the manor of Loughborough, which he proceeded to sell off in batches between 1809 and 1810. This brought about something of a building boom across the town. See also Wikipedia.
Kevin Ryan: (16.7.1957 – 22.4.2020)
A photographer and a champion of the arts, Kev Ryan was associated with Charnwood Arts from its inception in the 1980s and CEO of the organisation from 1991 until early 2020. Through his work with the organisation, he was responsible for many iconic cultural and heritage projects within the Borough of Charnwood and beyond. Read his obituary in The Guardian here.
Herbert Schofield: 8 December 1882 – 18 September 1963
Read memories of Herbert Schofield by one of his colleagues here.
John Skevington:
Clarence George Starkey (17.11.1870 – 24.6.1955)
The first general manager of the Odeon Cinema in Baxter Gate, Loughborough (1936-38).