The Green Plaque Awards

The Leicestershire County Council Green Plaques are awarded to people and places in and around the county, nominated and voted for by you.

 

After six rounds of awards, the Green Plaque Awards have now closed, and no further nomination rounds will be held.

Leicestershire County Council would like to thank all those who have contributed to the scheme. Information on the plaques awarded will continue to be available on this page.

The latest Green Plaque Awards

You voted for your favourite Leicestershire people and places to be honoured with a Green Plaque and here are your final six:

  1. Lt Col Philip Eric Bent VC DSO - awarded the Victoria Cross 
  2. Sgt Herbert Ernest Black RAFVR - WWII fighter pilot
  3. Frances Elizabeth Deacon - pharmacist 
  4. George Fox - founded the Quaker movement
  5. Military Stables - Defence Animal Training Unit, Melton
  6. Theodora Salusbury - Arts and Crafts stained glass artist 

What happens next

We will start work to identify the best locations for the plaques, and to organise unveiling events to celebrate the people and places you have chosen for commemoration.

Read more about the six winners

Lt Col Philip Eric Bent VC DSO

Awarded the Victoria Cross

After attending the Grammar School in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Bent enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment in 1914. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for outstanding leadership in various battles. In 1917, he was deployed to Flanders for the Battle of Passchendaele where its four Battalions were critically engaged with the enemy. On 1 October 1917, at the age of just 26, Philip Bent was killed in action. He was awarded the VC posthumously for ‘conspicuous bravery during the Battle, when during a heavy hostile attack…Lt Col Bent personally collected a platoon that was in reserve, which he led forward to the counter attack… (which) was successful and the enemy was checked’. He was killed whilst leading a charge which he inspired with the call ‘Come on The Tigers’.

Nominated by Capt Robert Allen MBE on behalf of the Royal Tigers’ Association

Sgt Herbert Ernest Black RAFVR

World War II bomber pilot

Born in Measham in 1914, Herbert Black attended Dixie Grammar school in Market Bosworth. Aged 23, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve becoming a front-line pilot on 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. Sgt Black made many daring flights including bombing the German advance in Luxembourg in May 1940. Of the 32 aircraft that left Desford that day, 13 were lost. Later the same day, he piloted one of 16 aircraft to leave the base of which only seven returned, four of which were badly damaged. It was on 29 October 1940, Black and his fellow pilots attacked a Luftwaffe force at 22,000ft over Deal in Kent. The German fighters suffered heavy losses. Sgt Black escaped his burning plane during a dogfight, but was badly injured, and later died of his injuries.

Nominated by John Reed of Hinckley and The Dixie Grammar School, Market Bosworth

Frances Elizabeth Deacon

Pharmacist

Born in Kibworth in 1837, Frances Deacon was the first woman to pass the qualifying examination to become a pharmacist. Frances registered as a Chemist and Druggist on 5 February 1869 having taken the Pharmaceutical Society’s examination. Despite paying her subscription and complying with all the Society’s rules and regulations, as a woman she was not allowed to become a member of the Pharmaceutical Society until 1879. She worked alongside her father who was also a chemist, later opening her own pharmacy in Fleckney. When she died at the age of 92, she was the oldest registered chemist in England at that time.

Nominated by Fleckney Parish Council

George Fox

Founder of the Quaker movement

Born in 1624 in Fenny Drayton, George Fox experienced great social upheaval and the Civil War. His interpretation of the Christian faith incorporated the belief that there was something ‘of God in every person’ and hence all were equal. His movement was controversial, although he was respected by influential contemporaries, including Oliver Cromwell. By the time of his death in 1691, the Quaker movement had 50,000 followers. The ideas of Fox influenced William Penn and Tom Paine who inspired much of the thinking relating to the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the USA. They also influenced Voltaire and in turn the idea of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity used in the French Revolution. The Quakers were amongst the first to oppose slavery.

Nominated by John Catt of Loughborough and John Spencer of Gravesend, Kent

Military Stables

Defense Animal Training Unit, Melton Mowbray

The Defence Animal Training Regiment has been training and caring for animals used in military defence since 1905. It was originally responsible for the purchase and training of horses for the British Army between 1887 and 1942 and now trains mainly dogs for the Ministry of Defence. It is also the home of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps and has cared for some famous animals in the past, including the Household Cavalry horse “Sefton” who was injured in the Hyde Park bombings of 1982.

Nominated by Major Drew Tootal, Melton Mowbray

Theodora Salusbury

Artist

Theodora Salusbury was an Arts and Crafts stained glass artist who created and made windows for many Leicestershire churches including churches in Narborough, Newtown Linford, Queniborough, Kimcote, Woodhouse Eaves and Birstall. Salusbury attended the Leicester School of Art and used high-quality glass slabs that produced the brilliant colours she became renowned for. Most of her work bears her signature, a peacock. The Arts and Crafts period in Leicestershire was very productive, and the work of Theodora Salusbury adds to the richness of the art of this time.

Nominated by Georgina Maltby of Quorn