The City of Durham Trust

Other organisations’ plaques – People

• Ruth First – Ruth First House, Providence Row
  • Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, 1925. Journalist. Author. Researcher. Teacher. A lifelong opponent of apartheid. Defendant at the Treason Trial, 1956. Held in solitary confinement for 117 days, 1963. From 1964 in exile in Britain. Lecturer in Sociology, University of Durham, 1973-82. On leave as Director of Centre for African Studies, Maputo, Mozambique, from 1978. Assassinated by letter bomb sent from South Africa 17 August 1982.
• Dame Elizabeth Bowes – Bowes House, St John’s College, Bailey
  • Dame Elizabeth Bowes. 1651-1736. Pioneer in the coal mining industry and ancestor of HM Queen Elizabeth II lived here and lies buried in the Chapel of St Mary the Less. Unveiled by HRH The Prince of Wales on 15th February 2018
• The Revd William Greenwell – 27 North Bailey
  • The Revd William Greenwell DCL, FSA, FRS Antiquarian and Minor Cannon 1820 – 1918 lived here.
  • Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham & Northumberland 1801 – 2011. 150th Anniversary.
• Statue of Charles William Vane Tempest Stewart, third Marquis of Londonderry (1778-1854), soldier, politician, mill owner and landowner, statue unveiled in 1861. Restoration in 1952 – Market Place
  • Charles William Vane Stewart. 3rd Marquis of Londonderry. 1st Earl Vane and Baron Stewart of Stewarts Court K.G. [Kinght of the Garter] G.C.B. [Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath] Lord Lieutenant County of Durham and Founder of Seaham Harbour. General in the Army. Born May 8th [18th] 1778 Died March 6th 1854
  • This plaque was unveiled on the 9th day of April 1952 by the Eighth Marquess of Londonderry to commemorate the restoration of the statue from funds raised by public subscription and by the City Council
• Queen Victoria (24th May 1819 to 22nd January 1901). Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20th June 1837 (and Empress of India from 1st May 1876) until her death in 1901
  • In May Street – 1897
  • 33 Silver Street (the old Post Office building) – Victoria A.D. 1837
• King George VI (14th December 1895 to 6th February 1952). King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, from 11th December 1936 until his death in 1952 (and Emperor of India until 15th August 1947. Located on the government buildings, Hallgarth Street
• Coat of arms on Elvet Hill House (right side of building over doorway). Elvet Hill House, a listed building, built in 1827 by Ignatius Bonomi as his own home. Later the home of North Eastern Railway Director, John Fogg Elliot (his coat of arms is featured). Motto: ‘Nec Pavidus Nec Superbus’ (neither fearful nor overbearing)
• George Body D.D. (1840–1911). In 1883 he was appointed ‘canon-missioner’ of Durham by J. B. Lightfoot, bishop of the diocese, and for twenty-eight years carried on mission work among the Durham miners – located at 19 North Bailey
• Bahais memorial – located on the bank down from New Elvet Bridge, near Elvet Bridge
  • 24th November 1984. These trees were planted by the Bahais of Durham in memory of their fellow Bahais martyred in Iran “Ye are the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one branch” Bahá’u’lláh
• Isidore Newman – 52/53 Hawthorn Terrace
  • Capt Isidore Newman, MBE. Jewish secret agent of WW2 Special Operations Executive (SOE) lived at 52/53 Hawthorn Terrace. He was betrayed in France and murdered in Mauthausen concentration camp in 1944. Be strong and of good courage (Joshua 1:9). הלוא צויתיך חזק ואמץ Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation UK Branch and AJEX UK.
  • AJEX information and full story.
• Walter Kercheval Hilton (1845 to 1913) was a Censor and Bursar of University College, and a Registrar of Durham University in the late 19th Century to early 20th century – Hilton Cottage, Old Elvet, DH1 3BN (now Durham University Infancy & Sleep Centre)
  • Non Immemores. Gvalteri Kercheval Hilton. Qvi Campis Hisce. Procvrandis Adavcendis Excolendis. Annos Fere XL Impenderat. Hanc Casvlam Ab Ipso Incohatam. Confecervnt Amici. KAL. MAI. MCMXIV. [Not forgetful of Walter Kercheval Hilton, who devoted nearly 40 years to obtaining, augmenting and cultivating these fields. This cottage, which he himself began, was completed by his friends. May 1^st, 1914]
• John Forman, founding member of the Durham Miners Association (DMA) – 16 Mowbray Street
  • Durham County Council. John Forman b.1823 d.1900. Played a central role in forming the Durham Miners Association, founded in 1869. One of its first agents and president from 1872 until his death. Lived here 1882-1900.
• Entrance to George V Memorial Playing Field, Front Street, Framwellgate Moor.
• Crocus plaque – on the low wall at the left hand side bus stop at the top of Leazes Road just before Gilesgate roundabout (plaque is hard to read)
  • Cover Britain in Crocuses. This bed of crocus bulbs was planted here by the research charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the local council in memory of the 1000 women who die each month from breast cancer. With the kind support of leading electrical retailer Comet.
• Michael Wilson Heaviside, Private, Durham Light Infantry, 6th May 1917 – for his actions on that day he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Paving stone in the grounds of St Giles Church. Victoria Cross paving stones were presented by the Department for Communities and Local Government as part of the First World War centenary commemoration.
  • Michael Wilson Heaviside was born on 28 October 1880 in Gilesgate, Durham City. Later his family moved to Kimblesworth, and then Sacriston. During the Boer War, Michael enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps and served as a stretcher bearer in South Africa, before being invalided home with fever. He returned to work as a miner at Burnhope Colliery, and finally moved to Craghead in 1913 when he married.
    On7 September 1914, Michael Heaviside re-enlisted into the 15th (Service) Battalion Durham Light Infantry (DLI), and in June 1915 was sent to the Western Front. During the Battle of Arras in 1917, 15 DLI was advancing on the Germans’ complex system of trenches and barbed wire which was called the Hindenburg Line by the British. By early May, the battalion had suffered many casualties, and only 100 metres separated the British and German positions.
    On 6 May, a sentry noticed movement in a shell hole about 40 metres from a German barricade. A wounded British soldier was desperately waving an empty water bottle. Private Heaviside immediately volunteered to take water to the wounded man. As soon as he had left the relative safety of the British trench, Michael came under heavy rifle and machine gun fire. One eye witness later wrote: “We could see bullets striking the ground right around the spot over which Heaviside was crawling. Every minute we expected to be his last but the brave chap went on.”
    When he reached the soldier, Michael found the man nearly mad with thirst, as he had been lying wounded in no man’s land for four days and three nights. Michael gave him water, dressed his wounds, and promised to return with help. That night, Michael “led two other stretcher bearers to the wounded soldier and they carried him back to safety.
    Upon his return to Craghead on 12 July 1917, Michael Heaviside was greeted with a “Welcome Home” parade. This event was filmed on the day and you can watch the remarkable archive footage online.
    On 21 July, Michael travelled to Buckingham Palace to\receive his Victoria Cross from King George V.
    After the war, Michael returned to work as a miner. He died at nis home tn Cragnead on 26 April 1939, aged just 58. Hundreds of mourners followed his coffin to St Thomas’ Church. The 8th Battalion DLI fired three Volleys of shots and the buglers played “The Last Post’, Then the mourners filed past the grave, each dropping in a Flanders’ red poppy.
  • www.durhamatwar.org.uk/story/11172
• D.E. Webster. VP. 1931 – 1964. On the Hild and Bede Boat Club boathouse. Danny Webster, student and Vice Principal of the College of St Hild and St Bede
• Helena Shafto – 9 South Bailey. Durham County Council plaque
  • Helena Rosa Duncombe Shafto b. 1854, d. 1938, lived here. Humanitarian, health campaigner and supporter of prisoners of war from the Durham Light Infantry. First honorary freewoman of Durham