On my last trip to Leicester I kept an eye out for any plaques in the vicinity and came across these two interesting examples. The first, near the Richard III Visitor Centre was that commemorating Agnes Archer Evans.
Born in Australia Agnes moved from Cheltenham Ladies College to become headmistress of Belmont House School (now Belmont Hotel) where she is credited with improving the state of education in the city, particularly for women. She became first joint secretary of the Leicester and Leicestershire Women’s Suffrage Association and helped establish the Leicester branch of the National Union of Women Workers which became the National Council for Women. Her plaque is on the house she used to live, opposite the Cathedral and next to the Richard III Visitor Centre.
Joseph Aloysius Hansom was an architect, perhaps most known for inventing the Hansom cab, so beloved of costume dramas. The buildings he designed can apparently be found all over the UK, Australia and South America. Some of his works include Arundel Cathedral, Leicester’s New Walk Proprietary School (now a museum) and the Baptist Church where this blue plaque resides, which was later the town’s central library.
