Blue plaques celebrate two of Hinckley's most famous sons

Two blue plaques have been erected to recognise notable figures from a town's past.

The commemorative plates are the latest to be put on buildings in Hinckley, Leicestershire, to recognise famous people who lived or worked there.

At the corner of Stockwell Head and New Buildings, a new plaque commemorates Hinckley-born Matthew Buckham, who was the longest serving president of Vermont University, USA.

And at the junction of New Buildings and Wood Street, a plaque honours Sir John McClure, a headmaster whose contributions to education, music and religion saw him knighted.

They join blue plaques across Hinckley and Bosworth borough, including monuments to 1827 Prime Minister George Canning, pugilist Nat Langham, world billiards champion Norman Dagley, designer Joseph Hansom, stocking frame pioneer William Iliffe, mathematician Ada Lovelace, and Twycross Zoo co-founders Molly Badham and Nathalie Evans.

The two new plaques were nominated by historian Greg Drozdz.

He said Mr Buckham had emigrated from Hinckley at the age of two and became the president of Vermont University for 39 years, presiding over the opening of the centre of learning to female scholars for the first time in 1871.

Mr Drozdz said Mr McClure was a "non-conformist" who became headmaster of Mill Hill School in London in 1891, then a small school "but now one of the preeminent public schools in England".

Council heritage champion Paul Williams said he was "delighted" to support the nominations for two local men for their "huge contributions" in their fields.