More than 60 people witnessed the plaque unveiling in honour of Thomas Cooke (1807-1868) on Friday, 23 August 2019, at the Observatory in the Museum Gardens, which houses one of his famous refractory telescopes.

The plaque was the co-arranged by York Civic Trust, the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and York Museums Trust, and with a good amount of representatives from each in attendance.

Thomas Cooke was an internationally-renowned Victorian optical instrument maker. Cooke built an extensive Buckingham Works factory in York’s Bishophill area in 1855, and operated as T. Cooke & Sons. The firm later moved to Haxby Road and ceased trading in 1980.

Cooke’s rotating observatory domes included those at Greenwich and Scarborough Observatories. Indeed, by the end of the century, Thomas Cooke’s domes had been built in countries throughout the world. He was elected a member of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1859. 

The unveiling ceremony was marked by short speeches by Dr Peter Addyman, President of York Civic Trust; Stuart Ogilvy, Deputy Curator of Geology at the Yorkshire Museum, and Catherine Brophy, Chair of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

This was followed by a short presentation by Dr Dorothy Nott, Trustee of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, which covered Thomas Cooke’s life and deeds. And a direct descendant of Thomas Cooke unveiled the plaque.  

Aside from the three co-contributing organisations, those attending also included members of York Clock Group, Pocklington and District Local History Group, and a number of astronomers from regional and national organisations, including the Royal Astronomy Society and the British Astronomical Association. 

Afterwards, the Yorkshire Philosophical Society provided a reception at nearby York Explore Library

More details on Thomas Cooke’s life and deeds can be found on our website.

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Following the English Reformation of the C16, a number of Protestant sects – Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Unitarians and Quakers – refused to accept the Anglican communion or the tenets of the Church of England. They therefore came to be known as separatists or dissenters. Sarah Hewley was as influential force in religious provision of ‘dissenter’ causes in York during the C17 and early C18, including the foundation of almshouses, some of which continue to this day.

As a woman, Sarah Hewley was unable to hold public office. All the same, she protected and befriended dissenting preachers, and, along with her husband, the Hewleys contributed towards the building of a plain brick Unitarian chapel in St Saviourgate, the street in which the family lived, which provided a meeting-place for nonconformists from across the county. The chapel is still in use today and portraits of Sir John Hewley and his wife, Sarah, are preserved in its vestry.

Sarah Hewley constructed a set of almshouses on Tanner Row in 1705 to house nine elderly widows of dissenter ministers, and one poor man to act as chaplain. These almshouses were relocated in 1835 by George Hudson (“The Railway King”) in order to drive two railway tracks through the city walls and build a railway terminus. James Pigott Prichett, of whom YCT unveiled a plaque to in May 2019, designed a new set of almshouses on a site next to St Saviour’s Church in St Saviourgate. These opened in 1840 and remain in use.

In her will, Lady Sarah made provision of financial assistance for ‘poor and godly Preachers’ and their ‘poor and godly widows’ of a dissenter persuasion. The Lady Hewley Trust continues in York to this day. Through its generosity, each year it grants a total of approximately £250,000 to Ministers, Retired Ministers, Widows and Spinster Daughters of Ministers, Students studying for the Ministry and Church Institutions helping to spread the word of the Gospel in the United Reformed, the Congregational and the Baptist Churches throughout the North of England

The blue plaque was unveiled at No.31 St. Saviourgate, an attractive Georgian terrace building owned by York Conservation Trust, who have kindly agreed for the placing of the plaque. It is the site where Lady Hewley’s home once stood.

The unveiling was marked by a brief greeting and introduction by Dr Peter Addyman, YCT’s President. This was followed by a short speech by the Chair of the Lady Hewley Charity Trust, Dr Philip Thake. It included mention of Lady Sarah Hewley’s life and deeds, and the range of philanthropic support provided by the Charity Trust.

26 people attended the unveiling, largely comprising members of the Lady Hewley Trust, York Civic Trust and those from the nearby Unitarian Chapel on St. Saviourgate.

After the unveiling, UHY Calvert Smith Accountants, No.31 St Saviourgate, kindly provided a reception for attendees.

More details on Lady Sarah Hewley’s life and deeds can be found on our website.

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Montagu was a leading literary figure in London during the Enlightenment, but as a girl grew up in York’s Treasurer’s House.

The role of that women might play in cultural society during the C18 was questioned. Montagu was amongst the most pioneering women of her day to challenge this, at least for women of her social class. Her London home in Mayfair became a centre of intellectual discussion, with visitors requiring tickets in order to manage the demand to attend. Those who favoured this type of progressive soiree were known as “bluestockings”.

The plaque is affixed to the Treasurer’s House and the unveiling event was well attended, with over 40 people gathering to watch Glennis Whyte, an expert on Montagu’s life, unveil the plaque.

More details about Montagu’s life and works can be found on our website.

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Pritchett was a renowned architect in his day. Operating from his offices in York, he was responsible for many of the city’s C19 Congregationalist non-conformist chapels, including the chapel – now Zizzi’s restaurant – on Lendal (1816) and the Ebenezer Primitive Methodist Chapel on Little Stonegate (1851, now The Banyan bar). He also designed the neoclassical portico (1828) for the Assembly Rooms on Blake Street, and York County Savings Bank in St Helen’s Square (1829-30).

Further afield, Pritchett was also responsible for Huddersfield Railway Station (1845-8), which John Betjeman described ‘as one of the most splendid in England’.

The plaque is affixed to the chapel in the cemetery, which is to be known as the Pritchett Chapel due to it having been designed and built by him between 1836-38. It is a Grade II* listed building. Pritchett was also the mastermind behind the landscaped cemetery and its associated buildings.

Pritchett is buried in York Cemetery, making this location even more befitting for the plaque to celebrate his life and achievements.

The unveiling ceremony was well attended by at least 30 people, largely comprising members of York Civic Trust and York Cemetery Trust. YCT President, Dr Peter Addyman, gave a brief introduction, with a short history of the chapel and cemetery then given by Dr Richard Keesing, Chair of York Cemetery Trust, who also unveiled the plaque.

More details about Pritchett’s life and works can be found on our website, and a video clip of the unveiling by The Yorkshire Post is also available.

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Sydney Smith was an English writer (regarded in his day as a wit and satirist), social and religious reformer, and Anglican cleric. He campaigned against slavery and championed Catholic Emancipation to allow British Catholics to take up public office for the first time since the C17.

The plaque unveiling commenced with prayers by Father Kevin Melody, the University of York’s Roman Catholic Chaplain at More House, and Revd. Johannes Nobel, from St Paul’s Church, Heslington. Professor Graham Parry, a specialist in C17 antiquarian studies and ecclesiastical history at the University of York, then gave a eulogy, before Father Melody unveiled the plaque.

The ceremony was attended by more than thirty people, largely comprising members of the Trust, the Sydney Smith Association, and the More House Chaplaincy.

Graham Frater, who has written a fascinating account of Sydney Smith’s life for the Trust, concluded the ceremony by presenting a copy of of Sydney Smith’s ‘Peter Plymley Letters’ on behalf of YCT to Father Melody and the Chaplaincy. This satirical set of pamphlets caused a sensation in the C19, and paved the way for equal rights in Britain for Catholics.

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The new plaque also omits the older plaque’s gender-specific phrasing of ‘The residence of the Lord Mayor during his year of office’.

The unveiling, which was attended by York’s civic party. YCT’s Chair, Andrew Scott and members of the Trust’s Historians Group, also celebrated recent conservation work that has been carried out to the building. 

You can find out more about York’s Mansion house here.

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The site on Stonegate received the plaque, on 5 November 2018, which incidentally is the three hundredth anniversary of Shandy’s birth.

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