BBC News - Final vote for Derbyshire blue plaque honour (original) (raw)

The blue plaques will be similar to those in London

Derbyshire people are being urged to cast a final vote for the historical figures they want to be honoured with a blue plaque.

A shortlist of 12 has been drawn from 63 suggestions from residents following an appeal by the county council earlier in the year.

The authority now wants people to vote online or by post for six winners.

The shortlist includes Dad's Army actor Arthur Lowe and 'Father of the railways' George Stephenson.

The results will be announced in June.

People can also vote in their local libraries.

The shortlist also includes entrepreneur Richard Arkwright Junior, Baroness Olave St Clair Baden-Powell of the Girl Guides Association, self-taught mathematical genius Jedidiah Buxton, goalkeeper and cricketer Bill Foulke, Civil War hero Sir John Gell, 1930s comedian Will Hay and illustrator, engraver, publisher and author Llewellyn Jewitt.

Other names on the list are Chatsworth House head gardener Sir Joseph Paxton and Francis Wright, who is considered to have been the driving force behind St Pancras.

Hardinge Arms Public House, the home of the Newton Wonder apple, is also on the shortlist.