2 December 2012

The Plaques on Exeter Bridge, Derby, England

On Exeter Bridge over the River Derwent in Derby, England, are four impressive plaques dedicated to people associated with the city.

'WILLIAM HUTTON
HISTORIAN.
BORN FULL STREET, DERBY,
SEPTEMBER 30TH 1723.
DIED SEPTEMBER 20TH 1815.'

'HERBERT SPENCER
PHILOSOPHER.
BORN EXETER ROW, DERBY,
APRIL 27TH 1820.
DIED DECEMBER 8TH 1903.'

'ERAMUS DARWIN
PHYSICIAN, BOTANIST
AND POET.
BORN NEWARK [ELSTON], DECEMBER 12TH1731.
 DIED APRIL 18TH 180[2].'

'JOHN LOMBE
1694–1722.
PIONEER OF THE SILK INDUSTRY IN DERBY.
LIVED IN FULL STREET'.'

At the age of seven, the poet and historian William Hutton went to work in Lombe's silk mill a few hundred yards to the north of Exeter Bridge, which now houses a museum.

Hutton is also remembered by a statue on the former Boot's building on the corner of St Peter's Street and Thorntree Lane in Derby.

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