Tag: Blue Plaque

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Blue Plaque at Tesco Supermarket Oakwood, Leeds

This Leeds civic trust blue plaque mark the life of Robert Blackburn and his company Blackburn Aircraft.

Robert Blackburn, OBE, FRAeS (March 26, 1885 – September 10, 1955) was an English aviation pioneer and the founder of Blackburn Aircraft who was born in Kirkstall, Leeds.

The Leeds civic trust blue plaque reads:

The Olympia Works

Robert Blackburn – aviation pioneer
built aircraft here including over 100 BE2C
army and navy biplanes and the famous
Kangaroo, Swift and Sopwith Baby planes.
He test flew the BE2Cs on Soldiers’ Field
and from there, in 1919, operated passenger
flights to London and Amsterdam.

1914 – 1932

The factory shut when Blackburns moved production out to Brough, but re-opened prior to world war 2 and worked on the planes needed to fight the Nazis and closed finally in 1946.

I used to live behind the clock at Oakwood, quite close to this site but never knew the history. To think that the famous Swordfish aircraft of the Fleet air arm were built and flown from here in north Leeds. Although designed by Fairey the majority of Swordfish aircraft were built by Blackburns.

Today this site is now home to a Tesco supermarket and also Homebase.

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LGI Blue Plaque

LGI Blue Plaque.

I should have posted this along with the previous posts about the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) but I have been rather distracted adding keywords to my previously taken photographs.

I have been slowly adding to the posts about the blue plaques around the city of Leeds. I had forgotten this one on a large stone post outside the hospital.

This blue plaque at the LGI reads..

Leeds Infirmary

The general infirmary moved here from Infirmary Street in 1869.
The building, designed by George Gilbert Scott, incorporated ideas
from Florence Nightingale.
The plan placed it in the foremost rank of European hospitals.

I may well be wrong but I find it a little odd this last line. We may be Europeans now but I doubt the Victorian city fathers were much interested in what was happening in Warsaw, Leipzig or Gothenburg.

Back to the keywords… When I started my photography and also this blog I had no idea that anyone might one day want to use one of my pictures. So now I am going backwards adding keywords etc into the image files.

Another consequence of my ongoing Leeds and Yorkshire photography is my new project website the Yorkshire Picture Library.

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The Victoria Hotel – Blue Plaque

The Victoria Hotel – Blue Plaque

The Victoria Hotel was built in 1865 to serve people attending the Assize Courts newly held at Leeds Town Hall. Its stylish accommodation then comprised spacious dining rooms and bars, a billiard room and large meeting room, private sitting rooms and 28 bedrooms.