Calls for blue plaque tribute to first Brighton police chief (From The Argus)
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Calls for blue plaque tribute to first Brighton police chief
5:10pm Wednesday 9th January 2013 in News By Tim Ridgway, Local government reporter
Brighton's first police chief Henry Soloman
Community groups are uniting in a bid to install a permanent tribute to a murdered police chief.
Henry Solomon was appointed the first chief constable of Brighton in 1838 – the first Jewish person in the country to be appointed to that prominent role.
However, six years later he was murdered in Brighton Town Hall after being hit on the head when interviewing a man caught stealing carpet.
Sussex Police and leading members of the Jewish community are now working together to raise the money to install a blue plaque on the side of the historic building.
Averil Older, of the Brighton and Hove Commemorative Plaque Panel, which oversees the scheme, said she hoped it could be unveiled this year.
Ms Older said: “He was a very popular man and his death came as a great shock to the whole town.
“Thousands of people lined the streets for his funeral.”
Haunting
Mr Solomon’s ghost reportedly still haunts the old police cells under Brighton Town Hall.
Conservative councillor Graham Cox, who was a former police chief superintendent and head of Sussex CID, said: “I enjoy reading the various blue plaques around Brighton and Hove but it has to be said some of them recognise some rather tenuous connections with the town.
“It is surely the time for our modern city to formally recognise the service of Henry Solomon with a plaque, where he died in the course of serving the citizens of Brighton.”
The news comes as English Heritage announced its national blue plaque scheme is under threat due to funding cuts.
Donations
But Ms Older said it did not affect the city as it administers its own scheme.
She added that Brighton and Hove City Council provided funding every year to install one new blue plaque at a cost of about £1,100.
However, anyone was welcome to approach the panel and discuss making a donation towards installing additional ones.
Where else do you think a blue plaque should be put up? Email news@theargus.co.uk.
Who was Henry Solomon?
Henry Solomon was appointed the first chief constable of Brighton in 1838, on an annual salary of £120.
In those days all civic offices including the police were in Brighton Town Hall in Bartholomews.
In 1844, a man called John Lawrence was arrested for stealing a carpet from a shop in St James’s Street.
He was taken to the town hall where Mr Solomon tried to question him. After being sat down near a fire, Lawrence suddenly shot up and smashed Mr Solomon’s skull with an iron poker so hard it bent the metal rod.
The chief constable, who was 50, died later and Lawrence was charged with murder. He was tried at Lewes, convicted and hanged outside the county gaol in Horsham. The incident shocked the town and a public meeting to collect money for the support of the bereaved raised more than £1,000.
The memorial stone to the popular bobby is in the Old Jewish Burial Ground in Florence Place, Brighton.
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Comments(9)
John Steed
says...
5:29pm Wed 9 Jan 13
Lady Smith wrote:I think the plaque is a worthy idea, however so is lady smith comment.
Frankly, I'd rather some money was raised to spend on maintaining the Jewish Cemetery where Solomon's grave is - it is in a disgraceful state, with many of the graves collapsing.
ruberducker
says...
5:44pm Wed 9 Jan 13
still waiting
says...
8:28pm Wed 9 Jan 13
george smith
says...
9:22pm Wed 9 Jan 13
MuammarQaddafi
says...
11:19pm Wed 9 Jan 13
http://www.guardian.
co.uk/culture/2013/j
an/06/blue-plaques-c
ut-government-fundin
g
Sarah Booker Lewis
says...
10:00am Thu 10 Jan 13
MuammarQaddafi wrote:As the story states: "The news comes as English Heritage announced its national blue plaque scheme is under threat due to funding cuts. But Ms Older said it did not affect the city as it administers its own scheme".
I read the other day that blue plaques have been stopped by English Heritage due to funding cuts.
http://www.guardian.
co.uk/culture/2013/j
an/06/blue-plaques-c
ut-government-fundin
g
English Heritage manages London's blue plaque scheme only.
trystero
says...
11:17pm Thu 10 Jan 13
I blame The Greens....
Mylex58
says...
5:12pm Fri 18 Jan 13
still waiting wrote:Well no, thank you Still Waiting for unearthing this new evidence. Since this proposal (to put up a Blue Plaque) concerns a senior police officer, it would seem just & appropriate if we at least tried to get the facts right.
Er, I know I should get out more, etc, etc but Henry Solomon wasn't the first chief constable of Brighton. That was William Pilbeam. He lasted till 1830 when Solomon was appointed joint chief officer. He became the sole chief officer when Pilbeam retired on the grounds of ill-health in 1834. And though the ghostie story in the Town Hall is a good one, I think you'll find that he didn't die there, he died at his home some 12 hours after being assaulted. On the other hand, don't let me spoil a good story by letting the facts get in the way.
Lady Smith says...
5:16pm Wed 9 Jan 13