The Peterborough Show

10/07/1901

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The annual Peterborough Show was at its height when the Northampton Mercury reported on this year's three-day exhibition on its usual site. The weather was very suitable and the attendance a good one, whilst the exhibition was one of which the Peterborough Committee had every reason to be proud. This great show of the Midlands is noted for the grand collection of hunters and shires it yearly attracts, and on no previous occasion had a better lot of animals been drawn together. Judges were loud in their praise of the animals placed before them whilst those at the ringside - and these included many well versed in horse breeding - declared they had never seen a better show. The Royal 'was a mere county exhibition from a quality point of view compared with this,' exclaimed one well-known Yorkshire breeder who, presumably, knew what he was talking about. 'The Peterborough Show deserves all the success it obtains, for there is no better managed exhibition in the country. The committee, with their excellent secretary, Mr J.E. Little, are experienced and capable, and do their best to make everyone comfortable and everything pass off without a hitch. They offered about £1,400 in prizes, and the satisfaction of obtaining a good entry.

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.

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Edith Cavell Commemorated

09/12/1916

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Edith Cavell spent only a short part of her life here in Peterborough - working in a pupil/teacher capacity at Miss Gibson's school in Laurel Court. It was here that she learned and mastered the French language that proved so useful to her in Belgium. She was not forgotten in Peterborough, and was rapidly accepted as a Peterborian following her death. It was on this day in 1916 that an Irish blue marble plaque in her memory was unveiled by Dean Page in Peterborough Cathedral. This is widely believed to be the first commemoration stone/plaque in the country dedicated to her. It reads:

Right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints. In thankful remembrance of the Christian example of Edith Louisa Cavell who devoted her life to nursing the sick and for helping Belgian French and British soldiers to escape was on October 12th 1915 put to death by the Germans at Brussels where she had nursed their wounded this Tablet was placed here by the Teachers Pupils and Friends of her old School in Laurel Court.

As well as this plaque, Edith is remembered in the name of Peterborough's modern hospital complex and a city-centre car park. (Liquorice, Mary, Posh Folk: Notable Personalities (and a Donkey) Associated with Peterborough, Cambridgeshire Libraries, 1991: People of Peterborough, Peterborough Museum Publications, 2009)

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.