Calne Blue Plaques #1

As a way of coping photographically with these dismally dull days, I hit upon the idea of photographing the sites of the various blue plaques around Calne as an occasional series.

This one at Church House marks the home of Jan Ingenhousz in the eighteenth century, and has actually featured in a blip before, so I thought I would get it out of the way first.


Calne Heritage has written them all up so I shall include their entries:

Church House - Dr. Jan Ingen Housz
Church House itself is interesting because from 17th-19th centuries it was the town’s Guildhall. The town was administered by a corporation of burgesses. Through their two elected guild stewards they were responsible for managing the affairs of the town, including revenue from its land, licences for markets and charge of the borough armoury. This was a very restrictive and exclusive system and was abolished as part of the 1832 reform bill.
The blue plaque refers to the Dutch scientist, physician and botanist, Jan Ingen Housz, whose main claim to fame is that he showed light to be essential to plant respiration and that the gas plants produce in light is oxygen. Hence he is recognized as the discoverer of photosynthesis. He was also amongst the first to innoculate for smallpox using the live virus of cowpox.
He was a guest of Lord Lansdowne’s at Bowood in the 1790s. He died there in 1799 and is buried in St. Mary’s Church.

L.
8.12.2014 (1650 hr)

Blip #1436
Consecutive Blip #004
Day #1716
LOTD #671 (#791 including archived blips)

Calne series
Calne Blue Plaque series

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Jacqueline Taïeb - 7 Heures Du Matin (7 a.m.) (1966)
A newly discovered gem from the yé-yé genre. English version here.

One year ago: Curzon Street Cemetery