A Century Of History Makers

Meet 10 Herts men and women, some well known and others less so, who helped mould their times and left a lasting legacy

- Stephen Roberts

So-and-so was born here. Oh, really? I didn’t know that. It’s hard not to stop and read a blue plaque on a building to find out who the celebrated person is linked to it. Well in Herts there are perhaps many more links than you knew about. Here are just 10 figures born in the early 19th to 20th centuries who could claim to have made their mark on their times and beyond.

Frederick Archer, Bishop’s Stortford, 1813

The inventor of an improved photographic process, Frederick Archer was born in Bishop’s Stortford (although some say Hertford), the son of a butcher. The collodion process that he developed (excuse the pun) enabled the exposure time for photographs to be reduced, which was a great boon to snappers. Sadly, Archer failed to patent it, which meant he barely made any money and died early, in 1857, impoverished. Although he’s recalled chiefly for this one invention, Archer was also a handy sculptor and got into photography to capture images of his work.

Henry Hawkins, Hitchin, 1817

The alliterative Henry Hawkins aka ‘Hanging Hawkins’ was a lawyer and judge who was a tad more lenient than his moniker suggests. Born in Hitchin, the son of a solicitor, he became a High Court judge (1876-98) and presided at many of the Victorian era’s famous trials, including the celebrated Tichborne Case (1871-74), in which a mystery man claimed to be the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy. Hawkins, a member of the prosecution team, cross-examined the claimant, who was convicted of perjury and sentenced to imprisonment.

Thomas Wells, St Albans, 1818