Blue plaque at Parkgate for Sir Charles Stoddart

The 19th century industrialist joined the Park Gate ironworks as an office boy at 15 and worked his way up to become chairman and managing director.

Stoddart was also mayor of Rotherham four times and the first person to be granted the Freedom of the Borough.

Rotherham District Civic Society will make him their newest recipient of a blue plaque tribute next Friday (8).

The unveiling will take place at 2pm at Granby Nursery on Aldwarke Road, as part of this year’s Parkate200 celebrations marking two centuries of the place.

Granby House was one of the original large houses built in the 1820s or 30s to provide a homes for the Park Gate works’ top brass.

Stoddard was living there in the 1880s and today the building is home to a children’s nursery.