Blue plaque on maternity home funded by shoe boss

The blue plaque for William Barratt has been places on the Barratt Maternity Home in Northampton

A blue plaque has been unveiled at a maternity home which a shoe manufacturer helped fund almost 90 years ago.

William Barratt gave £20,000 to build the Barratt Maternity Home in Northampton in 1936.

He founded Barratts Shoes in Northampton at the beginning of the 20th Century, with the company growing through mail-order catalogues in the 1920s.

His great-nephew, Richard Barratt, said: "This is a man that cared and I think this is the basis of why a maternity home was his target for the town."

The maternity home is now part of larger birthing unit at Northampton General Hospital

Barratt and his wife Alice donated the money for the cost of building the maternity home.

He was also was involved in the planning and decoration of the building and said local authorities should contribute to the upkeep of the home.

Over the years children born in the home were referred to as "Barratt babies".

The home is now part of a larger maternity unit at Northampton General Hospital, part of which keeps the Barratt name as the Barratt Birth Centre.

'A generous donation and a dream'

The plaque commemorates his involvement in the funding of the maternity home, his success as a shoe manufacturer and his "progressive ideas and methods".

Barratt, who was born in 1877 and died in 1939, was a Labour politician in Northampton and stood unsuccessfully for the party in Bethnal Green at the parliamentary election of 1931.

Richard Barratt, pictured in front of a portrait of his great-uncle William Barratt, said he was glad a blue plaque had been put up

Richard Barratt said his great-uncle was "a caring person".

He said: "It was through sheer hard work and good fortune he managed to build a sizeable company.

"Having all this wealth he was looking to do something with it that would benefit the town and [the maternity home] is what he saw was needed."

Mr Barratt said the blue plaque was "recognition at last for a generous donation and a dream that he had and I'm very glad it's been done".

West Northamptonshire Council deputy leader Adam Brown said it would look to add to the blue plaques in the area

The blue plaque is one four in Northampton put up by West Northamptonshire Council.

Adam Brown, the authority's deputy leader, said it would "look at where else in West Northamptonshire we can put up blue plaques to commemorate important figures from our history".

He said there would be public consultation in the future on the next potential plaques.