Beatrix Potter's Gloucester tailor honoured with Cheltenham plaque

John Prichard was a tailor who had a shop on Westgate Street in Gloucester city centre

The man who inspired Beatrix Potter's famous children's story, The Tailor of Gloucester, has been honoured with a plaque.

John Samuel Prichard, who was born in 1877 and died in 1934, was a tailor in the city centre and is said to have been the inspiration for the book.

Mr Pritchard was honoured with a plaque at Charlton Kings Cemetery on Saturday.

His great-great-great-granddaughter said it was "nice to keep memories alive".

A wreath was also laid on his grave to mark the occasion

Mr Prichard, who is buried at the Cheltenham cemetery, had a shop on Westgate Street in Gloucester city centre.

He supposedly returned to his shop one morning to find a waistcoat mysteriously completed, except for one buttonhole, with a note saying: "No more twist!"

Twist referred to the silk thread with which to stitch the last button.

Prichard's assistants had finished the coat over the weekend but the tailor encouraged a tale that fairies had done the work, and the incident became the stuff of local legend.

Potter reimagined the story in her typical style and used a group of mice as the mysterious tailor's assistants.

The wreath featured knitted mice, paying homage to Potter's story

A wreath was also laid at Mr Pritchard's grave, donated by Make Their Day Florist in Cheltenham and shaped like a waistcoat with knitted mice.

Mayor of Cheltenham Matt Babbage, who attended with local residents, unveiled the plaque nearby.

He told BBC West: "It's really important to mark these events and parts of the local history that people wouldn't know about otherwise.

"It was great to have a whole range of generations here, right from the small kids putting flowers on the grave, through to the older generations.

"It was a lovely occasion to mark, really."

A previous appeal by the Beatrix Potter's House of the Tailor of Gloucester museum sought to find descendants of the tailor in time for the books 120th anniversary last year.

Samantha Walkley, the great-great-great-granddaughter of the tailor and his wife, Ida, said: "It's nice to hear all the stories, and as generations pass on it's nice to keep history going and memories alive.

"We've heard a lot about people that we never got to meet. It's something to be proud of, we all grew up with Beatrix Potter."