Prominent People of Peterborough

This online exhibition highlights the lives and legacies of individuals who helped shape Peterborough’s cultural, social, and architectural identity. From John Clare, the renowned rural poet, to master builders John Thompson Sr and Jr, their contributions left a lasting mark on the city.

It also features Florence Saunders, a pioneering district nurse whose dedication transformed local healthcare, and Edith ‘Edie’ Garvie, a passionate educator whose journals chronicle a life of global teaching and local impact.

Drawn from the rich collections of Peterborough Archives Service, these stories are preserved through original manuscripts, photographs, and personal documents—offering a unique glimpse into the lives behind the legacy.

John Clare

Born 13 July 1793 in the village of Helpston, Northamptonshire, Soke of Peterborough, to loving but severely impoverished parents. Clare spent much of his youth outside, taking in nature and marvelling at it’s many wonders.

Clare’s biographer, Jonathan Bate, described Clare as ‘the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced. No one has ever written more powerfully of Nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self.’

Clares first collection of poems, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, was published in 1820 and was met with admiration and praise. He continued to struggle financially, however, and needed to labour in the fields to support his wife and seven children. Although many of his publications were received with praise during his lifetime Clare was never able to live a comfortable life and suffered from declining mental health. In 1837 he spent four years in an asylum in Essex and then was committed to Northampton General Lunatic Asylum where he spent the rest of his life, passing away on 20 May 1885. He was laid to rest in St Botolph’s churchyard, Helpston.

Peterborough Archives Service is proud to be the holder of the John Clare Collection, looking after these exceptional and one of kind documents. We encourage the public to make an appointment and view some of Clare’s poems and prose in his own hand.

Archival Sources:

PAS/JCC

The collection consists of:

A. Holograph manuscripts in book form in Clare's hand

B. Manuscripts in book form partly in Clare's hand

C. Transcripts of Clare's poems in book form

D. Other manuscript poems and prose in Clare's hand

E. Letters and other memoranda mainly in Clare's hand

F. Other contemporary letters and transcripts

G. Letters and other material after Clare's death

H. Printed books in Clare's possession

Please refer to Margaret Grainger's 'Descriptive catalogue of the John Clare Collection' for further details about the material. This catalogue also contains an index of titles and first lines. A copy is available for reference at Peterborough Archives Service.

PAS/BOY/8/8

Please also see the Local Studies lending and reference library for a list of secondary source material on John Clare and his writings.

[PAS/JCC/A40/178]

[PAS/JCC/A$0/178]

John Thompson Sr and John Thompson Jr

John Thompson Sr (d. c1853) founded a small company of stone and marble masons in Peterborough in the late 1810s to the early 1820s. The firm was involved in ecclesiastical restoration work and also worked on institutional buildings and country houses. In 1828 Thompson Sr was responsible for restoration work at Peterborough Cathedral. Thompson Sr is also responsible for the building of Peterborough Gaol and the Corn Exchange. He also restored Thorpe Hall to such perfection that many architectural historians find it difficult to determine what is original and what is restored. At the time of his death he had 35 men in his employ, including three of his sons. Following his death John Thompson Jr took over the business.

John Thompson Jr (1824- 1897) took on his father’s firm and developed it’s prestige throughout the late 19^th century. His firm is credited by many as being responsible for the saving of Peterborough Cathedral. He was the builder for Glasgow University, Royal College of Music in Kensington, Selwyn College, Cambridge, the Peterborough Post Office, the Peterborough Advertiser offices, the restoration of Chester Cathedral (to name a few) and was in demand for items such as gravestones, memorials, fonts, pulpits and staircases. The 1871 census shows that he was employing “about 550 men”.

In 1874 Thompson Jr became a director of the Peterborough Land Co. Ltd which bought a large area of land to the north of the city and dedicated most of the plots of the houses- except for an area of green space which is now known as Central Park.

Archival Sources (This collection is available to view by appointment):

PAS/JTA which consists of:

Over 1400 photographs of ecclesiastical, country houses and municipal buildings
Correspondence, including letters, sketches, photographs, specifications and newspaper articles;
Technical drawings, sketches and blue prints of the Peterborough Cathedral during the restoration which began in the 1880’s.
Records of staff.

There is also a well put together folder in the local studies research cabinet which is great place to begin one’s journey.

[John Tompson Jr from The Architect, 1880]
[JTA/4/12]

Florence Saunders

Florence Saunders was born in 1856 in the Deanery on the grounds of Peterborough’s Cathedral. She was the youngest daughter of Augustus Page Saunders, the dean of Peterborough Cathedral from 1853 until his death in 1878. Her contributions to the health and well-being of this city’s poor and often overlooked residents cannot being overstated and is arguably the first woman from Peterborough to seek professional training and qualifications in nursing. Once she qualified as a nurse, she underwent specialised training as a district nurse through the newly established Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute for Nurses and in 1887 established the Peterborough District Nursing Association. Saunders’ achievements and good deeds were heavily reported in the local newspapers as seen in the accompanying pictures. After her death the Peterborough District Nursing Association was renamed the ‘Florence Saunders Nursing Association of Peterborough’. It was a fitting tribute to a woman who gave so much, including her house St. Oswalds Close, to the Association.

[Florence Saunders pictured, HCC/2/15]

'Peterborough is, and has been for some time past, metaphorically speaking, entertaining “angels unawares.”'

[Extract from above article taken from the Peterborough Advertiser December 1887]

‘The association, it will be remembered, was started about eight years ago, and during the whole of that time Miss Saunders, has given her services and provided an establishment for her assistant nurses without any remuneration. Such an act of heroic devotion and liberality is seldom recorded.’

[Peterborough Advertiser, 24 Feb 1894]

To find out more please see our archival sources: Microfilm of The Peterborough Advertiser and the Peterborough Citizen starting in 1887 until her death in April 1904. Biographical folder in the local studies research cabinet.

Edith ‘Edie’ Garvie

Edith 'Edie' Garvie (b.1928-) is a retired teacher who specialised in English as a Foreign Language. She travelled all over the world, hitchhiking (in her youth), staying in hostels and making new friends (of which she had countless!). Garvie took her love and skill of teaching English through the art of story-telling all over the world; Uganda, India, Palestine, Zurich, Strasbourg, Australia, and many other locations. She published guides, articles and books for teachers in training, and was a prolific letter writer and diarist with letters and journals starting in 1944. Her journal entries from the 1980's and onwards were often written on the reverse of other papers, providing yet another insight into her life, work, philanthropy, and social life in Peterborough. In Peterborough she was the County Adviser for Multi-Cultural Education. The International Association for the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) features heavily in many of the journal entries as does the British Council (BC).

[Edie Garvie, taken from PAS/GARV/3/2]

She was spiritual and eventually became a Quaker in 1998. Born in Edinburgh, she settled in Orton Longueville, Peterborough in the early 1980's working as a consultant in her specialised field. In 1992 she moved to Werrington. These letters and journals chronical her life from young adult to retiree.

Archival Sources:

PAS/GARV (This collection is currently being catalogued and should be available to view with an appointment by the summer of 2025)

Journal entry samples:

PAS/GARV/2/8, 12 FEB 1980

In the front of a small diary: ‘I received this diary from Edna Knowles (Shipley) for my 52nd birthday- 12/2/80. It was meant to be a Christmas present but she had forgotten to give it to me when I called briefly just before Christmas. I have decided to use it to record the events of the next year.’

And so Edie did, for the next 20 years.

PAS/GARV/2/8, ‘Epilogue’

‘...This is the end of my short diary. When I read it again I wonder where we will all be. The world seems in a very bad way. It would be so easy to give in to the misery and depression but I am determined not to. There is also a great deal to be hopeful about.’

PAS/GARV/2/80, 11 OCT 1990

‘off to the Film Society- John Clare Theatre in the new library. Coffee and Bis[cuits] to start for 25p. The film was Italian with English subtitles. It was brilliant- Cinema Paradiso. I think I’m going to enjoy my membership. The place was packed- about 200 people...I parked behind the cinema but must watch-it is private and clamps are threatened’

[PAS/GARV/2/1-19]

[PAS/GARV/1-16]

[PAS/GARV/3/1 & 2]

Most of the records in our collections may be freely consulted in our dedicated search room, located within Peterborough’s Central Library. Our search room also houses hundreds of local-interest books, some of which may be borrowed and read at home.

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