IF you stroll around any town in Berkshire you’ll be sure to find several blue plaques dotted around the villages.

The nameplates link people of the past with buildings they lived or worked in during their lifetime.

Berkshire's blue plaque scheme is run by English Heritage - and celebrates the links between notable figures of the past and the buildings which they lived and worked.

The scheme was founded in 1866 and sees a permanent blue plaque sign installed with details on.

Last month, a blue plaque was unveiled for journalist and campaigner for the disabled, Doris Page.

Doris “Ann Armstrong” Page was born in Walthamstow on November 17, 1925, the daughter of a dray horse keeper, and attended primary and secondary schools in West Berkshire until the outbreak of the Second World War caused her school to be evacuated to Luton.

We've trawled through the archives to discover the significant people who made changes around the world.

Dominic Barbieri

The Italian theologian prominent in spreading Catholicism and died in Reading.

Dominic was travelling by train with another Passionist to the recently founded Passionist Retreat at Woodchester when he had a heart attack.

Put onto the station platform at Pangbourne, he lay there until a train going in the other direction brought him back to Reading where he was given a bed at the Railway Tavern.

Albert Alexander

The Abingdon Policeman who had served in Newbury, was the first person to be treated with Penicillin.  

He was born in 1897 in Woodley, Reading, the fourth child of Edward Alexander, a farm labourer, and his wife Emma. He joined up at World War I, and served in the Army Service Corps, 101st Company ASC, 14th Divisional Train, providing horse transport to the front line in France or Belgium.

Francis Baily 

This man was an eminent astronomer, the son of Richard and Sarah Baily. The Bailys are a Thatcham family, and their family vault lies at St Mary’s Church, Thatcham. 

However, Richard Baily had moved to Newbury to engage in business as a banker, coal merchant, and barge master, and served as Mayor of Newbury 1773-74.  Francis was born at his house at 62 Northbrook Street (since rebuilt).

Charlotte (Lottie) Dod

Lottie was an outstanding female British sportswoman of the pre-First World War era, and one of the most versatile of all time.

She was born in Cheshire, the daughter of a wealthy Liverpool cotton broker.  She initially excelled at tennis, winning the Wimbledon ladies championship in 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, and 1893.

In 1905 she and her brothers moved to Edgecombe, Andover Road, Newbury (now the site of Woodridge House) and lived there until 1913, when they moved to Devon.

Elsie Kimber

This plaque commemorates Elsie Kimber, who in 1932 was elected as the first female Mayor of Newbury since the Borough was created in 1596. 

The plaque is located at 64 Bartholomew Street, now Hillier & Wilson Estate Agents, but formerly Kimber’s Grocery and Provision Merchants, informally called “Kimber’s Corner”, which she ran from 1939 until her retirement in 1953.

Esther Jane Luker,

Generally using the name Jane, was the first Headmistress of Newbury Girls’ School from its foundation in 1904 until her retirement in 1933, and a pioneer of secondary education for girls in Newbury and the surrounding area.

She believed in a broad-based education that, although rigorous, would not be narrowly academic but would embrace a love of art and music. 

Stewart Rome

Stewart Rome was a British film actor who achieved national fame during the silent film era and successfully made the transition to talkies.  He was born and brought up in Newbury and eventually retired here.  His versatile and prolific career is credited with over 160 films.

The building to which this plaque is attached functioned as a silent film cinema, the Newbury Picture Palace, from 1910 to 1934. 

There are also two red plaques in Reading.

A plaque for brothers Alfred and George William Palmer is on the building next to the entrance of the London Road campus, at the corner of London Road and Redlands Road.

Alfred and George W, who both worked for the biscuit company, are celebrated for generously giving buildings, including the one the plaque rests on and land to the university.