Natural History Museum in Tring can become home to blue plaque for female scientist
Dacorum Borough Council agreed for the museum to erect an Historic England plaque honouring Dorothea Bate at their Tring site
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Permission has been granted for a new blue plaque in Tring to honour a renowned palaeontologist who was one of the first female scientists at the Natural History Museum.
On Thursday (August 13), Dacorum Borough Council agreed to listed building consent for the museum to erect an Historic England plaque honouring Dorothea Bate at their Tring site.
Ms Bate began working for the Natural History Museum in 1898, aged 19, and discovered numerous fossils of extinct species across England, Europe and further afield.
During the Second World War, Ms Bate was responsible for transferring precious artefacts from the museum’s South Kensington site to Tring and, after the conflict ended, she was appointed Officer in Charge at the Hertfordshire Collection.
Ms Bate helped pioneer the new field of archaeozoology, analysing remains such as teeth, bones and horns from archaeological sites.
The plaque bearing Ms Bate’s name will be attached to the wall of the original cottage building at the Grade II listed Tring Natural History Museum, facing Park Street.
Council planning officers found that the proposed plaque would “respect and protect the character of the listed building and the setting and distinctiveness of the designated heritage asset”.
Documents submitted on behalf of the Natural History Museum said that the plaque “will enable Dorothea Bate’s influence on palaeontology as well as on Tring’s most significant contribution to society to be understood and appreciated by visitors”.