A MASTER tanner and benefactor who supported two of England's greatest poets is to be honoured in Nether Stowey.

A blue plaque is to be unveiled in Castle Street to celebrate Thomas Poole (1766-1837), who lived there and is widely regarded as the godfather of the English Romantic Movement.

Ahead of the plaque unveiling at 12 noon on Monday, November 14, Bridgwater and District Civic Society chairman Dave Chapple said: "Without Poole’s help and support for the two poets, it’s hard to see how this seismic event in English literature could have happened.

"Wordsworth based one of his most famous poems, Michael, on the character of Poole, whom he greatly admired for his inner strength and integrity of heart."

Poole was also an important man for the local community.

He was a noted radical in politics, passionate about the cause of democracy, such that the Home Office of the time thought him the most dangerous man in Somerset, although he favoured peaceful reform over revolutionary violence.

His radicalism prompted him to do a lot of good for the area.

In Nether Stowey he founded Male and Female Friendly Societies in 1806, which provided charity to people of all ages in hard times.

He set up a Savings Bank for the Poor, then founded a village schoolhouse in 1812 with land from his tannery, which is now the Thomas Poole Community Library.

The blue plaque will be placed on Tom Poole’s old house in Castle Street.

The High Sheriff of Somerset, Jennifer Duke, will perform the unveiling.

The day has been selected as Poole’s 256th birthday, and Dr Diana Barsham, noted historian, author and co-owner of Poole House, has composed a short poem to mark the occasion.

In attendance, among other dignitaries, will be Richard Coleridge, the active head of the Coleridge family; Tom Mayberry, of the South West Heritage Trust; and Roger Stacey, chairman of the community library, whose Nether Stowey ancestors knew Poole well.

The plaque has been commissioned by the Bridgwater and District Civic Society, and generously funded by Dr Barsham and her husband Peter Hoye, in celebration of this most remarkable individual.