ONE of the most significant but rarely visited memorials in Worcester Cathedral was installed at this time half-a-century ago.

It's the plaque lying in the main aisle towards the west end of the Nave and is the last resting place of Earl Baldwin of Bewdley who, as Stanley Baldwin, was three times Prime Minister of Great Britain. His ashes and those of his wife Lucy lie below the impressive memorial plaque.

Berrow's Journal for this week of January 1953 carried this report: "The memorial stone covering the resting place of the ashes of Earl and Countess Baldwin is now in position. The work is in green slate from the Lake District and was designed and executed by Edmund Ware FRBS of London in collaboration with Sculptured Memorials of London.

"The stone bears the Baldwin family coat of arms and measures 5ft 1in. by 2ft 9ins."

Stanley Baldwin was born in 1867, the son of ironmaster Alfred Baldwin whose extensive iron works were near Stourport. Alfred was for a long time MP for Bewdley and West Worcestershire, and his son Stanley began his political career in the 1890s as a Worcestershire county councillor.

He was elected as West Worcestershire MP in 1908 on the death of his father to begin three decades in Parliament. He held Tory Front Bench posts from 1916 onwards and was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1922, a year before his first short term as Prime Minister.

He was next PM from 1924 until 1929, particularly distinguishing himself by his "steadfast and impartial" handling of the General Strike, but his most outstanding term as Prime Minister was between 1935 and 1937 when he was a principal figure in the Abdication Crisis surrounding Edward VIII.

He later mused: "When I was a little boy in Worcestershire reading history books, I never thought that one day I should have to interfere between a king and his mistress."

King George VI wrote to Baldwin: "I do want to tell you how much I admired the dignified way you carried out a very difficult and very delicate task in that most unfortunate affair, and to congratulate you on the way that all parties rallied to you in the House of Commons during those fateful days."

Stanley Baldwin had bestowed on him the Freedoms of London, Worcester, Bewdley and Kidderminster.

In view of his considerable influence on the history of Britain in the first half of the 20th Century, I never cease to be amazed how few people visit his memorial in Worcester Cathedral or perhaps even know of its existence!