Norah Lofts’ Blue Plaque

By Martyn Taylor, Heritage Adviser to the Bury Society CIO

It was sad that Clive Lofts’ obituary was in this week’s Bury Free Press. He was the son of notable local author Norah Lofts who is commemorated by a Bury St Edmunds Society blue plaque on Northgate House.

Clive’s mother was the author, Norah Lofts. She was born Norah Ethel Robinson in Norfolk and grew up in Bury St Edmunds where she was educated at Guildhall Feoffment Girls School and the County Grammar School for Girls. In 1925 she attained a teaching diploma from Norwich Training College. She married Lofts in 1933 with whom she had one son, Clive. Geoffrey died in 1948.

Clive’s full name, with a very unusual middle name, was Geoffrey St. Edmund Clive Lofts. His father was Geoffrey Lofts, a painter and decorator, whose business premises were where the former Hunter Gallery is today, next to where the Tourist Information is based on Angel Hill.

Norah Lofts wed her second husband, Robert Jorisch, a technical consultant to the British Sugar Corporation at the town’s sugar beet factory, in 1949. She stood as a Town Councillor for Bury St Edmunds from 1957 to 1962. She died in 1983.

She wrote more than fifty books that were popular both sides of the Atlantic. Although specializing in historical fiction, she also wrote some mysteries, short stories and non-fiction. Many of her novels, including her Suffolk Trilogy, follow the history of specific houses and their residents over several generations.

Clive lived in the Coach House next to Northgate House where his mother used to live. He had been trying to get a Blue Plaque about his famous mother put on Northgate House, but could not get permission from the relative arbiters of local listed buildings. Northgate House, is number 8 Northgate Street and is listed Grade 1. Clive decided to approach the Bury Society.

I was the co-ordinator of the Bury Society Blue Plaque Scheme back in 2012. I was able to get permission from St Edmundsbury Council and English Heritage for a blue plaque in memory of his mother Norah Lofts. That blue plaque was one of seven installed by the Bury Society that year. I recall that Clive was very grateful for our involvement which resulted in the blue plaque for his mother.