A Thirsk man who helped bring electric light to London has been honoured with a coveted English Heritage plaque.

One of the famous blue plaques, recording the work of Colonel Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton has been unveiled at Kensington Court in the capital.

Col Crompton was born in Thirsk in 1845, his father was Liberal MP for Ripon in 1832 and his mother was a talented amateur pianist.

He was educated at Harrow and was always interested in engineering, spending holidays in Thirsk making steam engines, carrying out small experiments and pestering local carpenters and blacksmiths to let him practise making things.

His family owned three estates, including Sion Hill Hall at Kirby Wiske, Kepwick Hall and Asenby near Thirsk.

Crompton's father had a lime quarry near the Kepwick estate and built the railway track from Kepwick to the Thirsk to Yarm Road, the remains of which can still be seen today.

The Kepwick and Sion Hill estates were sold, but Crompton retired to the Asenby estate where he died in 1940, aged 95.

The blue plaque was unveiled at Kensington Court in London by the president of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Dr Malcolm Kennedy, at the building where Crompton's Kensington Court Lighting Company was based.

It began producing one of the capital's first practical electricity supplies in 1887 and was Crompton's London home for almost 50 years.

The generating station in Kensington Court is one of the oldest in London, but it ceased operation in 1900 when greater demand meant supply was taken over by the bigger Wood Lane power station.

He was the first major British manufacturer of electricity generators, with his being the most efficient design of the time and his company, Crompton and Co, also made some of the first domestic electric cookers.

The company kept the Crompton name until the 1960s when it was taken over by Hawker Siddley whose splinter company Brush are market leaders in generators today.

Crompton championed the use of electricity by taking portable generators to the Henley Regatta and Alexandra Palace where he astounded the public with spectacular electric demonstrations.

And in London his first street lighting installations included those for Kings Cross station and the Law Courts.

Abroad his ambitious lighting system for the Vienna Opera House covered a wider area than had ever been attempted before and people flocked to see the spectacle.

He continued to lead the field with his improvements to arc lamp design, which made his one of the best available with a new smooth mechanism that created a long, steady glow.

When Crompton led the Corps of Electrical Engineer RE Volunteers in the Boer war, he used this design to develop the military searchlight.

His other achievements include advising on the design and production of the military tank in World War One, and being made president of the Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1895.

He was also awarded the Faraday Medal in 1926 by the Institute of Electrical Engineers for notable scientific or industrial achievement in electrical engineering and conspicuous service rendered to the advancement of electrical science.