Street Names of Kibworth (Part 2): Halford Road

22nd June 2026 | Local History, People

Street Names of Kibworth (Part 2)

Last month we looked at the names of the streets in New Town. This time we will cross Fleckney Road:-

Walking up Fleckney Road from Kibworth village centre you pass three streets.

Halford Road, Harcourt Road and Imperial Road. Across the top of Harcourt Road and Imperial Road is Beauchamp Road.

I’m afraid when these streets were named imagination seemed to be limited. Two are actually named after the village (Harcourt and Beauchamp) whilst Imperial related to the British Empire at the turn of the twentieth century which was formidable.

Our attention must therefore turn to Halford.

Here we have two people with the name Halford and both are connected to Merton College.

Wikipedia tells us:

Sir Henry Halford, 1st Baronet

Sir Henry Halford, 1st Baronet, GCH (2 October 1766 – 1844), born Henry Vaughan, was president of the Royal College of Physicians for 24 years.

As the royal and society physician, he was physician extraordinary to King George III from 1793 to 1820, then as physician in ordinary to his three successors – George IV, William IV and the young Victoria. He also served other members of the royal family until his death.

Halford was born as Henry Vaughan at Leicester, the second but eldest surviving son of Dr James Vaughan (27 March 1740 – 19 August 1813), an eminent physician at Leicester, and his wife, Hester née Smalley (died 7 April 1791).

His brothers were Sir John Vaughan, judge; Peter Vaughan, Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and Dean of Chester; and Sir Charles Richard Vaughan, minister plenipotentiary to Switzerland and to the United States.

He was educated at Rugby School, and there developed his love for classical literature.

He went from Rugby to Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1781, aged 15, and graduated BA and MA 1788, B.Med. 1790, D.Med. 1791.

He also studied in Edinburgh (where he presumably studied the Scottish system of medicine).

To read part one: click here

Sir Henry St John Halford, 3rd Baronet

Sir Henry St John Halford, 3rd Baronet (9 August 1828 – 4 January 1897), was an English landowner and expert rifleman.

He was born the son of Sir Henry Halford, 2nd Baronet, MP (and obviously the grandson of the 1st Baronet as previously mentioned) for Leicestershire South, whom he succeeded in 1868.

He was educated at Eton College and Merton College, Oxford, where he graduated BA in 1849.

On his father’s death he inherited Wistow Hall in Leicestershire, where he thereafter lived.

In 1860 he took command of a company of the Leicestershire volunteers, becoming colonel of the battalion in 1862.

He held the office, with a 10-year break, until 1891, when he was made honorary colonel. In 1886, he was awarded CB.

He was picked as High Sheriff of Leicestershire for 1872, and in 1889 was appointed the first Chairman of Leicestershire County Council, a post he held until 1893.

Rifle technology

Halford’s main interest was rifle shooting and the development of rifle technology.

In its obituary, The Times of London dubbed Halford “the father of rifle-shooting”, noting:

“Sir Henry, as he was always called, was perhaps never absolutely the best shot of his generation; a title which could have been claimed, for all-round shooting, by the famous Ross, by Mr Humphry, and by Captain Gibbs in succession. But, not excepting Mr Baker and Mr Wyatt, both of whom have breaks in their shooting history, no man could claim so long and steadily successful a career as Sir Henry Halford.”

My money is on the second Halford, the grandson of the first, as he had recently died when these streets were being built and named in the 1890s.

The first Halford has Halford Street named after him and also Vaughan College.

(If any of these facts are incorrect or you know of an alternative root to these names perhaps you can inform me via theeditor@kibworthchronicle.com).

Kibworth & District Heritage Society