Newbury blue plaque for modern medicine pioneer, John Newport Langley

Eminent physiologist, John Newport Langley (1852-1925), is next on the list to be honoured with a blue plaque in Newbury.

For its 17th blue plaque, Newbury Town Council is commemorating a leading academic who achieved ground-breaking discoveries in two main areas of physiology.

Mr Langley almost single-handedly established the physiology of the autonomic nervous system — including the well-known sympathetic 'fight or flight' response.

He was also the first person to use the term 'receptive substances' to describe receptor proteins in the cell membrane that respond to external chemical signals, such as hormones and neurotransmitters.

It is on this basis much of modern pharmacology and pharmaceutical drug development depends.

"John Langley was one of the researchers on whose outstanding work modern medicine is based," said vice chairperson of the Town Council Heritage Working Group, Nigel Foot.

"We are very grateful to Newbury Samaritans for agreeing to host the plaque, and to the Newbury Society for a generous donation to the cost."

Mr Langley was born in Newbury where he lived until the age of 10, when he left to attend Exeter Grammar School.

His home was 50 West Street, part of the adjoining terrace, which was demolished in the 1960s.

John Langley was the son of a private schoolmaster. His uncle Rev Henry Newport was headmaster of Exeter Grammar School and had previously been the first headmaster of St Bartholomew's School, Newbury between 1848-1852 after its re-foundation.

From taking his BA in 1875, Mr Langley engaged in a lifetime of research at Cambridge into neurophysiology. In 1877, he was elected fellow of St John's College and in 1883 fellow of the Royal Society.

The plaque will be unveiled at 58 West Street at 11am on Thursday, March 2 by Newbury Mayor, Gary Norman.

The blue plaque has also been welcomed by Cambridge University’s Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience.