Harry Leslie Smith blue plaque plan in Halifax a step closer

The veteran social justice campaigner was 95, grew up in South and West Yorkshire and began writing in his later years, following the death of his wife Frieda.

The Barnsley-born Royal Air Force veteran divided his time between Canada, where he passed away and to which he and Frieda had emigrated to in the 1950s, and Yorkshire, where he remained proud of his roots.

As well as publishing his autobiography Harry’s last Stand about his Yorkshire upbringing he used a variation of the title as his @harryslaststand Twitter handle and had 221,000 followers on his account, gaining him an international reputation.

Calderdale Labour Party members have taken up the idea and Coun Adam Wilkinson (Sowerby Bridge) said things had moved a step closer as they had now been able to identify Mr Smith’s former home at Boothtown Road in Boothtown, Halifax.

Councillors are now contacting Halifax Civic Trust, who are responsible for a number of other blue plaques around Calderdale.

Planners have checked the home is not listed to putting up a plaque would not be problematic from that point of view, he said.

Coun Wilkinson said: “Harry’s official twitter account run by his son has retweeted me and followed me back now, so he is aware that we are trying to make it happen – he has said ‘this would be brilliant’.”

Mr Smith gave his support to the left to the 2015 General Election and involved in the 2016 EU Referendum campaigns, particularly being a staunch supporter of the National Health Service.

Following a speech to the 2014 Labour conference he was back in Calderdale for the 2015 General Election where he met activists and backed Josh Fenton-Glynn’s unsuccessful bid to win the Calder Valley seat that year.

He has also revisited Halifax, where he lived from 1937 to the early 1940s, in recent years

Councillor Wilkinson said Mr Smith had been an inspirational figure, views echoed by the council’s Labour leader Tim Swift (Town) and Cabinet member Susan Press (Todmorden).