Salt Hill is a district within the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

in the south of England, close to London. Before 1974, Salt Hill was part of

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. It is to the north of

Chalvey Chalvey () is a former village, which is now a suburb of Slough, in the unitary authority of Slough in Berkshire, England. It was transferred to Berkshire from Buckinghamshire in 1974. It was first recorded in 1217 by an Old English word mea ...

and the Great West Road, surrounding Salt Hill Park. The name Salt Hill is derived from

Montem Mound The Montem Mound is an ancient mound of earth. It lies on Montem Lane, around half a mile west of central Slough, Berkshire, overlooking the Chalvey Brook, a minor tributary of the River Thames. The mound is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The age ...

in Chalvey, which was also known as Salt Hill, or Salts Hill. In 1807, the French nobleman

Antoine Philippe, Duke of Montpensier Louis Antoine Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Montpensier (3 July 1775, Palais-Royal, Paris - 18 May 1807, Salthill, England)The story of his death at the Windmill Inn at Salthill is in doubt. See was a son of Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans ( ...

died here of tuberculosis on the way from London to Devon. On 1 January 1845,

John Tawell John Tawell (1784–1845) was a British murderer and the first person to be arrested as the result of telecommunications technology. Transported to Australia in 1814 for the crime of forgery, Tawell obtained a ticket of leave and started as a c ...

, who had recently returned from Australia, murdered his lover, Sarah Hart, at Salt Hill by poisoning her with

prussic acid Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structure . It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an in ...

. With various officials in chase, Tawell fled to

Slough railway station Slough railway station, in Slough, Berkshire, England, is on the Great Western Main Line, halfway between London Paddington and Reading. It is down the line from the zero point at Paddington and is situated between to the east and to the w ...

and boarded a train to

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

. The

electrical telegraph Electrical telegraphs were point-to-point text messaging systems, primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most widely used of a number of early messaging systems ...

had recently been installed and so a message was sent ahead to Paddington with Tawell's details. Tawell was trailed and subsequently arrested, tried and executed for the murder at

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

on 28 March 1845. This is believed to be the first time ever that the telegraph had been involved in the apprehension of a murderer. On 6 February 1870

William MacBean George Colebrooke Sir William MacBean George Colebrooke, (9 November 1787 – 6 February 1870) was an English career soldier and colonial administrator who became lieutenant governor of New Brunswick in 1841. Life The son of Colonel Paulet Welbore Colebrooke, R ...

K.B. died at his home here. He, along with fellow

Utilitarian In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...

Charles Hay Cameron had been responsible for the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission report, which brought

constitutional government A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

to Ceylon (later Sri Lanka)in 1870 There was no country called Sri Lanki, this did not happen until after independence

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and marks the beginning of the modern era in that country. He had also presided over a constitutional crisis in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and had been Governor of British Guiana. Salt Hill Park once boasted great iron gates, which were subsequently smelted as part of the war effort during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

References

Suburbs of Slough {{Berkshire-geo-stub