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 ...

of Slough in Berkshire in the south of England, close to London. Before 1974, Salt Hill was part of Buckinghamshire. It is to the north of Chalvey and the Great West Road, surrounding Salt Hill Park. The name Salt Hill is derived from Montem Mound in Chalvey, which was also known as Salt Hill, or Salts Hill. In 1807, the French nobleman Antoine Philippe, Duke of Montpensier 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. With various officials in chase, Tawell fled to Slough railway station 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 Padd ...

. 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 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 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 opposing ...

References

Suburbs of Slough {{Berkshire-geo-stub