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One of Preston's leading investors in the 1800s is to be honoured with a blue plaque on the family home he built off Winckley Square.

The city council has approved the tribute to clothing merchant Thomas Leach, 167 years after he died.

The haberdasher, hosier and draper, who had a store on Fishergate, was also a big shareholder in local companies and became a director of the Preston Banking Company and a trustee of the town's Savings Bank.

He built the Grade II Listed property on the corner of Camden Place in 1834 as two houses - a large one for his family and a smaller one to rent out. He passed away there in 1856.

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Preston Historical Society, which has taken over the role of administering the blue plaque scheme from Preston and South Ribble Civic Trust, says the addition of the nameplate will "amplify the historical significance of this building."

The plaque will read: "Thomas Leach, 1782-1856, Investor of new Preston industries, Director of Preston Banking Co and Preston Gas Co, Savings Bank trustee, built this house 1834. Died here."

No 5 Camden Place is the end property in a terrace of six town houses in the Winckley Square Conservation Area. In recent decades it has been office accommodation and also an education and training centre. It had stood empty for some time before Moneypenny Properties Ltd acquired it and invested heavily in converting the building to self-catering short stay apartments for visitors to the city.

The house will have a blue plaque attached to the left-hand side of the front door.

North West Lettings, on behalf of the company, said: "This is a blue plaque instantly visible to the public to recognize the Thomas Leach who built this property and his contribution to various industries and commercial enterprises in Preston as an investor."

Thomas' store was on the corner of Fishergate and Cheapside, what is now the Ann Summers lingerie shop. He and his wife Isabella lived in a house on the south side of Winckley Square and decided to buy a plot of land nearby to build their own home in 1834 - three years before Queen Victoria came to the throne.

When Thomas died in 1856 at the age of 74, his estate was worth just less than £25,000 - almost £3.5m in today's money.

Blue plaque to honour Preston money man 167 years after he died