Sir Joseph Herbert Marshall lived at ‘Denbigh House’, Elmfield Avenue 1887-1900, ‘Park House’, Knighton Park Road 1900-1906, ‘Ashleigh’, London Road 1906-1910 and ‘Ratcliffe Lodge’, Ratcliffe Road between 1910 and his death in 1918.
Initially a bookseller, Sir Joseph Herbert Marshall created what became Leicester’s largest musical instrument showroom (in Rutland Street) and later branched out into piano manufacture. The company later moved to 52-54 Belvoir Street and also had premises at Regent House 233 Regent Street in London.
Sir Herbert founded the Leicester Philharmonic Society and made a major contribution to Leicester’s burgeoning civic culture.
He was elected a member of the town council for the Conservative party in 1888 and became a magistrate in 1892. For some years he was chairman of the Conservative Association and leader of the party in Leicester.
Sir Joseph Herbert Marshall was Mayor of Leicester in 1896 and during his mayoralty, the Queen Victoria Jubilee Endowment Fund at the Infirmary, inaugurated by the mayor, raised £10,000 (the equivalent to £100,000 today). He also had the honour of being presented to Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. He was knighted in 1905.