Apparently, "Hear, hear" was originally "Hear him, hear him" - a way for listeners to express their approval of what was being said.
Yes, Brian, thank you for the translation. My grandfather used to speak - as a party-trick, not in everyday conversation - the old Lancashire dialect, as spoken by the Pendle witches etc. I couldn't begin to reproduce it, except that he would rhyme "schedule" with "pedal"!