I don’t suppose every visitor to London shares my passion for locating the houses where famous—or infamous—Londoners lived. Each time I’m in the great capital (or as William Cobbett called it, The Infernal Wen—take your pick), I make time for a half day’s pursuit of homes of celebrated Londoners.
What makes this possible is the scheme of Blue Plaques, introduced by the Royal Society of Arts around 1867. The first plaque ever awarded was placed on a house where Lord Byron had lived, but that house and its plaque have been demolished. Today, there are more than 600 Blue Plaques marking the homes of Londoners considered worthy of such commemoration. One requirement, however, is that the person is either dead or at least 100 years old.
The plaques are found all over London, but there are concentrations of them in certain areas, particularly the boroughs of Westminster and Camden.
To go "Blue Plaque hunting," you’ll need a guidebook, and fortunately, there are several good ones.
Two of the best, The Blue Plaque Guide to London by Caroline Dakers and The London Blue Plaque Guide by Nick Rennison.
I’m a great lover of the writings of Charles Dickens, whose seven houses where he lived at various times bear blue plaques. George Eliot has two plaqued houses; Benjamin Disraeli, four; George Bernard Shaw, one; and Virginia Woolf, two. There are even two Blue Plaques on buildings where President Eisenhower, then General Eisenhower, worked on the plans for the defeat of Germany in World War II. And the house where John F. Kennedy stayed when visiting his father, who was the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, is also plaqued.
If you’re on your way to London soon and can’t find a copy of a blue plaque guide, let me know whose house you’d like to see, and, if it has a Blue Plaque, I’ll send you the address.
Paula "House Detective" Gifford