Ablue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as ahistorical marker.
The term is used in the United Kingdom in two senses. It may be used narrowly and specifically to refer to the "official" scheme administered byEnglish Heritage, and for much of its history restricted to sites withinGreater London; or it may be used less formally to encompass a number of similar schemes administered by organisations throughout the UK. The plaques erected are made in a variety of designs, shapes, materials and colours: some are blue, others are not. However, the term "blue plaque" is often used informally to encompass all such schemes.
The "official" scheme traces its origins to that launched in 1866 in London, on the initiative of the politicianWilliam Ewart, to mark the homes and workplaces of famous people.[3][4] The first such scheme in the world, it has directly or indirectly provided the inspiration and model for many others. The scheme has been administered successively by theSociety of Arts (1866–1901), theLondon County Council (1901–1965), theGreater London Council (1965–1986) andEnglish Heritage (1986 to date). It was initially focused onGreater London, although between 1998 and 2005, under a trial programme since discontinued, 34 plaques were erected elsewhere in England. TheLevelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 extended the scheme to the whole of England.[5]
Many other plaque schemes have been initiated in the United Kingdom. Some are restricted to a specific geographical area, others to a particular theme of historical commemoration. They are administered by a range of bodies includinglocal authorities,civic societies,residents' associations and other organisations such as theTransport Trust, theRoyal Society of Chemistry, theMusic Hall Guild of Great Britain and America and the British Comic Society.
There are also commemorative plaque schemes throughout the world such as those inParis,Rome,Oslo, andDublin; and in other cities in Australia, Canada, thePhilippines, Russia, and the United States. These take various forms, and they are more likely to be known ascommemorative plaques or historical markers.
The original blue plaque scheme was established by theSociety of Arts in 1867, and since 1986 has been run byEnglish Heritage. It is the oldest such scheme in the world.[3][4]
After being conceived by politicianWilliam Ewart in 1863, the scheme was initiated in 1866 by Ewart,Henry Cole and the Society of Arts (now theRoyal Society of Arts),[8] which erected plaques in a variety of shapes and colours.
The first plaque was unveiled in 1867 to commemorateLord Byron at his birthplace, 24 Holles Street,Cavendish Square. This house was demolished in 1889. The earliest blue plaque to survive, also put up in 1867, commemoratesNapoleon III in King Street,St James's.[4] Byron's plaque was blue, but the colour was changed by the manufacturerMinton, Hollins & Co to chocolate brown to save money.[9] The first woman to be honoured with a plaque was the actorSarah Siddons in 1876.[10] The plaque, placed on her house inMarylebone, London, was retrieved when the house was demolished in 1905 and is now held in theVictoria and Albert Museum.[11]
In total, the Society of Arts put up 35 plaques, fewer than half of which survive today. The Society only erected one plaque within the square-mile of theCity of London, that toSamuel Johnson on hishouse in Gough Square, in 1876. In 1879, it was agreed that theCity of London Corporation would be responsible for erecting plaques within the City to recognise its jurisdictional independence. This demarcation has remained ever since.[4]
In 1901, the Society of Arts scheme was taken over by theLondon County Council (LCC),[3] which gave much thought to the future design of the plaques. It was eventually decided to keep the basic shape and design of the Society's plaques, but to make them uniformly blue, with a laurel wreath and the LCC's title.[12] Though this design was used consistently from 1903 to 1938, some experimentation occurred in the 1920s, and plaques were made in bronze, stone and lead. Shape and colour also varied.[12]
In 1921, the most common (blue) plaque design was revised, as it was discovered that glazedRoyal Doultonstoneware was cheaper than theencaustic formerly used. In 1938, a new plaque design was prepared by an unnamed student at the LCC's Central School of Arts and Crafts and was approved by the committee. It omitted the decorative elements of earlier plaque designs, and allowed for lettering to be better spaced and enlarged. A white border was added to the design shortly after, and this has remained the standard ever since.[9] No plaques were erected between 1915 and 1919, or between 1940 and 1947, owing to the two world wars.[13] The LCC formalised the selection criteria for the scheme in 1954.[4]
When the LCC was abolished in 1965, the scheme was taken over by theGreater London Council (GLC). The principles of the scheme changed little, but now applied to the entire, much larger, administrative county ofGreater London. The GLC was also keen to broaden the range of people commemorated. The GLC erected 252 plaques, the subjects includingSylvia Pankhurst,[14]Samuel Coleridge-Taylor,[15] andMary Seacole.[16]
In 1986, the GLC was disbanded and the blue plaques scheme passed toEnglish Heritage. English Heritage erected more than 300 plaques in London. In January 2013 English Heritage suspended proposals for plaques owing to funding cuts.[13][17] TheNational Trust's chairman stated that his organisation might step in to save the scheme.[18] In the event the scheme was relaunched by English Heritage in June 2014 with private funding (including support from a new donors' club, the Blue Plaques Club, and from property developerDavid Pearl).[19] Four members of the advisory panel resigned over this transmutation. ProfessorDavid Edgerton and author and critic Gillian Darley were concerned that the scheme had been "reduced to a marketing tool for English Heritage".[20] The vice chairDr Celina Fox and Dr Margaret Pelling stated that the scheme was "being dismantled and its previous achievements discredited".[21]
In April 2015, English Heritage was divided into two parts,Historic England (a statutory body), and the new English Heritage Trust (a charity, which took over the English Heritage operating name and logo). Responsibility for the blue plaque scheme passed to the English Heritage Trust.
The 1,000th plaque, marking the offices of theWomen's Freedom League, 1908–1915, was unveiled in 2023.[22]
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To be eligible for an English Heritage blue plaque in London, the famous person concerned must:[23]
In cases of foreigners and overseas visitors, candidates should be of international reputation or significant standing in their own country.
With regards to the location of a plaque:
Other schemes have different criteria, which are often less restrictive: in particular, it is common under other schemes for plaques to be erected to mark the sites of demolished buildings.
Almost all the proposals for English Heritage blue plaques are made by members of the public who write or email the organisation before submitting a formal proposal.[25]
English Heritage's in-house historian researches the proposal, and the Blue Plaques Panel advises on which suggestions should be successful. This is composed of 12 people from various disciplines from across the country. The panel is chaired by ProfessorWilliam Whyte. Other members (as at September 2023) includeRichard J. Aldrich,Mihir Bose,Andrew Graham-Dixon,Claire Harman,Gus Casely-Hayford andAmy Lame.[26] The actor and broadcasterStephen Fry was formerly a member of the panel, and wrote the foreword to the bookLived in London: Blue Plaques and the Stories Behind Them (2009).[27]
Roughly a third of proposals are approved in principle, and are placed on a shortlist. Because the scheme is so popular, and because a lot of detailed research has to be carried out, it takes about three years for each case to reach the top of the shortlist. Proposals not taken forward can only be re-proposed once 10 years have elapsed.[23]
From 1923, soon after the standardisation of the design in 1921, the plaques were manufactured byRoyal Doulton which continued their production until 1955.[28] From 1984 until 2015 they were made by Frank Ashworth at his studio in Cornwall, and were then inscribed by his wife.[29] From 1955 to 1985 thelettering for the plaques was designed in theRoman lettering style by Henry Hooper.[30][31] Since 2015, the plaques have been made by Ned Heywood, a potter, at his workshop inChepstow, Wales.[22] Each plaque is made entirely by hand.[32][33]
A small minority of GLC and English Heritage plaques have been erected to commemorate events which took place at particular locations rather than the famous people who lived there.
In 1998, English Heritage initiated a trial national plaques scheme, and over the following years erected 34 plaques inBirmingham,Merseyside,Southampton andPortsmouth. The scheme was discontinued in 2005, although English Heritage continued to provide advice and guidance to individuals and organisations outside of London wanting to develop local schemes.[35]
In September 2023 theDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport announced the reintroduction of a national scheme, withHistoric England as the lead developer.[36] From mid 2024, the public will be invited to submit nominations, with eligibility criteria including a minimum of 20 years having passed since the death of the nominee, who must have made a significant contribution to human welfare or happiness. At least one surviving building must be associated with the nominee in a form that they would have recognised and the building must be visible from the public highway.[37] The first plaque in the scheme was unveiled inIlkley, West Yorkshire on 23 February 2024, commemoratingDaphne Steele, first Black matron in theNational Health Service in 1964.[38] On 24 May 2024, a blue plaque commemoratingthe childhood home of musicianGeorge Harrison in Liverpool was unveiled, and was referred to in the press as "Historic England's first official non-London blue plaque".[39]
The popularity ofEnglish Heritage's London blue plaques scheme has meant that a number of comparable schemes have been established elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Many of these schemes also use blue plaques, often manufactured in metal or plastic rather than the ceramic used in London, but some feature plaques of different colours and shapes. In 2012, English Heritage published a register of plaque schemes run by other organisations across England.[40]
The criteria for selection varies greatly. Many schemes treat plaques primarily as memorials and place them on the sites of former buildings, in contrast to the strict English Heritage policy of only installing a plaque on the actual building in which a famous person lived or an event took place.
TheCorporation of London continues to run its own plaque scheme for theCity of London, where English Heritage does not erect plaques. City of London plaques are blue and ceramic, but are rectangular in shape and carry theCity of London coat of arms.[4][41] Because of the rapidity of change in the built environment within the City, a high proportion of Corporation of London plaques mark the sites of former buildings.
Many of the 32London boroughs also now have their own schemes, running alongside the English Heritage scheme.Westminster City Council runs agreen plaque scheme, each plaque being sponsored by a group with a particular interest in its subject.[42] TheLondon Borough of Southwark started its own blue plaque scheme in 2003, under which the borough awards plaques through popular vote following public nomination: living people may be commemorated.[43] TheLondon Borough of Islington has a similar green heritage plaque scheme, initiated in 2010.[44]
Other plaques may be erected by smaller groups, such asresidents' associations. In 2007 theHampstead Garden Suburb Residents Association erected a blue plaque in memory of Prime MinisterHarold Wilson at 12 Southway as part of the suburb's centenary celebrations.
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![City of Westminster green plaque at the Savoy Theatre, the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity when it was fitted with the incandescent light bulb developed by Sir Joseph Swan in 1881.[45]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSavoy_Theatre_(Westminster_City_Council).jpg)
| Location | Details |
|---|---|
| Aldershot | In 2017 inAldershot inHampshire the Aldershot Civic Society unveiled its first blue plaque to comedian and actorArthur English at the house where he had been born. It is intended that this will be the first in a series dedicated to notable local people or historic buildings.[46][47][48] |
| Berkhamsted | The Hertfordshire town ofBerkhamsted unveiled a set of 32 blue plaques in 2000 on some of the town's most significant buildings,[49] includingBerkhamsted Castle, the birthplace of writerGraham Greene and buildings associated with the poetWilliam Cowper,John Incent (aDean of St. Paul's Cathedral) andClementine Churchill. The plaques feature in a Heritage Trail promoted by the town's council.[50] |
| Birmingham | TheBirmingham Civic Society provides a blue plaque scheme in and aroundBirmingham: there are over 90 plaques commemorating notable former Birmingham residents and historical places of interest.[51][52] |
| Boston, Lincolnshire | TheBoston Preservation Trust provides a blue plaque scheme in and aroundBoston, Lincolnshire: there are over 27 plaques commemorating notable former Boston residents and historical places of interest.[53] |
| Bournemouth | Bournemouth Borough Council has unveiled more than 30 blue plaques.[54] Its first plaque was unveiled on 31 October 1937 toLewis Tregonwell, who built thefirst house in what is nowBournemouth. Two further plaques followed in 1957 and 1975 to writerRobert Louis Stevenson and poetRupert Brooke respectively. The first blue plaque was unveiled on 30 June 1985 dedicated toSir Percy Shelley, 3rd Baronet.[55] |
| Derbyshire | In 2010,Derbyshire County Council allowed its residents to vote via the Internet on a shortlist of notable historical figures to be commemorated in a local blue plaque scheme.[56] The first six plaques commemorated industrialistRichard Arkwright junior (Bakewell),Olave Baden-Powell and the "Father of Railways"George Stephenson (Chesterfield), the mathematical prodigyJedediah Buxton (Elmton), actorArthur Lowe (Hayfield), and architectJoseph Paxton (Chatsworth House).[57] |
| Gateshead | A long-runningblue plaque scheme is in operation inGateshead. Run by the council, the scheme was registered with English Heritage in 1970[40] and 29 blue plaques were installed between the inception of the scheme in 1977 and the publication of a commemorative document in 2010.[58][59] The Gateshead scheme aims to highlight notable persons who lived in the borough, notable buildings within it and important historical events.[60] Some of those commemorated through the scheme includeGeordie Ridley, author of the "Blaydon Races":[61]William Wailes, a 19th-century proponent of stained glass;[62][63] the industrialist and co-founder ofClarke Chapman,William Clarke[64] andSir Joseph Swan, inventor of theincandescent light bulb.[64][65] More recent plaques (both erected in 2012) have commemoratedVincent Litchfield Raven, the chief mechanical engineer at theNorth Eastern Railway;[66] and the 19th-centuryFelling mining disasters.[67] |
| Leeds | Leeds Civic Trust started its blue plaque scheme in 1987 and by 2020 had 180 plaques.[68] |
| Loughton | TheEssex town ofLoughton inaugurated a scheme in 1997 following a programme allowing for three new plaques a year; 42 had been erected by 2019. The aim is to stimulate public interest in the town's heritage.[69] Among the Loughton blue plaques is that toMary Anne Clarke, which is in fact a pair of identical plaques, one on the back, and one on the front, of her house, Loughton Lodge. |
| Malvern | In 2005, Malvern Civic Society andMalvern Hills District council announced that blue plaques would be placed on buildings inMalvern that were associated with famous people, includingFranklin D. Roosevelt. Since then blue plaques have been erected to commemorateC. S. Lewis,Florence Nightingale,Charles Darwin andHaile Selassie.[70][71][72] |
| Manchester | A scheme inManchester is co-ordinated byManchester Art Gallery, to whom nominations can be submitted. Plaques must be funded by those who propose them.[73][74] From 1960 to 1984 all plaques were ceramic, and blue in colour. From 1985, they were made of cast aluminium, colour-coded to reflect the type of commemoration (blue for people; red for events in the city's social history; black for buildings of architectural or historic interest; green for other subjects). After a period of abeyance, the scheme has been revived and all plaques are now patinated bronze.[73] |
| Oldham | A blue plaque atOldham's Tommyfield Market (Greater Manchester) marks the 1860s origin of thefish and chip shop andfast food industries. |
| Oxfordshire | TheOxfordshire Blue Plaques Board places plaques in the city of Oxford and elsewhere in the county.[75] |
| Ringwood | The Ringwood Society installed the first blue plaque in the town in 1978, to commemorate theMonmouth Rebellion.[76] |
| Southampton | Starting in 2004, English Heritage installed several blue plaques "to commemorate famous or well-loved people who have contributed significantly to Britain and Southampton's history... Many other plaques have been put up by friends, family and fans of Southampton's most influential people and historic places".[77] Since 2022, The Spitfire Makers Charitable Trust has been installing blue plaques to commemorate sites ofSpitfire production in Southampton and Hampshire.[78] |
| Sunderland | Sunderland now has over 70 commemorative blue plaques spread throughout the city ofSunderland, marking buildings, places of interest or influential people with connections to the area.[79] |
| Swindon | Swindon Heritage installs blue plaques inSwindon to commemorate the famous people, places and events which are part of the town's history. These are financed through public donations from individuals and groups. The first plaque to be unveiled was to the suffragetteEdith New in March 2016. Others commemorated include the writer and naturalistRichard Jefferies the actressDiana Dors.[80] |
| Tameside | ThroughoutTameside Blue and Brown Plaques commemorate local people and places of historical importance. Artists, poets, botanists and war heroes are among those celebrated.[81] |
| Wolverhampton | Wolverhampton has over 90 blue plaques erected by The Wolverhampton Society in a scheme which was started in 1983 by the then Wolverhampton Civic Society.[82] One of the more unusual plaques marks the location of the World Altitude Balloon Record on Friday 5 September 1862. In 2021, aBlack Lives Matter plaque was erected at the Wolverhampton Heritage Centre (the former constituency office ofEnoch Powell, where hisRivers of Blood speech was written) to commemorate immigrant rights activistPaulette Wilson, a member of theWindrush generation.[83][84][85] |
| York | York Civic Trust has operated a blue plaque scheme since the 1940s.[86] Plaques erected by the Trust use a variety of shapes and materials, including bronze, wood, slate, aluminium, and glass, and commemorate buildings and events as well as people.[86] All plaques bear the emblem of the Civic Trust, which is based on the Yorkassay mark of 1423.[86] |
InNorthern Ireland,Belfast City Council and theUlster History Circle are among a small number of groups administering blue plaques.[87] Established in 1983, the Ulster History Circle has erected around 260.[88][89] Its scope extends into theRepublic of Ireland, covering all nine counties ofUlster, the northernprovince inIreland.[90] Elsewhere in the Republic, schemes are operated throughlocal authorities[91] andcivic societies.[92]
Historic Environment Scotland, the Scottish heritage agency, has previously operated a national commemorative plaques scheme but, as of 2023, this was inactive.[93] Regional schemes are run by local authorities.[94][95]
Wales does not operate a national blue plaque scheme, although in 2022Andrew RT Davies, leader of theWelsh Conservative Group in theSenedd, called for the introduction of a country-wide approach.[96] Regional schemes are operated bylocal authorities such asSwansea[97][98] andcivic societies.[99] ThePurple Plaques scheme is a national scheme (across Wales) that aims to commemorate women whose lives have had a significant and long-lasting impact.
There also exist several nationwide schemes sponsored by special-interest bodies, which erect plaques at sites or buildings with historical associations within their particular sphere of activity.
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