The History Of The Blue Plaque

For me, it is always exciting to see a blue plaque – but maybe that’s because I’m always in London when I see one, which for me brings back childhood memories of the special treat that a trip to the capital always was. So, my interest was tweaked in how we mark our history – and here at Structural Engineers Reports, we love a building with a past.
The renowned London blue plaque scheme saw the first one erected in 1867 and so pre-dates both the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the National Trust, other key movements active in the conservation of historic buildings. The scheme was initially administered by the Royal Society of Arts and later by London County Council (later to become the GLC) but since 1986 has been run by English Heritage. Almost all proposals for blue plaques are made by members of the public which are then decided on by a panel made up of people from various disciplines.
There are now over 900 plaques across all but two of London’s Boroughs commemorating both individuals and events. The criteria for eligibility states that the famous person must have been dead for 20 years or have passed the centenary of their birth, be eminent within their profession and made an outstanding contribution to society. They should have lived or worked in the building for a significant period and, interestingly, be recognisable to passers-by – and maybe this is the crucial bit as I can certainly recall the excitement of seeing the name of someone I ‘knew’!
The early plaques experimented with colour and design. Blue plaques appeared in 1921, with the iconic simplified design we see today created in 1938 by an unknown student of the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Doing this research got me thinking about why I only ever seem to see a blue plaque in London…are all blue plaques there, or do they appear further afield? Well, in 1998 English Heritage initiated a national plaques scheme and erected 34 plaques in different parts of the country but this was disbanded in 2005. So, you may see similar plaques commemorating people and buildings of interest outside London, but most of these are administered by other organisations – some are blue, some not. There are, for instance, themed schemes celebrating transport, comedy and famous physicists, to name a few. Local schemes also commemorate those with a link to the area.
So, if blue plaques are pretty much to be found only in London, what of our local heroes? On a whim I looked up Notts novelist DH Lawrence who is of course celebrated where he grew up in Eastwood, but was also pleased to find him commemorated on the house in Hampstead where he lived in 1915.