For more of all things London history, sign up for our new (free) newsletter and community: Londonist: Time Machine.
Over 1,000 Blue Plaques now adorn the facades of London's buildings, celebrating the Londoners who achieved something remarkable during their lifetime.
We write about them regularly. Most recently, we covered the new plaques for civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King, and for pioneering photographers Christina Broom and John Thomson.
But did you know that around 50 Blue Plaques have gone missing over the years, due to building demolition, refitting or bomb damage? Take the plaque for Lord Byron — the first Blue Plaque ever to go up — way back in 1867, at the poet's former home, 24 Holles Street near Cavendish Square. The house was demolished 22 years later, and the plaque was lost with it.
Other AWOL plaques include those dedicated to another well-known poet Robert Browning, the painter Sir David Wilkie, artist William Hogarth, historian and biographer John Strype, and composer Arthur Sullivan.
Although it's likely many of these plaques are gone for good, English Heritage is appealing to the public on the off-chance they might have one of these long-lost memorials stashed away somewhere. Says English Heritage:
We are keen to see any survivals returned so that they can be conserved and even re-installed at an alternative address if any can be found. Most of the 'lost' plaques date from the time when the London County Council ran the scheme, and will bear that name on them, or the initials 'LCC'. And most are ceramic roundels — like the plaques of today — but may be blue, brown or terracotta in colour.
Missing plaques do reappear from time to time. A plaque for actor David Garrick went walkies in the mid 1930s, and then showed up at auction in 2016.
In the meantime, English Heritage has created a fresh plaque for the surgeon Joseph Lister, whose original plaque went missing during building in 2017. It will soon appear at 52 Maple Street (formerly 28 London Street) in Fitzrovia, where Lister lived as a UCL student.
If you've got any information on a missing plaque, email [email protected]
