Plaques for Women

Posted by Barbara on March 13, 2022 in Blog, feminism, History, Women's equality issues | 2 comments

As a child, whenever we went to central London, I was fascinated by the round blue plaques on the walls of buildings which commemorated the famous people who had lived there. This dame now has to reluctantly accept that it is becoming increasingly unlikely that her life will be recognised in a similar fashion, so instead has decided to put her energies and those of the other dames to supporting some of the high achieving women of London who deserve such acknowledgment.

The scheme was established by the Society of Arts in 1866; the London County Council took on the mantle at the start of the 20th century and ran it until its dissolution in 1965. The LCC was replaced by the Greater London Council who developed the scheme further. There are over 900 such plaques on London buildings, and English Heritage, who have run the scheme since 1986, are keen to increase the number of plaques commemorating women.

So I started to investigate which famous women have been honoured in this way, and was pleased to find no shortage of dames among them. They include: Dame Gracie Fields, Dame Myra Hess, Dame Celia Johnson, Dame Nelly Melba, Dame Margaret Rutherford and Dame Ninette de Valois. The most recent recipients of blue plaques include crystallographer and peace campaigner Katherine Lonsdale, designer Jean Muir, escaped slave and abolitionist Ellen Craft, and Helena Normanton, the first woman to practise at the Bar and appear at the High Court and the Old Bailey.

It was equally fascinating to learn about women who I had not heard of. I was delighted to learn that Dorothea Lambert Chambers, Lawn Tennis Champion, lived in Ealing, West London, where I came from. There is a blue plaque in Hackney to commemorate Maria Dickin, the founder of the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals. Lilian Lindsay – the first woman to qualify as a dentist in Britain has a plaque up in Holloway and Josephine Butler, ‘Champion for Women’s Rights’, lived in Wimbledon.

As an aside, individual men and women apart, there are certain events and institutions commemorated, including the building in Marylebone where the Cato Street Conspiracy was discovered on the 23rd February 1820. As it involved a plot to murder the Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet I reckon it probably deserves a blue plaque.

But I digress. There are certain steps involved which have to be met for any person to be considered for a blue plaque:

• A brief proposal has to be made to English Heritage, who will also check whether that particular person has been proposed and turned down before. If that is the case, they cannot be considered again until ten years have passed.
• At least 20 years must have passed since the person died.
• At least one building associated with the person must still be standing in Greater London.
• Buildings with many personal associations such as schools and churches are not usually considered for plaques.
• The building must survive in a form that the commemorated person would have recognised and be visible from a public highway.
• Usually no more than two plaques are allowed on one building.

So Damesnet has decided to support English Heritage and work to get more blue plaques commemorating women up in London to redress the balance. And we need you, our readers, to help. We’ll do the research and write up the proposals – all we would like from you is some suggestions. Send them in and the dames will do the rest, including checking as to whether they are already honoured in this way. Over to you.