Public Asked to Search for Missing Byron, Milton, and Hogarth Blue Plaques
Design for the Byron Blue Plaque installed in 1867 but now missing
Missing memorials to famous writers and artists are the focus of a campaign by English Heritage which aims to track down long lost Blue Plaques.
With the help of the public, the charity which looks after more than 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites, hopes to locate as many as possible of the 50 blue plaques which are known to be missing from across the London-wide scheme which marks key locations associated with some of the most influential figures in history.
The appeal comes as the charity announces a new plaque to surgeon Joseph Lister, whose original plaque disappeared - for the second time - during building work in 2017.
Plaques that are no longer installed on a building may have been lost due to war damage, demolition or during refurbishments. English Heritage will conserve and re-install any that 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'. Most are ceramic roundels like the current ones, but may be blue, brown or terracotta in colour.
English Heritage Curatorial Director, Matt Thompson, said: "These lost plaques are still part of the story that the London blue plaques scheme has been dedicated to telling for the past 158 years. The story, not just of London, but of the breadth of human endeavour. Whether they are on a building for all to see or safely in our stores along with others already returned to us, each plaque documents the history of what is arguably the oldest commemorative scheme in the world."
The first blue plaque was erected to celebrate the poet Lord Byron in 1867, but his house in Holles Street, near Cavendish Square, was demolished in 1889 and the plaque was lost with it. Other lost plaques include novelist Henry Handel Richardson (lost 1963), artist and satirist William Hogarth (1920s), historian and biographer John Strype (by 2005), poet John Milton (1901), composer Arthur Sullivan (1964), and engraver Charles Turner (1990s).
Members of the public with any information on missing plaques should contact missingplaques@english-heritage.org.uk.
