A great way to learn about a city is to learn about its people.
Every house or building has a story to tell, a story about the people who once lived there and the people who live there now.
One of the exciting things about walking in a historical city like London is finding blue plaques, some on majestic buildings and some on modest buildings.
A Blue Plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker. From Wikipedia
I found a few interesting blue plaques while walking around in London.
The composer Sir Julius Benedict lived in this house in Manchester Square.
James McBey was a Scottish artist who also lived in North Africa.
Walter Crane, the children’s book illustrator once lived in “The Old House” on Holland Street.
Author Radclyffe Hall also lived on Holland Street. She wrote the 1928 lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness
John Hughlings Jackson was a neurologist, and one of the founding members of the National Society for Epilepsy.
He also lived in Manchester Square.
The composer Muzio Clementi, once lived on Kensington Church Street.
There are about 800 plaques throughout London, an extensive list of all plaques is on the English Heritage website.
Next time, I’m going to find Kwame Nkrumah’s plaque in Camden, he lived at 60 Burghley Road for two years in the forties.
Fun fact: I read somewhere that the cool and super talented @stephenfry is on the Blue Plaque committee.
