Plaque Detail

Dutch by birth, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was one of the most successful painters of Victorian England who produced meticulous reconstructions of life in the ancient world, particularly Ancient Rome. Awarded a knighthood in 1899 and the Order of Merit in 1905. Alma-Tadema purchased number 44 from the French painter Jean-Jacques Tissot.

Best known for setting James Thomson's Rule, Britannia to music. Plaque shape was specially adapted to fit a narrow space on the facade.

Albert Henry Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, was the first Chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board, later shortened to London Transport, which rationalised the Underground system and integrated it with other transport systems within the capital.

Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor was the first woman to sit in the British Houses of Parliament in 1919. When a fellow MP said to her of Churchill "We just don't know what to make of him", she is reported to have replied "How about a nice rug?"

Labour Prime Minister. His political opponent, Churchill, is alleged to have described Atlee as "a modest little man with much to be modest about".

Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader CBE, DSO*, DFC* was a fearless and inspirational Royal Air Force fighter ace during WWII. Bader lost both legs in an aircraft crash in 1931, but determidly returned to active service in WWII using artificial legs to Lead a Squadron and Command Air Vice-Marshal Leigh-Mallory's controversial Big Wing during the Battle of Britain. Forced to bail-out, Bader was captured, escaped, re-captured and interned in Colditz Castle from 1942 until he was liberated in 1945. Bader immediately requested a Spitfire to re-join the fighting.

One of the best known writers of her day and admired by no less a figure than Burns. Most notable work was Plays on the Passions. Scott, Wordsworth, Byron and Keats each made the pilgrimage to Bolton House. The fourth plaque erected by the RSA to commemorate a women.

John Logie Baird Rented the attic at No.22 as a laboratory, where he first demonstrated television to members of the Royal Institute.

Basevi had a major impact on the architecture of London in the late Regency and early Victorian periods. He developed Belgrave Square and most famously the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Basevi fell to his death in 1845 inspecting the Ely Cathedral bell-tower.

Sir Joseph William Bazalgette is famed for building the 1,300 miles of sewers that run beneath the streets of London, which is recognised as one of the greatest feats of Victorion engineering. Bazalgette also designed Battersea Bridge, Hammersmith Bridge and the Victoria and Chelsea Embankments.

One of the most famous British conductors. Son of a millionaire who made his money from Beecham's Pills. Founder of the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. Once remarked "There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damm what goes on in between".

The plaque at number 58 commemorates the visit of the celebrated French composor Hector Berlioz to London for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Berlioz lodged in an apartment above the New Beethoven Rooms at No 58 and would listen to the Beethoven Quartet Society concerts below him "by simply opening my door".

Poet Laureate in 1972. Gave his occupation in Who's Who as "poet and hack". Once said "Too many people in the modern world view poetry as a luxury, not a neccessity like petrol. But for me it's the oil of life".

A member of the the group of painters known as the Fitzroy Street Group and best known for his scenes of London Street life.

Remembered as Captain of the Bounty which was siezed in what became the most famous mutiny in British naval history, led by Fletcher Christian his second-in-command. Bligh was set adrift with 18 loyal men in a 23-foot open boat and sailed more than 3,500 miles to safety with little provisions and no chart.

Henry Noel Brailsford was motivated by a belief in the power of socialism and international cooperation and was an influential and respected voice of the left. Taught philosopy at Glasgow University. Joined Greek Foreign Legion in the war against Turkey. Joined Independent Labour party in 1907.

Wrote the internationally acclaimed Reports of Medical Cases in 1931. Appointed Physician-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria. Honoured for his identification of the ailment of the Kidneys now known as Bright's disease.

Best known for her two-volume collection of poems, which included A Drama of Exile and Lady Geraldine's Courtship. Met, eloped and married Robert Browning, the poet. A discreet bronze plaque was erected instead of the standard blue ceramic roundel.

Best known for her two-volume collection of poems, which included A Drama of Exile and Lady Geraldine's Courtship. Elizabeth Barrett met, eloped and married Robert Browning, the poet. The brown plaque was originally erected by the RSA in 1899 and was re-erected above the first floor on the new frontage after the original eighteeth-century house was demolished in 1936. This is explained by an additional inscription carved into the stonework at ground level.

Greatest achievements were the construction of the Great Western Railway and the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. Also helped his father, Sir Marc Isambard, build the first tunnel under the river Thames.

Known above all for designing and building the first tunnel under the river Thames, now on the East London Line. Father and teacher of Isambard Kingdom.

Hailed as a political philosopher and the father of conservatism, Burke became one of the most powerful parliamentary orators of his time. His most famous work, Reflections on the Revolution in France argued revolutionary principles were dangerous and would lead to violence if put into practice.

Best known for her novels Evelina, Cecilia and Camilla. Second plaque to commemorate a woman. Described by Virginia Woolf as the mother of English fiction.

Particularly famous for the hymn Abide with me and indentified with rousingly patriotic tunes such as Land of Hope and Glory. Elgar wrote his Sea Pictures specifically for her voice.

Regarded as the father of aeronautics who designed and built the first man-carrying glider. Piloted by his coachman and long before the wright brothers made their first flight, it glided 50 yards before plummeting to the ground. The coachman promptly gave notice arguing that "he was hired to drive, not fly".

Soldier, Lord of the Admiralty, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Prime Minister and leader of the wartime coalition government. Once said "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil".

Detective novelist and playwright.

Composer.

Best known for creating the character Sherlock Holmes who he attempted to kill off, with Professor Moriatry over the Reichenbach Falls, but was forced to bring back the much loved detective in later novels due to public demand.

Acknowledged as one of England's greatest artists. Elected a full Royal Academician in 1829. Best known for paintings such as Dedham Vale and The Hay Wain. Not a great success, either critically or financially, in his lifetime.

Peter Cook became one of the UK's most influential comics through his work with Dudley Moore and in "Beyond the Fringe". Cook founded a London nightclub called the "Establishment Club", which opened in October 1961 at 18 Greek Street Soho and was famous for satire. In March 2008, the club was renamed "Zebrano's", but retains "at the establishment" in writing above the door. Cook also stepped in investing his own money to help the satirical magazine Private Eye in 1962.

Remembered as the illustrator of Oliver Twist, and other works by Dickens. Became a crusader for temperance in later life and warned against the perils of over-indulgence.

Successful architect. Designs include alterations to the Guildhall in 1780s, the Crescent and Newgate Prison, which was reduced to a smouldering shell during the Gordon Riots shortly after completion.

Published the The Origin of Species in 1859 presenting his ideas about natural selection and the evolution of species.

Designed the BE-2, the standard British biplane in WWI. Designed the famous Moth, renowned for their speed. Greatest contribution was the creation of the WWII Mosquito fighter-bomber. Knighted in 1944.

Best selling Novelist in his day with works including Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. Once described this house as "a frightfully first-class family mansion, involving awful responsibilities".

Statesman and Author.

Benjamin Disraeli Earl of Beaconsfield was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister who enjoyed a special relationship with Queen Victoria. During his final illness, Disraeli famously declined the offer of a visit from the Queen stating "No it is better not. She would only ask me to take a message to Albert".

Benjamin Disraeli Earl of Beaconsfield was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister who enjoyed a special relationship with Queen Victoria. During his final illness, Disraeli famously declined the offer of a visit from the Queen stating "No it is better not. She would only ask me to take a message to Albert".

Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding GCB, GCVO, CMG was head of RAF Fighter Command in WWII and responsible for the victory of the Battle of Britain. Dowding encouraged the research and development of Radar. He also claimed to have communicated with the spirits of airmen lost in the battle he directed.

Poet Laureate in 1668. Plaque is unique in it's colour - white, with blue lettering. Erected wrongly at No. 43, when Dryden actually lived next-door at No. 44.

The most famous British astonomer of his time. Author of The Nature of the Physical World and The Expanding Universe. Confirmed Einstein's General Theory of Relativity in the 1919 solar eclipse by predicting the light from a star passing close to the sun would be bent inwards, due to the curvature of space.

The pre-eminent English composor of his time. works include The Enigma Variations, the oratorio The Dream of Geronitius and his cello concerto and symphonic study Falstaff.

Described as possibly the greatest experimental genius the world has known. Greatest discoveries include electromagnetic induction, the laws of electrolysis and the rotation of polarised light by magnetism. Given his name to the unit of measuring electrical charge (faraday) and capacitance (farad). Founded the Royal Institutions's Christmas Lectures.

One of the founders of Newnham College, Cambridge and President of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies from 1897 to 1918. Admiring of their bravery, she none the less deplored the militancy of the more volatile supporters of the Pankhursts. Created a Dame of the British Empire in 1925.

Fenwick devoted her energies to improving the status of British nurses and it was in the drawing room of number 20 that the British Nurses Association was established. Fenwick's most important achievement was the state registration of nurses, enacted in 1919. Fittingly, Fenwick's name appeared first on the register.

Scottish bacteriologist who, by chance, discovered the mould Penicillium notatum which kills bacteria and had remarkable antibiotic powers. Shared the 1940 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Oxford pathologists Howard Florey and Ernest Chain.

The development and the supply of electricity to light and heat on a large scale owes much to Sir Ambrose Fleming.

Writer and creator of James Bond. Eton and Sandhurst educted Sunday Times journalist. Novels include Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Diamonds are forever and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

One of the most admired English novelists of the twentieth century. Works include Where Angels Fear to Tread and his most famous novel A Passage to India.

Founder of Psychoanalysis, the concept of the Oedipus Complex and the threefold division of the mind: id, ego and superego. When the Nazis burnt his books he wrote "what progress we are making, in the middle ages they would have burned me".

One of the great portrait painters of the his day. Founding member of the Royal Academy. Landscape painting was Gainsborough's great love.

Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, DSO*, DFC* led the famous WWII Dambusters mission to destroy German dams on the Ruhr. According to Barns Wallace, the designer of the bouncing bomb dropped in the mission, he was a "Man born for war...but born to fall in war". Gibson crashed and was killed in 1944 flying a de Havilland Mosquito near Steenbergen in the Netherlands.

Came to prominence as a politition and MP for the City of London in 1832. Published the History of Greece to much acclaim between 1846 and 1856.

Hallam enjoyed a high reputation throughout the nineteenth century for his Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII to the Death of George II, written in 1827 while living at number 67. The house was immortalised by Tennyson as "Dark House, by which once more I stand / Here is the long unlovely street" in his poem In Memoriam in 1833.

German Composer. Moved to London in 1712. Court Composer to the Elector of Hanover, Later King George I of England. Most remarkable achievements are his many oratorios, culminating in The Messiah of 1742 including the famous Halleluja Chorus. Replaces plaques erected 1875 by RSA and 1952 by the LCC.

Linked with the West country and his Wessex novels Hardy viewed London with an ambivalent mix of distaste and fascination. Novels include Desperate Remedies, Under the Greenwood Tree, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. Legend has it his heart was to be buried separately, but was left unattended, and was eaten by a cat.

Guitarist, Songwriter and Legend. Famous for his flamboyant methods of guitar-playing - behind his back and with his teeth. Came to London in 1966. Hits include Purple Haze, Hey Joe and The Wind Cries Mary. Commenting upon the neighbouring plaque Hendrix said "I didn't know this was Handel's pad. And to tell you the truth, I haven't heard much of the fella's stuff".

Metropolitan Police Commissioner and pioneer of fingerprint indentification.

Sir Rowland Hill's Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability in 1837 resulted in the first British postage stamps - the Penny Black and the Twopenny Blue, which were "covered at the back with a glutinous wash". Knighted in 1860. The plaque orginally marked Hill's home in Bartram House, Pond Street and moved in 1978 by the GLC.

Rufus Isaacs 1st Marquess of Reading held the offices of Lord Chief Justice, Viceroy of India and Foreign Secretary.

Best known work Three Men in a Boat.

Painter.

One of the earliest plaques to survive. Dr Johnson was indisputably the leading literary figure of his day, best known for his Dictionary of the English Language in 1755. Famously said "When a man is tired of London he is tired of life". Once remarked "By seeing London I have seen as much of life as the world can show".

Author.

Finest poems include The Eve of St Agnes and La Belle Dame sans Merci. He wrote Ode to a Nightingale beneath the plum tree in the garden. Lived here between 1818 and 1820, shared with his friend Charles Armitage Brown. Open to the public.

Arguably the most influential economist since Adam Smith, who formed the nucleus of the famous Bloomsbury Group. The term "Keynesianism" was added to the language after his enormously influential 1936 book A General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

Made his name in literary London with Barrack Room Ballads, The Jungle Book and his best known novel Kim. First English writer to be given a Nobel Prize for Literature. Often short of cash, Kipling wrote of the shop below him Harris the Sausage King - "for tuppence gave as much sausage as would carry one from breakfast to dinner".

Actress.

Lawrence produced an enormous body of work including the great novels Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover.