Blue Plaque for Karl Pearson

The next blue plaque takes us over to Hampstead to the former home of Karl Pearson, born on this day 1857



Karl Pearson was a well known statistitian who set up the first university statistics department at University College London in 1911. He also held some pretty questionable views on eugenics but was a great influence on Albert Einstein when he was forming his Theory of Relativity

You can see the Google Street View Image by clicking on the link below

Karl Pearson Blue Plaque
7 Well Road, Hampstead, NW3
Camden 1983

Vincent Van Gogh Blue Plaque

This was one of the most surprising blue plaques I've come across so far. It turns out that when Van Gogh was a young man he lived in Stockwell, south London, for over a year from 1873 onwards. The story has it that he actually fell in love with the landladys daughter but those feelings were not returned. A classic emotial artist in every way.

I wish I had seen this piece of his work from the period before i took the shot of the house as I think it would make for a much more interesting picture, being able to compare the old with the new.

Florence Nightingale's Blue Plaque

NIGHTINGALE, Florence (1820-1910),
In a house on this site, Florence Nightingale, 1820-1910, lived and died.
10 South Street, W1
Westminster 1955
Note: New plaque on rebuilt premises. Original plaque erected by the Duke of Westminster and removed when the house was pulled down in 1929.

According to the English Heritage website this plaque replaces one that was erected by the Duke of Westminster on a building that was demolished in 1929. I just had to post this as i really love the way the lead piping curves around the side of the plaque.

As you can see from the plaque Florence Nightingale lived to 90 years of age, very impressive for someone who spent so much of their time surrounded by the very ill and dying.

The plaque is one of many on the back roads tucked in behind Park Lane. I' ll try and paste more over the coming days.

OK, feeling a bit bad about not updating the blog since last Saturday but am aiming to get a few in this week as I've inadvertently found quite a few on my daily commute to work.

Anyway, the last blue plaques that I went to visit were all local quick wins. We were off to visit some friends in Hertfordshire and had an hour or so in the morning spare. After figuring out where they were on google maps I jotted the addresses down and we hopped on the bikes and headed down to the first of the five I hoped to find.

Currently a branch of Waterstones, 10-11 IslingtonGreen, is the former Collins Music Hall. During its heyday from 1885 onwards the biggest stars of the day inclusding Arthur Lloyd








Just around the corner is the former house of Charles Lamb, 64 Duncan Terrace, who is also known as Elia (Elia being the pen name he used as a contributer to The London Magazine). He lived here with his sister who had been placed in his care after she had murdered their mother in a fit of madness. During his time working at East India House, on being told by his bosses that he was always late to arrive, he would quip "Yes, but see how early I leave!"

*update 20-07-2007 (note the date!) I have just found some audio recordings of Charles Lambs work that you can listen to here





A couple of minutes on the bike later saw us outside 4 Claremont Square this was the home of Edward Irving, founder of the Catholic Apostolic Church. Of all the five this was the least impressive being just off a very busy road and in desparate need of a lick of paint.




If the previous one was pretty unimpressive 25 Highbury Place stands statesman like overlokking Highbury Fields. The home of Joseph Chamberlain the former Politician and father of the prime minister to be, Neville Chamberlain, I've walked past the property dozens of times without ever noticing the dark brown, square plaque that sits on the front of the building.

This was a flying visit but very interesting to see Highbury and Islingtons blue plaques that are only minutes from our home.

After a great night we headed over to our hosts pub, The Vine in Ware for some lunch and a few drinks before heading back to london. On the walk home after getting off at stoke newington we passed a pub called The Daniel Defoe and looking up I saw that the adjacent road was called Defoe Road, it was Jess that pointed out his blue plaque high above what is now a dry cleaners on the corner of Defoe Road and Stoke Newington Church St. Real proof that even when you go out looking for Londons History it will still throw up a few surprises!

The First Blue Plaque Visit - Luke Howard "Namer of Clouds"

So this is my first blog post for www.blueplaquelondon.co.uk. I wanted to start the site and the blog as I've always felt a strong affinity with London's history, and it seems to me that their are few better, representations of this than English Heritages blue plaque scheme. Over the next year or so I hope to be able to make a personal visit to the 800+ buildings that have been home or work to the people deemed by English heritage to have met it's tough criteria.



So last Friday, 6th July 2007 Jess and I headed up to Tottenham Hale to visit the plaque of Luke Howard "The namer of clouds" I'd never heard his name before and was very surprised by what an important contribution he had made to our heritage and the world of meteorology. In 1803 Luke Howard published a paper called Essay on the Modification of Clouds in which he outlined what he thought should be the process for classifying clouds. So the names that we are all familiar with today, such as, stratus, cirrus and cumulus began to be used across the world to
describe the different formations in the sky.

The visit was a bit upsetting, in that the house has fallen into a state of disrepair, with broken windows and lots of surrounding it. It would be nice to see such a historic building being treated as well as it treated it's most famous resident as Luke Howard went on to live until the ripe old age of 91!

After the photos we took a walk up near the Lockwood reservoir. The sky was so huge up there it was easy to imagine Luke Howard stood in the very same spot 200 years ago looking up in to the sky planning his groundbreaking paper.

In the second photo below you can just make out Canary Wharf between the two pylons in the centre of the shot.