The Blue Plaque Scheme was born following a suggestion in Parliament by William Ewart MP in 1866. Our Treasurer at the time, George Bartley, then proposed the Society of Arts start a scheme to affix memorial plaques of famous people to the places they had lived.

Bartley feared old London was being torn down and saw the scheme as a way to encourage its preservation. Staffordshire potter, Herbert Minton, produced two blue, round, ceramic plaques for the birthplace of Lord Byron in Holles Street, as well as for the one-time residence of Napoleon III on King Street, which in 1867 were affixed to the buildings’ facades (Napoleon III’s is now the oldest surviving).

We then created more plaques – most of them a terracotta brown, rather than blue – arranging property owners to allow them to be affixed, and publishing a long list of other historical residences that might deserve them. In total, we affixed 35 memorial plaques, before in 1901 persuading London County Council to take on the scheme.

Since 1986 the Blue Plaque scheme has been run by English Heritage and has been adopted well beyond London.

You can learn more about the Blue Plaque Scheme and our involvement in its inception by reading 'King Cole’s blue-sky thinking', an RSA Journal article from March 2024.