London’s Historical Blue Plaques: who do we remember, and who do we forget?

To mark IWD2022 LSBU hosts a roundtable inspired by this year’s theme  #BreaktheBias. The London Blue Plaques Scheme dates back to 1866 and there are now over 950 plaques across the capital. A wide range of individuals, nominated by the public, are honoured in this way, but according to the English Heritage website ‘only 14 per cent of London’s blue plaques celebrate women’.  This low number of plaques celebrating the lives and activism of women in London is the theme of our roundtable and our panellists will consider how best to break this specific bias as well as the wider implications around it.

We  discuss how English Heritage is working to diversity its own Blue Plaque Scheme and from several historians about their work to have recognised the little known achievements of young working class women who went on strike in London in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. We also discuss the representation of black and ethnic minority women in the Blue Plaques Scheme.

Our guests & their topics included:
- Geoff Simmons, a local historian, who is calling for a plaque for the Corruganza Boxmakers (1908) who risked all in a strike against a pay cut.
- Cathy Hunt will talk about the importance of both discovering more about the lives of industrial women workers in early 20th century London and of recognizing and celebrating their heroic struggles for improvements in pay and conditions.
- Louise Raw about how she became the historian of the Bryant & May Matchwomen’s Strike by accident...
- Dr Rebecca Preston will discuss English Heritage’s ongoing commitment to putting up more blue plaques for women since the organisation became a charity in 2015, and highlight the forthcoming plaques to two groups of working women in 2022 – the Match Girls’ Strike and the Ayahs’ Home.
- Dr Jak Beula, Nubian Jak Community Trust, was unable to be there sadly but planned to discuss how, according to English Heritage, 1.9% of its plaques are dedicated to people of African heritage, and their total number of BAME plaques amounts to 4%. Since 2006, the Nubian Jak Community Trust has been installing plaques and statues to commemorate Britain's rich diverse past. The total of Nubian Jak plaques installed to date is 70, which has helped raised the percentage of diverse plaques in the capital to 7%. Although this still falls short of the capital's population with 44% identifying as having a BAME background, it is a step in the right direction.

The event was chaired by Professor Cait Beaumont, Director of Research in LSBU's School of Law & Social Sciences.

Listen in on this stimulating and informative roundtable as we all continue to seek out ways to #breakthebias and ensure that less well known, but just as important, women are celebrated and remembered on the streets of London.

This event was recorded on 28 March 2022.