Present: Professor Sir David Cannadine (Chair)

Blue Plaques Panel Open Minutes

Minutes of the 48th meeting held at 11.00am on the 14th October 2009 at St Andrew Holborn, London

Present: Professor Sir David Cannadine (Chair) Dr Celina Fox (Vice-Chair) Professor David Edgerton Mr Stephen Fry Professor Sir Andrew Motion Dr Margaret Pelling Professor Jane Ridley Professor Gavin Stamp Professor Lisa Tickner

Mr John Cattell – Blue Plaques Secretary Ms Emily Cole – Head of Blue Plaques Team Dr Susan Skedd – Blue Plaques Historian Miss Esther Godfrey – Blue Plaques Historian Ms Jane Biro – Blue Plaques Coordinator Ms Libby Wardle – Blue Plaques Administrator

Item 1 – Apologies, Announcements & Declarations of Interest

1.1 Apologies for absence were received from Ms Maria Adebowale, Miss Julia Elton, Professor Sir Christopher Frayling and Sir Nicholas Kenyon. Mr Howard Spencer, Blue Plaques Historian, was also unable to attend.

1.2 Sir David announced that he had been reappointed Chairman of the Panel, for a period of two years.

Item 2 – Minutes of the March and June 2009 meetings

2.1 The Open minutes of the March 2009 meeting were agreed and signed as a correct record, following the addition of a shortlisted suggestion which had been overlooked in the original compilation of the document.

Minutes of Blue Plaques Panel meeting – 14th October 2009 Page 1 2.2 The Exempt minutes of the March 2009 meeting were agreed and signed as a correct record.

2.3 The Open minutes of the June 2009 meeting were agreed and signed as a correct record.

2.4 The Exempt minutes of the June 2009 meeting were agreed and signed as a correct record.

Item 3 – Matters Arising and Secretary’s Report (Oral)

3.1 Mr Cattell congratulated Mr Fry on his reappointment to the Panel.

3.2 Dr Skedd had returned from maternity leave and was welcomed by Mr Cattell, as was Miss Godfrey, who was in attendance to answer questions relating to the cases for which she was responsible.

3.3 Mr Cattell explained that Mr Howard Spencer was unable to attend the meeting, and that Ms Cole and Miss Godfrey would answer questions on his behalf.

3.4 The new book Lived in London: Blue Plaques and the Stories Behind Them had continued to receive good publicity, and Mr Cattell reported that coverage had appeared in The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Heritage Today, The National Trust Magazine, Building Design, Nature, The Lady, Church Times, the Good Book Guide, and The Transmitter, and overseas in The New York Times and the Calcutta Telegraph. Copies of these articles were tabled.

3.5 Book sales had been extremely good, totalling nearly 1,400 of the initial print run of 1,800, and had prompted Yale to print a further 1,100 copies of the title in time for Christmas, 400 of which were destined for the U.S. market. Mr Cattell reported these figures to the Panel and suggested members remember the book if asked by journalists to nominate their ‘book of the year’ over the Christmas period.

3.6 Since the previous meeting three plaques had been installed. That to Fred Russell had been unveiled on the 20th September by his great-grandsons and Mr Roy Hudd, and Ms Jane Biro had spoken on behalf of English Heritage. That to Stanley Holloway – only the second in the Borough of Newham – had been installed without an unveiling, and coverage of it had appeared in The Evening Standard. Mr Cattell reported these installations to the Panel and tabled coverage of them. A further plaque to the poet Arthur Hugh Clough had been installed more recently, and would be unveiled early in 2010 to coincide with a small conference on Clough organised by the proposer.

3.7 Mr Cattell reported that the Team had received some slight negative feedback on the Panel’s decisions not to shortlist the actress Helena Modrjewska, the translator of the Qur’an Abdullah Yusuf Ali and the writer Elias Canetti at the previous meeting. The proposers had seemed to accept the explanations given by the Team, therefore Mr Cattell did not report in detail on each case.

Minutes of Blue Plaques Panel meeting – 14th October 2009 Page 2 3.8 Mr Cattell informed the Panel that the Team had received an FOI request from Mr Chris Hastings (now of The Times) relating to the blue plaque to Sir David Lean, which the Panel had approved in October 2008. The Team was currently dealing with this, and would keep the Panel informed of progress.

3.9 Since the previous meeting, an application had been made to English Heritage’s Historic Environment Enabling Programme (HEEP) with the aim of securing funding for the proposed conference on commemorative plaques. Mr Cattell was pleased to report that the application had been successful, and that a conference organiser had recently been appointed. Details of the event were to be discussed under item 4.7.

3.10 Mr Cattell informed the Panel of Ms Emily Cole’s forthcoming Sir Banister Fletcher lecture for the London Society, which would cover various aspects of the blue plaques scheme’s history and conservation role.

3.11 It was expected that in the coming months plaques would be erected to Roger Fry, Sir William and Sir Joseph Hooker, Sir William Nicholson, Wing Commander F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, Marie Stopes, Charles Rolls, John Lennon and Baron Carlo Marochetti. Mr Cattell informed the Panel that the dates of these unveilings would be circulated to Panel members once finalised.

3.12 Mr Cattell detailed the dates of the Panel’s 2010 meetings, which had now been agreed: 17th February, 9th June, 20th October.

Item 4 – Information Reports

4.1 – 4.6 The Panel noted the terms of reference, the selection criteria, the guidance notes for the consideration of plaque suggestions, the list of plaques erected since the last meeting, and the progress of approved plaques.

4.7 The Panel noted the content of the report on the commemorative plaques conference, and points for clarification were raised and answered.

At 11.25am, Professor Jane Ridley joined the meeting.

Item 5 – New Suggestions for Blue Plaques in London

5.1 The following new suggestions were endorsed for a full historical report to be made to the Panel:

Sir Fabian Ware (Armed Forces; Politics and Administration; Journalism and Publishing) The Panel suggested that, in compiling a final report, consideration be given to Ware’s work addresses as well as to his residences.

William Whiteley (Commerce and Business; Architecture and Building)

Sir Ernst Gombrich (Historians)

Minutes of Blue Plaques Panel meeting – 14th October 2009 Page 3 Sir George Grove (Music and Dance; Literature; Journalism and Publishing) The Panel suggested that, in the plaque’s inscription, Grove be described as ‘music educator’.

Sir Frederick Ashton (Music and Dance)

Graham Chapman (Radio and Television; Theatre and Film)

Sir Peter Markham Scott (Science; Fine Arts; Radio and Television)

A. V. Hill (Science)

5.2 The Panel asked for further research to be carried out on the following suggestion:

George Padmore (Politics and Administration) The Panel felt that full consideration should be given to Padmore once further research had been carried out. This was to focus on his political influence – including his mentoring of Kwame Nkrumah – and that of his writings.

5.3 The Panel deferred consideration of the following suggestion until the next meeting, when Mr Spencer would be present:

Frederick Scott Archer (Industry and Invention; Applied Arts)

5.4 The Panel felt that the following new suggestions did not meet the selection criteria for the scheme and recommended that they should not be shortlisted:

Robert Austin (Applied Arts; Fine Arts)

Victor Duppa-Whyte (Applied Arts; Cartoons and Illustration)

John Marco Allegro (Archaeology and Ethnography; Religion)

John Meard Junior (Architecture and Building)

Thomas Wallis (Architecture and Building)

Sir Ian Hamilton (Armed Forces)

Arthur Henry Cross VC (Armed Forces)

William Paterson (Commerce and Business; Politics and Administration; Economics and Statistics) The Panel noted information supplied by the archivist of the Bank of England which stated that Paterson could not claim to be the institution’s sole founder.

Charles Ginner (Fine Arts)

Minutes of Blue Plaques Panel meeting – 14th October 2009 Page 4 Maurice Codner (Fine Arts)

Siegfried Charoux (Fine Arts)

William Ranwell (Fine Arts)

15 Acol Road (Historical Sites; Sport)

Sir Desmond MacCarthy (Journalism and Publishing)

Henri Alain-Fournier (Literature; Journalism and Publishing; Overseas Visitors) The Panel noted that Alain-Fournier was resident in London for only a little over two months.

Peter Squire (Medicine)

Gordon Hamilton-Fairley (Medicine)

William Alwyn (Music and Dance)

R. P. Weston (Music and Dance; Music Hall and Radio Comedy)

Johanna ‘Hanna’ Solf (Philanthropy and Reform; Overseas Visitors) The Panel felt that Solf’s connection with London was too tenuous to warrant a blue plaque, and that she would be better commemorated in Berlin.

Countess So’oa’emalelagi ‘Lagi’ Ballestrem-Solf (Philanthropy and Reform; Overseas Visitors) The Panel felt that Ballestrem-Solf’s connection with London was too tenuous to warrant a blue plaque, and that she would be better commemorated in Berlin.

Lady Jennie Churchill (Politics and Administration; Literature; Medicine)

King Kamehameha II (Politics and Administration; Overseas Visitors) The Panel felt that it would be inappropriate to commemorate King Kamehameha’s very short and tragic visit to London.

Edmond Herbert Grove-Hills (Science; Armed Forces)

Jane Arden (Theatre and Film; Literature)

Item 6 – Final Reports

6.1 Richard D’Oyly Carte (1844-1901)

The Panel agreed the proposal that, subject to the necessary consents being obtained, a blue plaque be erected.

This report/minute is potentially exempt from public access under the Freedom of Information Act, Section 36: Prejudicial to the conduct of Public Affairs. Please note that other exemptions may also apply.

Minutes of Blue Plaques Panel meeting – 14th October 2009 Page 5 6.2 Graham Greene (1904-1991)

The Panel agreed the proposal that, subject to the necessary consents being obtained, a blue plaque be erected.

6.3 V. K. Krishna Menon (1896-1974)

The Panel agreed the proposal that, subject to the necessary consents being obtained, a blue plaque be erected.

6.4 J. Arthur Rank (1888-1972)

The Panel agreed the proposal that, subject to the necessary consents being obtained, a blue plaque be erected.

Item 7 – Any Other Business

7.1 2010 Meetings The next meeting is scheduled for 11.00am on Wednesday, 17th February 2010, at St Andrew Holborn. Subsequent meetings during 2010 will take place on the 9th June and 20th October at the same location.

7.2 The Panel raised the possibility of the use of ‘apps’ and other forms of information technology in order to communicate information about blue plaques. It was agreed that the idea should be investigated further by the Team.

7.3 The Panel agreed that an attempt be made to find a suitable address for a replacement plaque to Lord Dowding, since the building upon which the original plaque had been placed (3 St Mary’s Road, Wimbledon) had been demolished.

7.4 The Panel mooted the idea that, at some stage in the future, an exhibition be mounted of plaques (now in English Heritage collections) which had been removed prior to the demolition of the buildings they marked.

Minutes of Blue Plaques Panel meeting – 14th October 2009 Page 6 Libby Wardle Blue Plaques Administrator October 2009

Minutes of Blue Plaques Panel meeting – 14th October 2009 Page 7