Our talk on the 5 October 2024 was delivered by Kevin Swift from
Wakefield Civic Society. He informed us that there was no national blue
plaque scheme and that the majority of blue plaques in Wakefield had
been put up by the Civic Society. We also learned that the first plaque
was put up in London in 1867 for Lord Byron and that not all plaques are
blue.
He told us that there were a number of blue plaques in Wakefield about
buildings but most were about people. There was the obvious need for
a wall or building for these plaques to go on, the permission involved and
the added complication of some people who have been celebrated with
blue plaques in the past having later been found to have connections with
slavery.
There were advantages to being part of an established scheme –
consistency, branding, publicity and it encourages other nominations.
The cost of a blue plaque is between £500 and £1000; this cost was not
shouldered by the Civic Society. There were 57 Wakefield Civic Society
plaques in place.
Kevin then went on to inform us about other people who run schemes.
The Forgotten Women of Wakefield team have been very prominent in
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pursuing plaques for women; historically society has restricted them; only
15% of London’s blue plaques celebrate women. As a result, blue
plaques in Wakefield to women have increased enormously. The society
worked in partnership for a time with Dream Time Creative to erect some
of their plaques for the Forgotten Women of Wakefield project and some
were erected independently by DTC. Sarah Cobham, CEO of DTC, had
initially questioned how many of the 49 plaques celebrated women and
the collaborative project led to a further 17 plaques to women being
erected. Suffragist Florence Beaumont, the Gissing Sisters and
Gertrude McCroben, educationalists, Mary Frances Heaton; Edith
Mackie, philanthropist and Ann Hurst, newspaper proprietor, to name
but a few.
Wakefield Civic Society have devised several blue plaque trails and
Kevin then went on to talk about these. They can be grouped by themes
such as architects like Hubert Bennett, chief architect to the WRCC,
designing offices for his team in Bishopgarth and going on to work for
London County Council and who was responsible for the Hayward
Gallery and Queen Elizabeth Hall; others included Frank Matcham,
designer of the Theatre Royal and the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool. Other
trails grouped musicians like Noel Gay, composer of the ‘Lambeth Walk’
and composer Kenneth Leighton or writers such as Victorian novelist
George Gissing and David Storey, author of This Sporting Life. Also,
Kate Taylor who made an enormous contribution to Wakefield’s history.
Artists were another group – Louisa Fennell and Barbara Hepworth.
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