Published Article

HeadlineAgnes Arber: Blue plaque unveiled to honour former botanist and Primrose Hill resident

Short HeadlineFormer Primrose Hill resident gets blue plaque

StandfirstThe unveiling comes as English Heritage push for further submissions of women to their blue plaque scheme.

English Heritage have unveiled their latest blue plaque, dedicated to botanist and former Primrose Hill resident Agnes Arber.

The plaque was unveiled at 9 Elsworthy Terrace, where the renowned botanist once lived.

Rebekah Higgit, a historian and relative of Agnes Arber unveiled the plaque.

Born in London in 1879, Arber was a revered botanist, historian and philosopher. In 1948, she became the first woman to receive the gold medal of The Linean Society for her work in natural history.

Push for women

There are over 900 blue plaques across London. They link famous figures from the past with local buildings in the present.

English Heritage took over the blue plaque scheme in 1986.

Since then, they have more than doubled the number of plaques for women.

But, just 14% of the current total celebrate female contributions to London society.

English Heritage launched their plaques for women scheme in 2016. Now, they are again pushing for submissions.

Cathy Power, Blue Plaques Manager at English Heritage, sees the addition of Arber’s plaque as an affirmation of women’s contribution to the sciences:

“Women are not traditionally seen as working in the sciences until very recently, but the fact is they did.

“As soon as someone thinks about who was making a difference – what they were writing, what they were publishing, the legacy of their work – then you can actually start to find really interesting people. And they can actually be women – which is delightful!”

But, there has been criticism of this drive for women. Mike Read, chairman of the British Plaque Trust, is wary of dedicating blue plaques to women purely on the basis of gender. He believes the process will balance itself out naturally as women take larger roles in society.

Despite this, Cathy remains keen to push for further nominations from the public:

“It’s nice to have slow growth but the point is, if you don’t make the public aware where potential imbalances lie, it doesn’t push them to put people forward.”

In order to be considered for a blue plaque a candidate must have been dead for at least 20 years and one building associated with the figure’s life must still be standing within Greater London.