We’re continuing our tour of South London’s blue plaques, with Merton borough up next! We love being in the know about where the blue plaques are in this borough, believing it enriching to know what famous names and faces have resided in Merton. We will be taking a closer look at Wimbledon and South Norwood this time, and how the history of these two areas have been shaped by the people that have lived there.
Josephine Butler (1828–1906)
8 North View, Wimbledon SW19 4UJ
Josephine Butler was an activist for women’s rights and social reform in the Victorian era. She was part of the infamous women’s suffrage movement, as well as campaigning for female education, the abolition of child prositution and an end to human trafficking. Butler returned to Wimbledon in 1890 when she tended to her husband George Butler who contracted influenza. Some of Butler’s most notable achievements include having written over 90 books and pamphlets during her activist career, as well as having her name appear on the Reformers Memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery.
“Attempted modifications of an essential evil always fail.”
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Joseph Toynbee (1815–1866) and Arnold Toynbee (1852–1883)
Stanley Halls, 12 South Norwood Hill, SE25 6AB
Joseph and Arnold Toynbee were father and son, with Joseph being a English Otologist and his son Arnold being an economic historian. Joseph primarily studied the functionality of the Eustachian tube in the ear, going on to become an aural surgeon and lecturer on ear diseases at St Mary’s Hospital when it was founded in Paddington. Arnold was best known for his social commitment and activism in improving the living conditions of the working class. He attended schools in Blackheath and Woolwich and firmly believed in applying the historical method in economics to prove how universal economic laws were relative. When he died, Joseph was buried in Wimbledon’s St Mary’s Church.
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Credit: Reminiscences and letters of Joseph and Arnold Toynbee. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Dame Margaret Rutherford (1892–1972)
4 Berkeley Place, Wimbledon SW19 4NN
Dame Margaret Rutherford is best known as an English actress who rose to fame following WW2 from starring in the film adaptations of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. She also won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her role in The V. I. Ps (1963). Born in Balham in 1892, she spent some of her early childhood living with her aunt Bessie Nicholson in Wimbledon. Margaret studied at Wimbledon High School, where there is now a building named after her: the Rutherford Centre.
“I hope I’m an individual. I suppose an eccentric is a super individual.”
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Lionel Tertis (1876–1975)
42 Marryat Road, Wimbledon SW19 5BD
Lionel Tertis was an English violinist, becoming one of the first viola players to gain international fame. There is a prestigious viola competition named after him and, during the 1950s, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). You’ll find the blue plaque dedicated to the musician at his former home in Wimbledon, where he passed in 1975.
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Sir Ernst Chain (1906–1979)
9 North View, Wimbledon SW19 4UJ
Sir Ernst Chain was a German-born British biochemist, who won the Nobel Prize for Physiology of Medicine in 1945 for his work on penicillin. When WW2 dawned on the world, being Jewish, Chain knew he was no longer safe in his home country Germany and so fled to England in 1933. Chain lived in Wimbledon between 1961 - 1975, before passing in 1979. Chain worked with fellow scientist Howard Florey on developing Alexander Fleming’s description of penicillin, the pair discovering how to isolate and concentrate the germ-killing agent in the drug.
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Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860)
Eagle House, High Street, Wimbledon SW19 5EF
Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher, best known for his 1818 publication titled The World as Will and Representation, where he describes the insatiable metaphysical will. Schopenhauer briefly lived in Wimbledon when he joined his parents - who were descendents of wealthy German-Dutch patrician families - on their tour of several countries. Despite being one of the lesser known names in Western philosophy, his works influenced the likes of Friedrich Nietzsche and Albert Einstein.
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
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Wimbledon 90s Style Unisex T-Shirt
Wimbledon Theatre SW19 - Giclée Art Print
Sister Nivedita (Margaret Noble) (1867-1911)
21A High Street, Wimbledon SW19 5DX
Sister Nivedita, or Margaret Noble, was a teacher, author, social activist, school founder and disciple of Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu monk who was a key figure in bringing Indian practices like Yoga to the West. Sister Nivedita met Vivekananda whilst she was living in London, the Hindu monk giving her the name Nivedita, which means ‘Dedicated to God’. She was passionate about female education and opened up a girl’s school in the Bagbazar area of Calcutta in 1988.
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Robert Graves (1895–1985)
1 Lauriston Road, Wimbledon SW19 4TL
Robert Graves was a British poet, historical novelist, critic and classicist, best known for his historical novels ‘I Claudius’, ‘King Jesus’ and ‘The Golden Fleece’. He worked on translations and analysis of Greek myths and published a memoir of his early life in ‘Goodbye To All That’. Graves was born in Wimbledon, with his father being Alfred Perceval Graves, author of the popular song "Father O'Flynn". Graves attended several schools across London, including King’s College School in Wimbledon.
“To be a poet is a condition rather than a profession.”
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John Innes (1829–1904)
Manor House, Watery Lane, Wimbledon SW20 9AD
John Innes was a British property developer and philanthropist, who developed Merton Park. He left funds and part of his estate in his will for the establishment of a horticultural institute. This contribution led to the institute being named the John Innes Centre. This centre is now in Norwich, known as an independent centre of excellence in plant science, genetics and microbiology.
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Georgette Heyer (1902–1974)
103 Woodside, Wimbledon SW19 7BA
Georgette Heyer was an English novelist, publishing in the historical romance and detective fiction genres. Heyer was born in Wimbledon and an avid reader, often meeting with friends Joanna Cannan and Carola Oman to discuss books. Her Regency romances were heavily inspired by Jane Austen, however Austen’s works were set in the author’s time period, whereas Heyer’s romances were set between 1756 and 1825, despite having lived during the 20th century. She also published a number of historical fiction novels, including The Conqueror (1931), which gives a fictionalised account of William the Conqueror.
“As soon as one promises not to do something, it becomes the one thing above all others that one most wishes to do.”
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