Commemorative plaque to Sir Patrick Abercrombie

Abstract

The Review is pleased to note the award of a commemorative plaque (Fig. 1) to Patrick Abercrombie, the journal's first editor (1910-35), by English Heritage. The distinctive Blue Plaques have been erected on numerous buildings in London associated with famous people and, due to the popularity of the London Scheme, English Heritage decided in 1998 to launch a national scheme. An initial scheme was established in Merseyside in June of that year to pilot the wider national programme, when local residents were asked to nominate prominent people who were deserving of recognition. Merseyside was selected because of its interesting history and in recognition of Liverpool's status as a great mercantile city whose people have made significant contributions to the arts, architecture, politics and industry. The conditions for the award of a plaque are stringent and include the following: * There shall be reasonable grounds for believing that the subjects are regarded as eminent by a majority of members of their own profession or calling; * They shall have made some important positive contribution to human welfare or happiness; * They shall have had such exceptional and outstanding personalities that the well-informed passers-by immediately recognise their name; and * They deserve national recognition. Proposals will also not be considered until the centenary of the birth or until 20 years after the death of the nominee. In all, 14 nominations have been accepted in the Merseyside pilot scheme, which was extended to Birmingham, Portsmouth and Southampton in 1999. The Merseyside plaques range from Sir Henry Tate (founder of the Tate Gallery) to John Lennon and, in addition to the Abercrombie plaque, include two others closely associated with the founding of the Town Planning Review. First is one awarded to Sir Charles Reilly (1876-1948), who as Professor of Architecture at the University of Liverpool sought funds from the builder of Port Sunlight model village, MrW. H. Lever, to found the Department of Civic Design and to produce a journal which would publish work on the then newly established subject of `town planning'. The second plaque has been awarded to John Brodie (1858-1934), the Liverpool City Engineer, who lectured to the first cohorts of civic design students and contributed two papers to early issues of the Review. The circular ceramic plaques are about 20 inches in diameter, with white lettering on a blue background. The plaque for Patrick Abercrombie, with its dedication of `town and country planning pioneer' (Fig. 1), has been placed on the first oor of the front of the house in Village Road, Oxton in Birkenhead where Abercrombie and his wife lived for much of their married life in Merseyside. It was unveiled on Monday 18 March 2002 by Emeritus Professor Gerald Dix, who was Abercombie's last professional planning assistant, an Associate Editor of the Review and Lever Professor of Civic Design (1975-88), at an informal ceremony presided over by Mr Nicholas Antram, English Heritage's Coordinator of the Blue Plaques National Scheme. Gerald Dix's speech is published here as a record of the occasion. The unveiling of the Abercrombie Blue Plaque (Oxton, Monday 18 March 2002) It is most appropriate that the long period of residence of Patrick Abercrombie in Oxton should be commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque for this is where he spent some of the most formative years of his long and distinguished life. It was while he was here that he established his reputation as our foremost town and regional planner-in the process more or less inventing regional planning in the British context-and where he developed many of the ideas and contacts that were later to bring him international fame. Leslie Patrick Abercrombie was one of the younger members of the extensive family of a Manchester businessman. He was unhappy at school at Uppingham, and while still at school an attack of measles led to the loss of the sight in one eye. …