EALING CIVIC SOCIETY PLAQUES

Our first plaque is a bronze pavement plaque which was unveiled on 23 February 2005 to commemorate the first branch of Waitrose then known as Messrs Waite, Rose and Taylor, which opened over 100 years ago in 1904 at 263 High Street Acton W3 and is now occupied by The Babylon Pizza House. This plaque was jointly sponsored by Ealing Civic Society with the Acton History Group and Waitrose Ltd.

Our second plaque is a green wall plaque which was unveiled on 23 March 2006 to commemorate William Willett who was the inventor of Daylight Saving Time, which is known as British Summer Time in this country. It was erected at his former home at 16 Avenue Crescent Acton W3 and it was jointly sponsored by Ealing Civic Society with the Mill Hill Park Residents’ Association and Hamptons International who occupy William Willett’s former estate offices in Chelsea.

Our third plaque is a green wall plaque which commemorates Spencer Perceval the prime minister who was living by Ealing Common when assassinated in 1812. It was unveiled on 3 October 2009 by Liz Perceval, the great great great great grand-daughter of Spencer Perceval at All Saints Church, the Spencer Perceval Memorial Church and the site of Elm Grove, Perceval's home. It was jointly sponsored by Ealing Civic Society with All Saints Church and the John and Ruth Howard Charitable Trust.

Our fourth plaque, unveiled on 16 June 2011, remembers Fred Perry, the last British Wimbledon tennis champion, at the Brentham Club in Meadvale Road, W5 1NP, where he trained and played table tennis (and became a national champion) and then lawn tennis. See also below under English Heritage Blue Plaques. Other famous sportsmen who were members of the Club are Mike Brearley, the former English Cricket Team Captain, and Peter Crouch, the international footballer.

Our latest plaque commemorates the world famous teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh. It was unveiled on 14 March 2012 on the Victorian east wing of The Elms, within the grounds of the Twyford C of E High School, Twyford Crescent, W3 9PP. This was the site of the Alpha Works of J.K. Farnell & Co Ltd, a soft toy factory. Farnell Bears were first manufactured here in 1908. Daphne Milne, wife of the author A.A.Milne, bought one of Farnell's 'Alpha' teddy bears from Harrods' toy department in August 1921 for the first birthday of her son Christopher Robin Milne.

Some ideas for further ECS plaques are for:

John Compton the builder of cinema, cathedral and church organs who lived at 37 Audley Road Ealing W5 3ES. See our Events page.

Dame Margot Fonteyn who lived for a short time as a child (known as Margaret Hookham) in Ealing at 44 Waldeck Road and 3 Elm Grove Road Ealing W5. English Heritage erect only one of their Blue Plaques for each individual and they already have a proposal for one at her former home elsewhere in London where she lived after becoming famous. If this goes ahead, we might want to put up our own plaque in Ealing in addition.

Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, author and social activist, who lived at 18 Carlton Road, W5 as a child.

Ho Chi Minh the first President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was employed as a dishwasher at the Drayton Court Hotel on The Avenue Ealing W5 before the outbreak of World War One.

Sir John Soane, the famous architect who rebuilt and lived in Pitzhanger Manor, Mattock Lane, W5, 1800-1810.

ENGLISH HERITAGE BLUE PLAQUES

There are 6 English Heritage Blue Plaques (including one erected by the former Greater London Council which ran the scheme before EH) in Ealing for:

	Alan Blumlein, the inventor who lived on the Haymills Estate at 37 The Ridings Ealing W5 3BT		John Lindley, the Kew Botanist, at Bedford House, The Avenue , Chiswick W4 1UD
	Sir Michael Balcon, the film producer, at Ealing Studios, Ealing Green W5 5EP		Dorothea Lambert Chambers, the seven times Women’s Wimbledon Tennis Champion, at St Matthew’s Vicarage, 7 North Common Road, Ealing W5 2QA
	Fred Perry, the last British Men’s Wimbledon Tennis Champion, at 223, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing W5 1RG		Richard Titmuss, social scientist and LSE professor, at 32 Twyford Avenue, Acton W3 9QB

Another English Heritage Blue Plaque may be erected in Ealing for:

Nevil Shute, the novelist: English Heritage have received and shortlisted a proposal for the erection of a Blue Plaque at his former home in Somerset Road W13, which they are unable to progress at present.

For more information about English Heritage blue plaques and a register of other commemorative plaque schemes see the English Heritage blue plaques register.

OTHER PLAQUES

	Lady Byron The University of West London, St Mary’s Road, W5		The Ealing Club 45A The Broadway, W5 2NP
	Arthur Haynes 74 Gunnersbury Avenue, W5 4HA		Eddie Ingram Ealing Cricket Club, Corfton Road, W5 2HS
	Sid James 35 Gunnersbury Avenue, W5 3XD		Mervyn Mansell Ealing Cricket Club, Corfton Road, W5 2HS
	Sir William H Perkin Howdens Joinery, Oldfield Lane North, Greenford		Frank Richards Ealing Broadway Centre, W5
	Richard White 11 Avenue Crescent, W3 8ET		W F Yeames 8 Campbell Road, W7 3EA. Erected by the former Ealing Museum and History Society.