Erection date: 1890
Robert Browning, poet, lived here 1861 - 1887. Born: 1812. Died: 1889.
Royal Society of Arts
This memorial, the 27th or 28th to be erected by the Society, was announced via a short article in the Journal of the Society for Arts, , dated September 12th 1890, interestingly, only 9 months after Browning's death. The scheme's "20 year rule" was only introduced in 1912.
Whilst several photographs of Browning's house exist and can be found in the and other commercial photo sites, the best image of the plaque found to date is on a photographic postcard printed by the firm Watson & George Knight between 1904 and 1908 (shown here).
Sources include the case papers for this plaque, dated 17 April 1961, held by the London Archive.
We thank Steve Roffey for his work on the history of this plaque. See also .
Site: Robert Browning - W2 plaque (1 memorial)
W2, Little Venice, Warwick Crescent, 19
The poet Robert Browning lived here from the time of his return from Italy after the death of his wife, in 1861, until the summer of 1887 when he moved to 29 De Vere Gardens.
The neighbourhood incorporating Warwick Crescent declined in the first half of the 20th century and by the 1950s had become one of the worst slums in London.
Warwick Crescent was entirely cleared of properties by the Greater London Council in the 1960s and new residences, to the 'somewhat of the LCC and later GLC's architect Hubert Bennett, constructed in their place, completed in 1966.
In 1960 the plaque was removed and placed in store. A "collector of Browningiana", Mr Lachlan Phil Kelley of 30 Manchester Street W1, requested the plaque for his collection. With the dates of residence the plaque could not be erected elsewhere and was thus worthless to the scheme, so it seems that, with Kelly promising not to erect it "out of context", it was given to him, probably in 1961.
The area has undergone another considerable change of fortunes since the 1960s - having been referred to as situated in Paddington or Maida Vale over the course of the last century, Warwick Crescent is now within the affluent Little Venice ward of the City of Westminster.
There being no suitable surviving London residence, Browning has not been commemorated by the scheme again. He is, however, mentioned on his wife's memorial at 50 Wimpole Street, another Society of Arts era plaque, dating to 1898, which bears an inscription very much of its time.
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