Shortlist Of Candidates 2003

These are the 50 people, places and events that were shortlisted for one of 20 blue People’s Plaques in 2003.

We asked you to vote for your favourites and the top 20 have been awarded with a plaque. We received a staggering 10,468 votes!

Click on the links to find out more about the people, places or events that were put forward.

People

Sam Wanamaker (the man behind Shakespeare's Globe)
Michael Caine (actor born and brought up in Southwark)
Tommy Steele (singer and actor)
George Tinworth (Walworth sculptor and Doulton designer)
Charles Dickens (Victorian novelist and social reformer)
William Blake (famous writer, had his first vision on Peckham Rye)
Enid Blyton (children's writer)
John Donne (poet who lived in Peckham)
Oliver Goldsmith (playwright and novelist)
Michael Faraday (Victorian scientist)
Charles Babbage (Walworth-born Victorian mathematician, astronomer and computer pioneer)
Lord Herman Ouseley (former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality)
Charles Spurgeon (Baptist preacher and philanthropist)
Sir George Livesey (Victorian businessman)
Edgar Kail (Last amateur footballer to play for England)
Bobby Abel (Victorian cricket hero)
Sam King (first black mayor of Southwark)
Rio Ferdinand (Peckham born England footballer)
Connie Smith (black music hall star and actress)
Edward Alleyn (Shakespearean actor and founder of Dulwich College)
Dr John Stansfeld (started the Oxford and Bermondsey Boys Club)
Sir Alexander Paterson (prison reformer)
Mary Wollstonecraft (early women's rights campaigner)
Annie Besant (social reformer and campaigner for women's rights at work)
Octavia Hill (social housing reformer and founder of the National Trust)
Dr Selina Fox (founder of Bermondsey Mission Hospital)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (Victorian engineer)
The Gandolfi brothers (camera makers)
Phyllis Pearsall (A-Z inventor)
Thomas Keyse (founder of Bermondsey Spa)

Places

The Pioneer Centre, Peckham (innovative health centre)
Cross Bones Graveyard (Mediaeval paupers graveyard at Bankside)
Ladlands/Dawsons Heights (Roman site)
Christy's Hats (the worlds largest hatmakers in 1843)
Bevingtons and Sons (leather workers in Bermondsey)
Surrey Docks Farm and Hilary Peters (founder of the City Farm Movement)
Fred Karno's Fun Factory and Charlie Chaplin (training ground for comedy stars of the silent screen)
St Thomas' hospital (site of publication of the first English translation of the bible)
Bermondsey Abbey (important Mediaeval centre for learning)
Borough Market (1,000 year old food market)
Surrey Zoological Gardens (19th century zoo in Walworth)
Corbetts Lane (beginning of London's first public railway)
Clink Prison (Mediaeval Prison)
Horsemonger Lane Gaol
Tabard Inn (site of Mediaeval Inn associated with Geoffrey Chaucer)

Events

Sailing of the Mayflower (the voyage of the Pilgrim Fathers to America)
Druid Street arch bombing (where 77 people died in a WW2 air raid)
Stainer Street arch bombing (where 63 people died in a WW2 air raid)
Fire at Surrey Docks (September 1940 - start of the Blitz on Southwark)
The Doggets Coat and Badge Race (historic lightermen and watermen river race)