ON THE WALLS OF THE HALL OF FAME

Walking along Northumberland Street the other day, my eyes were drawn to a plaque on the side of No. 25. 

It’s not unusual to have plaques or names carved onto the side of houses in the New Town, but what struck me as strange was the description of the person. He seemed to be famous for being a son-in-law and then for being his father-in-law’s biographer. Does this warrant a plaque in his honour? Further research was needed. 

I had never heard of John Gibson Lockhart, but with a little research I discovered that he does have a Wikipedia page and that he has written a few other books and done some other things of note. The book certainly seems to be well regarded, so shouldn’t John Gibson Lockhart be respected as an author first, biographer of Sir Walter Scott secondly and son-in-law of Sir Walter Scott thirdly?

There’s nothing wrong with having a plaque up to say that he once lived here, but I feel the whole plaque system needs to be looked at. He only lived in the house for four years, so are other plaques out there somewhere honouring this man? I’ve already lived in three flats in Broughton ... if one day I’m launched into the stratosphere, will Broughton see three separate plaques put up for me? And will my own biographer one day be honoured in this way? 

Given the celebrity-culture age that we live in (Big Brother’s Got the X Factor etc.), surely there will soon be plaques appearing on houses in every street up and down the country? Perhaps one day, every man, woman and goat with a Wikipedia page will have something up next to a property to say they once lived somewhere for a moment or two!

There are always new things to be discovered when walking around Broughton. John Gibson Lockhart is one of them, but I'm concerned about how far this will go. Until the system's changed, or until there's a guarantee that only people really worth remembering will be honoured, I’m going to ignore the writing on the walls and track down all 10 volumes of the Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott instead. That will keep me distracted. 

For future reference how does this sound?

THE LEFT-HANDED TEA DRINKER LIVED, REIGNED & COMPLAINED HERE FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.

On that note I will leave you with this plaque on Picardy Place which sums up the situation quite nicely.

Portrait of John Gibson Lockhart, 1794–1854 and Charlotte Sophia Scott, Mrs Lockhart, 1799–1837 (post-humous likeness) is by Robert Scott Lauder (after 1838), Creative Commons courtesy of WikiGallery.