Plaque

(lost) General Gordon's birth place - lost plaque, blue

General Gordon's birth place - lost plaque, blue
Inscription

General Charles George Gordon, born here 1833, killed at Khartoum 1885.
London County Council

{On the small blue rectangular plaque below:}
When 29 The Common, Woolwich SE18 was demolished in 1971 the above plaque was presented to the Gordon Boys’ School by the Greater London Council.

This photo comes from Mapio. These two blue plaques are on display at Gordon's School, near Woking, on the external wall of one of the buildings there. OK, not really 'lost', but certainly lost to London.

Gordon's School was founded by public subscription, at the express wish of Queen Victoria, as the National Memorial to General Gordon.

Site: General Gordon's birth place - lost plaque, blue (1 memorial)

SE18, Woolwich Common, 29

Before its demolition in 1972, this house had boasted, at different times, two plaques commemorating Gordon's birth. See General Gordon's birth place - lost plaque, oblong for the other one. The house was built as 1 Kempt's Terrace and later became 29 The Common, Woolwich. We originally thought it was a little further south.

2022: Michiel Hegener wrote to correct our assessment of the location of this house. He attached a 1893-4 map taken from p.436, "Chapter 10, Woolwich Common and Royal Military Academy Areas” published by UCL's Bartlett but we don't know any further details. This shows a row of 9 houses on the east side of Woolwich Common between Jackson Street and (what is now) Kempt Street both of which used to connect with The Common. The northern-most of these is marked no 29 (Woolwich Common), and is on the corner of the junction with Jackson Street. This 1914 map also shows the 9 houses.

The book also contains a 1962 photograph (copied here) of the 9 houses, with the one on the northern corner, Gordon’s birthplace, closest to the camera, and with a round plaque (presumably this blue one) between the two first floor windows. The two northernmost houses were completed by 1833. “The first occupants of the corner house (later No. 29) were Maj. Gen. Henry William Gordon, RA, and his wife, Elizabeth, who was the daughter of Samuel Enderby, the eminent Greenwich-based whale-oil merchant. Here their fourth son, Charles George Gordon, was born in January 1833.” The rest of Kempt’s Terrace (another 5 houses) was not completed until c.1850. (The 2 houses at the southern end are in a totally different style and were part of a later development.)

Both maps show a footpath continuing the line of Jackson Street across the Common. Today this footpath no longer exists (and why would it, with Jackson Street no longer accessible?) but the dropped kerb access to it does.

The oblong plaque was on the house at the time of that photograph, c.1920, whereas the blue one was on the house when it was photographed and still there when it was demolished, 1962-72.

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
General Gordon's birth place - lost plaque, blue

Subjects commemorated i

Major General Charles George Gordon

Army officer. Made his military reputation in China. Achieved lasting fame th...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
General Gordon's birth place - lost plaque, blue

Created by i

London County Council

Prior to the LCC London matters were run by church parishes. The LCC was the ...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

St Mary Woolchurch

St Mary Woolchurch

EC4, Mansion House Street, Mansion House

Site of St Mary Woolchurch Haw The Corporation of the City of London

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
University College Hall WW1

University College Hall WW1

WC1, Foster Court, Malet Place

In memory of the residents of University College Hall who gave their lives in the Great War 1914 - 1918. {This is followed by a list of ...

War dead | WW1
27 subjects commemorated
Cardinal Newman - EC4

Cardinal Newman - EC4

EC4, Threadneedle Street, 60

The plaque can be seen to the lower right in the picture. The address is sometimes given as 80 Old Broad Street, the address at which he ...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson

NW2, Hendon Way, Vernon Court

This is a really horrible road, noisy with polluted air in an area we don't know well. We took our photos and looked at the map on our ph...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
BBC Television Centre - Roy Kinnear

BBC Television Centre - Roy Kinnear

W12, Wood Lane, BBC Television Centre - Star Terrace

The plaque on the brick wall in the picture reads: The BBC Star Terrace, "Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love" Sylvie Dee. De...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators