Erection date: 1868
{Inscription unknown but the plaque probably resembled the Napoleon III plaque erected the same year.}
Byron was born in Holles Street. House number 24 was the location for the first ever (Royal) Society of Arts plaque, placed in 1868. Permission was given by the occupiers, Messrs. Boosey and Co.
The chronology of that site is interesting: 1788: Byron was born in rented rooms in Holles Street. 1852: the house (number 24) was rebuilt. 1867: the plaque arrived. 1889, March: the house was demolished to make way for the John Lewis store and the plaque was lost. Note: Byron was born before the commemorated house was built, so it was certainly not the one in which he was born.
While the Society of Arts may have been confident that they were commemorating the right site, and despite confused suggestions that it was numbered 16 and that the street had been renumbered (it hadn't) it seems that nowadays no evidence for any house number exists, so there is no certainty that the plaque was even on the correct site. The text on the lost plaque is unknown. To be accurate it would have needed to read something like: "Lord Byron was born in a house nearby ....". No image of the plaque exists and the inscription is unknown.
This lost plaque to Byron is easily confused with another lost plaque to Byron (in Bennet Street, St James's).
Site: Lord Byron (4 memorials)
W1, Holles Street, John Lewis
In the world of plaques this is an important site since the first ever official plaque (our P1) was placed by the (Royal) Society of Arts on a house here. Just a shame that it was lost and that replacing it has proved so troublesome.
Over the years there have been 4 Byron memorials here, which we have imaginatively labelled: P1, P2, P3, P4.
We thank Steve Roffey for the research on which these pages are based. Prime sources: RSoA Journals, UCL Survey of London.
Also, in July 2025 we visited the JLP Heritage Centre in Cookham where Archivist Imogen was immensely helpful and provided some extra details to our understanding. She added that at various times John Lewis has used the Byron connection in its branding: c.1900 a portrait of Byron was included on the firm’s letterhead and then in the 1950s the foyer of the Byron Room Restaurant (the partners’ dining room we think) was decorated with a mural representing Byron’s life.
Sources include: UCL Bartlett.
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