Plaque

Blind Fred

Inscription

Hereby was seen for many years Blind Fred. A sunny soul.
{Braille text beneath.}

That antique word "hereby" is the perfect choice to conjure up Blind Fred standing here selling matches to passers-by, in the 1920s and 30s. He's not buried here but we would date the plaque to about the time of his death, the 1930s. 

We decided to have a go at deciphering the Braille ourselves. Our photo is not good enough for translation purposes but Tikichris has a good one. We used the British Library Braille alphabet and, after going down some blind alleys (sorry), we also discovered the Braille codes for: number, comma and full stop which enabled us to solve the puzzle. If you want to have a go, don't read any further:

"One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. John 9:25." That's an exact quote from the King James Bible - an appropriate text in more bible-literate times.

It was an interesting exercise and we bet kids would enjoy having a go at Braille. Doing it by feeling the dots would introduce a whole other level of difficulty and we take our hats off to people who can do that.

Site: Blind Fred (1 memorial)

E5, St John at Hackney Churchyard, junciton Churchwell Path/Sutton Place

After two visits we finally found this plaque with some guidance from our Hackney consultant, Hannah Greig. In our photo it is rather lost in the hedge behind the cat, see the cat?

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Blind Fred

Subjects commemorated i

Frederick Peters, "Blind Fred"

Within a few days of publishing this memorial two colleagues responded with m...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Joe Meek

Joe Meek

N7, Holloway Road, 304

This plaque can be seen in our photo, slightly obscured by a satellite dish (oh, the irony).  The day we visited was 15 April 2012, which...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
George MacDonald - W6

George MacDonald - W6

W6, Upper Mall, 26, Kelmscott House

The small building was built as the coach-house to number 26. The Ronalds and Hammersmith Socialists plaques are on the small building (w...

1 subject commemorated
Tallow Chandlers - Deverell-Stone

Tallow Chandlers - Deverell-Stone

EC4, Dowgate Hill, Tallow Chandlers Hall

This garden was created for the Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers by Past Master and Mrs Deverell Stone in memory of their son Mark,...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Andy Holmes

Andy Holmes

W6, Upper Mall, 40

Double Olympic gold medallist Andy Holmes, MBE, 1959 - 2010, Latymerian oarsman Double world champion

1 subject commemorated
Charles Babbage - SE17

Charles Babbage - SE17

SE17, Walworth Road

Plaques really should contain enough information to explain their presence at a particular site. This one doesn't so we've done the work...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator

Previously viewed

Charles Morgan

Charles Morgan

W8, Campden Hill Square, 16

Charles Morgan, 1894 - 1958, novelist and critic, lived and died here. English Heritage

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Wong Kei Restaurant - Sarah Bernhardt

Wong Kei Restaurant - Sarah Bernhardt

W1, Wardour Street, 41

The house was designed and built for Clarkson's theatrical costume shop. His celebrated theatrical clients laid the foundation and coping...

1 subject commemorated
Baron Gulam Noon, MBE

Baron Gulam Noon, MBE

Trustee of The Memorial Gates Trust. Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon was born on 24 January 1936 in Bombay (now called Mumbai), India. Our Picture Source and his Wikipedia page give much information about th...

Person, Commerce, Politics & Administration, India

1 memorial
Edward VI at the Bull & Mouth

Edward VI at the Bull & Mouth

EC1, London Wall, Rotunda garden at Museum of London

This bust is at the top of the memorial along with the arms of Christ's Hospital, which Edward founded. The land belonged to Christ's Hos...

2 subjects commemorated
West Ham Pals

West Ham Pals

E13, Green Street, Boleyn Ground

This stadium was demolished in 2016 and we can't find out what happened to the plaques so we have marked them all as lost.

3 subjects commemorated