From pioneers in medicine and engineering to famous actors and writers - we’ve rounded up all of the blue plaques in Bromley and the people behind them.

We’ve previously explored the blue plaques in Greenwich and who they commemorate, and today we’re moving over to Bromley to explore the blue plaques there.

Bromley is home to a number of blue plaques that have commemorated some of the UK’s most influential and revolutionary people that once called Bromley their home.

Here’s everything you need to know about them:

Ira Aldridge (1807-1867)

American-born Ira Aldridge was the first black actor to play the role of Shakespeare’s Othello in the West End.

Aldrigde moved to the UK at the age of 17 before making his debut in London’s West End in October 1825, where he played Oronooko in The Revolt of Surinam at the Royal Coburg Theatre.

Aldridge played a number of roles over the course of his acting career earning a strong reputation by 1848.

A blue plaque now hangs on the wall of the actor’s former home at number 5 Hamlet Road in Upper Norwood.

Address: 5 Hamlet Road, Upper Norwood, London, SE19 2AP

H.G. Wells (1866-1946)

H.G. Wells, famously known for his books such as War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, was born and raised in Bromley.

The writer once lived in a shop on Bromley High Street, and he often documented Bromley in his autobiographical writings.

You can find a Blue Plaque dedicated to his life in Bromley and works located by Primark, which was once the location of the shop where he was born.

Address: Primark, 47 High Street, BR1 1EG

W.G. Grace (1848-1915)

Born in 1848, William Gilbert Grace was a cricketing icon with a career that spanned over 40 years.

During his career, Grace was an accomplished cricketer, taking nearly 3,000 wickets and scoring over 50,000 runs.

Even after his retirement in 1909 Grace remained a keen sportsman, and scored a 69 not out in the 15 months before his death.

A blue plaque was erected outside his former home in Fairmont in Mottingham Lane in 1863.

Address: Fairmount', Mottingham Lane, Mottingham, London, SE9 3NG

Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921)

Russian-born Peter Peter Alekseyevich Kropotki was a geographer and a theorist of the anarchist movement.

Kropotkin was educated in a number of fields including zoology, sociology and history, although he turned away from academics to become a revolutionist.

He was imprisoned for his activism in 1874, but was able to escape two years later.

He spent the 41 years in exile in Switzerland, France (where he was imprisoned) and England, before later returning to Russia in 1917.

A blue plaque was erected in 1989 at his former residence in Sundridge Park.

Address: 6 Crescent Road, Sundridge Park, BR1 3PW

Rachel McMillan (1859–1917) and Margaret McMillan (1860–1931)

Sisters Rachel and Margaret McMillan were pioneers of nursery education and advocated for health care for children in poverty.

The sisters founded the country’s first school clinic in Bow, East London, in 1908.

Although it closed two years later, this led to two clinics opening in the Greenwich and Deptford areas, which treated 6,000 children a year.

A plaque to Margaret McMillan was originally erected in 1985 on the Rachel McMillan College in Creek Road, Deptford before it was moved to 51 Tweedy Road.

Address: 51 Tweedy Road, Bromley, London, BR1 3NH

Alexander Muirhead (1848–1920)

Scottish born Alexander Muirhead was an electrical engineer, famous for pioneering wireless telegraphy.

During his childhood Muirhead became deaf in one ear due to an accident. His experience with hearing loss lead him to regularly encounter misconceptions about his intelligence due to his hearing disability.

He first began his career at University College London studying chemistry, before later setting up his own electrical equipment manufacturing company.

A blue plaque was erected in his former home in Church Road in Shortlands where he lived from 1893 until his death in 1920.

Address: 20 Church Road, Shortlands, BR2 0HP

Dadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917)

Naoroji was an Indian-born nationalist and later became the first Indian to be elected into Parliament in the UK.

Naoroji first arrived in England in 1855, where he was later appointed to a professorship of Gujarati at University College, London in 1856.

Throughout the course of his life and time in London he was a member of several groups advocating for Indian self-determination, and was an influential politician in both the UK and India.

A blue plaque was recently erected in 2022 at his former home, where he lived from August 1897.

Address: 72 Anerley Park, Penge, London, SE20 8NQ