You've seen them all over the city: discs, tablets, cameos and plaques commemorating the great and the good of London Town. Every Tuesday we track down a London plaque (Blue or otherwise) and put it center stage on the London Walks Blog. This week…One hundred and sixty years ago Augustus Siebe was a multiple medal winner at the Great Exhibition.
The honor of being named as our 100th Plaque of the Week may be a little less prestigious (only a little, mind!) but we think him an appropriate subject for our landmark century of London plaques.
Born in Saxony, Germany in the late 18th Century, he trained in metal-working and served as a Prussian officer at the Battle of Waterloo. Upon his arrival in London he set out on the path as an engineer and took up residence at 5 Denmark Street W1.
In the 1830s he pioneered advances in the diving helmet that allowed the famous diver John Deane greater freedom to explore beneath the waves. Deane later recovered artefacts from the Tudor warship the Mary Rose.
Siebe’s other inventions include a rotating water pump patented in 1828, a paper making machine and an ice-making machine.
His plaque is on his former West End home in Denmark Street, London’s fabled music thoroughfare, and can often be ignored by those looking for the 60s fingerprints of Mick Jagger, David Bowie, et al. But not by London Walks!
Well done Herr Siebe, and happy 100th Birthday to our Plaque of the Week feature!
Plaque of the Week will return in the New Year.
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