Person    | Male  Born 24/4/1815  Died 6/12/1882

Anthony Trollope

Author of over 50 delightful novels. Born at 16 Keppel Street. Worked for the GPO (General Post Office) 1834 - 59 and introduced the free-standing postbox ('pillar box') to the UK, an idea stolen from France.

His family left Keppel Street when Anthony was still an infant but he perhaps had fond memories since in the 1861 'Orley Farm' he has one of his characters say to her husband, who has been so successful that the couple are now living in grand Harley Street: "Oh, Tom, I wonder whether you ever think of the old days when we used to be so happy in Keppel Street!" And in the 1874 'Lady Anna' he moves Anna and her mother into a house in Keppel Street. It is a novel about the nuances of rank and Keppel Street must have suggested to Trollope exactly the right level in the social hierarchy for this couple. Initially they occupy just the first and second floors but on acquiring some money they take over the ground floor as well. And (spoiler alert) it is in the ground floor parlour, actually in the parlour doorway, that an attempted murder takes place. 

Died in a nursing home at 34 Welbeck Street following a stroke while visiting relatives. We've read that the stroke was a result of excessive laughter brought on by reading a now forgotten Victorian novel, 'Vice Versa'. Can it really have been that funny? Must get a copy.

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

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Anthony Trollope

Commemorated ati

Anthony Trollope

L.C.C. Anthony Trollope (1851 - 1882), novelist, lived here.

Read More

Anthony Trollope - pillar box - Fleet Street

5 similar plaques have been erected.

Read More

Anthony Trollope - pillar box - Pall Mall

5 similar plaques have been erected.

Read More

Anthony Trollope - pillar box - Piccadilly

This plaque commemorates the bicentenary of the birth of Anthony Trollope (18...

Read More

Anthony Trollope - pillar box - Rutland Gate

5 similar plaques have been erected.

Read More

Show all 8

Other Subjects

Ford Madox Ford

Ford Madox Ford

Born Surrey as Ford Hermann Hueffer, of an English mother and German father, Francis Heuffer. Grew up in Pre-Raphaelite circles. On the death of their father in 1889 Ford and his brother went to li...

Person, Literature, France, Germany, USA

1 memorial
Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding

Novelist, playwright. Born Somerset. Half-brother to Sir John Fielding. Lived in Bow Street and Essex Street. Play: The Miser. Novels: Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones. As magistrate he carried out a numb...

Person, Law, Literature, Theatre, Portugal

2 memorials
Charles Hamilton (Frank Richards)

Charles Hamilton (Frank Richards)

Author for children.  Born Oak Street, Ealing, where the plaque now is.  Specialised in writing long series of stories generally using a different pen-name for each. Most famously, as Charles Hamil...

Person, Children, Literature

1 memorial
Major Byron F. Caws

Major Byron F. Caws

Believed to have assisted Fowler in his work on the Concise Oxford Dictionary. The Latin on the memorial, 'castigavit et emendavit', translates as “he corrected and improved“, which is quite an ac...

Person, Architecture, Armed Forces, Engineering, Literature

1 memorial
Sir Henry Rider Haggard

Sir Henry Rider Haggard

Novelist. Born at Wood Farm, West Bradenham, Norfolk. At the age of nineteen he was sent to Natal to serve the Lieutenant-Governor, as his father said he was only fit to be a greengrocer. He achiev...

Person, Law, Literature, South Africa

1 memorial

Previously viewed

New Court WW1 memorial

New Court WW1 memorial

NW3, Lutton Terrace, New Court, New Buildings

Unusually this memorial lists all the men who went to war, not just those who died. The names of the ten who did die are marked with a li...

War dead, War served | WW1
50 subjects commemorated
Fortune Theatre - EC1

Fortune Theatre - EC1

Knowledge of London says: "One of the earliest theatres, the Fortune Theatre . . . was first opened in 1600 by Philip Henslowe and Edward Allen {Alleyn}. It burnt down in 1621 and was rebuilt soon ...

Building, Theatre

2 memorials
King George I

King George I

Born Hanover. When the last of Queen Anne's 17 children died without issue (no one could accuse her of not trying) there were lots of Catholic potential claimants, but Britain wanted a Protestant h...

Person, Race Issues, Royalty, Seriously Famous

6 memorials