Sir Alfred Munnings

Last Saturday, whilst strolling down Glebe Place in Chelsea en route for Cheyne Walk, I was astonished to come across this blue plaque, which looks to me as if it does not enjoy the sanction of English Heritage but is perhaps home-made. This would partly explain the impressionistic, not to say loose, copy-editing. But wouldn’t you think that someone would let them know, or that they might get around to replacing it with a corrected one, or that some passer-by might possibly even take matters into his own hands by fetching a ladder and inserting the missing “S” à la Lynn Truss? There is an alternative possibility, which is that a person who rejoiced in the name of Alfred Munning did indeed live there, but was in due course understandably confused with the fourteenth President of the Royal Academy of Arts. However, the question would then arise as to whether that lesser known gentleman, if he existed, warrants the blue plaque treatment at all. Either way, it is a problem.