Mary Shelley to get blue plaque at last

For decades she has been in the shadow of her husband. But now Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, is finally to be given a blue plaque after a 28-year battle to recognise her achievements as a writer.

Plans to place a commemorative plaque on the side of the house where she died in Belgravia, central London, were first mooted in 1975. However, they were shelved indefinitely after the building's then resident, a Rev DB Tillyer, objected to the unholy name "Frankenstein" being written on the wall of his vicarage.

In a letter to the Greater London Council, which at the time was responsible for placing blue plaques, he wrote: "I'm not keen to have the phrase 'author of Frankenstein' emblazoned across the plaque, especially as the house is a vicarage. I would rather that it were re-worded to read 'author(ess) and wife of the poet'."

Mr Tillyer's concerns were subsequently backed up both by the London Diocesan Fund and the Keats-Shelley Society, which also wrote expressing reservations about the wording.

Now, English Heritage is about to re-open old wounds by putting up a plaque using the dreaded "F" word after all. It will read: "Mary Shelley, 1797-1851, author of Frankenstein. Lived here 1845-1851."

Mary Shelley's most recent biographer, Miranda Seymour, who will unveil the new plaque, said: "It's very good to have it plain and clear that she's not only the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, but an author in her own right. I think it's dreadful that the church refused this."