Joseph Lister (1827-1912) was a pioneer of antiseptic surgical practice, and lived at 52 Maple Street (formerly 28 London Street) Fitzrovia when he was a student.
A blue plaque was placed on his former residence in 2024 after English Heritage discovered “there was a completely authentic London home of Joseph Lister’s still surviving from an early part of his life”.
His student home in the Grade II-listed terraced house, built around 1777 to 1787, is within a short walk of University College Hospital. Lister is recorded at this address in the UCL student register for 1844, states English Heritage.
He shared his accommodation with Edward Palmer, an operative assistant at the hospital. Archive records reveal that on 2 April 1844 Lister wrote to his mother to say he was “pretty much settled in here” and anticipating “a pleasant residence”.
Lister is known for his ground-breaking research on wound inflammation, which was a major cause of deaths in hospitals. Influenced by Louis Pasteur, Lister published his findings in The Lancet in several articles, including: “On the effects of the antiseptic system of treatment upon the salubrity of surgical hospitals” (1870).
English Heritage, blue plaque: Joseph Lister (1827-1912).
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