FOR years, the little blue signs have helped tourists in London identify the former residences of famous figures from history, including prominent Scots.

These range from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, to Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson and English-born Joseph Lister, who pioneered modern surgical techniques in Edinburgh.

But the Blue Plaques Scheme has become a victim of the UK Government's austerity measures, with English Heritage announcing its suspension because of funding cuts.

A 34% reduction in money for the commemorative signs means no more will be approved until new sources of finance have been found by 2015. But those which have already been approved are still expected to be installed.

First introduced in 1866, there are currently 869 plaques celebrating famous people by marking buildings where they lived and worked in London.

The only previous time installations have been stopped during almost 150 years of the scheme's history was between 1915 and 1919 and 1940 to 1947, coinciding with the wartime economies of the First and Second World Wars.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's plaque is outside his former home in Croydon, while Joseph Lister's is outside a house in Regents Park where he once lived. Stevenson's home in Hampstead is also identified by a plaque.