FAMOUS PEOPLE FROM SOUTHWEST ENGLAND
By Tim Lambert
Click on towns in blue to read their histories
ALLER, SOMERSET Ralph Cudworth 1617-1688 Philosopher
BAMPTON, DEVON Eliza Gould 1770-1810 Founder of Sunday Schools
BARNSTAPLE
Sir Francis Chichester 190-1972 Yachtsman
John Gay 1685-1732 Poet and playwright
Dermot Murnaghan 1957- TV Presenter
Harry Welchman 1886-1966 Singer/actor
Anne Barry 1734-1801 Actress
Bill Bailey 1964- Comedian
Thomas Bowlder 1754-1825 who wrote a new version of Shakespeare without any crude or vulgar bits!
William Lonsdale 1794-1871 Geologist
BERKELEY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE Edward Jenner 1749-1823 Discovered inoculation against smallpox
BERROW, SOMERSET Elizabeth Hartley 1751-1824 Actress
BIDEFORD, DEVON John Hanning Speke 1827-1864 Explorer
BLANDFORD FORUM, DORSET Alfred Stevens 1818-1875 Artist
Sir Arthur Quiller Couch 1863-1944 Writer
H C McNeile 1888-1937 Creator of Bulldog Drummond
BOURNEMOUTH Elisabeth Scott 1898-1972 Architect
BRADFORD ON AVON Henry Shrapnel 1761-1842 Weapons inventor
BRIDGWATER Robert Blake 1599-1657 Admiral
William Child 1606-1697 Composer
Russ Conway 1927-2000 Pianist
William Friese-Greene 1855-1921 Inventor
Cary Grant 1904-1986 Actor
Nigel Hall 1943- Sculptor
Peter Higgs 1919- Physicist
Sir Thomas Lawrence 1769-1830 Artist
Richard Long 1945- Artsit
Samuel Plimsoll 1824-98 Invented the Plimsoll line to prevent ships being overloaded
Michael Redgrave 1908-1985 Actor
Frances Trollope 1780-1863 Writer
BURNHAM-ON-SEA John Pople 1925- Chemist
Sir Rowland Biffen 1894-1949 Geneticist
Sir Arthur Harris 1892-1984 Air Marshall
Gustav Holst 1874-1934 Composer
Edith How-Martyn 1875-1954 Suffragette
Dan McKenzie 1942- Geophysicist
Edward Wilson 1872-1912 Explorer
CHARD, SOMERSET Magaret Bondfield 1873-1951 First woman cabinet minister
CHELTENHAM Lillah McCarthy 1875-1960
CHIPPENHAM Florence Hancock 1893-1974 trade Unionist
CREDITON According to tradition St Boniface born c.680 He converted large parts of pagan Europe to Christianity
CROWNDALE Francis Drake c.1540-1596
DARTMOUTH
Sir Humphrey Gilbert 1539-83 Explorer
Rachel Kempson 1910-2003 Actress
Thomas Newcomen 1663-1729 Inventor
DEVIZES Mary Higgs 1854-1937 Social reformer
DOWNEND, GLOUCESTERSHIRE William Grace 1848-1915 Cricketer
John Endecott 1588-1665 One of the founders of Massachusetts
Maurice Evans 1901-1989 Actor
DULVERTON, SOMERSET George Williams 1821-1905 Founder of the YMCA
Sir Thomas Bodley 1545-1613 Scholar and founder of the Bodleian library in Oxford University
Eustace Budgell 1686-1737 Writer
William Clifford 1845-1879 Mathematician
Nicholas Hilliard 1547-1619 Artist
EAST KNOYLE, WILTSHIRE Christopher Wren 1632-1723 Architect
FAIRFORD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE John Keble 1792-1886 Poet
FALMOUTH Robert Fox 1789-1877 Geologist
FOWEY
Anthony Hewish 1924- Astronomer
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch 1863-1944 Writer
Benjamin Baker 1840-1907 Engineer
Charles Oatley 1904-1996 Inventor
Robert Raikes 1735-1811 Founder of Sunday schools
Sir Charles Wheatstone 1802-18175 Scientist
George Whitefield 1714-70 Preacher
HAYES BARTON Sir Walter Raleigh 1552(?)-1618
HELSTON Henry Trengrouse 1772-1854 Invented a rocket life saving device
HIGHER BROCKHAMPTON, DORSET Thomas Hardy 1840-1928
HOLNE, DEVON Charles Kingsley 1819-75 author of The Water Babies
ILCHESTER Roger Bacon 1214-1292 Philosopher
ILLOGAN Richard Trevithick 1771-1833 Inventor
ILLMINSTER John Hanning Speke 1827-1864 Explorer
LANEAST, CORNWALL John Couch Adams 1819-11892 Astronomer
LANGPORT, SOMERSET Walter Bagehot 1826-1877 Economist and writer
LYME REGIS
Mary Anning 1799-1847 Paleontologist
Thomas Coram 1668-1751 Philanthropist
Percy Gilchrist 1851-1835 Metallurgist
John Gould 1804-1881 Ornithologist
MALMESBURY Thomas Hobbes 1588-1679 Philosopher
MIDSOMER NORTON Peter Alexander 1952- Actor
MINEHEAD Sir Arthur C Clarke 1917- Science Fiction writer
Sir Humphrey Davy Scientist and inventor
George Waterhouse 1824-1906 Prime Minister of South Australia and New Zealand
William Bligh 1754-1817 Captain of the Bounty
Henry Dobson 1840-1921 Poet
Sir Charles Eastlake 1793-865 Artist
Michael Foot 1913- Politician
Sir John Hawkins 1532-1595 Sailor
Benjamin Haydon 1786-1846 Artist
Donald Sinden 1923- Actor
Wayne Sleep 1948- Dancer
PLYMPTON Joshua Reynolds 1723-92 Artist
Thomas Bell 1792-1880 Zoologist
John Le Carre 1931- Writer
Kristin Scott Thomas 1960- ActressRODE, SOMERSET Harold Gilman 1878-1919 Artist
SALISBURY Margaret Carpenter 1793-1872 Artist
SHAFTESBURY Richard Upjohn 1802-78 Architect
Herbert Foxwell 1849-1936 Economist
John Lewis 1836-1928 Founder of the department store
SHERBORNE, DORSET Dames Bradley 1693-1762 Astronomer
SLAD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE Laurie Lee 1914-1917 Writer
STAPELTON, SOMERSET Frances Trollope 1780-1863 Writer
STROUD John Canton 1718-1772 Physicist
SWANAGE, DORSET James Meade 1902- Economist
Barbara Hepworth 1903-75 Sculptress
Diana Dors 1931-1984 Actress
Justin Hayward 1946- Singer
Mark Lamarr 1967- TV Presenter
Billie Piper 1982- Actress
Robert Duncan 1952- actor
A L Rowse 1903-1997 Writer
ST COLOMB MINOR, CORNWALL William Golding 1911-1993 Writer
STURMINSTER, NEWTON William Barnes 1800-1886 Poet
Jenny Agutter 1952- Actor
Lord Trenchard 1873-1956 'Father' of the RAF
Charles Edward Trevelyan 1807-1886 'Father of the modern civil service
TAVISTOCK William Browne 1591-1643 Poet
TEIGNMOUTH Charles Babbage 1792-1871 Mathematician
TEWKESBURY Anna Ford 1943- Newscaster
TIVERTON
William Buckland 1784-1856 Geologist
Richard Cosway 1742-1821 Miniature painter
TORRINGTON, DEVON William Cory 1823-1892 Poet
TORQUAY
Agatha Christie 1890-1976 Writer
Peter Cook 1937-1995 Comedian
Percy Fawcett 1867-1925 Explorer
TROWBRIDGE Sir Issac Pitman 1813-97 Inventor of Pitman shorthand
Henry Bastion 1837-1915 Botanist
Henry Bone 1755-1834 Artist
Samuel Foote 1720-1777 Playwright
Richard Lander 1803-34 Explorer
WELLINGTON Sir Edward Burnett 1832-1917 Anthropologist
WELLS Thomas Linley 1732-1795 Composer
WESTBURY, WILTSHIRE Penleigh Boyd 1890-1923 Artist
WESTON SUPER MARE
John Cleese 1939- Comedian
Augustus Love 1863-1940 Mathematician
WEYMOUTH
Henry Moseley 1887-1915 Physicist
Thomas Peacock 1785-1866 Poet
WINSLADE, DEVON Mary Chudleigh 1656-1710 Poet
WRINGTON, SOMERSET John Locke 1632-1704 Philosopher