Famous People Born in Eastern England

By Tim Lambert

ALDBOROUGH Dame Millicent Fawcett 1847-1929 Suffragette

ASWARBY George Bass 1771-1803 Explorer

BLACK NOTLEY John Ray 1627-1705 Naturalist

BOSTON

John Foxe 1517-1587 Author of Book of Martyrs

Jean Ingelow 1820-1897 Poet

John Tavener 1490-1545 Composer

BOURNE Sir William Cecil 1520-1598 Treasurer to Elizabeth I

BURNHAM THORPE, NORFOLK Horatio Nelson 1758-1805

BURY ST EDMUNDS

Christopher Anstey 1724-1805 Writer

Humphry Repton 1752-1818 Landscape designer

BUXTON, NORFOLK Thomas Cubitt 1788-1855 Builder

CAMBRIDGE

Christopher Cockerell 1910-1999 Invented the hovercraft

John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946 Economist

Olivia Newton-John 1948- Singer/actress

Ronald Norrish 1897-1978 Physical chemist

Gwen Raverat 1885-1957 Wood Engraver

William Whitehead 1715-1785 Playwright

CLEETHORPES, LINCOLNSHIRE Patricia Hodge 1946- Actress

COLCHESTER

William Gilbert 1540-1603 Scientist

Roger Penrose 1931- Mathematician

DEREHAM, NORFOLK Brian Aldiss 1925- Writer

DONINGTON, LINCOLNSHIRE Matthew Flinders 1774-1817 Explorer

EARLHAM, NORFOLK Elizabeth Fry 1780-1845 Prison reformer

EAST DEREHAM George Henry Borrow 1803-1881 Writer

EAST BERGHOLT, SUFFOLK Constable 1776-1837 Artist

ELY Guy Pearce 1967- Actor

EPWORTH, LINCOLNSHIRE John Wesley 1703-1791 Founder of Methodism

GRANTHAM

John Maw 1935-2009 Composer

Henry More 1614-1687 Philosopher

Nicholas Parsons 1923- Broadcaster

Margaret Thatcher 1925-2013 Prime Minister

GREAT YARMOUTH Anna Sewell 1820-1878 She wrote Black Beauty

GRIMSBY Margaret Ritchie 1903-1969 Singer

HARLOW

Sarah Adams 1805-1848 Poet

Rik Mayall 1958- Comedian

HOLBEACH, LINCOLNSHIRE Sir Norman Angell 1873-1967 Economist

HORNCHURCH Jilly Cooper 1937- Writer

HORNINGTOFT, NORFOLK Fuller Pilch 1804-1870 Cricketer

HUNTINGDON Oliver Cromwell 1599-1658

IPSWICH

Jane Lapotaire 1944- Actress

Trevor Nunn 1940- Theatrical Director

Clara Reeve 1729-1807 Writer

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey 1471-1530

ALDBOROUGH Dame Millicent Fawcett 1847-1929 Suffragette

ASWARBY George Bass 1771-1803 Explorer

BLACK NOTLEY John Ray 1627-1705 Naturalist

BOSTON

John Foxe 1517-1587 Author of Book of Martyrs

Jean Ingelow 1820-1897 Poet

John Tavener 1490-1545 Composer

BOURNE Sir William Cecil 1520-1598 Treasurer to Elizabeth I

BURNHAM THORPE, NORFOLK Horatio Nelson 1758-1805

BURY ST EDMUNDS

Christopher Anstey 1724-1805 Writer

Humphry Repton 1752-1818 Landscape designer

BUXTON, NORFOLK Thomas Cubitt 1788-1855 Builder

CAMBRIDGE

Christopher Cockerell 1910-1999 Invented the hovercraft

John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946 Economist

Olivia Newton-John 1948- Singer/actress

Ronald Norrish 1897-1978 Physical chemist

Gwen Raverat 1885-1957 Wood Engraver

William Whitehead 1715-1785 Playwright

CLEETHORPES, LINCOLNSHIRE Patricia Hodge 1946- Actress

COLCHESTER

William Gilbert 1540-1603 Scientist

Roger Penrose 1931- Mathematician

DEREHAM, NORFOLK Brian Aldiss 1925- Writer

DONINGTON, LINCOLNSHIRE Matthew Flinders 1774-1817 Explorer

EARLHAM, NORFOLK Elizabeth Fry 1780-1845 Prison reformer

EAST DEREHAM George Henry Borrow 1803-1881 Writer

EAST BERGHOLT, SUFFOLK Constable 1776-1837 Artist

ELY Guy Pearce 1967- Actor

EPWORTH, LINCOLNSHIRE John Wesley 1703-1791 Founder of Methodism

GRANTHAM

John Maw 1935-2009 Composer

Henry More 1614-1687 Philosopher

Nicholas Parsons 1923- Broadcaster

Margaret Thatcher 1925-2013 Prime Minister

GREAT YARMOUTH Anna Sewell 1820-1878 She wrote Black Beauty

GRIMSBY Margaret Ritchie 1903-1969 Singer

HARLOW

Sarah Adams 1805-1848 Poet

Rik Mayall 1958- Comedian

HOLBEACH, LINCOLNSHIRE Sir Norman Angell 1873-1967 Economist

HORNCHURCH Jilly Cooper 1937- Writer

HORNINGTOFT, NORFOLK Fuller Pilch 1804-1870 Cricketer

HUNTINGDON Oliver Cromwell 1599-1658

IPSWICH

Jane Lapotaire 1944- Actress

Trevor Nunn 1940- Theatrical Director

Clara Reeve 1729-1807 Writer

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey 1471-1530

KINGS LYNN

Frances Burney 1752-1840 Novelist

George Coulton 1858-1947 Historian

George Vancouver 1757-1798 Explorer

LINCOLN

George Boole 1815-1864 Mathematician

Penelope Fitzgerald 1916-2000 Writer

LOWESTOFT

Benjamin Britten 1913-1976 Composer

Thomas Nash 1567-1601 Poet and writer

NORWICH

Michael Brunson 1940- Journalist

John Sell Cotman 1782-1842 Artist

Rupert Everett 1959- Actor

Elizabeth Fry 1780-1845 Prison Reformer

Robert Greene 1560-1592 Writer

Mary Lyon 1925- Geneticist

SAFFRON WALDEN Gabriel Harvey 1550-1631 Poet

SCUNTHORPE Martin Simpson 1953- Singer

SLEAFORD Jennifer Saunders 1958- Comedian

SOMERSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE Alfred Tennyson 1809-1892 Poet

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA Peter Cook 1936- Architect

SPILSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE Sir John Franklin 1786-1847 Explorer

SUDBURY Thomas Gainsborough 1727-1788 Artist

SWAFFHAM, NORFOLK Howard Carter 1874-1939 Egyptologist

THEBERTON, SUFFOLK Charles Doughty 1843-1926 Explorer

THETFORD Thomas Paine 1737-1809 Political radical

UPTON, ESSEX Joseph Lister 1827-1912 Surgeon

WISBECH

Thomas Clarkson 1760-1846 Campaigner against slavery

Octavia Hill 1838-1912 co-founder of the National Trust

Sir Harold Kroto 1939-2016 Chemist

Lilian Ream 1877-1961 Photographer

WITHAM John Rayleigh 1842-1919 Physicist

WOODBRIDGE, SUFFOLK Edward Fitzgerald 1809-1883 poet and translator

WOOLSTHORPE, LINCOLNSHIRE Isaac Newton 1642-1727 Physicist

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