List of English people
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This is a partial list of English people and of some notable individuals born there, alphabetically within categories:
Contents |
Actors/Actresses
- Tom Baker, (1933-)
- Dame Judi Dench (1934-)
- George Formby, (1904-1961)
- Sir Michael Gambon, (1940-)
- Sir John Gielgud, (1904-2000)
- John Gregson, (1919-1975)
- Rupert Grint, (1988-)
- Sir Alec Guinness, (1914-2000)
- Will Hay, (1888-1949)
- Jack Hawkins, (1910-1973)
- Dame Wendy Hiller (1912-2003)
- Stanley Holloway, (1890-1982)
- Leslie Howard, (1893-1943)
- Charles Laughton, (1899-1962)
- Margaret Lockwood, (1916-1990)
- Hayley Mills, (1946-)
- John Mills, (1908-2005)
- Kenneth More, (1914-1982)
- Anthony Newley, (1931-1999)
- Sir Laurence Olivier, (1907-1989)
- Cecil Parker, (1897-1971)
- Daniel Radcliffe, (1989-)
- Miranda Richardson, (b1958)
- Sir Ralph Richardson, (1902-1983)
- Dame Margaret Rutherford, (1892-1972)
- Peter Sellers, (1925-1980)
- Dame Maggie Smith, (b1934)
- Dame Elizabeth Taylor, (b1932)
- Emma Thompson, (b1959)
- Sir Peter Ustinov, (1921-2004)
- Jack Warner, (1896-1981)
- Emma Watson, (1990-)
- Michael Wilding, (1912-1979)
- Googie Withers, (1917-)
Archaeologists and Anthropologists
- Mick Aston
- Richard Atkinson
- Churchill Babington
- Howard Carter
- Grahame Clark
- David Clarke
- Barry Cunliffe
- Glyn Daniel
- John Disney, (1779-1857), barrister and archaeologist
- E. E. Evans-Pritchard, (1902-1973), social anthropologist
- Cyril Fox
- Dorothy Garrod
- William Greenwell
- Kathleen Kenyon
- John Leland, (1502-1552), antiquary
- John Lubbock, (1834-1913), banker, politician, naturalist and archaeologist
- John Robert Mortimer
- Colin Renfrew, (born 1937), archaeologist
- E.B. Tylor, (1832-1917), anthropologist
- Mortimer Wheeler
- Kate Fox
Architects
- Charles Barry, (1795-1860), architect (Houses Of Parliament)
- George Basevi
- William Burges, (1827-1881), architect and interior designer
- William Butterfield, (1814-1900), leader in Gothic revival movement
- William Chambers, (1723-1796), (Kew Gardens pagoda and Somerset House)
- Sir Norman Foster, (1935-), architect
- Nicholas Hawksmoor, (1661-1736), architect
- Inigo Jones, (1573-1652), architect
- Edwin Lutyens, (1869-1944), architect
- William Morris, (1834-1896), architect, author
- John Nash, (1752-1835), (Regent's Park, St. Jame's Park, Trafalgar Square)
- Joseph Paxton, (1801-1865), (Great Exhibition Building, London)
- August Pugin, (1812-1852), architect (Houses Of Parliament)
- Richard Rogers, (b. 1933), (the Pompidou Centre)
- Gilbert Scott, (1880-1960), Waterloo Bridge, also supervised rebuilding of House Of Commons, London)
- John Vanbrugh, (1664-1726), Baroque architect (Blenheim Palace)
- Alfred Waterhouse, (1830-1905), (National History Museum, London)
- William Wilkins, (1778-1839), (National Gallery, London)
- Christopher Wren, (1632-1723), architect
Artists
- William Blake, (1757-1827), painter, poet
- John Constable, (1776-1837), landscape painter.
- Thomas Gainsborough, (1727-1788), painter
- Elizabeth Gaskell, (1810-1865), novelist
- David Hockney, (1937-), painter
- Sir Edwin Landseer, (1802-1873), animal painter.
- Henry Moore, (1898-1986), sculptor
- Sir Joshua Reynolds, (1723-1792), artist
- J.M.W. Turner, (1775-1851), landscape and marine artist
- Flora Twort, (1893-1985), painter
Criminals
- Myra Hindley, Moors murderer
- Ian Huntley, Soham murderer
- The Kray twins, east London gangsters
- Harold Shipman, (1946-2004), serial killer
- Peter Sutcliffe, Yorkshire Ripper
- Fred West, serial killer
- Graham Young, (1947-1990), The Teacup Poisoner
Economists
- William Beveridge, (1879-1963), economist and social reformer
- John Maynard Keynes, (1883-1946), economist
- Thomas Malthus, (1766-1834), demographer
- Alfred Marshall, (1842-1924), economist
- John Stuart Mill, (1806-1873), economist, philosopher
Engineers
- Sir Benjamin Baker, (1840-1907), civil engineer
- Sir Henry Bessemer, (1813-1898), metallurgy engineer
- James Brindley, (1716-1772), canal engineer
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel, (1806-1859), transport engineer
- Sidney Camm (1894-1966), aeronautical engineer
- William Tierney Clark, (1783-1852), civil engineer
- Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (1882 - 1965), aeronautical engineer
- Sir John Ambrose Fleming, (1848-1945), electrical engineer
- R.J. Mitchell, (1895-1937), aeronautical engineer
- Sir Samuel Morton Peto, (1809-1889), civil engineer
- Sir Henry Royce, (1863-1933), engineer
- Nevil Shute, (1899-1960), aeronautical engineer and author
- George Stephenson, (1781-1848), railway engineer
- Sir Barnes Wallis, (1887-1978), engineer
- Sir Frank Whittle, (1907-1996), aeronautical engineer
- Sir Joseph Whitworth, (1803-1887), engineer
Entrepreneurs
- Richard Branson (1950-)
- Abraham Darby (c. 1678-1717), ironmaster
- Sir Freddie Laker (1922-), Pioneer of cheap air travel
- William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield (1877-1963)
- Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), industrialist
Filmmakers
- Lindsay Anderson (1923-1994)
- Roy Boulting (1913-2001)
- Charlie Chaplin, (1889-1977)
- Mike Figgis (1948-)
- Lewis Gilbert (1920-)
- David Hare (1947-)
- Alfred Hitchcock, (1899-1980)
- Stan Laurel (1890-1965)
- David Lean (1908-1991)
- Mike Leigh (1943-)
- Ken Loach (1936-)
- Anthony Minghella (1954-)
- Mike Newell (1942-)
- Nick Park (1958-)
- Michael Powell (1905-1990)
- Ken Russell (1927-)
- Ridley Scott (1942-)
- Michael Winner (1935-)
Humorists
- Rowan Atkinson
- John Cleese
- Les Dawson
- Ken Dodd
- Ben Elton
- Tony Hancock, (1924-1968)
- Eric Morecambe
- Frank Muir (1920-1998)
- Denis Norden (1922-)
- Michael Palin (1943-)
- Ernie Wise (1925-1999)
Inventors
- Christopher Cockerell, (1910-1999), inventor of the hovercraft
- William Congreve, rocketry pioneer
- Abraham Darby, (c. 1678-1717), ironmaster
- James Hargreaves, (1720-1778), weaver and inventor
- John Harrison, (1693-1776), clockmaker
- Rowland Hill, (1795-1879), inventor of the modern postal service
- Thomas Newcomen, (1664-1729), inventor
- Isaac Newton, (1642-1727), founder of modern physics, inventor of the reflector telescope
- James Starley, (1831-1881), bicycle pioneer
- George Stephenson, (1781-1848), engineer
- Charles Wheatstone, (1802-1975), inventor
- Frank Whittle, (1907-1996), co-inventor of the jet engine
Military men and women
- Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, (1883-1963), Field Marshal, CIGS during World War II
- Sir Alexander John Ball, (1759-1809), admiral, governor of Malta
- George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, (1608-1670), Civil War era General
- Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, (1891-1969), Field Marshal, World War II hero
- Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Montreal, (1717-1797), General
- Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, (1768-1854), General, Hero of the Napoleonic Wars
- Sir Claude Auchinleck, (1884-1981), World War II commander
- Robert Baden-Powell, (1857-1941), soldier
- Sir Douglas Bader, (1910-1982), fighter pilot
- William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, (1865-1951), General, World War I
- Robert Blake, (1599 - 1657), reforming Royal Navy Admiral
- Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, (1819-1904), Commander in Chief
- James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, (1797-1888), Commander of the Light Brigade
- Sir Winston Churchill, (1874-1965), British prime minister
- Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (1738-1805), General
- Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, (1721-1765), Captain-General, victor of Culloden
- Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, (1882-1970), RAF Commander in World War II
- Sir Francis Drake, (1540-1596), sailor
- Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, (1782-1859)
- Charles George Gordon, (1833-1885), "Chinese Gordon", killed at Khartoum
- John Manners, Marquess of Granby, (1721-1770), General
- Sir Arthur Travers Harris, (1892-1984), airman
- Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, (1726-1799), Admiral
- William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, (1729-1814), General in American Revolutionary War
- John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe (1859-1935), Admiral, World War I
- Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, (1850-1916), Field Marshal
- John Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier, (1680-1770), General
- George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, (1800-1888), Commander of cavalry at the Battle of Balaclava
- John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, (1650-1722), soldier
- Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein ("The Desert Rat"), (1887-1976), Field Marshal and hero of World War II
- Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, (1900-1979), statesman, sailor
- Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson of the Nile, (1758-1805), sailor, Admiral
- Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, (1788-1855), British commander in the Crimean War
- Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar, (1832-1914), Field Marshal, last Commander in Chief of the Forces
- Siegfried Sassoon, (1886-1967), war poet
- Henry Seymour Conway, (1721-1795), General
- William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, (1897-1970), Commander in Burma during World War II, Governor-General of Australia.
- Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, (1858-1930), General, World War I
- Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (1883-1950), World War II general, second to last Viceroy of India
- Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington ("The Iron Duke"), (1769-1852), Commander-in-Chief of the British Army (see also his entry under Politicians)
- James Wolfe, (1727-1759), General, hero of Quebec
- Prince Frederick, Duke of York, (1763-1827), son of King George III, commander in French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
- John French, 1st Earl of Ypres, (1852-1925), World War I general and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Monarchs
- Queen Anne, (1665-1714), also Queen of Scotland, then Queen of Great Britain after 1707
- King Charles II, (1660-1685), also King of Scotland
- King Edward I, (1272-1307), English monarch
- King Edward III, (1327-1377), English monarch
- King Edward IV, (1461-1470 and 1471-1483), English monarch
- King Edward V, (1470-1483?), English monarch
- King Edward VI, (1547-1553), first English Protestant monarch
- King Edward VII, (1841-1910)
- King Edward VIII, (1894-1972), (formerly Edward VIII)
- Queen Elizabeth I, (1558-1603), Protestant queen and first Supreme Governor of the Church of England
- Queen Elizabeth II, (born 1926) reigning monarch
- King George III, (1801-1820), English, British monarch
- King George IV, (1762-1830)
- King George V, (1910-1936), English, British monarch
- King George VI, (1895-1952), of England
- King Henry III, (1207-1272), English monarch
- King Henry IV, (1367-1413), English monarch
- King Henry VI, (1421-1471), English monarch
- King Henry VIII, (1491-1547), separated English Catholicism from link with the Roman Catholic Church
- King James II, (1685-1688), also King James VII of Scotland
- Queen Mary I, (1553-1558), Roman Catholic queen
- Queen Mary II, (1662-1694)
- Queen Victoria, (1819-1901)
- King William IV, (1765-1837)
Musicians
- Malcolm Arnold, (born 1921), composer
- John Barbirolli, (1899-1970), conductor
- David Bedford, (born 1937), composer and musician
- Thomas Beecham, (1879-1961), conductor
- Harrison Birtwistle, (born 1934), composer
- Adrian Boult, (1889-1983), conductor
- Havergal Brian, (1876-1972), composer
- Benjamin Britten, (1913-1976), composer and pianist
- William Byrd, (1543-1623), composer
- Andrew Davis, (born 1944), conductor
- Colin Davis, (born 1927), conductor
- Frederick Delius, (1862-1934), composer
- John Dowland, (c. 1563-c. 1626), composer of songs
- John Dunstable, (c. 1383-1453), composer
- Edward Elgar, (1857-1934), composer
- Ron Goodwin, (1925-2003) composer and conductor
- George Harrison, (1943-2001), composer, member of the Beatles
- Gustav Holst, (1874-1934)), composer
- Olivia Newton-John, (born 1948), pop star
- Nigel Kennedy, (born 1956), violinist
- John Lennon, (1940-1980), pop star, co founder of the Beatles
- Andrew Lloyd Webber, (born 1948), composer of musicals
- Peter Maxwell Davies, (born 1934), composer
- Paul McCartney, (born 1942), pop star, co-founder of the Beatles
- Thomas Morley, (c. 1557-1602), consort composer
- Mike Oldfield, (b.1953), composer and instrumentalist
- Peter Pears, (1910-1986), tenor
- Jacqueline du Pré, (1945-1987), cellist
- Henry Purcell, (1659-1695), composer
- Simon Rattle, (born 1955), conductor
- Malcolm Sargent, (1895-1967), conductor
- Ringo Starr, (born 1940), composer, member of the Beatles
- Thomas Tallis, (c. 1505-1585), composer
- Michael Tippett, (1905-1998), composer
- Ralph Vaughan Williams, (1872-1958), composer
- William Walton, (1902-1983), composer
- Henry Wood, (1869-1944), conductor
Philosophers
- Francis Bacon, (1561-1626), philosopher and essayist
- Jeremy Bentham, (1748-1832), philosopher
- Robert Boyle, (1627-1691), philosopher and physicist
- Thomas Hobbes, (1588-1679), philosopher
- John Locke, (1632-1704), philosopher
- John Stuart Mill, (1806-1873), economist, philosopher
- William of Ockham (c. 1285-1349), philosopher
- Bertrand Russell, (1872-1970), philosopher
- William Whewell, (1794-1866), philosopher
- Alfred North Whitehead, (1861-1947), mathematician
- Bernard Williams, (1929-2003), philosopher
Politicians
- Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, (1757-1844)
- Herbert Henry Asquith, (1852-1928), British prime minister
- Clement Attlee, (1883-1967), British prime minister
- Stanley Baldwin, British prime minister
- Ernest Bevin
- Margaret Bondfield
- Rab Butler
- George Canning, (1770-1827), politician
- William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
- William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
- Sir Austen Chamberlain, (1863-1937)
- Joseph Chamberlain, (1836-1914)
- Neville Chamberlain, (1869-1940), British prime minister
- Lord Randolph Churchill, (1849-1895)
- Winston Churchill, (1874-1965), British prime minister
- Kenneth Clarke
- Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington
- Sir Stafford Cripps
- George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (1859-1925)
- Archibald Dalzel, (1740-1811), Governor of the Gold Coast
- Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire, (1833-1908)
- Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, (1799-1869)
- Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby, (1826-1893)
- Benjamin Disraeli, (1804-1881), British prime minister
- Alec Douglas-Home, (1903-1995)
- Anthony Eden, (1897-1977), British prime minister
- Hugh Gaitskell, (1906-1963)
- William Ewart Gladstone, (1809-1898), British prime minister
- Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
- Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville
- George Grenville, British prime minister
- William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Lord Grenville
- Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
- Denis Healey
- Edward Heath, British prime minister
- John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
- George Lansbury, (1859-1940)
- Nigel Lawson
- Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
- John Lubbock, (1834-1913), banker, politician, naturalist and archaeologist
- Harold Macmillan, British prime minister
- John Major, (born 1943), British prime minister
- Reginald Maudling
- William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
- Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
- Frederick North, Lord North
- Sir Robert Peel, British prime minister
- Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, British prime minister
- Henry Pelham
- Spencer Perceval
- William Pitt (the Elder), 1st Earl of Chatham, (1708-1778)
- William Pitt the Younger, (1759-1806), British prime minister
- Enoch Powell
- Cecil Rhodes, (1853-1902), imperialist
- Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon, (1782-1859)
- Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
- John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
- Michael Hicks-Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn, (1837-1916)
- Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, (1830-1903)
- John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, (1873-1954)
- Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden of Ickornshaw, (1864-1937)
- Margaret Thatcher, (born 1925), British prime minister
- Sir Robert Walpole, British prime minister
- Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1769-1852), British prime minister
- William Wilberforce, (1759-1833), abolitionist
- Henry Willink, (1894-1973), politician
- Harold Wilson, (1916-1995), British prime minister
Scientists
- Arthur Aikin, (1773-1854), chemist and mineralogist
- Charles Babbage, (1791-1871), mathematician
- Joseph Banks, (1743-1820), naturalist
- Thomas Bayes, (c. 1702-1761), mathematician
- Tim Berners-Lee, (born 1955), computer scientist
- George Boole, (1815-1864), mathematician
- Robert Boyle, (1627-1691), philosopher and physicist
- Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, (1897-1974), physicist
- Isaac Barrow, (1630-1677), mathematician
- Henry Cavendish, (1731-1810), scientist
- Sir George Cayley, (1773-1857), polymath and aviator
- Francis Crick, (1916 - 2004), molecular biologist
- John Dalton, (1766-1844), chemist and physicist
- Charles Darwin, (1809-1882), Founder of The Theory of Evolution
- Richard Dawkins, (born 1941), biologist
- Horace Donisthorpe (1870-1951), entomologist, myrmecologist and coleopterist
- Paul Dirac, (1902-1984), physicist
- Arthur Eddington, (1882-1944), physicist
- Michael Faraday, (1791-1867), scientist
- Ronald Fisher, (1890-1962), geneticist and statistician
- Rosalind Franklin, (1920-1958), molecular biologist
- J. B. S. Haldane, (1892-1964), geneticist
- Stephen Hawking, (born 1942), cosmologist
- Oliver Heaviside, (1850-1925), physicist
- C. A. R. Hoare, computer scientist
- Robert Hooke, (1635-1703), scientist
- John Herschel, (1792-1871), mathematician and astronomer
- Edward Jenner, (1749-1823), doctor
- R. V. Jones, (1911-1997), physicist
- James Prescott Joule, (1818-1889), physicist
- Joseph Lister, (1827-1912), surgeon
- Bernard Lovell, astronomer
- James Lovelock, (born 1919), scientist
- Martin Lowry, (1874-1936), chemist
- John William Lubbock, (1803-1865), banker, mathematician and astronomer
- Sir Charles Lyell, (1797-1875), geologist
- John Maynard Smith, geneticist
- Desmond Morris, (born 1928), zoologist
- Roger Needham, (1935-2003), computer scientist
- Isaac Newton, (1642-1727), founder of modern physics, last of the alchemists
- Roger Penrose, (born 1931), cosmologist
- Joseph Prestwich, (1812-1896), geologist
- Joseph Priestley, (1733-1804), chemist
- Adam Sedgwick, (1785-1873), geologist
- Joseph Wilson Swan, (1828-1914), physicist and chemist
- J. J. Thomson, (1856-1940), physicist
- Henry Tizard, scientist
- Alan Turing, (1912-1954), mathematician
- Alfred Russel Wallace, (1823-1913), naturalist
- Robert Watson-Watt, (1892-1973), scientist
- Alfred North Whitehead, (1861-1947), mathematician
- Maurice Vincent Wilkes, (born 1913), computer scientist
- James H. Wilkinson, (1919-1986), mathematician
- William Hyde Wollaston, (1766-1828), chemist
- Thomas Young, (1773-1829), scientist
Sportsmen/sportswomen
- Harold Abrahams (1899-1978), athlete, one of the two subjects of Chariots of Fire
- Roger Bannister (born 1929), first sub-four-minute miler
- Alan Ball (born 1945), 1966 football World Cup winner
- Gordon Banks (born 1937), goalkeeper of 1966 World Cup winning team
- David Beckham (born 1975), football player
- Ian Botham (born 1955), cricketer
- Geoffrey Boycott (born 1940), cricketer
- Sir Bobby Charlton (born 1937), 1966 football World Cup winner
- Jack Charlton (born 1935), 1966 football World Cup winner
- Don Cockell (born 1928), heavyweight boxer
- Sir Henry Cooper (born 1934), heavyweight boxer
- Jonathan Edwards (born 1966), athlete (triple jump)
- Godfrey Evans (1920-1999), cricketer (wicket-keeper)
- James Figg, Boxing's first world champion
- Bob Fitzsimmons (1863-1917), boxing's first world champion in three divisions
- Paul Gascoigne (born 1967), football player
- Sir Steve Redgrave (born 1962), rower, winner of gold medal in five consecutive Olympics
- W. G. Grace (1848-1915), cricketer
- Naseem Hamed (born 1974), world champion featherweight boxer
- Ricky Hatton (born 1978), highly touted boxing prospect
- Sir Geoff Hurst (born 1941), 1966 football World Cup winner
- Len Hutton (1916-1990), cricketer
- Martin Johnson (born 1970), rugby player
- Dougie Lampkin, (born 1976), Motorcycle Trials World Champion
- Lennox Lewis (born 1965), world champion heavyweight boxer
- Gary Lineker (born 1960), football player
- George Mallory (1886-1924), mountaineer
- Nigel Mansell (born 1953), racing driver, F1 and CART champion
- Alan Minter (born 1951), world champion boxer
- Bobby Moore (1941-1993), captain of 1966 soccer World Cup winning team
- Michael Owen (born 1979), football player
- Fred Perry (1909-1995), Wimbledon champion tennis player
- Martin Peters (born 1943), 1966 football World Cup winner
- Paula Radcliffe (born 1973), athlete (distance runner)
- Sir Gordon Richards (1904-1988), jockey
- Alan Shearer (born 1970), football player
- Nobby Stiles (born 1942), football World Cup winner
- Randolph Turpin (1928-1966), middleweight boxer
- Virginia Wade (born 1945), tennis player
- Jonny Wilkinson (born 1979), rugby player
- Justin Wilson (Born 1978), Champ Car Racer
Writers
- Matthew Arnold, (1822-1888), poet
- David Attenborough, (born 1926), naturalist and broadcaster
- W. H. Auden, (1907-1973), poet
- Jane Austen, (1775-1817), novelist
- Alan Ayckbourn, (b. 1939) playwright
- Pam Ayres, (born 1947), poet
- Hilaire Belloc, (1870-1953), writer and poet
- John Betjeman, (1906-1984), poet laureate
- Enid Blyton, (1897-1968), author
- William Blake, (1757-1827), painter, poet
- Robert Bolt, (1924-1995), dramitist and screenwriter. Wrote A Man For All Seasons
- Anne Bronte, (1820-1849), author
- Charlotte Bronte, (1816-1855), author
- Emily Bronte, (1818-1848), author
- Rupert Brooke, (1887-1915), poet
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, (1806-1861), poet
- Robert Browning, (1812-1889), poet
- Anthony Buckeridge, (1912-2004) children's author
- John Bunyan, (1628-88), author
- Samuel Butler, (1835-1902), author
- George Gordon, Lord Byron
- Lewis Carroll, (1832-1898), author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- Geoffrey Chaucer, (c. 1343-1400), poet, author of The Canterbury Tales.
- G. K. Chesterton, (1874-1936), author essayist
- Dame Agatha Christie, (1891-1976), mystery writer
- Winston Churchill, (1874-1965), British prime minister, author
- John Clare, (1793-1864), poet.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, (1772-1834), poet
- Wilkie Collins, (1824-1889), novelist
- William Congreve, (1670-1729), poet
- Walter de la Mare, (1873-1956),poet and novelist
- Daniel Defoe (or De Foe), (1660?–1731), writer
- Charles Dickens, (1812-1870), author
- John Donne, (1572-1631), poet.
- John Dryden, (1631-1700), poet
- Daphne Du Maurier, (1907–89), novelist
- George Eliot, (1819-1880), (Mary Ann Evans)
- T. S. Eliot, (1888-1965), poet, playwright and Nobel prizewinner
- C.S. Forester, 1899-1966) author
- E.M. Forster, (1879-1970), author
- John Galsworthy, (1867-1933) author and dramatist
- Elizabeth Gaskell, novelist
- William Golding, writer, Nobel prizewinner
- Kenneth Grahame, (1859-1931), author
- Robert Graves, (1895-1985), author
- Thomas Gray, (1716-1771), poet
- Graham Greene, (1904-1991), author, writer
- Thomas Hardy, (1840-1928), poet
- William Hazlitt, (1778-1830)
- Gerard Manley Hopkins, (1884-1889), poet
- Nick Hornby, (born 1957), novelist
- A. E. Housman, (1859-1936),poet and scholar.
- Ted Hughes, 1930-1998), poet laureate.
- Leigh Hunt, (1784-1859), poet
- Aldous Huxley, (1884-1963), writer
- Thomas Henry Huxley, (1825-1895), coiner of the term agnosticism
- Jerome K. Jerome, (1859-1927), humorist and playwright
- Samuel Johnson, (1709-1784), poet
- Ben Jonson, (1573-1637), poet
- John Keats, (1795-1821), poet
- Rudyard Kipling, (1865-1936), author
- Philip Larkin, (1922-1985), poet
- D.H. Lawrence, (1885-1930), poet
- Edward Lear, (1812-1888), artist, humorist and poet
- Thomas Malory, (c. 1430-c. 1471), author of Le Morte d'Arthur
- Andrew Mango, (born 1926), author
- Christopher Marlowe, (1564-1593), playwright
- Eric Maschwitz, (1901-1969), writer, lyricist and entertainer
- John Masefield, (1878-1967), poet laureate, and novelist
- William Somerset Maugham, (18741965), writer
- A. A. Milne, (1882-1956), author and poet
- John Milton, (1608-1674), poet
- Nancy Mitford, (1904-1973), novelist
- William Morris, (1834-1896), architect, author
- William Ralph Inge, clergyman, writer, mysticist
- Joe Orton, (1933-1967), dramatist
- George Orwell, (1903-1950), (Eric Blair), journalist and novelist
- John Osborne, (1929-1994), dramatist, wrote Look Back In Anger
- Wilfred Owen, (1893-1918), war poet
- Samuel Pepys, (1633-1703), diarist and public official in 17th century England
- Harold Pinter, (b. 1930), playwright
- Alexander Pope, (1688-1744), poet
- Beatrix Potter, (1866-1943),author and illustrator
- J. B. Priestley, (1894-1984), dramatist and novelist
- Philip Pullman, (born 1946), author
- Arthur Ransome, (1884–1967), author,
- Christina Rossetti, (1830-1894), poet
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti, (1828-1882), poet
- J. K. Rowling (born 1965), author, creator of Harry Potter
- John Ruskin, (1819-1900), writer, critic and reformer
- Siegfried Sassoon, (1886-1967), war poet
- Dorothy L. Sayers, (1893-1957), mystery writer
- William Shakespeare, (c. 1564-1616), poet
- Mary Shelley, (1797-1851), author
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, (1792-1822), poet
- Philip Sidney, (1554-1586), poet and soldier
- Edmund Spenser,(c. 1552-1599), poet. Wrote The Faerie Queene
- Nevil Shute, (1899-1960), aeronautical engineer and author
- Stevie Smith, (1902-1971), poet and novelist
- Robert Southey, (1774-1843), Poet Laureate 1813
- Algernon Swinburne, (1837-1909), poet
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate
- William Makepeace Thackeray, (1811-193), novelist
- Anthony Trollope, (1815-1882), novellist
- John Webster, (died 1630), poet
- Gilbert White, (1720-1795)
- P. G. Wodehouse, (1881-1975), humorous author
- Mary Wollstonecraft, (1759-1797), pioneer feminist known for her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- Virginia Woolf, (1882-1941), author and feminist.
- William Wordsworth, (1770-1850), Romantic poet
Other Notables
- Douglas Adams (1952-2001), author, comic and radio dramatist
- Pope Adrian IV (c. 1100 - 1159)
- David Attenborough, (born 1926), naturalist and broadcaster
- Robert Blake, (1599 - 1657), reforming Royal Navy Admiral
- Capability Brown, (1715–83), landscape gardener
- William Camden, (1551-1623), historian
- William Caxton, (c. 1422-c. 1491), printer
- Sir Malcolm Campbell, (1885–1949), automobile and speedboat racer.
- Sir Francis Chichester, (1901-1972), yachtsman.
- James Cook, (1728-1779), British explorer
- Grace Darling, (1815-1842), heroine
- Thomas de Quincey
- Elizabeth Fry, (1780-1845), prison reformer
- Edward Gibbon, (1737-1794), historian
- Gildas, (c. 510 - c.570), monk
- William Godwin, (1756-1836)
- Ebenezer Howard, (1850-1928), urban planner
- Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (1208?-1265). English statesman and soldier.
- Sir Patrick Moore, (1923-) Writer, T.V. Presenter, Astronomer.
- Florence Nightingale, (1820-1910), nurse
- Joshua A. Norton, (1811-1880), Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico
- John Reith, (1889-1971), broadcaster
- John Speed, (1542-1629), historian and cartographer
- Wat Tyler, (?-1381), leader of the Peasants' Revolt (1381)
- William Wakefield, (1801-1848), founder of Wellington, New Zealand
- William Wilberforce, (1759-1833), abolitionist
The following were born English, but changed nationality later in their life.
- Alistair Cooke, (1908-2004)
- Bob Hope, (1903-2003)
- Thomas Paine, (1737-1809)
- Jerry Springer
See also: List of people by nationality, List of Britons, List of Welsh people, List of Cornish people, List of Scots, UK topicszh:英国人列表 it:Inglesi celebri