Famous People Connected to Sussex

Image right - John Logie Baird

Please add information about people of renown connected to Sussex, England. If the person has a profile on Geni please add their profile to the project and add the link in bold.

To participate in any project

- you do need to first be a collaborator - so please join the project using the request link under "actions" at the top right of the page. Visit Geni Wikitext, Unicode and images which gives a great deal of assistance. See the discussion Project Help: How to add Text to a Project - Starter Kit to get you going!

The following people of renown were either born or lived in Sussex or are strongly associated with Sussex.

How to add a link is explained in the attached document - Adding links to Geni profiles in projects.

A

• Eliza Acton (1799-1859) Battle Poet
• Richard Alston - born 1948 in Stoughton - choreographer
• Margery Ashby - born 19 April 1882 in Danehill. Died 15 May 1981. Feminist

B

• John Logie Baird FRSE - born Scotland 13 August 1888. Died 14 June 1946 in Bexhill-on-Sea - Scottish engineer and inventor
• Alexandra Bastedo 1946 Hove - Actress
• George Baxter 1804-67 Lewes - Engraver and artist
• Aubrey Vincent Beardsley - born 21 Aug 1872 Brighton.Died 16 Mar 1898 - illustrator
• Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) - English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury group, and the sister of Virginia Woolf. She and Duncan Grant (see below) moved to Sussex with their unconventional household
• Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) spent most of his life in Sussex, growing up in Slindon and returning to the county to live at Shipley.
• Clementina Black - born 1853 in Brighton. Died 1922. English suffragist, trade unionist and novelist.
• William Blake (1757-1827) moved to Felpham in 1800
• Wilfrid Scawen Blunt - born 17 Aug 1840 in Petworth. Died 10 Sep 1922. Poet and Traveller
• Thomas Bradwardine 1290-1349 Chichester - Theologian
• Jo Brand - born 3 May 1957 in Hastings. Comedienne
• Thomas Brassey 1st Earl Brassey
• Frank Bridge (1879-1941) Brighton - Conductor
• Ray Brooks - 1939 Brighton - Actor
• Emma Bunton - born 21 Jan 1976 in Hastings. Pop singer and songwriter
• Clara Butt, DBE - born 1 feb 1872 in Southwick. Died 23 Jan 1936. English concert and operatic contralto.

C

• Angela Carter - born 7 May 1940 in Eastbourne - Died 16 Feb 1992 - novelist and short story writer
• Richard Challoner - born 29 Sep 1691 in Lewes. Died 12 Jan 1781; prelate and writer.
• Richard Cobden - born 3 Jun 1804 in Heyshott. Died 2 Apr 1865 - economist and politician.
• Charles B Cochran - born 31 Jan 1872 in Lindfield.Died 31 Jan 1951. English theatrical producer and manager.
• Alma Cogan 1932-1966 Worthing - Singer
• William Collins - born 25 Dec 1721 in Chichester. Died 12 Jun 1759. Poet
• Kristina Cook - born 31 Aug 1970 in Rustington. British three-day eventing rider who silver in the team eventing at the 2012 London Olympics along with William Fox-Pitt, Mary King, Zara Phillips and Nicola Wilson.
• Tony Crosland - born 29 Aug 1918 in Bexhill-on-Sea. Died 19 Feb 1977 - labour Politician
• Simon Cowell - born 7 Oct 1959 in Brighton. Music executive and television celebrity.

D

• Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) spent the last thirty years of his life in Crowborough.
• Maureen Duffy (1933- ) comes from Worthing. Maureen Patricia Duffy (born 21 Oct 1933 in Worthing, Sussex) is a contemporary British poet, playwright and novelist.

E

F

• Michael Fish - born 27 April 1944 in Eastbourne. English weather forecaster.
• Alison Fisher - born 24 feb 1968 - Snooker Player
• Tara Fitzgerald - Born 18 Sep 1967 in Cuckfield, Actress
• John Fletcher (1579-1625), born in Rye. Playwright
• Charles Fry Cricketer, Footballer, Athlete, Writer & Journalist
• John Fuller - born 1 Sep 1878 in Chichester. Died 10 Feb 1966 - Soldier. Served in the second Boer War and WWI. Retired in 1931 and became well known for his writings on the theory of war.
• Simon Fuller - born 17 May 1960 in Hastings. Record and television producer.

G

• General Thomas Gage - born 1719 at Firle Place, Lewes. Died 2 April 1787. Military Governor of Montreal in 1760 and Commander-in-Chief of British Forces in America from 1763-72. Lost Bunker Hill to the Americans in 1775.
• David Garnett - born 9 Mar 1892 in Brighton. Died 17 Feb 1981 - novelist
• Judy Geeson - born 10 Sep 1948 in Arundel. Actress
• David Andrew Gemmell - Born London 1 August 1948. Died in Hastings 28 July 2006) was a bestselling British author of heroic fantasy.
• Eric Gill - born 22 Feb 1882 in Brighton. Died 17 Nov 1940. Sculptor, engraver and writer. Calligrapher, letter-cutter and monumental mason.
• MacDonald "Max" Gill (1884-1947) born in Brighton - the well known graphic artist brother of Eric Gill.
• Rumer Godden - born 10 dec 1907 in Eastbourne. Died 8 Nov 1998. Novelist, poet and children's author.
• Duncan James Corrowr Grant (21 January 1885 – 8 May 1978) was a British painter and designer of textiles, pottery and theatre sets and costumes. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group.
• Elizabeth David nee Gwynne - born 6 Dec 1913 in Wotton Manor, Polegate. Died 22 May 1992 Chelsea. Cookery writer.

H

• Sir Edward Marshall Hall - born 16 Sep 1858 in Brighton. Died 24 Feb 1927. Lawyer who established his reputation through successfully defending a number of murderers including Robert Wood and Harold Greenwood
• Patrick Hamilton - born 17 Mar 1904 in Hassock. Died 23 Sep 1962. Novelist
• James Hannington - born 3 Sep 1847 in Hurstpierpoint. Died 29 Oct 1885. Ugandan Missionary
• David Hare - born 5 June 1947 in Bexhill-on-Sea. English playwright, dramatist, director and filmmaker.
• Tony Hawks - born 27 Feb 1960 in Brighton. Comedian and Author.
• William Hayley (1745-1820)
• Sir John Berry Jack Hobbs Cricketer
• Frederick Hopkins - born 20 June 1861 in Eastbourne. Died 16 May 1947. Biochemist and Nobel Prize winner.
• Richard Hughes (1836-1902) the ‘Grand Old Man’ of British homeopathy - lived in Brighton.
• Cecil Hurst - born 28 Oct 1870 in Horsham. Died 27 March 1963. Lawyer and Judge

I

• Hammond Innes - born 1 July 1913 in Horsham. Died 10 June 1998 - author and traveller

J

• Henry James (1843-1916) leased Lamb House in Rye, and purchasing it two years later, spent most of his last 18 years there, where he wrote several major works.
• Sophia Jex-Blake - born 21 Jan 1840 in Hastings. Died 7 Jan 1912. Physician and pioneer of medical education for women.

K

• Natasha Kaplinsky - born 9 Sep 1972 in Brighton. Journalist and newsreader.
• Emily Sheila Kaye-Smith (1887–1956) was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, near Hastings, and lived most of her life in Sussex.
• Nigel Kennedy - born 28 Dec 1956 in Brighton. Violinist
• Sarah Kennedy 1950 East Grinstead - Broadcaster
• Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) also spent much of his life in Sussex, living in Rottingdean and later Burwash.

L

• David Leadbetter - born 27th June 1952 in Worthing. Golf instructor
• Therese Lessore 1884-1945 Brighton Artist

M

• Gideon Mantell - born 3 feb 1790 in Lewes. Died 10 Nov 1852. English palaeontologist.
• Anna Massey - born 11 Aug 1937 Thakeham - Actress
• Thomas May (1594/5-1650 born in Mayfield
• Max Miller (Thomas Henry Sargent) - born 21 Nov 1894 in Brighton. Died 7 May 1963. English music hall comedian.
• Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan KBE - Born 16 April 1918 India. Died 27 February 2002 in Rye; comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor
• Alan Minter - born 16 Aug 1951 in Crawley - Boxer
• Sir Patrick Moore (1923-2012) - English amateur astronomer who attained prominent status in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter.
• Caitlin Moran - born 5 April 1975 in Brighton - broadcaster, TV critic and columnist
• Piers Morgan - born 30 Mar 1975 in Newick. Tabloid newspaper editor and television personality.

N

• Adrian Noble born 19 July 1950 in Chichester - British Theatre Director
• John Nye - born 1923 in Hove; physicist and glaciologist. Described many properties of mountain glaciers and ice sheets. Awarded Charles Chree Medal in 1989 by Institute of Physics. http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/people/nye_jf/index.html

O

• Thomas Otway - born 3 Mar 1652 in Trotton nr Midhurst. Died 14 Apr 1685. English Dramatist
• Steve Ovett - born 9 Oct 1955 in Brighton. Stephen Michael James Ovett, OBE. Middle distance Runner

P

• John Pell - born 1 Mar 1611 in Southwick. Died 12 Dec 1685; mathematician and clergyman.
• David Pilbeam - born 1940 in Brighton - anthropologist
• Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) - visited Hastings and used illustrations of the net shops in the picture of Little Pig Robinson making his way to ship at the fictional town of Stymouth!
• John Cowper Powys who is particularly associated with Dorset and Wales, lived in Sussex from the mid-1890s until 1910
• Katie Price/Jordan - born 22 May 1978 in Brighton - Celebrity, model

Q

• Roger Quilter - born 21 Sep 1877 in Brighton. Died 21 Sep 1953. English Composer

R

• Martin Ryle 1918-1984 Brighton Astronomer
• Anita Roddick - born 23 Oct 1942 in Brighton. Died 10 Sep 2007. Retail entrepreneur, founder of Body Shop.
• Gilbert Ryle - born 19 Aug 1900 in Brighton. Died 6 Oct 1976. Philosopher - Editor of the journal Mind (1947-71)
• Sir Martin Ryle - born 27 Sep 1918 in Brighton. Died 14 Oct 1984 - English physicist, radio astronomer and Nobel Prize winner.

S

• Thomas Sackville - born 1536 in Buckhurst. Died 19 Apr 1608. Poet and statesman, 1st Earl of Dorset.
• Leo Sayer - born 21 May 1948 in Shorham - singer
• Tom Sayers - born 25 May 1826 in Brighton. Died 8 Nov 1865 - boxer
• Paul Scofield - born 21 Jan 1922 in Hurstpierpoint. Died 19 Mar 2008. Stage actor.
• John Selden - born 16 Dec 1584 in Worthing. Died 30 Nov 1654; Jurist and historian.
• Percy Bysshe Shelley - born 4 Aug 1792 at Field Place, Broadbridge Heath, near Horsham. Died 8 July 1822. Romantic Poet
• Nicolette Sheridan 1963 Worthing - Actress
• Jon Snow - born 28 Sep 1947 in Ardingly. Newsman, journalist
• Frederick Soddy - born 2 Sept 1877 in Eastbourne. Died 22 Sep 1956. English radio chemist and Nobel Prize winner.
• Robert Southwell 1561-1595 Horsham - Poet
• Suggs - born Graham McPherson 13 Jan 1961 in Hastings. Front man of the band Madness

T

• Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) spent his summers, away from the holiday crowds of the Isle of Wight, at Aldworth House, Blackdown
• Jamie Theakston - born 21 Dec 1970 in Ditchling. Television presenter
• William Thorpe - born 1 Apr 1902 in Hastings. Died 7 Apr 1986 Zoologist
• Edward Titchener 1867-1927 Chichester - Psychologist
• Issac Todhunter 1820-1884 Rye - Mathematician

U

V

W

• Herbert George "H.G". Wells was brought up at Uppark, South Harting, near Petersfield, where his mother was housekeeper. He also went to school and taught in Midhurst.
• Holly Willoughby - born 10 Feb 1981 in Brighton - television presenter and model
• Angus Wilson - born 11 Aug 1913 Bexhill-on-Sea Died 1991 - English writer
• Henry Wriothesley - 3rd Earl of Southampton - born 6 Oct 1573 in Cowdray. Died 10 Nov 1624. Soldier
• Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) and her husband Leonard, had a country retreat in Rodmell near in Lewes from 1919

Related Projects on Geni

• Sussex - Main Page
• Historic Sussex
• Sussex - Family Heads