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Famous People Connected to Bristol
England
Image right - Cary Grant
Image by Grant,_Cary_(Suspicion) Public Domain, Wiki Commons
Related Projects on Geni
Bristol - Main Page
Historical Bristol (To follow)
People Connected to Bristol
Bristol Monumental Inscriptions, Cemeteries & Graveyards
Those people of note with connections to the county are listed below. Some of these connections are a little tenuous - counties like to lay claim to people of renown!
Please add information about people of renown connected to Bristol, England. If the person has a profile on Geni please add their profile to the project and add the link in bold.
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A
- Sophie Anderton (Model)
- Peter John Walter Atyeo (February 7, 1932 - June 8, 1993) was an English football striker. He was signed from under the noses of League Champions Portsmouth in 1951 by Bristol City. He won six England caps from 1955 to 1957, scoring five goals. Despite offers from Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool that could have made him the most expensive player in England, he stayed with City throughout his career, making 647 appearances and scoring 350 goals by the time he retired in 1966. The new stand that replaced the Park End at Ashton Gate in 1994 is named the Atyeo Stand after him.
B
- Edward Hodges Baily - born in Bristol in 1788, the son of a ship's carver, who became a pupil of Flaxman and is perhaps best known today for the 16 ft high figure of Nelson on the column in Trafalgar Square, London. He was also employed by George IV to make sculptures for both Buckingham Palace and Admiralty Arch.
- Johny Ball Originally from Bristol, he spent his primary years there and later in his childhood moved to Bolton, Lancashire where he attended Bolton Grammar School. He then did national service in the Royal Air Force, worked as a Butlin's Redcoat and was an entertainer in northern clubs and cabaret. He was a regular fixture on children's television in the 1970s and 1980s, presenting several series of popular science and technology programmes intended for children (including Think of a Number; Think Again; Think Backwards; Think...This Way and Johnny Ball Reveals All)
- Banksy
- Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803-1849) English physiologist and writer.
- Tony Benn (1925 - 2014), formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate, British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for 50 years and a Cabinet Minister under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.
- Ernest Bevin born in 1881 in Winsford, Exmoor. He was orphaned while still young. From the age of 11 he worked on farms and then drove a horse and cart. In 1910 he formed a carter's branch of the Dockers' Union in Bristol. In 1921 Bevin was involved in setting up the Transport and General Workers' Union and became the first Secretary to the organisation. During the Second World War he became a member of Churchill's Cabinet and was made Minister of Labour and National Service. He introduced a scheme for young conscripts to work in the coal mines rather than join the armed forces, the workers being known colloquially as Bevin Boys. He was Foreign Secretary from1945 until his death in 1951.
- Blackbeard the Pirate (Edward Teach)
- Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) born in Counterslip, Bristol; - first woman to receive a medical degree in the US, also the first woman on the UK Medical Register. She was a pioneer in promoting education of women in medicine in the US, a social and moral reformer in the US and England.
- Ewan Blair (Son of Tony Blair)
- Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist.
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in Portsmouth, educated at Hove, near Brighton and studied for two years at the College Henri Quatre, Paris, after which, in 1823, he rejoined his father in England. After his work on the Thames Tunnel, Isambard planned the Clifton Suspension Bridge, over the River Avon, which was completed posthumously in 1864 using chains from his own Hungerford Suspension Bridge.
He was responsible for the design of several famous ships. The Great Western, launched in 1837, was the first steamship ever to engage in transatlantic service. The Great Britain, launched in 1843, was the world's first iron-hulled, screw propeller-driven, steam-powered passenger liner. The Great Eastern, launched in 1859, was designed in cooperation with John Scott Russell, and was by far the biggest ship ever built up to that time, but did not in the end turn out to be a successful venture commercially. Brunel was also responsible for the redesign and construction of many of Britain's major docks, including Bristol, Monkwearmouth, Cardiff and Milford Haven.
- Tony Bullimore (Mariner)
C
- John Cabot Italian-born explorer who sailed from Bristol to Newfoundland on the Matthew in 1497. May have lived in St Nicholas Street. Cabot statues can be seen outside the Arnolfini and the Council House. The Cabot Tower was erected on Brandon Hill in 1897 in commemoration of his voyage.
A 105 feet high tower built in 1897 to commemorate John Cabot's voyage from Bristol and the sighting of North America four hundred years earlier. It was designed by the Bristol architect William Venn Gough and paid for by public subscription. The tower is built from red sandstone covered with cream Bath stone.
- Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770) English Poet
- Beryl Cook Artist
- Roger Frederick Cook (born 19 August 1940, in Fishponds, Bristol, England) is a well-known songwriter who has written many hits for other recording artists. He has also had a successful recording career in his own right. Amongst hits he has written with others, including Greenaway and writers such as Albert Hammond, Mike Hazlewood, and Tony Macaulay, are "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" (The New Seekers), "Good Times, Better Times" (Cliff Richard), "Softly Whispering I Love You" (The Congregation), "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart" (Gene Pitney), "Home Lovin' Man" (Andy Williams), "Blame It On The Pony Express" (Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon), "Something Old, Something New" (The Fantastics), "Something Tells Me Something's Gonna Happen Tonight" (Cilla Black), "I've Got You On My Mind", "When You Are a King", and "My Baby Loves Lovin'" (White Plains), "Gasoline Alley Bred" and "Long Cool Woman In a Black Dress" (The Hollies); "Freedom Come, Freedom Go" (The Fortunes), "Doctor's Orders" (Sunny), "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" (Whistling Jack Smith), and "Like Sister Like Brother" (The Drifters).
- Robin Cousins - Olympic and European gold medalist, but he never won a World title, finishing second in 1979 and 1980. Bristol-born Robin Cousins won his first national title aged 12 as a novice, he was junior champion at 14 and made his international debut that same year. He represented Great Britain as an amateur skater for eight years, winning the National Senior Championships for four consecutive years. He won the freeskating portion of the World Championships three times, 1978-1980, and sealed his amateur ice skating career by winning European Championship gold and taking the Olympic title at Lake Placid in 1980. A highly successful career as a professional skater followed. He starred in shows such as Holiday on Ice and Ice Capades, and was a regular at the World Professional Figure Skating Championships. In 1983 he formed his own ice company, and toured the world with Electric Ice and Ice Majesty. In 2005 he was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
- Alan John 'Adge' Cutler (19 November 1930 – 5 May 1974) was an English singer best known as the frontman of the comic folk band the Wurzels.
D
- Adam John Hart-Davis (born 4 July 1943) - English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster, well known in the UK for presenting the BBC television series Local Heroes and What the Romans Did for Us
- Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet PRS MRIA FGS (1778 – 829) was a Cornish chemist and inventor - lived in Bristol
- Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac - born on 8th August, 1902, at Bristol. His father was Swiss and his mother English. He was educated at the Merchant Venturer's Secondary School, Bristol, then went on to Bristol University where he studied electrical engineering, obtaining the B.Sc. (Engineering) degree in 1921. He then studied mathematics for two years at Bristol University, later going on to St. John's College, Cambridge, as a research student in mathematics. He received his Ph.D. degree in 1926. The following year he became a Fellow of St.John's College and, in 1932, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge.
E
F
- Keith Floyd (1943 – 2009) was a British celebrity cook, television personality and restaurateur, who hosted cooking shows for the BBC and published many books combining cookery and travel.
G
- William Gilbert "W. G." Grace, MRCS, LRCP (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest-ever players. Universally known as "W. G.", he played first-class cricket for a record-equalling 44 seasons, from 1865 to 1908, during which he captained England, Gloucestershire, the Gentlemen, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the United South of England Eleven (USEE) and several other teams. He came from a cricketing family: the appearance in 1880 of W. G. with E. M. Grace, one of his elder brothers, and Fred Grace, his younger brother, was the first time three brothers played together in Test cricket."
- William Gouldsworthy (1892 – 969) was an English cricketer. He played for Gloucestershire between 1921 and 1929
- Cary Grant - Born Archibald Alec Leach in Bristol. Joined the Bob Pender stage troupe and travelled to the US in 1920, decided to stay there. Performed on the stage and had some success in Broadway comedies before moving to Hollywood in 1931 and changing his name to Cary Grant. Became one of Hollywood's top box-office attractions for several decades. Appeared in Hitchcock classics including Suspicion, To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest. Received a special Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1970. Died of a cerebral haemorrhage.
H
- Damien Hirst Artist
I
J
- Samuel Jackson, noted water-colour painter of the Bristol School, lived in several places in Bristol, including Freeland Place, shown here. Jackson's only well-known oil, View of Avon at Hotwells painted about 1836, actually shows Freeland Place in the background.
K
L
- Thomas Lawrence - born in 1769 in Redcross Street, Bristol. His father was an innkeeper and soon moved his family from Bristol to Devizes, where he became landlord of the Black Bear. He was not very successful however and the business failed so the Lawrence family ended up in Bath. Thomas was a child prodigybecoming court portrait painter to George III, receiving a knighthood and being elected to the presidency of the Royal Academy.
M
- John L McAdam engineer appointed General Surveyor of Bristol Roads in 1816. A Scot who had moved to Bristol, he had worked out on a new approach to road construction. He instructed that stones should be graded and laid in three levels, with the smallest stones crushed and laid as a top surface. This ensured a smoother well-drained finish
N
O
P
- Nick Park created the characters Wallace and Gromit in Bristol. Wallace and Gromit appeared on our in the short animated movie A Grand Day Out.
- Colin Pillinger
- Samuel Plimsoll (1824-1898) English Social Reformer
Q
R
- Michael Redgrave (1908-1985) English film and stage actor.
- Tony Robinson (born 15 August 1946) is an English actor, comedian, amateur historian, TV presenter and political activist.
- Woodes Rogers (1679-1732) In 1708 began a voyage round the world in his ship, The Duke. In 1709 he stopped at the island of Juan Fernandez and there discovered Alexander Selkirk, who had been shipwrecked and lived on the island for nearly four and a half years. Sacking towns, plundering property and capture of a treasure ship led to Woodes Rogers' acquisition of a considerable amount of money. He was made governor of Providence, Bahamas in 1716 and cleared it of pirates by a mixture of pardoning, bribes and punitive action. He was also involved in slave trading. He died at Queen Square Bristol in 1732. The site of his house in Queen Square is marked with a plaque on the present building.
- Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918) The son of poor Jewish immigrants from Latvia, Isaac Rosenberg worked as an apprentice engraver and took classes at Birkbeck College before studying at the Slade. In spite of poor health, height below the normal 5’ 3” minimum, and a very critical attitude to the war, he enlisted in 1915. He wrote poetry while serving, including perhaps his finest work Break of Day in the Trenches that with its rat and poppy imagery exemplifies his blunt realism. He was killed near Arras on April 1st 1918
- J K Rowling
S
- Robert Southey (1774-1843) English Poet and Writer
T
U
V
- Carol Vorderman
W
References, Sources and Further Reading
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