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Famous People Connected to Nottinghamshire
Image right - D H Lawrence
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 Nottinghamshire, 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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- Thomas Adams (1807 - 1873) Lace manufacturer Born in Worksop in 1807, the son of a maltster, Thomas Adams learned the lace trade as an apprentice in London and came to Nottingham in 1830 to start his own business. By the middle of the 19th Century, the Lace Market was expanding rapidly and in 1855 Adams opened his palatial new warehouse - now known as the Adams Building, part of New College Nottingham. He was a renowned philanthropist, aiding local educational and religious organisations. He died at his home in Lenton on 16 May 1873.
- George Africanus (c1763 -1834) Negro slave and successful entrepreneur. Born in Sierra Leone, Africa, George arrived in England as a slave at the age of three. He came to Nottingham as a free man in the 1780s and went on to become a 'freeholder' owning his own home , as well as owning several other properties. he was buried in St Mary's Church, Nottingham and in 2003 a plaque was erected in the churchyard to mark the resting place of Nottingham's first black entrepreneur.
- Richard Arkwright (1732 - 1792) Inventor & Industrialist. In 1768, he and John Kay, a clockmaker, relocated to the textile centre of Nottingham. Richard Arkwright is generally considered to be the father of the modern industrial factory system; his inventions were a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution. Born in poverty in Preston in 1732, his first business venture was making wigs from discarded human hair which he travelled around the country to collect. It was during these travels that he became involved in a project to produce a textile spinning machine.
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- Sir James Matthew, JM Barrie - Baronet Barrie (1860-1937) the celebrated children’s author, began his career in journalism on the Nottingham Daily Journal before moving to London. He lived in the area known as the Arboretum and it’s rumoured that Peter Pan was inspired by a Nottingham street urchin he saw walking in Clifton Grove.
- Harry Bolus (1834 – 1911), botanist, botanical artist, businessman and philanthropist, was born in Nottingham and educated at Castle Gate School, Nottingham,
- Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828), landscape painter, was born at Arnold, Nottinghamshire.
- Samuel Bourne, the famed photographer of India, lived in Nottingham from 1870 until he died in 1912.
- Sir Frank Bowden, 1st Baronet spent the last 34 years of his life in Nottingham turning Raleigh into the world's largest bicycle maker
- The poetAda Lovelace
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- Kate Greenaway, the illustrator of children's books, spent her childhood and many adult summers at Rolleston, Nottinghamshire.
- Henry Graham Greene (1904 - 1991) was a versatile author famed for his serious religious novels. He was a former employee of the old Nottingham Daily Journal and it was here in Nottingham that he was instructed in the Roman Catholic faith. He left the city to become sub-editor on The Times and went on to write travel books, novels, short stories, plays and film scripts.
- Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn (or Gwynn or Gwynne) (2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687) was a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England, was granted the Estate of Bestwood by him.
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- (George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon George Herbert], 5th Earl of Carnarvon, who backed the excavation of Tutankhamun's Tomb, had large estates at Shelford, Nottinghamshire.
- William Hutton, the poet and historian, was a stocking maker's apprentice in Nottingham and later a bookseller in Southwell - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hutton_(historian)
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- D. H. Lawrence, novelist and poet, born in Eastwood and educated at Nottingham High School
- Ada Lovelace lived at Newstead Abbey
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- Arthur Mee Born in Stapleford, Mee was a prolific author and editor of non-fiction for both children and adults. He helped to write Harmsworth's Self-Educator and History of the World. He then wrote his own Children's Encyclopedia, My Magazine, The Children's Newspaper, 1000 Heroes, The Little Treasure House, The Children's Bible, Children's Shakespeare, Bunyan and 'Arthur Mee's ' books about many things. When he was twenty he was appointed editor of the Nottingham Evening News and later moved to the Daily Mail. Mee was offered honours several times, including a knighthood on two occasions, but always refused.
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- Joseph Edward Southall RWS NEAC RBSA (23 August 1861 – 6 November 1944) was an English painter associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Born in Nottingham
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- Richard Weston, 1st Baron Weston. The title of Earl of Portland was first created for the politician Richard Weston, 1st Baron Weston, in 1633. - Welbeck Abbey being the principle residence of the Dukes of Portland
- Sir Francis Willoughby was born at Wollaton Hall.
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