List of people from the London Borough of Merton

The following is a list of people who were born in the London Borough of Merton, or have dwelt within the borders of the modern borough (in alphabetical order):

A

• Khalid Abdalla – actor, The Kite Runner and United 93
• Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot – Commander of the Royal Navy in North America during the American War of Independence
• Bob Astles – former associate of Ugandan presidents Milton Obote and Idi Amin
• Ray Austin – TV and film director, actor, stuntman; born in Merton

B

• Barloc of Norbury
• Ben Barnes – actor, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian
• Cyril Barton – posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II
• Ian Bazalgette – posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II
• Sir Joseph Bazalgette (1819–1891) – civil engineer; his creation in the mid-19th century of the sewer network for central London eliminated cholera epidemics
• Dave Benson-Phillips – children's television presenter, lived in Cannon Hill Lane
• Bernard Braden – TV personality, mainly of the 1960s
• Jo Brand – comedian, lived in Mitcham
• Martin Brett (Brett Martini) – musician, voice of Beehive
• Richard Briers – actor
• Raymond Briggs – cartoonist
• Steve Brookstein – winner of the first series of TV talent show The X Factor
• James Brunlees – engineer, lived at Argyle Lodge, Parkside
• Roy Budd – jazz musician
• Josephine Butler – feminist campaigner of the Victorian era, Blue Plaque at 8 North View, Wimbledon Common

C

• Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton – British peer and Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Anthony Caro – sculptor, born here in 1924
• George Edward Cates – World War I Victoria Cross recipient
• Ernst Boris Chain – joint winner of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of penicillin; Blue Plaque at 9 North View, Wimbledon Common
• Mavis Cheek – novelist born and brought up in Wimbledon
• Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough – close friend of Queen Anne
• Danny Cipriani – rugby player
• Norman Coburn – actor, played Donald Fisher in Australian soap opera Home and Away
• Vernon Corea – radio broadcaster
• Annette Crosbie – actress, screen wife of Victor Meldrew in the BBC TV sitcom One Foot in the Grave
• Ambrose Crowley – ironmaster
• Steve Curtis – eight-time World Offshore powerboat racing champion

D

• Sean Davis – footballer, played for Bolton Wanderers, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth
• Clint Dempsey – footballer, during his playing career at Fulham
• Sandy Denny – singer, born at the Nelson Hospital
• Laurence Doherty – winner of thirteen Wimbledon tennis championships and two Olympic gold medals
• Reginald Doherty – winner of twelve Wimbledon tennis championships and three Olympic gold medals
• John Donne – Jacobean poet
• Hugh Dowding – commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain in 1940, Blue Plaque at 3 St Mary's Road
• Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville – Home Secretary and Secretary of State for War to William Pitt the Younger, resident of Cannizaro House

F

• The Field Mice – pop group
• Michael Fielding – The Mighty Boosh comedian; Noel's younger brother
• Noel Fielding – The Mighty Boosh comedian
• Mike Fillery – footballer
• Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939) – author; works include The Good Soldier and Parade's End

G

• Paul Geraghty – author, illustrator
• David Gibson – cricketer
• John William Godward – painter
• Good Shoes – indie music band whose first album, Think Before You Speak, included the track "Morden"
• Charles Patrick Graves – journalist
• Robert Graves – poet
• Deryck Guyler – actor

H

• Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia – guest at a house in Parkside while in exile from Ethiopia owing to the Italian invasion; his statue stands in Cannizaro Park
• Victoria Hamilton – actress
• George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen – prime minister 1852–55; resident of Cannizaro House
• Florence Harmer – historian, born in Mitcham
• Will Hay – actor
• Tubby Hayes – jazz musician
• Georgette Heyer – novelist, born and grew up in Wimbledon; wrote her first five novels there; a later novel, Pastel, is set in a suburb very like Wimbledon
• Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha – while Minister of Transport, 1934–7, he introduced the driving test and the Belisha Beacon; then Secretary of State for War, 1937–40
• John Horne Tooke – politician, lived at Chester House on Wimbledon Common
• Neil Howlett – opera singer, born in Mitcham
• Thomas Hughes – author of Tom Brown's Schooldays, written in Wimbledon
• James Hunt – 1976 Formula 1 World Champion

J

• Vinnie Jones – former footballer and film actor

K

• Barbara Kelly – TV personality
• Hetty King – music hall artiste and male impersonator; a blue commemorative plaque was erected on her home in Palmerston Road, Wimbledon by The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America in November 2010
• Lorelei King – actress
• Maxwell Knight – spymaster
• David Kynaston – author, historian

L

• Jay Laga'aia – actor
• Don Lang – Britain's answer to Bill Haley; with his band, a mainstay of Britain's first television rock and roll programme Six-Five Special
• Libera – boy vocalists; regular contributors to the BBC's Songs of Praise TV programme; have toured extensively throughout the world; have released several chart-topping albums; based at St Phillip's Parish Church in Norbury
• Glen Little – footballer
• Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer – scientist and astronomer; joint discoverer of helium

M

• M.I.A. – singer-songwriter and rapper
• Alexander Maconochie – founder of the Royal Geographical Society; penal reformer
• Frederick Marryat – author, Blue Plaque at Gothic Lodge, 6 Woodhayes Road; also lived at Wimbledon House
• John Martyn – singer-songwriter
• Master Shortie – MC
• Tony McGuinness – musician, Above and Beyond
• Will Mellor – actor
• Thomas Ralph Merton – physicist
• Sally Morgan – celebrity psychic medium
• Mud^{[citation needed]} – glam rock group
• Marcus Mumford – musician, Mumford & Sons
• Gillian Murphy – dancer, American Ballet Theatre
• John Murray III (1808–1892) – publisher; significant publications include Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species; built a house called "Newstead" at Somerset road.
• Mat McNerney – singer-songwriter Hexvessel, Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures, Code, Dødheimsgard, guitarist, grew up in Wimbledon and attended Donhead Catholic Prep School and Wimbledon College

N

• Lord Horatio Nelson – Admiral; his estate, Merton Place, included part of Wimbledon at the eastern end of the Broadway, though strictly he was a resident of Merton, the neighbouring parish

O

• Mikel John Obi – Chelsea FC defensive midfielder

P

• F.W.J. Palmer – engineer, born here
• Alan Pardew – football manager
• Michelle Paver – author, Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
• Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham – Lord Chancellor
• Augustus Porter – socialite
• Chris Powell – manager of The Championship football club Charlton Athletic, former footballer, grew up in Mitcham
• Sir William Henry Preece – developed English telephone system; Blue Plaque at Gothic Lodge, 6 Woodhayes Road
• Robert Prizeman – classical crossover music composer; choirmaster of Libera and St Phillip's Parish Church, Norbury; composed the BBC's Songs of Praise signature music
• Steve Punt – comedian

R

• Oliver Reed – actor
• Diana Rigg – actress
• Laura Robson – Junior Wimbledon tennis champion
• Annie Ross – jazz singer
• Rox – musician
• Margaret Rutherford – actress, Blue Plaque at 4 Berkeley Place

S

• Sampha – singer-songwriter, known for collaborative work with SBTRKT, Jessie Ware and Drake
• Arthur Schopenhauer – philosopher, Blue Plaque at Eagle House where he lived in 1803
• Ridley Scott – film director, Blade Runner and Gladiator
• Jay Sean – R&B singer
• Brian Sewell – art critic and media personality
• Slick Rick (Richard Walters) – rapper, hip-hop musician, born in Mitcham but moved to the Bronx, New York
• Shane Smeltz – New Zealand footballer: lived in Mitcham when he played for AFC Wimbledon
• Mark Edgley Smith – composer
• Alex Stepney – former Manchester United footballer and 1968 European Cup winner
• Steve-O – Jackass performer
• Herbert Strudwick – cricket wicket-keeper
• Graham Stuart – footballer
• Dave Swarbrick – fiddler of Fairport Convention

T

• Jamie T – singer-songwriter and musician
• Arnold Toynbee (1852–1883) – economic historian, Blue Plaque at 49 Wimbledon Parkside
• Joseph Toynbee (1815–1866) – surgeon, Blue Plaque at 49 Wimbledon Parkside
• Ralph Tubbs – architect; his buildings include the Dome of Discovery and Charing Cross Hospital
• John Mosely Turner – supercentenarian

W

• Terri Walker – R&B and soul singer
• Max Wall – actor, comedian and entertainer
• David Walliams – actor, comedian, TV sensation, children's book writer - awarded OBE from Queen
• Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730–1782) – twice Prime Minister
• William Allison White – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• William Wilberforce (1759–1833) – 19th-century anti-slavery campaigner
• Nigel Winterburn – football player
• Jamie Woon – singer-songwriter

Y

• Young MC (Marvin Young) – hip-hop musician, born in Wimbledon and moved to Queens, New York

Z

• Faryadi Sarwar Zardad – Afghan warlord; later tried for war crimes, convicted and imprisoned

References

This page was last edited on 3 February 2024, at 09:03