List of people from the London Borough of Merton

Among those who were born in the London Borough of Merton, or have dwelt within the borders of the modern borough are (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 – England 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 One Foot in the Grave's Victor Meldrew
• Ambrose Crowley – ironmaster
• Steve Curtis – eight-time World Offshore powerboat racing champion

D

• Sean Davis – footballer, plays for Bolton Wanderers, previously with 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
• John Lyde-Brown – director of the Bank of England; resident of Cannizaro House; his collection of classical sculpture was acquired by Catherine II of Russia in 1787 and is held by the Hermitage Museum

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 – 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.

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
• October – singer-songwriter

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
• 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