Derby

The tower of Derby Cathedral.[3]

View of Derby Cathedral Facing Clock Tower

The Roman camp of 'Derventio' is considered to have been located at Little Chester/Chester Green (grid reference SK353375), the site of the old Roman fort. Later the town was one of the 'Five Boroughs' (fortified towns) of the Danelaw, until it was captured by Lady Aethelflaed of Mercia in July 917, subsequent to which the town was annexed into the Kingdom of Mercia.[4]

The Viking name Djúra-bý, recorded in Old English as Deoraby, means "Village of the Deer". However, the origin of the name 'Derby' has had multiple influences; a variation of the original Roman name 'Derventio' with pronunciation of the letter 'v' as 'b', becoming Derbentio, and later Derby, along with a link to the river Derwent – from the Celtic meaning "valley thick with oaks"[5] – which flows through the city, triggering a shortened version of Derwent by, meaning 'Derwent settlement'.

The town name does appear as 'Darbye' in early maps, such as that of John Speed, 1610.[6]

Modern research (2004) into the history and archaeology of Derby has provided evidence that the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons would have co-existed, occupying two areas of land surrounded by water. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 900) says that "Derby is divided by water". These areas of land were known as Norþworþig ("Northworthy", = "north enclosure") and Deoraby, and were at the "Irongate" (north) side of Derby.[7]

During the Civil War of 1642–1646, Derby was garrisoned by Parliamentary troops commanded by Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, who was appointed Governor of Derby in 1643. These troops took part in the defence of nearby Nottingham, the Siege of Lichfield, the Battle of Hopton Heath and many other engagements in Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, as well as successfully defending Derbyshire against Royalist armies.

A hundred years later, Bonnie Prince Charlie set up camp at Derby on 4 December 1745, whilst on his way south to seize the British crown. The prince called at The George Inn on Irongate, where the Duke of Devonshire had set up his headquarters, and demanded billets for his 9,000 troops.

Statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie on Cathedral Green

He stayed at Exeter House, Full Street where he held his "council of war". A replica of the room is on display at Derby Museum in the city centre. He had received misleading information about an army coming to meet him south of Derby. Although he wished to continue with his quest, he was over-ruled by his fellow officers. He abandoned his invasion at Swarkestone Bridge on the River Trent just a few miles south of Derby. As a testament to his belief in his cause, the prince – who on the march from Scotland had walked at the front of the column – made the return journey on horseback at the rear of the bedraggled and tired army.

Derby and Derbyshire were among the centres of Britain's Industrial Revolution. In 1717, Derby was the site of the first water-powered silk mill in Britain, built by John Lombe and George Sorocold, after Lombe had reputedly stolen the secrets of silk-throwing from Piedmont in Italy (he is alleged to have been poisoned by the Piedmontese as revenge in 1722).

In 1759, Jedediah Strutt patented and built a machine called the Derby Rib Attachment[8] that revolutionised the manufacture of hose. This attachment was used on the Rev. Lee's Framework Knitting Machine; it was placed in front of – and worked in unison with – Lee's Frame, to produce ribbed hose (stockings). The partners were Jedediah Strutt, William Woollatt (who had been joined in 1758 by John Bloodworth and Thomas Stafford, all leading hosiers in Derby). The patent was obtained in January 1759. After three years, Bloodworth and Stafford were paid off, and Samuel Need – a hosier of Nottingham – joined the partnership. The firm was known as Need, Strutt and Woollatt. The patent expired in 1773,[8] though the partnership continued until 1781 when Need died.

Messrs Wright, the bankers of Nottingham, recommended that Richard Arkwright apply to Strutt and Need for finance for his cotton spinning mill. The first mill opened in Nottingham in 1770 and was driven by horses. In 1771 Richard Arkwright, Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt built the world's first commercially successful water-powered cotton spinning mill at Cromford, Derbyshire, developing a form of power that was to be a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution.[10][11][12]

This was followed in Derbyshire by Jedediah Strutt's cotton spinning mills at Belper. They were: South Mill, the first, 1775; North Mill, 1784, which was destroyed by fire on 12 January 1803 and then rebuilt; it started work again at the end of 1804; West Mill, 1792, commenced working 1796; Reeling Mill, 1897; Round Mill, which took 10 years to build, from 1803 to 1813, and commenced working in 1816; and Milford Mills, 1778. The Belper and Milford mills were not built in partnership with Arkwright. These mills were all Strutt owned and financed.

Other notable 18th-century figures with connections to Derby include the painter Joseph Wright, known as Wright of Derby, who was known for his innovative use of light in his paintings and was an associate of the Royal Academy; and John Whitehurst, a clockmaker and philosopher. Erasmus Darwin, doctor, scientist, philosopher and grandfather of Charles Darwin, whose practice was based in Lichfield, Staffordshire was a frequent visitor to Derby, having founded the Derby Philosophical Society.

Derby's place in the country's philosophical and political life continued with Henry Hutchinson who was an active member of the Fabian Society. On his death in 1894, he left the society an amount in his will which was instrumental in founding the London School of Economics[13]

The beginning of nineteenth century saw Derby emerging as an engineering centre with manufacturers such as James Fox, who exported machine tools to Russia.

In 1840, the North Midland Railway set up its works in Derby and, when it merged with the Midland Counties Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, to form the Midland Railway, Derby became its headquarters.

The connection with the railway encouraged others, notably Andrew Handyside, Charles Fox and his son Francis Fox.

A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Normanton Barracks in 1877.[14]

Derby was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and it became a county borough with the Local Government Act 1888. The borough expanded in 1877 to include Little Chester and Litchurch, and then in 1890 to include New Normanton and Rowditch. The borough did not increase substantially again until 1968, when under a recommendation of the Local Government Boundary Commission it was expanded into large parts of the rural district of Belper, Repton and South East Derbyshire. This vastly increased Derby's population from 132,408 in the 1961 census to 219,578 in the 1971 census.[15]

Derby Silk Mill is part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site

Despite being one of the areas of Britain furthest from the sea, Derby holds a special place in the history of marine safety – it was as MP for Derby that Samuel Plimsoll introduced his bills for a 'Plimsoll line' (and other marine safety measures). This failed on first introduction, but was successful in 1876 and contributed to Plimsoll's re-election as an MP.

An industrial boom began in Derby when Rolls-Royce opened a car and aircraft factory in the town in 1907. In 1923, the Midland Railway became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway with headquarters in London. However, Derby remained a major rail manufacturing centre, second only to Crewe and Wolverton. Moreover, it remained a design and development centre and in the 'thirties, on the direction of Lord Stamp, the LMS Scientific Research Laboratory was opened on London Road.

In 1911 the Derby Wireless Club was formed by a group of local engineers and experimenters. It was to be the first radio or 'wireless club' in the country.[16][17]

In World War I, Derby was targeted by German Zeppelin air bombers, who killed five people in a 1916 raid on the town.[18]

All Saints Church was designated as a cathedral in 1927, signalling that the town was ready for city status.[19]

Slum clearance in the 1920s and 1930s saw the central area of Derby become less heavily populated as families were rehoused on new council estates in the suburbs, where houses for private sale were also constructed. Rehousing, council house building and private housing developments continued on a large scale for some 30 years after the end of World War II in 1945.[20]

Production and repair work continued at the railway works. In December 1947 the Locomotive Works unveiled Britain's first mainline passenger diesel-electric locomotive – "Number 10000". In 1958 production switched over to diesel locomotives completely. Meanwhile, the Carriage & Wagon Works were building the first of the Diesel Multiple Units which were to take over many of the services.

In 1964 the British Rail Research Division opened to study all aspects of railway engineering from first principles. Its first success was in drastically improving the reliability and speed of goods trains, work which led to the development of the Advanced Passenger Train.

Derby was awarded city status on 7 June 1977 by Queen Elizabeth II to mark the 25th anniversary of her ascension to the throne.[21] The Queen presented the "charter scroll" or 'letters patent' in person on 28 July 1977 on the steps of the Council House to the then Mayor Councillor Jeffrey Tillet (Conservative).[22] Until then, Derby had been one of the few towns in England with a cathedral but not city status.

Derby holds an important position in the history of the Labour movement, because it was one of two seats (the other being Keir Hardie's in Merthyr Tydfil) gained by the recently formed Labour Representation Committee at the 1900 general election. The MP was Richard Bell, General Secretary of the Railway Servants Union. Bell was succeeded in 1910 by Jimmy Thomas and he in turn by the distinguished polymath and Nobel Laureate Philip Noel-Baker in 1936.

Despite its strategic industries (rail and aero-engine), Derby suffered comparatively little damage in both world wars (contrast Bristol and Filton). This may in part have been due to the jamming against the German radio-beam navigations systems (X-Verfahren and Knickebein, camouflage and decoy techniques ('Starfish sites') were built, mainly south of the town, e.g. out in fields near Foremark (ref. Kirk, Felix & Bartnik, 2002, see talk; see also[23]).

Derby has also become a significant cultural centre for the deaf community in Britain. Many deaf people move to Derby because of its strong sign language-using community. It is estimated that the deaf population in Derby is at least three times higher than the national average, and that only London has a larger deaf population. The Royal School for the Deaf on Ashbourne Road provides education in British Sign Language and English.

By traditional definitions, Derby is the county town of Derbyshire, although Derbyshire's administrative centre has in recent years been Matlock. On 1 April 1997 Derby City Council became again a unitary authority (a status it had held, as a county borough, up until 1974) with the rest of Derbyshire, having been administered from Matlock. On 7 July 2014, Derby's first ever Youth Mayor, Belal Butt (a student from Chellaston Academy), was elected by the Mayor of Derby.[24]

The county of Derby is split into 17 wards.[25]

Derby was a single United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency represented by two members of parliament until 1950, when it was divided into the single-member constituencies of Derby North and Derby South. However, in 2010, the wards of Allestree, Oakwood and Spondon were moved to the new constituency of Mid Derbyshire, created for the 2010 general election. As of 2020, Derby is represented by three MPs.

Derby North	Derby South	Mid Derbyshire
Amanda Solloway	Margaret Beckett	Pauline Latham
Conservative	Labour	Conservative

Representation of The Derby Ram in East Street

Derby's emblem is the Derby Ram, about which there is a folk song titled "The Derby Ram". It is found in a number of places, most notably serving as the nickname of Derby County F.C.. The logo of the City Council's services is a stylised ram.

The Office of National Statistics has defined an urban area for Derby which consists of the city itself, as well as outlying suburbs and villages in surrounding districts.

Derby has a green belt area defined to the north and east of the city, first drawn up in the 1950s, to prevent convergence with the surrounding towns and villages. It extends for several miles into the counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, covering much of the area up to Nottingham.

Derby's climate is classified as warm and temperate. The rainfall in Derby is significant, with precipitation even during the driest month. This location is classified as Cfb according to the Köppen climate classification. Under the Köppen climatic classification, Derby, in spite of its distance to large bodies of water, has an oceanic climate along with the rest of the British Isles. The average annual temperature is 9.7 °C in Derby. Precipitation here averages 694 mm. [28]

Annual dinner of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers held in the carriage works of the Midland Railway at Derby in 1898. Samuel Johnson, the railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer was the institution president.

As a consequence of the Midland Railway having their headquarters in Derby, along with their Locomotive and Carriage & Wagon Works, the railways had been a major influence on the development of the town during the Victorian period.

However, during the 20th century, railway manufacturing developed elsewhere, while in Derby the emphasis shifted to other industries. Even though it had pioneered the introduction of diesel locomotives, new production finished in 1966. Repair work gradually diminished until the locomotive works closed, the land being redeveloped as Pride Park. The only buildings remaining are those visible from Platform 6 of the station.

The Carriage and Wagon Works continues to build trains under Bombardier Transportation. The Railway Technical Centre continues to house railway businesses, including the headquarters of DeltaRail Group, formerly the British Rail Research Division.

Although much less important than in years gone by, train manufacturing continues in Derby and Derby railway station retains an important position in the railway network. East Midlands Railway operate Derby Etches Park depot while Network Rail and Rail Operations Group also maintain trains in Derby. The city is favoured as a site for a national railway centre.[33]

Derby is also the headquarters of the Derby Railway Engineering Society which was founded in 1908 to promote railway engineering expertise both in the city and nationally.

Derby Guildhall, symbolic seat of local government, today serves primarily as a 240-seat theatre. It was built after the previous hall was destroyed by fire in 1841.

• Cathedral Quarter
• Darley Abbey
• Derby Arboretum
• Derby Canal
• Derby Cathedral
• Derby Museum and Art Gallery
• Derby Industrial Museum (Silk Mill)
• St Mary's Church, Derby
• Derby Friargate Station (of which all that remains is Handyside's bridge and the bridge across Friargate)
• Pride Park Stadium (Derby County F.C.) and its predecessor the Baseball Ground (now demolished)
• River Derwent
• St Helen's House, Derby
• Derby Catacombs
• Intu shopping centre
• Saint Benedict Catholic School and Performing Arts College secondary school
• Royal Crown Derby Museum and Factory Tour
• Pickford's House Museum
• Derby Arena

Mercian Way, looking across Abbey Street towards Uttoxeter New Road

The city has extensive transport links with other areas of the country. The M1 motorway passes about ten miles (16 km) to the east of the city, linking Derby southwards to the London area and northwards to Sheffield and Leeds. Other major roads passing through or near Derby include the A6 (historically the main route from London to Carlisle, also linking to Leicester and Manchester), A38 (Bodmin to Mansfield via Bristol and Birmingham), A50 (Warrington to Leicester via Stoke-on-Trent), A52 (Newcastle-under-Lyme to Mablethorpe, including Brian Clough Way linking Derby to Nottingham) and A61 (Derby to Thirsk via Sheffield and Leeds).

On 16 March 2011, Mercian Way, the final section of the city's inner ring road, was opened to traffic.[36] This new section connects Burton Road with Uttoxeter New Road, and crosses Abbey Street. Abbey Street is the only road between the two ends from which Mercian Way can be accessed.

Derby railway station

Derby station is operated by East Midlands Railway and the city is served by expresses to London, the North East and South West, provided by East Midlands Railway and CrossCountry. There also remain local stations at Peartree and Spondon, although services are limited, especially at the former.

East Midlands Airport is situated about fifteen miles (24 km) from Derby city centre. Its proximity to Derby, the fact that the airport is in Leicestershire, and the traditional rivalry between the three cities (Derby, Leicester and Nottingham), meant that there was controversy concerning the airport's decision to prefix its name with Nottingham in 2004. In 2006, Nottingham East Midlands Airport reverted to its previous name. The airport is served by budget airlines, including Ryanair and Jet2, with services to domestic and European destinations.

Derby Airfield, located approximately 7 miles (11 km) southwest of the city centre has grass runways targeted at general aviation.

The Derby bus station has 29 bays, 5 for coaches and 24 for general bus services. Local bus services in and around Derby are run by a number of companies, but principally Trent Barton and Arriva Midlands. The city is on National Express' London to Manchester and Yorkshire to the South West routes.

In rock music, the blues singer-songwriter Kevin Coyne came from Derby, as does the three piece rock band LostAlone, and indie/glam rock band The Struts. The ska punk band Lightyear also hail from the city, naming their second album Chris Gentlemens Hairdresser and Railway Book Shop after a shop in Macklin Street.

The pop band White Town is from Derby, and their video ’Your Woman’ features scenes from the city centre.

Derby band The Beekeepers were signed to Beggars Banquet Records between 1993–1998. Singer Jamie East later went on to create entertainment website Holy Moly and present Big Brother's Bit on the Side

One of Derby's bands is Anti-Pasti, whose debut 1981 album The Last Call reached the top 40 in the UK album charts. The band reformed in 2012 and again with altered line up in 2014.

Sinfonia Viva is a chamber orchestra based in Derby, presenting concerts and educational events in the city, across the East Midlands, and occasionally further afield.[37]

A full-scale programme of orchestral and other concerts was presented by Derby LIVE at the Assembly Rooms, though this is currently closed following fire damage in March 2014; performances continue to take place at the smaller Guildhall Theatre, and in Derby Cathedral. The amateur classical music scene includes two choral societies, Derby Bach Choir and Derby Choral Union; smaller choirs including the Derwent Singers and Sitwell Singers; and Derby Concert Orchestra. Derby Chamber Music presents an annual series of chamber music concerts at Derby University's Multifaith Centre. A series of organ recitals is presented every summer at Derby Cathedral.[38]

The folk-music scene includes the annual Derby Folk Festival. Derby Jazz promotes a year-round series of performances and workshops.

Other music venues in the city include The Venue on Abbey Street, The Hairy Dog on Becket Street, Ryans Bar in the St Peters Quarter, The Flowerpot on King's Street, and The Victoria Inn.

After a lengthy period of financial uncertainty, Derby Playhouse closed in February 2008. It was resurrected in September of that year after a new financing package was put together but forced to close again just two months later because of further financial problems. The lease was later bought by Derby University and the building was renamed Derby Theatre. Along with the Assembly Rooms and Guildhall Theatre, it was operated by Derby LIVE, the cultural arm of Derby City Council. In 2012 Derby University took over as sole operator of Derby Theatre; Sarah Brigham was appointed Artistic Director, and has been in post since January 2013.

QUAD is a centre for art and film which opened in 2008. The building has two cinema screens showing independent and mainstream cinema, two gallery spaces housing contemporary visual arts, a digital studio, participation spaces, digital editing suites, artists studio and the BFI Mediatheque. QUAD organises the annual Derby Film Festival, and the FORMAT international photography festival, held every two years at various venues throughout the city.

The Robert Ludlam Theatre, on the campus of Saint Benedict Catholic School and Performing Arts College, is a 270-seat venue with a programme of entertainment including dance, drama, art, music, theatre in the round, comedy, films, family entertainment, rock and pop events and workshops. The theatre company Oddsocks is based in Derby and stages productions in the city and the surrounding area, as well as travelling the country.[39]

Déda, established in 1991, is the only dedicated dance house in the East Midlands region, acting as a local, regional and national resource for dance and aerial artists and contemporary circus. Déda houses a 124 capacity studio theatre, three dance studios, meeting room facilities and the CUBE café bar. It offers a weekly class programme and a year-round professional performance programme for children, young people and adults, and a community development programme. Déda now hosts a BA degree in Dance in partnership with the University of Derby.[40]

Derby Book Festival, first held in 2015, takes place in June, with events throughout the city.[41] An additional 'Autumn edition' was first held in October 2019.

Derby Festé[42] is a weekend street arts festival held at the end of September every year. The first Six Streets Arts trail was in June 2012,[43] took place again in 2013 and will now be a biennial event. It includes strong input from the local History Network[44] which was awarded a Heritage Lottery grant to pursue its work on marking the 100th anniversary of World War 1.

John Dexter the theatre director and the actor Alan Bates were from Derby. John Osborne wrote his play Look Back in Anger in 1956 while living in Derby and working at Derby Playhouse[45]

Pride Park Stadium

Derby gained a high profile in sport following the appointment of Brian Clough as manager of Derby County FC in 1967. Promotion to the Football League First Division was achieved in 1969, and County were champions of the English league three years later. Following Clough's resignation in 1973, his successor Dave Mackay guided Derby County to another league title in 1975, but this remains to date the club's last major trophy; relegation followed in 1980 and top flight status was not regained until 1987, since then Derby have spent a total of 11 seasons (1987–1991, 1996–2002, 2007–2008) in the top flight.[46] Other former managers of the club include Arthur Cox, Jim Smith, John Gregory and George Burley. Former players include Colin Todd, Roy McFarland (who both later had brief and unsuccessful stints as manager at the club), Dave Mackay, Peter Shilton, Dean Saunders, Craig Short, Marco Gabbiadini, Horacio Carbonari, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Steve Bloomer and Tom Huddlestone. The club's most recent spell as a top division (FA Premier League) club ended in May 2008 after just one season, during which the club won just one out of 38 league games and finished with just 11 points, the lowest in the history of the Premier League. The club moved from its century-old Baseball Ground in 1997 to the new Pride Park Stadium.[46]

There are three senior non-league football clubs based in the city. Mickleover Sports play at Station Road, Mickleover and are members of the EvoStik Northern Premier League (the seventh level of the English football league system). Graham Street Prims and Borrowash Victoria are both members of the East Midlands Counties League (level ten) and play on adjacent grounds at the Asterdale complex in Spondon.

Derbyshire County Cricket Club are based at the County Ground in Derby and play almost all home matches there, although matches at Chesterfield were re-introduced in 2006. One of the designated first class county sides, they have won the County Championship once, in 1936.

Derby has clubs in both codes of rugby. In rugby union, Derby RFC play in Midlands Division One East (the sixth level of English rugby union) at their Haslams Lane ground. Rugby league team Derby City RLFC were formed in 1990 and compete in the Midlands Premier Division of the National Rugby League Conference. From 2008 they are ground sharing with Derby RFC at Haslams Lane.

The city is represented in the English Basketball League Division One by Derby Trailblazers, who play at the Moorways Sports Centre. They were formed in 2002 following the demise of British Basketball League side Derby Storm.

Derby-born Melissa Reid

Team Derby, based at Derby Arena, won the inaugural National Badminton League title in 2014–15. The Arena, opened in 2015, also contains a velodrome that has hosted the Revolution cycling series.

Local industrialist Francis Ley introduced baseball to the town in the late 19th century, and built a stadium near the town centre. The attempt to establish baseball in Derby was unsuccessful, but the stadium survived for some 100 years afterwards as the home of Derby County Football Club. It was demolished in 2003, six years after County's move to Pride Park.

Professional golfer Melissa Reid was born in Derby in 1987. She plays on the Ladies European Tour,[47] and was a member of the victorious European Team in the 2011 Solheim Cup.

Arthur Keily the marathon runner and Olympian was born in Derbyshire in 1921 and has lived his whole life in Derby. In Rome in 1960 he broke the English Olympic record, recording a time of 2 hours 27 mins.[48][49]

The restored Grove Street Lodge and 'Grand Entrance' at the northern end of the Arboretum

Derby Arboretum, donated to the town by local philanthropist Joseph Strutt in 1840, was the first planned urban public park in the country. Although it suffered from neglect in the 1990s, it has been renovated. It has been claimed to have been one of the inspirations for Central Park in New York.[50]

Markeaton Park is Derby's most used leisure facility.[51] Other major parks in the city include Allestree Park, Darley Park, Chaddesden Park, Alvaston Park, Normanton Park and Osmaston Park. Derby is believed to be one of the country's highest, if not the highest, ranking cities for parkland per capita. Darley and Derwent Parks lie immediately north of the city centre and are home to owls, kingfishers and other wildlife. Derby Rowing Club and Derwent Rowing Club are located on the banks of the river, where is also a riverside walk and cycle path.

There are four museums: Derby Museum and Art Gallery; Pickford's House Museum; The Silk Mill and The Royal Crown Derby Museum.

• Samuel Richardson (1689–1761), writer[56] and[57] printer
• William John Coffee (1774–1846), artist and sculptor,[58] worked in porcelain, plaster, and terra cotta
• Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), landscape[59] and portrait painter
• John Raphael Smith (1751–1812) painter[60] and mezzotint engraver, son of Thomas Smith
• William Billingsley (1758–1828) painter of porcelain,[61] founded Nantgarw Pottery
• John Emes (1762–1810) engraver[62] and water-colour painter
• Graham Coxon (born 1969) musician and co-founder of Blur, is from the nearby Spondon
• Elizabeth Bridget Pigot (1783–1866) correspondent,[63] friend and biographic source for Lord Byron
• Henry Lark Pratt (1805–1873) painter[64] who trained in the porcelain industry
• John Haslem (1808–1884) china[65] and enamel painter
• Henry Britton (1843–1938), journalist[66] in colonial Australia
• Charles Rann Kennedy (1871-1950) Anglo-American[67] dramatist.
• Ernest Townsend (1880–1944) portrait[68] artist
• Marion Adnams (1898-1995), painter, printmaker, and draughtswoman.[69]
• Ralph Downes (1904–1993), organist,[70] designer of the organ in the Royal Festival Hall, London
• Norah, Lady Docker (1906–1983) socialite,[71] was said to be gracelessly gaudy
• Ronald Binge (1910–1979), composer[72] and arranger of light music
• Eric Malpass (1910–1996), novelist,[73] wrote humorous and witty descriptions of rural family life
• Denny Dennis (1913–1993), romantic vocalist[74] when British dance bands were at the peak of their popularity.
• John Dexter (1925–1990), theatre,[75] opera and film director.
• Michael Rayner (1932–2015) opera singer,[76] baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
• Richard Turner (born 1940), also known as Turneramon, an artist and poet
• Anton Rippon (born 1944), journalist, author and publisher
• Kevin Coyne (1944–2004), musician,[77] film-maker and writer
• Stephen Marley (born 1946), author[78] and video game designer of Chia Black Dragon series.
• Peter Hammill (born 1948), singer-songwriter[79] and founder of rock band Van der Graaf Generator
• Stephen Layton (born 1966), choral conductor[80] founded the choir Polyphony in 1986
• Jyoti Mishra (born 1966), sole member of White Town, the name of which was meant as a reference to Derby's perceived lack of diversity[81]
• Liam Sharp (born 1968), comic book artist, writer, publisher, and co-founder/CCO of Madefire Inc.
• Duncan Lloyd, (born c. 1980) guitarist[82] and singer
• Corey Mwamba, jazz musician and BBC Radio 3 presenter[83]
• Jessica Garlick (born 1981), singer,[84] was born in Derby
• Lucy Ward (born 1989), folk musician[85] and songwriter
• Jack O'Connell, (born 1990), actor
• Youngman, (born c. 1990) MC[86] and vocalist
• Dubzy (born 1991) grime music MC & entrepreneur[87] raised in Derby
• Drumsound & Bassline Smith, (formed 1998) electronic group[88]

• Ted Moult (1926–1986), farmer[89] and TV personality
• Patricia Greene (born 1931), radio actress,[90] long-standing role as matriarch Jill Archer in The Archers
• Alan Bates (1934–2003), actor,[91] in 1969 he co-starred in the Ken Russell film Women in Love
• Michael Knowles, (born 1937), actor,[92] played Capt. Jonathan Ashwood in the 1970s sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum
• Gwen Taylor (born 1939), actress,[93] played Amy Pearce in the sitcom Duty Free
• Judith Hann (born 1942) presented BBC's Tomorrow's World between 1974 and 1994
• Kevin Lloyd (1949–1998) actor,[94] played DC Alfred "Tosh" Lines in The Bill
• John Tams (born 1949), actor,[95] singer, songwriter, composer and musician
• Stuart Varney (born 1949) economic Journalist[96] for Fox News Channel
• Richard Felix (born 1949) paranormal investigator[97] from Stanley appeared on Sky Living Most Haunted series.
• Terry Lloyd (1952–2003), TV journalist[98] unlawfully killed in Iraq by US Marines
• Maxwell Caulfield (born 1959), English-American[99] film, stage, and television actor, based in the USA.
• Keiran Lee (born 1984), pornographic film actor, director and producer[100] for Brazzers
• Michael Socha (born 1987), actor,[101] roles in the films This Is England and Summer
• Jack O'Connell (born 1990), actor,[102] propensity for playing angry, troubled youth
• Lauren Socha (born 1990), actor, played Kelly Bailey[103] in E4's television series Misfits

• John Flamsteed (1646–1719), astronomer,[104] the first Astronomer Royal, he catalogued over 3000 stars
• George Sorocold (c. 1668 – c. 1738) engineer and architect, designed Lombe's Mill
• John Lombe (1693–1722), silk spinner in the 18th century Derby, created Lombe's Mill
• John Whitehurst (1713–1788), clockmaker[105] and scientist, early contributions to geology, member of the Lunar Society
• William Hutton (1723–1815) historian,[106] poet and bookseller
• Jedediah Strutt (1726–1797), hosier and cotton spinner,[107] developed the production of ribbed stockings
• Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), physician[108] and philosopher[109]
• Henry Cavendish (1731–1810), scientist,[110] experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist, discovered hydrogen
• John Mawe (1764–1829) practical mineralogist,[111] with his wife Sarah Mawe
• James Fox (1780–1830), engineer,[112] machine tool maker
• Edward Blore (1787–1879) landscape[113] and architectural artist, architect and antiquary
• William George Spencer (1790–1866) schoolmaster,[114] tutor and mathematical writer; Derby Philosophical Society
• Andrew Handyside (1806–1887), iron founder,[115] created The Handyside Postbox
• Sir Charles Fox (1810–1874) civil engineer[116] and contractor, focusing on railways, railway stations and bridges.
• Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), pioneer[117] of modern nursing
• Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), philosopher,[118] biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and classical liberal political theorist
• Parkin Jeffcock (1829–1866), mining engineer,[119] died trying to rescue miners
• Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney KCB, FRS (1843–1920) astronomer,[120] chemist, photographer, described the Abney effect
• Sir Henry Royce (1863–1933), co-founder[121] of Rolls-Royce
• Gordon Pask (1928–1996) author, inventor,[122] educational theorist, cybernetician and psychologist
• Sir Nigel Rudd (born 1946), industrialist[123] founded Williams Holdings
• Prof John Loughhead OBE FREng FIMechE FIET (born 1948) businessman,[124] Chief Scientific Adviser to BEIS
• John Smith (born 1957) the Chief Executive Officer[125] of BBC Worldwide
• Melvyn Morris CBE (born c. 1957) businessman,[126] owns Derby County F.C., made his money from Candy Crush Saga
• Karl Slym (1962–2014) businessman,[127] managing director of Tata Motors 2012 / 2014

• Joan Waste (1534–1556), a blind woman[128] who was burned in Derby for refusing to renounce her Protestant faith
• John Cotton (1585–1652) English and American Puritan divine,[129] sometimes called The Patriarch of New England
• Samuel Bourn the Elder (1648–1719) dissenting minister,[130] his theology was Calvinistic
• Thomas Bott (1688–1754) cleric[131] of the Church of England, known as a controversialist
• Daniel Coke (1745–1825), barrister[132] and MP for Derby 1776 / 1780 and Nottingham 1780 / 1812
• Alleyne FitzHerbert, 1st Baron St Helens (1753–1839), diplomat,[133] eponym of Mount St. Helens
• Sir Charles John Crompton (1797–1865), justice[134] of the queen's bench
• William Mundy (1801–1877) son of Francis Mundy, MP[135] for South Derbyshire and High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1844
• Samuel Plimsoll (1825–98), politician,[136] Liberal MP for Derby, inventor of the Plimsoll line, 'The Sailors Friend'
• Sir Henry Wilmot (1831–1901), Victoria Cross recipient,[137] MP for South Derbyshire 1869 / 1885
• Robert Humpston VC (1832–1884) recipient[138] of the Victoria Cross for gallantry during the Crimean War
• Walter Weston (1860–1940) clergyman[139] and Anglican missionary, popularized mountaineering in Japan
• Alice Wheeldon (1866–1919) pacifist[140] and anti-war campaigner.
• Jacob Rivers VC (1881–1915) recipient of the Victoria Cross for action in WW1
• Alfred Waterson (1880–1964) Labour and Co-operative MP[141] for Kettering 1918 / 1922
• Brigadier Charles Hudson VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC (1892 - 1959), British Army Victoria Cross recipient
• Freda Bedi (1911–1977), social worker,[142] writer and Gelongma, ordained in Tibetan Buddhism
• Geoffrey Lane, Baron Lane AFC, PC, QC (1918–2005) Judge[143] who served as Lord Chief Justice 1980 / 1992
• Chris Moncrieff CBE (1931–2019) parliamentary journalist,[144] political editor of the Press Association1980 / 1994
• Dame Margaret Beckett DBE MP (born 1943) Labour Party politician, MP for Derby South since 1983
• Dafydd Wigley (born 1943), Plaid Cymru MP[145] for Caernarfon 1974 / 2001
• Bob Laxton (born 1944) Labour Party politician,[146] MP for Derby North 1997 / 2010
• Geoff Hoon (born 1953), Labour politician,[147] MP for Ashfield 1992 / 2010
• Helen Clark (born 1954) politician,[148] Labour MP for Peterborough 1997 / 2005
• Chris Williamson (born 1956) Labour politician, MP for Derby North 2010 / 2015 and again 2017 / 2019

• Tom Johnson (c. 1750 – 1797) was a bare-knuckle fighter
• Steve Bloomer (1874–1938), footballer[149] and manager, played for Derby County and Middlesbrough FC, 598 pro appearances
• Charlie Hudson (1874 - 1958), pigeon racer,[150] winner of the Rome-England champion race in 1913 with The King of Rome
• Reg Parnell (1911–1964), racing driver[151] and team manager
• Louis Martin (1936-2015), weightlifter, Olympic silver medallist, 1964
• Mark Robinson (born 1963), PDC darts player
• Sir Dave Brailsford (born 1964), cycling administrator,[152] currently with Team Ineos
• Max Sciandri (born 1967), Professional cyclist[153] and Olympic medallist
• Rufus Brevett (born 1969), Footballer,[154] nearly 500 pro appearances
• Steve Holland (born 1970), former professional footballer, football coach for Crewe Alexandra and Chelsea
• Colin Osborne (born 1975), PDC darts player[155]
• Donna Kellogg MBE (born 1978) badminton player,[156] competed in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics
• Chris Riggott (born 1980), footballer,[157] over 200 pro appearances
• Bobby Hassell (born 1980), footballer,[158] over 380 pro appearances
• Damien Walters (born 1982), stuntman,[159] gymnast and free runner
• Chris Palmer (born 1983), footballer[160] over 230 pro appearances
• Hemish Ilangaratne (born 1987), cricketer
• Melissa Reid (born 1987), golfer[161]
• Jonathan Joseph (born 1991), England international professional rugby union player
• Jamaal Lascelles (born 1993) footballer,[162] captain of Newcastle United F.C.
• Sarah Vasey (born 1996), swimmer, 50 metre breaststroke gold medallist [163] at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Derby is twinned with Osnabrück in Germany. The partnership treaty between the two cities was signed on 17 February 1976.[164]

The twinning agreement with Derby was in the historical Hall of Peace in Osnabrück's Rathaus (town hall). Every year, Derby and Osnabrück each appoint an envoy who spends twelve months in the twin city. The envoy promotes the exchange of ideas between the two cities and acts as an educational and information officer to increase awareness of the twinning scheme. The envoy gives talks to local societies and schools, finds pen friends and short term host families during work placements, works to assist groups who want to get involved in twinning by identifying and approaching possible counterparts and plans the annual mayweek trip.

There is an annual exchange between the wind bands of John Port School, Etwall and its twin school Gymnasium Melle in Melle, Germany, District of Osnabrücker Land. An exchange was established in 2009 between Allestree Woodlands School, and the Gymnasium Angelaschule in Osnabrück. This exchange was originally based on a drama-project of both schools in June 2009, which contained performances in both cities with over 1600 visitors. It is now a language and culture exchange between the two schools, run by the German department at Allestree Woodlands School.

The exchange of envoys between two cities is very unusual. The envoy in Osnabrück changes every year and Osnabrück also sends envoys to Derby, Angers and Çanakkale. No other city in Germany participates in this exchange of envoys, and in Britain, only one other town, Wigan, receives and sends an envoy.

In 2014, Derby became a sister-city with the Palestinian city of Hebron.[165]

• Osnabrück, Germany
• Kapurthala, India (friendship link)
• Haarlem, Netherlands (friendship link)
• Foncquevillers, France (friendship link)
• Toyota City, Japan
• Changzhi, People's Republic of China (Memorandum of Understanding)
• Keene, New Hampshire (Keene State College student exchange programme)

• Adam George Peaty MBE: 9 October 2016.[166]
• Reginald Frederick Harrison: 5 February 2019.[167][168]

• The Royal Naval Submarine Service: 28 April 2002.