Worcester - Notable People

Notable People

• Composer Sir Edward Elgar's father ran a music shop at the end of High Street; a statue of Elgar stands near the original location of that shop. His birthplace is a short way outside Worcester in the village of Broadheath.
• Hannah Snell, famous for impersonating a man and being enlisted in the Royal Marines in the 18th century was born and brought up here.
• Sir Charles Hastings, founder of the British Medical Association lived in Worcester for most of his life. The newly built Worcestershire Royal Hospital stands in a road named in his honour.
• William Stephenson 2007 British streetluge and buttboard champion and 2009 world number three streetluger and number two buttboarder was born and lives in Worcester.
• Philip Henry Gosse, naturalist, was born in the city in 1810.
• Sir Thomas Brock, sculptor most famous for the Imperial Victoria Memorial in London was born here in 1847.
• Edward Leader Williams, designer of the Manchester Ship Canal, was born and brought up in Worcester, living at Diglis House (now the Diglis House Hotel) with his brother, noted landscape artist Benjamin Williams Leader.
• William Morris, Lord Nuffield, (founder of Morris Motors Limited and philanthropist), spent the first three years of his life in the city.
• Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, poet and author, famously known as "Woodbine Willy", was for some time the Vicar of St. Paul's Church in the city. He rose to fame during World War I when he became an army chaplain, his sermons and poetry helping boost morale to the troops. He acquired his nickname from his habit of handing out "Woodbine" cigarettes to the men in the trenches.
• Mrs. Henry Wood writer, was born in Worcester.
• Fay Weldon writer, was born in Worcester.
• Revd Thomas Davis, hymn-writer, was born in Worcester in 1804. He is an ancestor of the Duchess of Cambridge.
• Worcester was home to electronic music producer and collaborator Mike Paradinas and his record label Planet Mu, until the label moved to London in 2007.
• Dave Mason musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist, was born in Worcester.
• Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power of experimental music group Fuck Buttons were both brought up in Worcester.
• Ernest Payne was born in Worcester and rode for the local Worcester St Johns Cycling Club. He won a gold medal in the team pursuit at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.
• Sheila Scott, aviatrix
• James White (1775–1820), founder of the first advertising agency in 1800 in London, was born in Worcester.
• Ann Hatton, writer of the Kemble family was born in Worcester.
• John Mathew Gutch, a respected journalist, lived at Barbourne, a suburb to the north of Worcester, with his second wife from 1823 until his death in 1861.

See also People from Worcester.