List of people from Bath

This article provides a non-exhaustive list of famous people born, educated or prominent in Bath, Somerset, England, or otherwise associated with it. The sections and the names in each section are alphabetical. Bathonian describes a person who comes from Bath.

Acting

• Ann Street Barry (1734–1801), singer, dancer and stage actress.
• George Bartley (1782?–1858), stage comedian.
• Paul Bedford (1792?–1871), comedian.
• Jennifer Biddall (born 1980), actress who played Jessica Harris in Hollyoaks.
• Patricia Brake (1942–2022), actress in Porridge, and Going Straight
• Adam Campbell (born 1980), actor in Epic Movie and Date Movie.
• Julia Davis (born 1966), actress, comedian, director and writer.
• Henry Gattie (1774–1844), actor and singer.
• Michael Gwynn (1916–1976), actor
• Anthony Head (1954-2026), actor, singer and performer in musical theatre.
• Jonathan Hyde (born 1948), Australian-English actor.
• Kym Jackson (born 1981), Australian actress and author.
• Andrew Lincoln (born 1973), actor, brought up in Bath.
• Jonathan Lynn (born 1943), actor, writer and director.
• Angelica Mandy (living), actress in Vanity Fair, and in the Harry Potter series as Gabrielle Delacour
• Leo McKern (1920–2002), actor in Rumpole
• Tom Payne (born 1982), actor.
• Arnold Ridley (1896–1984), playwright and actor.
• Sarah Siddons (1755–1831), actress
• Daniel Terry (1780?–1829), actor and playwright.
• Indira Varma (born 1973), actress.
• Harriet Waylett (1798–1851), actress and theatre manager.
• Benjamin Nottingham Webster (1797–1882), actor-manager and dramatist.
• Sarah West (1790–1876), actress.

Architecture

• Robert Adam (1728–1792) – architect of Pulteney Bridge, also produced unbuilt designs for the Assembly Rooms and Bathwick estate.
• Thomas Baldwin (c. 1750–1820) – architect of Great Pulteney Street and Bath Guildhall.
• Sir Reginald Blomfield (1856–1942) – architect of the Bath War Memorial and extension of the Holbourne Museum.
• Thomas Fuller (1823–1898) – emigrated to Canada, where he co-designed the Parliament House in Ottawa.
• Frederick Gibberd (1908–1984) – architect of Bath Technical College.
• Henry Goodridge (1797–1864) – architect of Beckford's Tower, Cleveland Bridge and The Corridor shopping arcade
• Sir Thomas Graham Jackson (1835–1924) – architect of the World War I memorial aisle Bath Abbey.
• Charles Harcourt Masters (born 1759) – active in Bathwick including Sydney Gardens.
• William Eden Nesfield (1835–1888) – architect, one of the leaders of the Gothic revival in England.
• John Palmer (c. 1738–1817) – architect of the Pump Room and Lansdown Crescent.
• Charles J. Phipps (1835–1897) – Theatre Royal, Bath and other theatres around Britain.
• John Pinch the Elder (1769–1827) – the original Royal United Hospital
• John Pinch the Younger (1796–1849) – architect
• George Gilbert Scott (1811–1878) – restoration of Bath Abbey, architect of St Andrew's church destroyed by World War II bombing
• Frederick William Stevens (1847–1900) – architect, emigrated to India.
• John Wood, the Elder (1704–1754) – architect of Queen Square and the Circus.
• John Wood, the Younger (1728–1772) – architect of the Royal Crescent.

Arts

• Roy Ascott (born 1934), new media artist
• Daniel A. Baker (living), artist and producer of alternative comics.
• Thomas Jones Barker (1813–1882), historical, military and portrait painter.
• Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797–1839), poet, songwriter, dramatist and writer.
• Manolo Blahnik (born 1942), shoe designer
• Sir Peter Blake (born 1932) lived in Wellow village, near Bath, in the 1970s.
• Peter Brown (born 1967), painter
• Claire Calvert (born 1988), first soloist ballet dancer at The Royal Ballet
• William Duffield (1816–1863), still-life painter.
• Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), painter
• Heywood Hardy (1842–1933), painter
• Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830), painter
• Edwin Long (1829–1891), genre, history, biblical and portrait painter.
• Willis Maddox (1813–1853), painter.
• Kayleigh Pearson (born 1985), glamour model
• John Robinson (1715–1745), portrait-painter.
• John Sanders (1750–1825), painter.
• Albert Way (1805–1874), an antiquary, and principal founder of the Royal Archaeological Institute.
• HAUI (born 1990), multidisciplinary artist

Education

• Marie Bethell Beauclerc (1845–1897) – England's first female shorthand teacher
• Raymond Carr (1919–2015) – historian
• William Harbutt (1844–1921) – headmaster and inventor of plasticine
• Roderick Kedward (born 1937) – historian
• Edward Vansittart Neale (1810–1892) – barrister, cooperator, and Christian socialist.
• Isaac Pitman (1813–1897) – inventor of shorthand

Exiles

• Haile Selassie I (1892–1975) – during World War II
• Louis XVIII (1755–1824) – before ascending the French throne

Film and TV

• Bill Bailey (born 1965) – comedian, musician, actor, TV and radio presenter and author
• Jesse Honey (born 1977) – BBC Mastermind champion 2010
• Russell Howard (born 1980) – comedian, TV presenter and actor
• David Lassman (living) – screenwriter
• Ken Loach (born 1936) – film director
• Charlotte McDonnell (born 1990) – YouTuber, filmmaker and screenwriter
• David Robinson (born 1930) – film critic and author, official biographer of Charlie Chaplin, lives in Bath.

Literature

• Jane Austen (1775–1817) – novelist: Joan Aiken reports that Austen did not love the city: when she learnt her family were moving to Bath "she fainted dead away."
• Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797–1839) – poet, songwriter, dramatist and writer.
• William Beckford (1760–1844) – wrote Vathek and a series of works on travel.
• Henrietta Maria Bowdler (1750–1830) – novelist and editor.
• Jane Bowdler (1743–1784) – poet and essayist, was born and died at Ashley.
• John Bowdler (1746–1823) – moral reformer and religious writer.
• Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825) – physician and expurgator of Shakespeare.
• Angela Carter (1940–1992) – novelist who lived in Bath in the early 1970s.
• John Collins (1742–1808), an entertainer and poet.
• Charles Dickens (1812–1870) – novelist and frequent visitor to Bath, who set much of the Pickwick Papers there
• Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744–1817) – an Anglo-Irish politician, writer and inventor.
• Henry Fielding (1707–1754) – novelist
• Prince Hoare (1755–1834), painter, art critic, dramatist and librettist.
• William Hone (1780–1842) – writer, satirist and bookseller.
• Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938) – known as "Rita", wrote A Grey Life, a novel set in Bath. She lived at Combe Down from about 1923 and is buried in Bath Abbey Cemetery.
• Morag Joss (born 1955) – novelist
• David Lassman (living) – novelist born in Bath, co-author of the Regency Detective series
• Robert Montgomery – poet and minister.
• Mary Shelley (1797–1851) – novelist, author of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
• Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) – playwright
• Tobias Smollett (1721–1771) – physician, surgeon and novelist, who partly set The Expedition of Humphry Clinker in the city and wrote an essay on the Bath waters.
• Richard Tickell (1751–1793), playwright and satirist.
• Geoffrey Trease (1909–1998) – children's novelist, author of the Bannermere series
• Horace Twiss (1787–1849) – English writer and politician.
• Jacqueline Wilson (born 1945) – children's author born in Bath

Military

• General Sir Alfred Horsford (1816–1885), a senior Army officer and Military Secretary.
• Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Macarthur (1789–1872), lieutenant-general in the British Army, Commander-in-chief in Australia.
• Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758–1805) – admiral, freeman of Bath.
• William Edward Parry (1790–1855) – rear-admiral and Arctic explorer.
• Harry Patch (1898–2009) – supercentenarian and last trench veteran of World War I, lived in Combe Down.
• George Wade (1673–1748) – field marshal and MP for Bath 1722
• James Wolfe (1727–1759) – major general

Music

• 

  Lucy Anderson (bap. 1795–1878), pianist.
• Gabrielle Aplin (born 1992) – singer-songwriter
• Danny Byrd (born 1979) – drum and bass producer with Hospital Records
• Eddie Cochran (1938–1960) – rock and roll musician who died in Bath
• The Family Rain (formed in 2011) – blues rock band
• Henry Ibbot Field (1797–1848), a classical pianist who also played Bath Abbey organ.
• Fred V & Grafix – drum and bass production duo educated at Bath Spa University
• Peter Gabriel (born 1950) – singer, songwriter, and musician.
• Interview (1977–1981) – New wave band
• Alison Goldfrapp (born 1966) – singer of Goldfrapp
• Peter Hammill (born 1948) – singer-songwriter
• Raymond Leppard (1927–2019) – conductor, educated Beechen Cliff School
• Naked Eyes (formed 1982) – new wave musical group
• Elizabeth Ann Linley (1754–1792), singer, often painted by Thomas Gainsborough
• Mary Linley (1758–1787), singer, daughter of Thomas Linley the elder.
• Thomas Linley the elder (1733–1795) – bass and musician
• Thomas Linley the younger (1756–1778), a precocious composer, violinist and performer.
• William Linley (1771–1835), author and musical composer.
• Edward Loder (1809–1865), composer and conductor.
• George Loder (1816–1868), conductor and composer of orchestral music, operas and songs.
• John David Loder (1788–1846), violinist, later a professor of the violin.
• PinkPantheress (born 2001) singer-songwriter and record producer.
• Propellerheads (formed in 1995) – electronic music duo
• Peter Salisbury (born 1971) – drummer and percussionist of The Verve
• Alberto Semprini (1908–1990) – pianist
• Innes Sibun (born 1968) – blues singer, guitarist and songwriter
• Frank Tapp (1883–1953), composer, pianist and conductor
• Tears for Fears (formed 1981) – new wave musical group
• Midge Ure (born 1953), singer-songwriter and record producer.
• William Litton Viner (1790–1867), an organist and composer of church music.
• Calico (formed 2024), an independent band.

Public service

• Ralph Allen (1693–1764) – postal reformer, quarrier and mayor, who set up the first nationwide cross-country postal network
• Sir Henry Cole (1808–1882) – civil servant.
• John Ford Davis (1773-1864), physician and mayor of Bath in 1830.
• Don Foster (born 1947) – MP for Bath, 1992–2015
• Beau Nash (1674–1761) – master of ceremonies in Georgian Bath
• John Palmer (1742–1818) – inventor of a lightweight mail coach
• Chris Patten – MP for Bath 1979–1992, then Governor of Hong Kong 1992–1997
• William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708–1788) – Prime Minister and MP for Bath, 1757–1766
• William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806) – Prime Minister
• Sir William Tite (1798–1873) – architect and MP for Bath, 1855–1873
• Edward Vansittart Neale (1810–1892), barrister, cooperator, and Christian socialist.

Religion

• Joseph Brown (1796–1880), a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Louisa Daniell (1809–1871) – evangelical philanthropist and missionary
• Thomas Grinfield (1788–1870), clergyman and hymn-writer.
• John Hales (1584–1656) – cleric, theologian and writer.
• Edward Hawkins (1789–1882), churchman and academic, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford.
• William Jay (1769–1853) – preacher
• Oliver King (c. 1432–1503) – Bishop of Bath and Wells, set up rebuilding of Bath Abbey
• Richard Laurence (1760–1838), Hebraist and Anglican churchman, Archbishop of Cashel.
• Abraham Marchant (1816–1881) – early Mormon leader, settler of Kamas, Utah

Royalty

• Queen Anne (1665–1714) – visited for treatment of gout.^{[citation needed]}
• Princess Claire of Belgium (born 1974) – born in Bath
• Edgar of England (c. 943–975) – crowned king of England in Bath Abbey in 973
• Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) – on a visit, ordered the restoration of Bath Abbey
• Mary of Modena (1658–1718) – came for treatment for infertility. After Prince James Francis Edward Stuart was born, she paid for a cross to be raised in what became Cross Baths.
• Queen Victoria (1819–1901) – still a princess, stayed and opened Royal Victoria Park.

Science

• Benjamin Baker (1840–1907), civil engineer.
• Adelard of Bath (c. 1080 – c. 1152) – astronomer, philosopher and mathematician
• Adela Breton (1849–1923) – artist and archaeologist, recorded Mexican frescoes in the 1890s.
• Mike Cowlishaw (living) – computer scientist and engineer
• Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744–1817) – writer and inventor
• Robert Leslie Ellis (1817-1859), polymath and principally a mathematician.
• David Hartley (the Younger) (1732–1813) – philosopher and inventor
• Caroline Herschel (1750–1848) – astronomer who discovered several comets.
• William Herschel (1738–1822) – astronomer, discoverer of Uranus and musician
• Aylmer Bourke Lambert (1761–1842), botanist, fellow of the Linnean Society.
• William Lonsdale (1794–1871) – English geologist and palaeontologist.
• Thomas Robert Malthus (1866–1934) – philosopher and economist
• Dr William Oliver (1695–1764) – a founder of the Royal Mineral Water Hospital and inventor of the Bath Oliver savoury biscuit.
• Charles Henry Parry (1779–1860), physician and writer.
• Percy Pilcher (1867–1899) – inventor and aviation pioneer
• Richard J. Roberts (born 1943) – Nobel Prize-winning biochemist^{[citation needed]}
• Benjamin Robins (1707–1751) – scientist, Newtonian mathematician and military engineer.

Sport

• Xavier Amaechi (born 2001) – professional footballer.
• George Attfield (1826–1925) – county cricketer active in the 1840s and 1850s.
• Roger Bannister (1929–2018) – athlete, first man to run sub-four-minute mile
• Olly Barkley (born 1981) – England international rugby player
• Ashley Barnes (born 1989) – professional football player playing for Burnley F.C.
• Tony Book (born 1934) – football player, Manchester City captain and manager, one of a Bath-based Book footballing dynasty
• Jamie Chadwick (born 1998) – racing driver
• Jason Dodd (born 1970) – footballer, Southampton captain holding a record for most premiership appearances by player without being named in an England squad
• Jason Gardener (born 1975) – athlete, 4 × 100 m Olympic gold medallist
• Matt Green (born 1987) – professional footballer
• Mike Gregory (born 1987) – darts player, runner up at 1992 World Professional Darts Championship
• Jeremy Guscott (born 1965) – England and Bath rugby player
• Ed McKeever (born 1983) – kayak world champion (K1 200m)
• Tyrone Mings (born 1993) – professional footballer for Aston Villa F.C.
• Siobhan-Marie O'Connor (born 1995) – swimmer, silver medallist at the 2016 Olympic Games
• Andy Robinson (born 1964) – rugby coach, former England international team coach and Bath Rugby team coach
• Jack Rowell (born 1964) – Bath Rugby director, former England international team coach and Bath Rugby team coach
• Ben Rushgrove (born 1988) – paralympic athlete
• Anya Shrubsole (born 1991) – England cricketer
• Scott Sinclair (born 1989) – Bristol Rovers F.C. player
• Talan Skeels-Piggins (born 1970) – Paralympic alpine skier
• Corey Walkes (born 2001) – trampoline gymnast
• Amy Williams (born 1982) – winter Olympic gold medallist
• Clive Woodward (born 1956) – British Olympic Committee Director of Elite Performance, England international team coach and Bath Rugby team coach

Freedom of the City

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Bath.

References