List of people from the London Borough of Merton
# 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
* B
* C
* D
* E
* F
* G
* H
* I
* J
* K
* L
* M
* N
* O
* P
* Q
* R
* S
* T
* U
* V
* W
* X
* Y
* Z

## 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 – 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
