List of people from 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
• Lawrence 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.
• Mark Marney born (1963) one of Wimbledon greatest Sons.
• Tara and jazz Marney founder's of summer comes to us

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