Chesterfield - Notable People

Notable People

Notable people to come from Chesterfield include:

• Olave Baden-Powell, wife to Robert Baden-Powell and Chief Guide from 1918 until her death in 1977.
• John Hurt, actor.
• Steven Blakeley Actor in TV drama series Heartbeat.
• Baron Bowden, English scientist and educationist, particularly associated with the development of UMIST as a successful university.
• Tommy Briggs, English footballer and Football manager.
• Paul Burrell, former royal butler and author.
• Barbara Castle, former Labour government minister.
• Pete Dodd, member of 1980s band, The Thompson Twins.
• Francis Frith, photographer.
• Thomas Gascoyne, professional cyclist who set world records for both 25 miles and the flying start quarter-mile. He rode in Europe, America and Australia but died at the Battle of Passchendaele.
• Jeff Gilberthorpe, artist and author.
• Simon Groom, former Blue Peter presenter.
• Jo Guest, former glamour model and Page Three girl.
• William Edwin Harvey, MP lived here.
• Ian Hyland, Daily Mirror television critic
• Nigel Illingworth, cricketer
• Jeremy Kemp, actor
• Thomas Latimer, WWE wrestler. He performs under the stage name Kenneth Cameron
• Frank Lee, MP lived here.
• John Lukic, footballer.
• Rik Makarem Actor in TV soap opera Emmerdale
• Violet Markham CH, writer, social reformer, mayor and administrator.
• Geoff Miller, former Derbyshire and England cricketer.
• Henry Normal, co-writer of The Royle Family
• Johnny Pearson, composer of theme tunes for Captain Pugwash, News at Ten and All Creatures Great and Small.
• Samuel Pegge (1704–1796), antiquary, Old Whittington vicar.
• Toby Perkins MP, British Labour Party politician, MP for Chesterfield 2010- present; Shadow Business Minister
• Jon Podgorski, member of 1980s band, The Thompson Twins.
• Claire Price, actress
• Sir Robert Robinson, Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on plant dyestuffs (anthocyanins) and alkaloids.
• Joe Screen, international speedway rider.
• Mark Shaw, lead singer of 1980s band Then Jerico
• Jason Statham, actor and former diver
• Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, former Motörhead drummer
• Percy Toplis, criminal active during the 1910s.
• Eric Varley, former MP for Chesterfield and past Chairman of Coalite.
• Mark Webber, guitarist in the band Pulp and curator of avant-garde cinema
• Bob Wilson, former football goalkeeper and broadcaster.
• Peter Wright, MI5 officer, author of Spycatcher
• Ryan Fletcher, bassist in the band Lawson.

Other prominent people connected with the town:

• Gordon Banks, England's World Cup Winning goalkeeper played for Chesterfield F.C. between 1955 and 1959.
• Tony Benn, Labour MP for Chesterfield from 1984 to 2001.
• Geoff Capes, Two time winner of The Worlds Strongest Man competition now lives in Chesterfield.
• The Venerable Edmond Francis Crosse, was the first Archdeacon of Chesterfield.
• Erasmus Darwin, (12 December 1731 – 18 April 1802), one of the founder members of the Lunar Society, a discussion group of pioneering industrialists and natural philosophers. He was educated at Chesterfield School.
• George Stephenson, English mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives. He ended his days at Tapton House which is now a Chesterfield College campus.
• Kerry Hallam, artist, folk musician and writer, trained at Chesterfield Art College for two years.
• Alfred Seaman successful Victorian photographer opened his first studio in the town
• Sir Montague Burton, founder of the Burton chain of companies, opened his first store in Chesterfield in 1903.