Finchley - Notable People

Notable People

Sir William Shee, the first Roman Catholic judge to sit in England and Wales since the Reformation lived in Finchley. The novelist Charles Dickens wrote Martin Chuzzlewit whilst staying at Cobley Farm near Bow Lane, North Finchley. Octavia Hill, a social reformer and a founder of the National Trust, Kyrle Society and the Army Cadet movement. She lived at Brownswell Cottages on the High Road in East Finchley just south of the junction with the North Circular Road today.

Henry Stephens, who founded the Stephens' ink company, and his son Henry Charles Stephens, who was the local MP from 1887 until 1900, both lived in Finchley.

Harry Beck, an engineering draftsman who created the present London Underground Tube map in 1931, lived in Finchey. There is a plaque commemorating him along with a copy of his original map on the southbound platform at Finchley Central tube station.

Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, 1979–1990, was Conservative MP for Finchley from 1959 to 1992, although she never lived in the area, instead preferring to live in Dulwich and Chelsea before and after her time in Downing Street. Spike Milligan, the comedian who was the chief creator and main writer of The Goon Show, lived in Woodside Park from 1955 to 1974. He was president and patron of the Finchley Society. Private John Parr, the first British soldier and the first soldier of the Commonwealth killed in World War I was born in Church End Finchley, and lived at 52 Lodge Lane, North Finchley. The singer George Michael was born in East Finchley.