Bridgnorth - Notable Residents

Notable Residents

A number of notable people have been born in or lived in Bridgnorth, including Francis Moore (1657–1715), the originator of Old Moore's Almanack. Richard Baxter (November 12, 1615 - December 8, 1691) the English Puritan church leader, divine scholar and controversialist, called by Dean Stanley "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen" lived in Bridgnorth town centre, in 1640. David Preece (May 28, 1963 – July 20, 2007), an English professional footballer who played in midfield, who played three times for the England B team, was another person born in Bridgnorth.

Notable people who received their secondary education at Bridgnorth Grammar School (now renamed Bridgnorth Endowed School) include Dr Thomas Beddoes, the physician and scientific writer, Professor Peter Bullock, the Nobel Prize winning soil scientist, Rev. Robert William Eyton, the author of The Antiquities of Shropshire, Bishop James Fraser, the reforming Bishop of Manchester, Rev. Osborne Gordon, the influential Oxford don, Sir John Josiah Guest, engineer, entrepreneur, and Member of Parliament, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, the Hollywood character actor, Ralph Lingen, 1st Baron Lingen, an influential Victorian civil servant; Dr William Macmichael, physician to Kings George IV and William IV and author of The Gold-Headed Cane, Bishop Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore and author of Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Henry John Roby, the classical scholar, writer on Roman law, and Member of Parliament, Bishop Francis Henry Thicknesse, inaugural Suffragan Bishop of Leicester, General Sir Charles Warren, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police during the period of the Jack the Ripper Murders and a General in the Second Boer War, and Cyril Washbrook, the cricketer who played for Lancashire and England. Guitarist Max Rafferty, and singer Ross Antony, are also former students of the Endowed School.