Dorking - Famous Residents and Literary Connections

Famous Residents and Literary Connections

People born in the town include: Laurence Olivier, Lord Olivier, in 1907 — a blue plaque marking his birthplace can be found in Wathen Road.

Other people born in Dorking include Walter Dendy Sadler (1854–1923) artist and painter, and Queens Park Rangers F.C. Striker Jamie Mackie (born 1985).

The famous composer Ralph Vaughan Williams lived in Dorking for much of his life, and penned most of the works which made him famous in Dorking. The lark in "The Lark Ascending" is known to have been heard in the Mole Valley to the north of the town.

Actor Dean Gaffney currently resides in Dorking.

Absolute Radio DJ Christian O'Connell resides in Dorking with his wife and two children.

Kenneth Baker served as Member of Parliament for Mole Valley from 1983 to 1997 and lived for most of that time in Betchworth. On retirement he was made a life peer and took the title 'Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking'.

People who have lived in the town in the past include: Daniel Defoe who attended Rev. James Fisher's boarding school in Pixham Lane, and Defoe later mentioned Dorking in his tour through the whole Island of Great Britain.

Dorking also gets a mention in Defoe's book A Journal of the Plague Year, as a refuge for his brother's family.

Henry Hope and his nephew Thomas Hope spent summers at Deepdene in the beginning of the 19th century. Benjamin Disraeli wrote his novel Coningsby also while staying in Deepdene House (demolished in 1967) on the outskirts of the town. Emma Holland was brought up in the town.

Dorking and its environs, including Box Hill and the Deepdene Hotel, feature heavily in British author Robert Goddard's fictional thriller Closed Circle (1993). In this novel there are also several allusions to the notorious money-for-titles trader Maundy Gregory, the owner of the Deepdene Hotel in the inter-war years.

The Cubitt family had links with the town also. Thomas Cubitt was born and lived in the town, and later built up large areas of London from the early 19th century. His politician son George also had connections with the town, and notably financed the building of St Barnabas Church on Ranmore Hill known by its nickname of Cubitt's Spire, Cubitt's Finger or Cubitt's Stump.

The famous irrigation engineer Sir Arthur Cotton spent his last days, preaching the Bible and experimenting on cultivation of new wheat strains here. His tombstone at a local cemetery describes Sir Arthur as “irrigation Cotton” who was involved in construction of large scale irrigation projects, dams, aqueducts, bridges and canals in India. The Polish poet Marian Hemar is also buried at the local cemetery.

The Battle of Dorking a fictional short story written by Lt. Col. Sir George Tomkyns Chesney in 1871 was set in the town. Describing a fictional invasion and conquest of Britain, it triggered an explosion of what came to be known as invasion literature.

In The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Sam Weller's father and stepmother live in Dorking.

Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart of the band 10cc opened a studio, Strawberry Studios South, in a former cinema in Dorking at the end of South Street in 1976 following the departure of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. Songs recorded here include 'The things we do for love' and 'Good morning judge'. Songs recorded here by other artists include 'Ebony and Ivory' by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. The building was later demolished, the site used as a builders yard for a time and a housing development now occupies the site. In addition, 'The Cure (band)' recorded and mixed at the Rhino Studio which was at Pippbrook Mill, Fairfield Drive.

Child composer and musician Alma Deutscher lives in Dorking.