List of former pupils of Westminster School
The following people were educated at Westminster School , and are sometimes listed with OW (Old Westminster ) after their name (collectively, OWW ) There are over a thousand Old Westminsters listed in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography so these are necessarily a small sample:
All persons are British unless otherwise stated.
15th century
John Hygdon (c. 1472 ? 1532), first dean of Cardinal College /Christ Church, Oxford
16th century
Nicholas Udall (1504?1556), playwright
Richard Hakluyt (c. 1552 ? 1616), travel writer
William Alabaster (1567?1640), poet
Robert Bruce Cotton (1570?1631), antiquarian
Ben Jonson (1573?1637), poet and dramatist
Arthur Dee (1579?1651), physician
Richard Corbet (1582?1635), poet
Robert Herrick (1591?1674), poet
Charles Chauncy (1592?1672), President of Harvard 1654 – 72
Henry King (1592?1669), poet
George Herbert (1593?1633), public orator and poet
17th century
Jasper Mayne (1604?1672), dramatist
Thomas Randolph (1605?1635), poet and dramatist
Abraham Cowley (1618?1667), poet
Richard Lower (1631?1691), pioneering physician
John Dryden (1631?1700), poet and playwright
John Locke (1632?1704), philosopher
Sir Christopher Wren (1632?1723), architect, scientist and co-founder of the Royal Society
Robert Hooke (1635?1703), scientist and co-founder of the Royal Society
Thomas Gale (c. 1636 ? 1702), classical scholar and antiquarian
Henry Aldrich 1647 – 1710), philosopher
George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem (1648?1689), Lord Chief Justice of the Bloody Assize, Lord Chancellor (also ed. by Thomas Chaloner at Shrewsbury and attended St Paul's )[1]
Humphrey Prideaux (1648?1724), Dean of Norwich
Lancelot Blackburne (1658?1743), Archbishop of York
Henry Purcell (1659?1695), composer
Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax (1661?1715), creator of the Bank of England
James Hamilton, 6th Earl of Abercorn (1661?1734), Privy Counsellor
William King (1663?1712), poet
Matthew Prior (1664?1771), poet
Nicholas Rowe (1674?1718), Poet Laureate 1715
William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath (1684?1764), Cabinet Minister
John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville (1690?1763), statesman and Cabinet Minister
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1693?1768), First Lord of the Treasury 1754 – 1756, Prime Minister
James Bramston (1694?1744), satirist
Henry Pelham (1696?1754), First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1743 – 1754, Prime Minister
John, Lord Hervey ,(1696?1743), statesman and writer
John Dyer (1699?1748), poet
18th century
Charles Wesley (1707?1788), Methodist preacher and writer of over 6,000 hymns
William Beckford (1709?1770), politician, twice Lord Mayor of London
John Cleland (1709?1789), author of the first erotic novel
Sir John Eardley Wilmot (1709-1792), Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
Robert Hay Drummond (1711-1776), Archbishop of York
James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave (1715?1763), First Lord of the Treasury, Prime Minister for five days in 1757
Francis Lewis (1713?1803), signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence
General Thomas Gage (1721?1787), C in C North America, Governor of Massachusetts 1774
John Burgoyne (1723?1792), Lieutenant-General who surrendered British Army at Saratoga
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (1726?1799), Admiral of the Fleet
Frederick Hamilton (1728?1811), deacon
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730?1782), Prime Minister
William Cowper (1731?1800), poet and hymnodist
Henry Constantine Jennings (1731?1819), collector and gambler
Charles Churchill , George Colman the Elder , Bonnell Thornton and Robert Lloyd (1731?1764, 1732?1794, 1725?1768, and 1733?1764), satirists and poets ; founders of the satirists' Nonsense Club
Warren Hastings (1732?1818), impeached Governor-General of Bengal
Nevil Maskelyne (1732?1811), Astronomer Royal
Richard Cumberland (1732?1811), dramatist
Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735?1811), Prime Minister
Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond (1735?1806), reforming politician
John Horne Tooke (1736?1812), politician and philologist
Edward Gibbon , FRS (1737?1794), historian
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738?1809), Prime Minister
Arthur Middleton (1742?1787), signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746?1825), ADC to Washington 1777, defeated by Jefferson in 1804 in contest for Presidency
Jeremy Bentham (1748?1832), philosopher, lawyer and eccentric
Archibald James Edward Stewart, 1st Baron Douglas of Douglas (1748?1827), Winner of the Douglas Cause. MP and Lord Lieutenant of Forfarshire. http://www.jamesboswell.info/People/people.php?id=33
Henry William Bunbury (1750?1811), caricaturist
Thomas Pinckney (1750?1828), American ambassador to Britain
Richard Burke Jr. (1758-1794), Member of Parliament
Richard Bingham, Earl of Lucan (1764?1839), Member of Parliament
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin (1766?1841), ambassador to Constantinople , bringer of parthenon marbles to Britain
Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey (1768?1854), cavalry and horse artillery officer at Waterloo , where he lost a leg
Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (1770?1844), Radical parliamentarian and parliamentary reformer
Robert Southey (1774?1843), Poet Laureate 1813
Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775?1818), dramatist
Benjamin Hall (1778?1817), Welsh industrialist, father of 1st Baron Llanover (below).
Henry Fynes Clinton (1781?1852), scholar
John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton (1786?1869), companion and ally of Byron
FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788?1855), lost his right arm at Waterloo , C-in-C in the Crimea
William Sellon (died 1790), Deacon
Sir James Graham (1792?1861), politician
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792?1878), Prime Minister
William Mure (1799?1860), scholar and politician
19th century
John Nelson Darby (1800?1882), Irish clergyman
Thomas Henry Lister (1800?1842), novelist and first Registrar General
Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover (1802?1867), Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings responsible for, amongst others, the current Palace of Westminster , likely to have given his name to Big Ben
Zerah Colburn (1804?1840), Canadian child mathematics prodigy
William Rowan Hamilton (1805?1865), scientist
Sir Robert Joseph Phillimore (1810?1885), Judge of the Arches
Gilbert Abbott à Beckett (1811?1856), writer
Sir Charles Dilke, 1st Baronet (1811?1869) reformer, instigator of the Great Exhibition
Henry Mayhew (1812?1887), reforming and satirical journalist ; chronicler of London's poor and founder of Punch
Sir George Webbe Dasent (1817?1896), author
George Henty (1832?1902), author of more than 80 popular books for boys
Sir Edward Poynter (1836?1919), painter
Sir Charles Dilke, 2nd Baronet (1843?1911), Liberal statesman
William Knox D'Arcy (1849?1917), industrialist
Herbert Rawson (1852 - 1924), England international footballer
Norman Bailey (1857 - 1923), England international footballer
Sir Guy Francis Laking (1875?1919), art historian and Keeper of the London Museum
Sir K. A. C. Creswell (1879?1974), architectural historian specialising in Egyptian Islamic architecture
A. A. Milne (1882?1956), author and journalist
Hussein Ala (born 1883), Prime Minister of Iran
Adrian Stephen (1883?1948), Bloomsbury psychoanalyst
Henry Tizard (1885?1959), scientist and inventor
Harry St. John Philby (1885-1960), Arabist, explorer, author, agent
Gustav Hamel (1889?1914), pioneer aviator
Sir Adrian Boult (1889?1984), conductor
Edgar Adrian (1889?1977), scientist and Nobel Prizewinner
Oliver Lyttelton, 1st Viscount Chandos (1893?1972), Cabinet Minister during World War II , chaiman of the National Theatre Board
20th century
Gregory Dix (1902?1952), liturgical scholar
Patrick Hamilton (1904?1962), novelist and playwright
Sir John Gielgud (1904?2000), actor and director
Sir John Aitken (1910?1985), Conservative newspaper owner
H. A. R. "Kim" Philby (1912?1988), agent who defected to USSR 1963
Professor Sir Richard Doll , CH FRS (1912?2005), epidemiologist
Sir Richard Stone (1913?1991), Nobel prizewinner
Angus Wilson (1913?1991), novelist
Norman Parkinson (1913?1990), photographer
Sir William Deakin (1913?2005), historian and literary assistant to Winston Churchill
John Freeman (born 1915), Labour politician, broadcaster, diplomat and television chairman
Sir Andrew Huxley FRS (born 1917), scientist
Cecil Gould (1918?1994), art historian
Brian Urquhart (born 1919) UN undersecretary-general and pioneer of peacekeeping
Sir Peter Ustinov (1921?2004), actor, writer and director
Michael Flanders and Donald Swann (1922?1975 and 1923?1994), performers, writers and musicians
Neville Sandelson (1923?2002), founder member of the SDP
Michael Havers (1923?1992), lord chancellor
Richard Wollheim (1923?2003), philosopher
Michael Hamburger (1924?2007), literary critic
Colin Turnbull (1924?1994), anthropologist
Tony Benn (born 1925), politician
Peter Brook (born 1925), theatre director
Tristram Cary (born 1925), composer
Anthony Sampson (1926?2004) , author, founder member of the SDP
Sir Crispin Tickell (born 1930), environmentalist, diplomat and academic
Nigel, Lord Lawson (born 1932), former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer
Anthony Howard (born 1934), journalist
Sir Roger Norrington (born 1934), musician
Simon Gray (born 1936), playwright
William Cookson (1939?2004), literary critic
Julian, Lord Hunt ,(born 1942), climate change authority and Labour peer
Peter Bottomley (born 1944), Conservative politician
Peter Asher and Gordon Waller (born 1944 and 1945), musicians
William, Baron Bach (born 1946), Labour politician
Andrew, Lord Lloyd-Webber (born 1948), musician and producer
Martin Amis (born 1949), novelist
Michael Attenborough (born 1950), theatre director
Tim Sebastian (born 1952) , television correspondent and interviewer
Stephen Poliakoff (born 1952), playwright
Robbie Fields (born 1952), record producer
Nigel Planer (born 1953), novelist and actor
Chris Huhne (born 1954), Liberal Democrat politician
Adam Mars-Jones (born 1954), novelist and critic
James Robbins (born 1955), diplomatic correspondent
Tim Gardam (born 1955), journalist and educator, former director of Channel 4
Andrew Graham-Dixon (born 1956), broadcaster and art historian
Dominic Grieve (born 1956), shadow Attorney-General
Dominic Lawson (born 1956), journalist
Shane McGowan (born 1957), musician
James Lasdun (born 1957), novelist
Thomas Dolby (born 1958), musician
Nigella Lawson (born 1960), broadcaster
Edward St Aubyn (born 1960), author
Tom Holt (born 1960), novelist
Timothy Winter (born 1960), islamic scholar
Michael Reiss (born 1960), anglican bioethicist
George Benjamin (born 1960), composer
Imogen Stubbs (born 1961), actress
Matt Frei (born 1963), foreign correspondent
Ian Bostridge (born 1964), tenor singer
Helena Bonham Carter (born 1966), actress
Noreena Hertz (born 1967), economist and author
Gavin Rossdale (born 1967), musician and actor
Julian Anderson (born 1967), composer
Nick Clegg (born 1967), Liberal Democrat leader
Richard Harris (born 1968), composer and pianist
Ruth Kelly MP (born 1968), former Education Secretary
Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish (born 1968 and 1969), TV performers and journalists
Marcel Theroux (born 1969), novelist
Louis Theroux (born 1970), broadcaster
Tobias Hill (born 1970), poet and novelist
Dido Armstrong (born 1971), musician under the name of "Dido"
Martha Lane Fox (born 1973), dot.com entrepreneur
James Reynolds (born 1974), BBC Beijing Correspondent
Conrad Shawcross (born 1977), artist
Christian Coulson (born 1978), actor
Pinny Grylls (born 1978), filmmaker
Benjamin Yeoh (born 1978), playwright
James Brandon (born 1980), journalist
Clemency Burton (born 1981),writer and actress
Alice Eve (born 1982), actress
Mica Penniman (born 1983), musician under the name "Mika"
Max Vergara Poeti (born 1983), novelist and essayist
Footnotes
Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article
Advertisement