43.5360° S, 172.6431° E
CHRISTCHURCH
Most Famous People Born in Christchurch, New Zealand
- Notable people
- 927
- Peak decade
- 1980s
- Median birth year
- 1952
- Most distinctive
- Cricket 16.0×
Canterbury has been quietly producing test cricketers since the 19th century, and the Player bench here runs well above the global baseline — Lancaster Park and Hagley Oval are the relevant landmarks, and Anthony Wilding's tennis lineage still threads through the club scene. The outsized Rower and Swimmer counts round out a Canterbury sporting profile that leans hard on the disciplines you can practice on flat water and flat grass.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Christchurch during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 115 notable births.
What Christchurch Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Cricket is Christchurch's biggest profession — 20% of all notables (189).
Christchurch over-indexes on cricket — 16.0× the global rate.
Christchurch under-produces football — only 0.2× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Christchurch's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Art & Design
- Science
- Music
- Writing
- Other
- Filtered to 1880s Clear ×
Anthony Wilding
1883 - 1915
Leslie Pearce
1887 - 1977
May Beatty
1880 - 1945
Bob Deans
1884 - 1908
Percy Neville Barnett
1881 - 1953
Esther Glen
1881 - 1940
John Amadio
1883 - 1964
Owen Merton
1887 - 1931
Ranji Wilson
1886 - 1953
Dan Sullivan (New Zealand politician)
1882 - 1947
Matthew Oram
1885 - 1969
Jim Thorn
1882 - 1956
Louis Hay
1881 - 1948
Fred Newton (rugby player)
1881 - 1955
George Augustus King
1885 - 1917
William Webb (rower)
1880 - 1960
Millicent Baxter
1888 - 1984
Henry St Aubyn Murray
1886 - 1943
Eleanor Hughes
1882 - 1959
Albert Rowland
1885 - 1918
Alan John Lance Scott
1884 - 1922
Edgar Stead
1881 - 1949
Mary Barkas
1889 - 1959
William Baker (Indian Army officer)
1888 - 1964
Kate Beath
1882 - 1979
Mary Lambie
1889 - 1971
Nugent Welch
1881 - 1970
Eric Watkins
1880 - 1949
William Orange
1889 - 1966
Bill Bussell
1887 - 1917
Charles Frederick Newham
1880 - 1960
Anne Pattrick
1881 - 1937
Gladys Elinor Watkins
1884 - 1939
Don Sandman
1889 - 1973
James Gillespie Barclay
1882 - 1972
George Wilson (New Zealand cricketer)
1887 - 1917
Berkeley Dallard
1889 - 1983
Ernest Crawshaw
1889 - 1918
Spencer Westmacott
1885 - 1960
Daisy Osborn
1888 - 1957
Gordon Kinvig
1888 - 1917
Kitty Lovell-Smith
1886 - 1973
Keith Ollivier
1880 - 1951
Joseph Bennett (cricketer, born 1881)
1881 - 1947
Annette Mary Eleanor Jane Clifford
1881 - 1968
Arnold Anthony
1886 - 1968
Bill Patrick (cricketer)
1885 - 1946
Harry Whitta
1883 - 1944
John Bruges
1889 - 1948
William Howell (cricketer, born 1883)
1883 - 1960
Reuben Cooke
1880 - 1940
Paddy Burns
1881 - 1943
Henry Morgan Taylor
1889 - 1955
Frank Fryer
1886 - 1958
Cyril Hendry Croker
1888 - 1958
Harold Caro
1887 - 1964