55.8610° N, 4.2512° W

GLASGOW

Most Famous People Born in Glasgow, United Kingdom

Notable people
3,305
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1943
Most distinctive
Football 3.8×

A football city, almost unhealthily so. More than forty per cent of Glasgow's notables are footballers — Old Firm shaped a city's entire celebrity economy — and the next bench down is the actors and singers of a Scottish stage tradition that has produced James McAvoy, Robbie Coltrane, and Mark Knopfler. The 19th-century Clyde shipbuilding boom is the peak that most of the rest of the bench grew out of, and there is also an unusually deep comedy lineage from the working men's clubs that the strict statistical panel doesn't capture but that gave the world Billy Connolly.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Glasgow during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 337 notable births.

What Glasgow Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is Glasgow's biggest profession — 42% of all notables (1,378).

Glasgow over-indexes on football3.8× the global rate.

Glasgow under-produces writer — only 0.6× the global rate.

  1. Football1,378
  2. Politician239
  3. Actor203
  4. Player95
  5. Singer72
  6. Painter68
  7. Writer63
  8. Music48
  1. Football1,3783.8×
  1. Writer630.6×
  2. Politician2390.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Glasgow's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Music
  • Other
All3,305
Sort By

Showing 30 of 3,305 notable people

0024 POLITICIAN

Henry Campbell-Bannerman

1836 - 1908

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0110 DESIGNER

Christopher Dresser

1834 - 1904

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0316 MURDER

Madeleine Smith

1835 - 1928

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0860 POLITICIAN

Clinton D. MacDougall

1839 - 1914

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0908 ACADEMIC

James Kennedy Patterson

1833 - 1922

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0949 LAWYER

John L. MacDonald

1838 - 1903

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0964 POLITICIAN

George Alexander (American politician)

1839 - 1923

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1053 MERCHANT

John Stewart Kennedy

1830 - 1909

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1082 PAINTER

Daniel Cottier

1837 - 1891

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1163 POLITICIAN

John Bryce

1833 - 1913

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1212 ARCHITECT

Thomas Forrester (architect)

1838 - 1907

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1418 BUSINESS

Duncan Gillies

1834 - 1903

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1566 POLITICIAN

Flora Stevenson

1839 - 1905

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1630 POLITICIAN

Louisa Stevenson

1835 - 1908

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1694 OFFICER

Wilsone Black

1837 - 1909

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1707 PLAYER

Hely Hutchinson Almond

1832 - 1903

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1834 POLITICIAN

Arthur Renwick

1837 - 1908

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1863 JUDGE

Archibald Campbell Lawrie

1837 - 1914

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1896 PAINTER

Alexander C. Stuart

1831 - 1898

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2068 FOOTBALL

John Monteith (footballer)

1833 - 1918

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2104 MILITAR

John McDermond

1832 - 1868

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2116 MILITAR

Francis Farquharson

1837 - 1875

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2128 PHYSICIAN

Thomas Christie (Canadian politician)

1834 - 1902

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2184 MILITAR

Alexander McKenzie (Medal of Honor)

Born 1837

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2721 POLITICIAN

James Cleland (politician)

1839 - 1908

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2826 MILITAR

James Park (VC)

1835 - 1858

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2988 POLITICIAN

Andrew Semple

1837 - 1916

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3104 LAWYER

Robert Macauley (Wisconsin)

1838 - 1904

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3110 POLITICIAN

Peter McLean (politician)

1837 - 1924

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3164 POLITICIAN

Robert Stewart (Australian politician)

1831 - 1908

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