53.9542° N, 1.0834° W

YORK

Most Famous People Born in York, United Kingdom

Notable people
713
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1924
Most distinctive
Novelist 2.8×

A cathedral city whose deep bench reads like a thirteen-century ledger, from Alcuin onward: a thick Priest cohort sitting beside an unusually literary Novelist and Mathematician showing, with a Cricket bench that over-indexes in the way only a certain kind of English county town manages. It is the sort of place where the medieval and the Victorian lecture hall somehow share the same page.

Through the Decades

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

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 59 notable births.

What York Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is York's biggest profession — 12% of all notables (89).

York over-indexes on novelist2.8× the global rate.

York under-produces singer — only 0.6× the global rate.

  1. Football89
  2. Politician63
  3. Actor46
  4. Player37
  5. Writer30
  6. Cricket22
  7. Priest20
  8. Painter18
  1. Novelist82.8×
  2. Player372.7×
  3. Botanist72.4×
  4. Cricket222.4×
  5. Mathematician82.3×
  6. Officer102.1×
  7. Diplomat81.9×
  8. Priest201.9×
  1. Singer90.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

15001550160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Film & TV
  • Art & Design
  • Other
All713
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Showing 15 of 713 notable people

0069 PAINTER

John Roddam Spencer Stanhope

1829 - 1908

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0073 POLITICIAN

William Harcourt (politician)

1827 - 1904

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0134 PSYCHIATRIST

Daniel Hack Tuke

1827 - 1895

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0138 GEOLOGIST

Wilfred Hudleston Hudleston

1828 - 1909

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0237 BOTANIST

James Backhouse (botanist, 1825–1890)

1825 - 1890

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0241 ARCHITECT

George Goldie (architect)

1828 - 1887

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0264 BARRISTER

Arthur Munby

1828 - 1910

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0272 PRIEST

Thomas Nettleship Staley

1823 - 1898

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0328 WRITER

Harriet Parr

1828 - 1900

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0330 POLITICIAN

William Milnes Jr.

1827 - 1889

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0333 PHILANTHROPIST

Jane Stuart-Wortley

1820 - 1900

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0362 CRICKET

J. B. Thompson

1829 - 1877

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0439 LAWYER

William Sefton Moorhouse

1825 - 1881

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0440 POET

Peter John Allan

1825 - 1848

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0516 AUTHOR

John Lyth

1821 - 1886

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