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 28 of 713 notable people

0003 POET

W. H. Auden

1907 - 1973

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0016 POLITICIAN

Gladwyn Jebb

1900 - 1996

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0052 ACTOR

Alan Webb (actor)

1906 - 1982

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0081 COMPOSER

Arnold Cooke

1906 - 2005

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0084 ACTOR

Reginald Beckwith

1908 - 1965

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0107 CLARINET

Reginald Kell

1906 - 1981

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0126 ARTIST

Edna Manley

1900 - 1987

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0130 POET

Hugh Sykes Davies

1909 - 1984

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0215 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Ian Hogbin

1904 - 1989

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0235 OFFICER

Richard Atcherley

1904 - 1970

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0242 POLITICIAN

Wilfrid Roberts

1900 - 1991

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0304 BOTANIST

Bernard Dearman Burtt

1902 - 1938

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0311 SPORT

Lorna Johnstone

1902 - 1990

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0314 ACTOR

Arnold Bell

1901 - 1988

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0319 ACTOR

Patrick Waddington

1903 - 1987

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0389 ATHLETIC

Walter Porter (runner)

1903 - 1979

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0426 ARTIST

Patrick Hall (artist)

1906 - 1992

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0427 RUNNER

Wally Beavers

1903 - 1965

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0480 WRITER

A. V. Coton

1906 - 1969

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0508 CRICKET

Charles Hall (cricketer, born 1906)

1906 - 1976

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0520 OFFICER

David Atcherley

1904 - 1952

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0526 WRITER

Marie Muir

1908 - 1998

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0552 FOOTBALL

Reg Baines

1907 - 1974

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0573 POLITICIAN

Bev Lewis

1906 - 1986

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0643 FOOTBALL

Tommy Maskill

1903 - 1956

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0663 ENGINEER

Herbert Haslegrave

1902 - 1999

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0674 FOOTBALL

George Maskill

1906 - 1969

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0696 POLITICIAN

Don Barker (politician)

1904 - 1956

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