List of former pupils of Westminster School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

1 15th century
2 16th century
3 17th century
4 18th century
5 19th century
6 20th century

[edit] 15th century

John Hygdon (c.1472 – 1532), first dean of Cardinal College /Christ Church, Oxford

[edit] 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

[edit] 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
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 – 1684), 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

[edit] 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
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
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. [1]
Henry William Bunbury (1750 – 1811), caricaturist
Thomas Pinckney (1750 – 1828), American ambassador to Britain
Richard Bingham, Earl of Lucan (1764 – 1839), Member of Parliament
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin (1766 – 1841), ambassador to Constantinople, bringer of the Elgin 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), President of the Board of Control
FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788 – 1855), lost his right arm at Waterloo, C-in-C in the Crimea
William Sellon (? – 1790), Deacon
Sir James Graham (1792 – 1861), politician
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792 – 1878), Prime Minister
William Mure (1799 – 1860), scholar and politician

[edit] 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
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
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), entrepreneur
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 (1883-), Prime Minister of Iran
Henry Tizard (1885 – 1959), scientist and inventor
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

[edit] 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 (b. 1915), Labour politician, broadcaster, diplomat and television chairman
Sir Andrew Huxley FRS (b. 1917), scientist
Cecil Gould (1918 – 1994), art historian
Brian Urquhart (b. 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
Michael Havers (1923 – 1992), lord chancellor
Neville Sandelson (1923 – 2002), founder member of the SDP
Richard Wollheim (1923 – 2003), philosopher
Michael Hamburger (b. 1924), literary critic
Colin Turnbull (1924 – 1994), anthropologist
Tony Benn (b. 1925), politician
Peter Brook (b. 1925), theatre director
Anthony Sampson (1926 – 2004) , author, founder member of the SDP
Sir Crispin Tickell (b. 1930), environmentalist, diplomat and academic
Nigel, Lord Lawson (b. 1932), former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer
Anthony Howard (b. 1934), journalist
Sir Roger Norrington (b. 1934), musician
Simon Gray (b. 1936), playwright
William Cookson (1939 – 2004), literary critic
Julian, Lord Hunt,(b. 1942), climate change authority and Labour peer
Peter Bottomley (b. 1944), Conservative politician
Peter Asher and Gordon Waller (b. 1944 and 1945), musicians
Andrew, Lord Lloyd-Webber (b. 1948), musician and producer
Martin Amis (b. 1949), novelist
Stephen Poliakoff (b. 1952), playwright
Michael Attenborough (b.1952), theatre director
Chris Huhne (b. 1954), Liberal Democrat politician
Adam Mars-Jones (b. 1954), novelist and critic
Nigel Planer (b. 1955), novelist and actor
James Robbins (b.1955), BBC diplomatic correspondent
Tim Gardam (b. 1955), journalist and educator, former director of Channel 4
Tim Sebastian (b. 1956) , television correspondent and interviewer
Andrew Graham-Dixon (b. 1956), broadcaster and art historian
Dominic Grieve (b. 1956), shadow Attorney-General
Robin Griffith Jones (b. 1956), Anglican
Dominic Lawson (b. 1956), journalist
Shane McGowan (b. 1957), musician
James Lasdun (b. 1957), novelist
Timothy Winter (b. 1960), islamic scholar
Imogen Stubbs (b. 1961), actress
Matt Frei (b. 1963), foreign correspondent for BBC News
Ian Bostridge (b. 1964), tenor singer
Helena Bonham Carter (b. 1966), actress
Noreena Hertz (b. 1967), economist and author
Gavin Rossdale (b. 1967), musician and actor
Julian Anderson (b. 1967), composer
Nick Clegg (b.1967), Liberal Democrat politician
Ruth Kelly MP (b. 1968), former Education Secretary
Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish (b. 1968 and 1969), TV performers and journalists
Marcel Theroux (b. 1969), novelist
Louis Theroux (b. 1970), broadcaster
Tobias Hill (b. 1970), poet and novelist
Dido Armstrong (b. 1971), musician under the name of "Dido"
Paul Roffman (b. 1972), actor
Martha Lane Fox (b. 1973), dot.com entrepreneur
James Reynolds (b. 1974), Middle East correspondent for BBC News
Conrad Shawcross (b. 1977), artist
Christian Coulson (b. 1978), actor
Pinny Grylls (b. 1978), filmmaker
Benjamin Yeoh (b. 1978), playwright
James Brandon (b. 1980), journalist
Clemency Burton-Hill (born 1981), actress and writer
Alice Eve (b. 1982), actress
Mica Penniman (b. 1983), musician under the name "Mika"