List of people from Plymouth
People from the English city of Plymouth are known as Plymothians or less formally as Janners.[1] The definition of Janner is described as a person from Devon, deriving from Cousin Jan (the Devon form of John), but more particularly in naval circles anyone from the Plymouth area.[2] The Elizabethan navigator, Sir Francis Drake was born in nearby town of Tavistock and was the mayor of Plymouth.[3] He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world and was known by the Spanish as El Draco meaning "The Dragon" after he raided many of their ships.[4] He died of dysentery in 1596 off the coast of Panama.[5] In 2002 a mission to recover his body and bring it to Plymouth was allowed by the Ministry of Defence.[6] Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Frank Bickerton both lived in the city.[7][8] Many artists have originated in Plymouth. Joshua Reynolds, the famous 18th-century portrait painter and the first president of the Royal Academy was born in Plympton, and more recently artists have included Beryl Cook whose paintings depict the culture of Plymouth[9] and Robert Lenkiewicz, whose paintings looked at themes such as: vagrancy, sexual behaviour and suicide, lived in the city from the 1960s until his death in 2002.[10] In addition, George Passmore of Turner Prize winning duo Gilbert & George was born in the city.[11] Famous politicians Michael Foot and David Owen are from Plymouth and notable athletes include swimmer Sharron Davies,[12] diver Tom Daley,[13] dancer Wayne Sleep,[14] and footballer Trevor Francis.[15] Other past residents include composer Ron Goodwin,[16] comedienne Dawn French[17] and journalist Angela Rippon.[18]
Notable Plymothians
Image | Name | Born | Died | Notability | Notes |
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Sir Francis Drake | 1540 | 1596 | First English person to circumnavigate the world | He was born in Tavistock and was the mayor of Plymouth. He died of dysentery off the coast of Panama and was slipped overboard inside a lead casket.[19] |
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William Cookworthy | 1705 | 1780 | Pharmacist/Industrialist | Born in Kingsbridge, Devon. Pioneered porcelain manufacture in Plymouth.[20][21] |
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Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet | 1784 | 1854 | Colonial governor | Spent most of his time in British colonies.[22] |
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William Elford Leach MD, FRS | 1791 | 1836 | Naturalist at the British Museum | Virtually solely responsible for the modernisation of British zoology in the early 19th century, which laid the foundations for Charles Darwin. |
Jonathan Nash Hearder | 1809 | 1876 | Electrical engineer | Born and died in Plymouth. Notable for the development of the induction coil.[23] | |
150px | William Henry Wills | 1810 | 1880 | Journalist and newspaper editor | A close friend of Charles Dickens, Wills was the subeditor of Household Words and All the Year Round |
Robert Julian Scott | 1861 | 1930 | Emeritus Professor of Engineering, Canterbury University, New Zealand | Notable for the creation of New Zealand's first indigenous steam buggy in 1881 and the development of Canterbury University's school of engineering. Cousin of Robert Falcon Scott. | |
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Robert Falcon Scott | 1868 | 1912 | Antarctic explorer | Died in central Antarctica. His body was found eight months later.[7] |
Philip Jacks | 1877 | 1941 | Hong Kong colonial administrator | Wrote Digest of Instructions From the Secretary of State For the Colonies (With Local Rulings) Regarding Disposal and Tenure of Land in the Colony of Hong Kong (1930). | |
Isaac Foot | 1880 | 1960 | President of the Liberal Party | He was president in 1947.[24] | |
Frank Bickerton | 1889 | 1954 | Antarctic explorer | He moved to Plymouth at the age of six and lived there until 1920.[8] | |
Robert Victor Walling | 1890 | 1976 | Soldier, journalist, and poet | Born and educated in Plymouth. In peacetime he worked as a journalist with Plymouth-based newspaper The Western Daily Mercury. He was also a member of Gorseth Kernow.[25] | |
Joe Symonds | 1894 | 1953 | Boxer | Born in Plymouth, Symonds held the British, European and IBU World flyweight boxing titles in the 1910s. | |
Michael Foot | 1913 | 2010 | Leader of the Labour Party | Son of Isaac Foot.[26] | |
Duncan Scott-Ford | 1921 | 1942 | Merchant seaman | Hung during World War II for treachery to the Germans.[27] | |
Beryl Cook | 1926 | 2008 | Comical artist | Born in Epsom, Surrey.[9] | |
William Goad | 1944 | 2012 | Businessman and pedophile | Lived in Plymouth and abused up to 3,500 boys.[28] He operated businesses in the area, in which he employed some of his victims.[29] | |
Lewis Pugh | December 5, 1969 | Alive | Ocean advocate and pioneer swimmer | First person to undertake a long distance swim in every ocean of the world. | |
Liam Mooney | 18 May 1972 | Alive | Entrepreneur | Born in Gosport, Hampshire | |
Lisa Cross | 4 April 1978 | Alive | IFBB professional bodybuilder | Born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester | |
Kate Nesbitt | c. 1988 (age 35–36) | Alive | Medical Assistant in the Royal Navy | Raised in Whitleigh, the first female recipient of the Military Cross in the Royal Navy, for bravery during the War in Afghanistan in March 2009.[30] | |
150px | Tom Daley | 21 May 1994 | Alive | Olympic diver | BBC Sports Personality of the Year Young Personality in 2007.[31] |
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Rūta Meilutytė | March 19, 1997 | Alive | Olympic swimmer | Won gold in the 100 meter breaststroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London.[32] Meilutyté is also the world record holder in the 100 breaststroke (short course), and the 50, and 100 meter breaststroke (long course) |
See also
References
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
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- ↑ Museum of Broadcast Communications
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Mackenna, F. S. (1947) Cookworthy's Plymouth and Bristol Porcelain
- ↑ Penderill-Church, John (1972) William Cookworthy 1705-1780: a study of the pioneer of true porcelain manufacture in England. Truro: Bradford Barton
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Goodman, Stanley (2004), ‘Foot, Isaac (1880–1960)’, rev. Mark Pottle, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007 accessed 12 June 2008
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