The list of people from the London Borough of Southwark includes residents who were either born or dwelt for a substantial period within the borders of this modern London borough. It does not comprise notable individuals who only studied at educational institutions in the area, such as the Camberwell School of Art and the Dulwich College. Several of the men and women listed have been honoured with blue plaques in various parts of the borough, including more than 50 commemorative plaques awarded by the Southwark Council since 2003. [1]
In 1965, the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark, the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell, and the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey were amalgamated to form the London Borough of Southwark. Located in the eastern part of South London, it is, along with the City of London, the oldest part of Greater London, with a history of civilisation that dates back to the Roman times. [2] One of the 32 London boroughs, it constitutes several urban and suburban neighborhoods, including Bermondsey, Bankside, Camberwell, Dulwich, Peckham, Nunhead, Rotherhithe, Walworth, and The Borough, located at the southern bank of the river Thames.
The 2001 census recorded the population of Southwark to be nearly 244,866 residents, sixty-three per cent of whom are whites, sixteen per cent black African and 8 percent black Caribbean. For a decade, between 1997 and 2007, the borough's population grew at three times the rate of England as a whole. Sixty per cent of the borough's inhabitants are currently known to live in social housing. [3]
Key to "Notes" regarding the residents' affiliation to Southwark:
Letter | Description |
---|---|
B | Indicates that the resident was born in Southwark. |
D | Indicates that the resident died in Southwark. |
Citations in the Notes box refer to the information in the entire row.
Name | Notability | District [4] | Notes [5] |
---|---|---|---|
Michael Faraday | Chemist and physicist, invented the electric motor | Newington | B [6] |
Clement le Neve Foster | Geologist and mineralogist | Camberwell | B [7] |
Benjamin Jowett | Classical scholar, served as Master of Balliol College, Oxford | B [8] | |
Anthony James Leggett | Physicist, received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on superfluidity | B [9] | |
Alfred Marshall | Economist, wrote the popular textbook Principles of Economics (1890) | Bermondsey | B [10] |
Robert Recorde | Physician and mathematician, invented the "equals" sign (=) in 1557 | Southwark | D [11] |
Edward Burnett Tylor | Anthropologist, affiliated with the sociocultural evolutionism | Camberwell | B [12] |
Name | Notability | District [4] | Notes [5] |
---|---|---|---|
Jenny Agutter | Film and television actress, won an Emmy Award and a BAFTA | Camberwell | [13] |
Edward Alleyn | Actor of the Elizabethan theatre, founded Dulwich College and Alleyn's School | Dulwich | [14] |
Richard Ayoade | TV and film actor, director, writer | East Dulwich | |
Pete Bennett | Winner of Big Brother 7 television reality series | Camberwell | B [15] |
John Boyega | Film actor currently starring in FOX series 24: Live Another Day , alongside fellow British-American actor, Kiefer Sutherland | Peckham | |
Joshua Bradley | YouTuber and member of the Sidemen | Bermondsey | [16] |
Kenneth Branagh | Actor and film director, won an Emmy Award and received an Oscar nomination | Camberwell | [17] |
Michael Caine | Actor, recipient of two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, and four Golden Globe Awards | Rotherhithe | B [6] |
Charlie Chaplin | Actor, comedian and filmmaker, recipient of two Academy Awards | Walworth | B [18] |
Pat Coombs | Character actress, worked in film, radio and television | Camberwell | B [19] |
Madeline Duggan | Character actress, known for work in the BBC soap opera EastEnders | Bermondsey | B [20] |
Jenny Eclair | Comedian, actress and novelist | Camberwell | [21] |
Chiwetel Ejiofor | Actor with special prominence on the London stage | Camberwell | [22] |
Jade Goody | Reality TV personality | Bermondsey | B |
Leslie Grantham | Television actor, known for work in the BBC soap opera EastEnders | Camberwell | B [23] |
Patricia Hayes | Comedy actress, prominent for her work in television | Camberwell | B [24] |
Lynette Hemmant | Artist and illustrator | Camberwell | [25] |
Albert Houthuesen | Artist of still-lives, landscapes, seascapes, and portraits | Camberwell | [26] |
Terry Jones | Comedian, actor and filmmaker, best known as member of the Monty Python team | Camberwell | [27] |
Boris Karloff | Actor, best recognised as Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein | Camberwell | B [28] |
Martin McDonagh | Playwright and film director, Academy Award winner | Camberwell | B [29] |
Ivor Moreton | Singer and pianist, known for performing in a duo with Dave Kaye | Peckham | [30] |
Erin O'Connor | Fashion model | Camberwell | [31] |
Samuel Palmer | Romantic landscape painter, etcher, printmaker and writer | Newington | B |
Claude Rains | Actor and film star, winner of a Tony Award | Camberwell | B [32] |
Tim Roth | Film actor | Dulwich | B [33] |
Thomas Sangster | Film and voice actor | Southwark | [34] |
Steve Chandra Savale | Musician | Camberwell | B |
Nicholas Serota | Art curator, serving as director of Tate Gallery | Camberwell | [35] |
Siouxsie Sioux | Singer-songwriter of Siouxsie and the Banshees | Southwark | B |
John Stainer | Organist, composer, and professor of music at University of Oxford | Southwark | [36] |
Tommy Steele | Entertainer who brought rock music to the UK | Bermondsey | B |
Emma Thompson | Actor and screenwriter, winner of Oscars, BAFTAs, an Emmy, a Golden Globe Award | Camberwell | [17] |
Mark Wallinger | Sculptor, a YBA known for the Ecce Homo (1999), and State Britain (2007) sculptures | Camberwell | [37] |
Florence Welch | Singer/songwriter (Florence + The Machine) | Camberwell | B [38] |
Name | Notability | District [4] | Notes [5] |
---|---|---|---|
Charles Babbage | Victorian mathematician, inventor of the first mechanical computing machine | Walworth | B [6] |
Isambard Kingdom Brunel | Victorian engineer, designed Great Western Railway and SS Great Britain | Rotherhithe | [6] |
Marc Isambard Brunel | Engineer, known for designing the construction of the Thames Tunnel | [40] | |
Edward Turner | Engineer, designed Ariel and Triumph motorcycles and Daimler cars | Camberwell | B |
Name | Notability | District [4] | Notes [5] |
---|---|---|---|
Jeremy Bowen | Reporter and television presenter, best known as a war correspondent for the BBC | Camberwell | [41] |
Peter Preston | Editor of The Guardian (1975–1995) and a chairman of International Press Institute (1995–97) | [42] | |
Zoe Williams | Reporter and columnist for The Guardian and the New Statesman | [43] |
Name | Notability | District [4] | Notes [5] |
---|---|---|---|
Enid Blyton | Children's author, with popular work like the Famous Five and Secret Seven series | East Dulwich | B [6] |
Robert Browning | Victorian poet and playwright, known for mastery of dramatic verse | Camberwell | B [44] |
Camilla Dufour Crosland | Victorian poet, novelist and writer on social and historical subjects, died in East Dulwich | East Dulwich | B [45] |
Charles Dickens | Victorian novelist, journalist and social campaigner | Southwark | [6] |
Harry Buxton Forman | Victorian bibliographer, editor, Shelley scholar | Camberwell | [46] |
Philip Massinger | Playwright of works such as A New Way to Pay Old Debts and The Roman Actor | Southwark | D [47] |
John Ruskin | Art critic, social theorist, painter and writer | Denmark Hill | [48] |
Hester Thrale | Diarist and author, whose writings illuminate life in 18th-century England | Southwark | [49] |
Mary Wollstonecraft | Author and feminist, known for writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) | Newington Butts | [6] |
Name | Notability | District [4] | Notes [5] |
---|---|---|---|
Lord Eric Avebury | Liberal Member of Parliament, 1962–70; Liberal Democrat Representative peer, 1999- | Camberwell | [50] |
Joseph Chamberlain | Liberal and Liberal Unionist politician, entrepreneur and imperial statesman | Camberwell | B [51] |
Harriet Harman | Labour Member of parliament, 1983-; Leader of the House of Commons, 2007– | Dulwich | [52] |
Simon Hughes | Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (1983-) and party President (2004-) | Bermondsey | |
Jack Jones | General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, 1968–77 | Denmark Hill | [53] |
Sir Timothy Laurence | Naval officer, Equerry to Queen Elizabeth (1986–89), and husband of Princess Anne | Camberwell | B [54] |
Henry Thrale | Anchor Brewery heir, Member of Parliament (1765–80), Sheriff of the City of London | Southwark | [49] |
Larry Whitty | Labour politician; General Secretary of the Labour Party (1985–94) | Camberwell | [55] |
Name | Notability | District [4] | Notes [5] |
---|---|---|---|
Hester Biddle | Quaker pamphleteer, preacher and traveller | Bermondsey | D [56] |
Edmund Bonner | Bishop of London, known for persecuting heretics in Queen Mary I's Catholic rule | Southwark | D |
John Harvard | English clergyman, first benefactor to College, 1639 named Harvard University in his honour | B [57] | |
Francis Pott | English clergyman and hymnwriter | [58] | |
Mother Mary Potter | Founder of the Little Company of Mary in 1877. On 8 February 1988, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her Venerable. | Bermondsey | B [59] |
Charles Spurgeon | Reformed Baptist preacher and eponym for Spurgeon's College | Elephant and Castle | [60] |
Name | Notability | District [4] | Notes [5] |
---|---|---|---|
Bobby Abel | Cricketer (1881–1904), played as an opening batsman for the England cricket team | Rotherhithe | B [6] |
John Bostock | Footballer, plays as a midfielder for OH Leuven | Camberwell | B [61] |
Rio Ferdinand | Former footballer, played as a centre-back most notably for Manchester United; was also a former captain of England; currently a pundit for BT Sport | Peckham | B [62] |
Duncan Goodhew | Swimmer, winner of gold and bronze medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics | Camberwell | [35] |
David Haye | Boxer, former WBA heavyweight champion, former unified world cruiserweight champion and former European cruiserweight champion | Bermondsey | |
John Keene | Cricketer (1897–1907), played as a bowler for Surrey, Worcestershire, and Scotland | B | |
Nosher Powell | Boxer and actor | Camberwell | B [63] |
Martin Ruane | Wrestler, known as "Giant Haystacks" and a European Union Heavyweight Champion | B [64] | |
Kenny Sansom | Footballer, played as a left back for Arsenal and England | B [65] |
Bermondsey is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, and to the north is Wapping across the River Thames. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Surrey. During the Industrial Revolution Bermondsey became a centre for manufacturing, particularly in relation to tanning. More recently it has experienced regeneration including warehouse conversions to flats and the provision of new transport links.
Camberwell is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, 2+3⁄4 miles southeast of Charing Cross.
The London Borough of Southwark in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas were amalgamated under the London Government Act 1963. All districts of the area are within the London postal district. It is governed by Southwark London Borough Council.
Dulwich is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of Herne Hill. Dulwich lies in a valley between the neighbouring districts of Camberwell, Crystal Palace, Denmark Hill, Forest Hill, Peckham, Sydenham Hill, and Tulse Hill.
Newington is a district of South London, just south of the River Thames, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It was an ancient parish and the site of the early administration of the county of Surrey. It was the location of the County of London Sessions House from 1917, in a building now occupied by the Inner London Crown Court.
Peckham is a district in south-east London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720.
Walworth is a district of south London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is 1.9 miles (3.1 km) south-east of Charing Cross.
East Dulwich is an area of South East London, England in the London Borough of Southwark. It forms the eastern part of Dulwich, with Peckham to the east and Camberwell to the north. East Dulwich is home to the Dog Kennel Hill statue. This South London suburb was first developed in the nineteenth century on land owned by the College of God's Gift.
Camberwell was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in south London, England. Camberwell was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey, governed by an administrative vestry from 1674. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of the County of London in 1889. The parish of Camberwell became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899, with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council. In 1965 the borough was abolished and its former area became part of the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London.
Herne Hill is a district in south London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark. There is a road of the same name in the area, as well as a railway station.
Nunhead is a suburb in the London Borough of Southwark, England. It is an inner-city suburb located 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Charing Cross. It is the location of the 52-acre (0.21 km2) Nunhead Cemetery. Nunhead has traditionally been a working-class area and, with the adjacent neighbourhoods, is currently going through a lengthy process of gentrification. Nunhead is the location of several underground reservoirs, built by the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company.
The Diocese of Southwark is one of the 42 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was created on 1 May 1905 from part of the ancient Diocese of Rochester that was served by a suffragan bishop of Southwark (1891–1905). Before 1877 most of the area was part of the Diocese of Winchester, some being part of the Diocese of London.
Camberwell and Peckham was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 1997 creation until its abolition for the 2024 general election by Harriet Harman of the Labour Party. Harman had served for the previous constituency of Peckham since 1982. She is a former cabinet minister and the "Mother of the House of Commons", having the longest record of continuous service of any female MP.
Dulwich was a borough constituency in the Dulwich area of South London, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Lambeth was a constituency 1832—1885 loosely equivalent in area to the later administrative units: the London Borough of Lambeth and the south-west and centre of the London Borough of Southwark. It returned two members of parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by the bloc vote version of the first-past-the-post system.
The A215 is an A road in south London, starting at Elephant and Castle and finishing around Shirley. It runs through the London Boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Croydon.
Major Richard Culling Carr-Gomm, OBE was the founder of the Abbeyfield Society, the Morpeth Society, St Matthew Society and the Carr-Gomm Society, UK charities providing care and housing for disadvantaged and lonely people.
The election for Southwark London Borough Council took place on 3 May 2018, the same day as for other London Boroughs. All 63 seats were up for election.