List of Old Greshamians



The following is a list of notable Old Greshamians, former pupils of Gresham's School, an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt, Norfolk, England.

Public life

 * James Allan – British High Commissioner in Mauritius and ambassador to Mozambique
 * Duncan Baker (born 1979) – Conservative Member of Parliament.
 * Jeremy Bamber (born 1961) - British convicted mass murderer, apprehended 29 September 1985.
 * Sir Eric Berthoud – British ambassador to Denmark and Poland
 * Robert Brightiffe (c. 1666–1749) barrister and Member of Parliament
 * Derek Bryan – Diplomat, sinologist, writer
 * Erskine Childers – fourth President of Ireland
 * Sir Stewart Crawford – diplomat
 * Kenelm Hubert Digby (1912–2001), proposer of the notorious 1933 "King and Country" debate and later Attorney General and judge in Sarawak
 * Bernard Floud – Labour politician
 * Sir Cecil Graves – Director-General of the BBC
 * Thomas George Greenwell – National Conservative member of parliament
 * Sir Christopher Heydon – 16th century member of parliament
 * Paul Howell – Conservative Member of the European Parliament for Norfolk
 * Robert Lymbery - Common Serjeant of London
 * Donald Maclean – diplomat and spy
 * 11th Earl of Northesk – parliamentarian
 * Terence O'Brien – British ambassador to Nepal, Burma and Indonesia
 * John Playfair Price – diplomat, a President of the Oxford Union
 * Laurance Reed – Conservative politician
 * Lord Reith – first Director-General of the BBC – politician
 * Wilfrid Roberts – Liberal politician
 * Christian Schiller – HM Inspector of Schools
 * 11th Lord Strabolgi – Labour politician
 * Dr Thomas Stuttaford – Conservative politician and journalist
 * C. G. H. Simon (1914–2002), Income Tax General Commissioner
 * Lord Simon of Glaisdale – Conservative politician and law lord
 * Lord Simon of Wythenshawe – socialist and journalist
 * Sir Edward Blanshard Stamp – Lord Justice of Appeal
 * Sir William Royden Stuttaford – President of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations
 * Sir Gerald Thesiger – High Court Judge
 * Sir John Tusa – Director of BBC World Service
 * Lord Wilson of High Wray – governor of the BBC and Lord Lieutenant of Westmorland and of Cumbria
 * Sir Percy Wyn-Harris – governor of The Gambia

Armed forces

 * General Sir Terence Airey – soldier, GOC Hong Kong
 * Captain Joe Baker-Cresswell – Royal Navy officer, aide-de-camp to George VI
 * Peter Beck – soldier and schoolmaster
 * General Sir Robert Bray – Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe
 * Sir Stephen Bull, 2nd Baronet – killed on active service in Java, 1942
 * Donald Cunnell – First World War fighter pilot
 * Air Vice-Marshal Sir William Cushion – Royal Air Force officer and British Overseas Airways Corporation executive
 * Major-General Guy Gregson – soldier
 * Sir Christopher Heydon – took part in the capture of Cádiz, 1596
 * General Sir William Holmes – Second World War general
 * Henry Howard – Second World War commander of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
 * Brigadier Julian Jefferson, British Army officer
 * Major-General John Lethbridge – soldier
 * Rear Admiral Martin Lucey (1920–1992), Flag Officer, Scotland and Northern Ireland and Admiral President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich
 * Major-General Patrick Marriott – Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 2009–2012
 * Rear-Admiral Brian Perowne – Chief of Fleet Support, Royal Navy
 * Brigadier Sir Philip Toosey – Bridge on the River Kwai commander
 * Tom Wintringham – soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, communist
 * Major-General A. E. Younger – soldier
 * Major General Alastair Duncan – soldier

Church

 * John Astley – 18th-century Norfolk pluralist
 * Edwin Boston – founder of the Cadeby Light Railway, "the Fat Clergyman" in the books of the Rev. W. Awdry
 * John Bradburne – Franciscan
 * John Burrell (1762–1825), clergyman and entomologist
 * John Daly – bishop of The Gambia, Accra, Korea and Taejon
 * Colin Forrester-Paton – missionary and Chaplain to H.M. The Queen in Scotland
 * Most Rev. David Hand – Archbishop of Papua New Guinea
 * Dr John Johnson (1769–1833) – clergyman and editor
 * Peter Lee – bishop of the diocese of Christ the King, Johannesburg
 * William Lubbock – 18th-century divine, Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge
 * Charles Abdy Marcon – Master of Marcon's Hall, Oxford, 1891 to 1918
 * John Moorman – Bishop of Ripon
 * Thomas Pyle – 18th-century clergyman and writer
 * Herbert Reeve – Church of England missionary and clergyman in New Zealand
 * Robin Woods – Dean of Windsor and Bishop of Worcester

Medicine

 * Richard Battle – plastic surgeon
 * Arthur Doyne Courtenay Bell – consultant paediatrician
 * Roger Carpenter – neurophysiologist
 * Major-General Joseph Crowdy – Commandant of the Royal Army Medical Corps
 * Michael Fordham – psychiatrist
 * Douglas Gairdner, paediatrician
 * Thomas Girdlestone – physician and writer
 * John Grange – immunologist
 * William Henry Kelson, physician, president of the Hunterian Society
 * Dermod MacCarthy – paediatrician
 * William Rushton FRS – physiologist
 * Thomas Stuttaford – doctor and politician
 * Hugh Christian Watkins – cardiologist
 * Anthony Yates – rheumatologist

Nobel Prize-winner

 * Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin – Nobel Prize for Medicine, President of the Royal Society, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge

Arts

 * John Bensusan-Butt – landscape painter
 * Norman Cohn – historian
 * Oliver Elton – literary critic, translator
 * Boris Ford – literary critic, editor
 * Alfred Gissing – biographer
 * John Davy Hayward – editor and critic
 * Andrew Hurrell - Professor of International Relations, Oxford University
 * Michael Kitson – art historian
 * James Klugmann – Communist historian
 * 2nd Baron Lindsay of Birker – political scientist
 * W. Wesley Pue – academic lawyer
 * Sir James Maude Richards – architectural historian
 * E. Clive Rouse – archaeologist
 * John Saltmarsh – historian
 * Brian Simon – educational historian
 * Peter J N Sinclair – economist

Sciences

 * L. E. Baynes – aeronautical engineer
 * Arnold Beck – electrical engineer, Professor of Engineering at Cambridge
 * David Bensusan-Butt – economist
 * Derek Bryan – sinologist
 * Anthony Bull – transport engineer
 * Sir Henry Clay, 6th Baronet – engineer
 * Sir Christopher Cockerell – inventor of the hovercraft
 * Nicholas Day - statistician and epidemiologist
 * James Durrant - FRS Professor of Photochemistry, Imperial College
 * C. H. Gimingham – botanist
 * Dr Hildebrand Hervey FRS – marine biologist
 * Sir John Hammond – agricultural research scientist
 * Ian Hepburn, botanist and schoolteacher
 * Harry Hodson – economist
 * G. Evelyn Hutchinson – zoologist
 * Bryan Keith-Lucas – political scientist
 * David Keith-Lucas – aeronautical engineer
 * David Lack – evolutionary biologist
 * David Layton – economist and industrial relations specialist
 * Dr Colin Leakey – botanist
 * Maurice Lister – chemist
 * Jonathan Partington – mathematician
 * Frank Perkins – engineer
 * Henry Snaith - FRS Professor of Physics, Oxford University
 * Christopher Strachey – computer scientist
 * Sir Owen Wansbrough-Jones – chemist, weapons research scientist
 * Sir Martin Wood – engineer

Poets

 * W. H. Auden – poet
 * John Henry Colls, 18th century poet
 * Andrew Jefford – poet and wine writer
 * Michael Laskey – poet
 * John Pudney – poet and novelist
 * Sir Stephen Spender – poet

Novelists

 * John Lanchester – novelist
 * Sabin Willett – novelist

Journalists

 * Matt Arnold – journalist and television presenter
 * Bruce Belfrage - BBC Radio newsreader and actor
 * Cedric Belfrage – journalist and author
 * Mark Brayne – BBC foreign correspondent and psychotherapist
 * Rupert Hamer – journalist killed in Afghanistan
 * Alastair Hetherington – journalist, editor of The Guardian
 * Paddy O'Connell – journalist and main presenter of BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House
 * Edmund Rogers – journalist
 * Philip Pembroke Stephens – journalist
 * Sir John Tusa – BBC journalist

Other

 * Maurice Ash – environmentalist writer
 * Sir Christopher Heydon – 17th century writer on astrology
 * Lady Flora McDonnell – children's author
 * Pat Simon – wine writer and Master of Wine
 * Kenneth Taylor – television scriptwriter
 * William Osborne — screenwriter

Music

 * Richard Austin – conductor
 * Benjamin Britten, Lord Britten of Aldeburgh – composer
 * Sir Lennox Berkeley – composer
 * Richard Hand – classical guitarist
 * Christopher J. Monckton – organist and conductor
 * Heathcote Dicken Statham – composer and organist
 * George Stiles – composer
 * Roderick Watkins – composer

Artists

 * Michael Cummings – cartoonist
 * Richard Chopping – book cover illustrator, painter and novelist
 * William Lionel Clause, landscape artist
 * Sir Philip Dowson – architect and president of the Royal Academy
 * Edward Frank Gillett – sporting artist
 * Robert Medley RA – artist
 * Ben Nicholson, OM – artist
 * Christopher Nicholson – architect
 * Christopher Perkins – artist
 * Humphrey Spender – photographer
 * Tony Tuckson – artist
 * Charles Mayes Wigg – artist

Sport



 * Giles Baring – cricketer
 * Glyn Barnett – rifleman, Commonwealth Games gold medallist 2006
 * Tom Bourdillon – mountaineer
 * Gawain Briars – British No. 1 squash player
 * 11th Earl of Northesk – Olympic medallist (skeleton, 1928)
 * Andrew Corran – cricketer
 * Peter Croft – cricketer and Olympic field hockey player
 * Matthew Dickinson – mountaineer and adventurer
 * Dennis Eagan – field hockey player, bronze medallist in the 1952 Summer Olympics
 * Natasha Firman – Formula Woman racing driver
 * Ralph Firman – Formula One racing driver
 * Julian Jefferson – cricketer
 * Richard Leman – hockey player and Olympic gold medallist
 * Peter Lloyd – mountaineer
 * Richard Millman - Squash national champion and coach
 * Andy Mulligan – captain of Ireland and the British and Irish Lions Rugby XV
 * Tom Percival (1943–1984) – powerboat racer
 * Ben Pienaar – rugby union player and Junior National Champion at judo
 * Harry Simmons – rugby footballer
 * Pat Symonds – Formula One racing
 * Nick Youngs – England rugby union footballer
 * Ben Youngs – England Rugby Team, British Lion and member of Leicester Tigers and Heineken Cup medal winner
 * Tom Youngs – England Rugby Team, British Lion
 * Sir Percy Wyn-Harris – mountaineer

Performing arts

 * Kat Alano – model, actress
 * Michael Aldridge – actor
 * Bruce Belfrage – actor, news reader, politician
 * Peter Brook – theatre director
 * Olivia Colman (Sarah Colman) – actress
 * Michael Culver – actor
 * Henry Daniell – actor
 * Nigel Dick – music video and film director
 * Stephen Frears – film director
 * Sienna Guillory – actress
 * Geoffrey Gwyther – singer, actor, and song-writer
 * Julian Jarrold – television and film director
 * Ben Mansfield – actor
 * Robert Mawdesley – actor
 * Bill Mason – documentary film maker
 * Paddy O'Connell – television presenter
 * Miranda Raison – actress
 * Sebastian Shaw – actor
 * Patrick Waddington – actor
 * Peter Whitbread – actor and scriptwriter

Business

 * Sir Harold Atcherley – Royal Dutch Shell executive; Chairman of Tyzack & Partners
 * Randal McDonnell, 10th Earl of Antrim – Chairman of Sarasin and Partners LLP
 * Sir James Dyson – inventor and entrepreneur
 * Sir Nigel Foulkes –Chairman of the British Airports Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority
 * Anthony Habgood – Chairman of Court, Bank of England. Chairman of Reed Elsevier and past chairman Whitbread
 * Sir Robin Ibbs – banker
 * Charles Kearley – property developer and art collector
 * Sir Christopher Howes – chief executive of the Crown Estate
 * Sir William Stuttaford – stockbroker and business man
 * John L. Marden – Chairman of Wheelock and Marden Co. Ltd

Other

 * Robert Aagaard – furniture maker and founder of the youth movement Cathedral Camps
 * Theodore Acland – headmaster of Norwich School
 * Sir John Agnew, 6th Baronet – landowner, festivals organizer
 * Sir George Anthony Agnew, 7th Baronet – landowner
 * Jeremy Bamber – convicted murderer
 * Bill Bell – chief legal adviser to Lloyds Bank
 * Thomas Blanco White QC, British patent lawyer
 * John Bradbury, 3rd Baron Bradbury
 * Martin Burgess FSA – master clockmaker
 * Rupert Byron, 11th Baron Byron
 * Trevor Roberts, 2nd Baron Clwyd
 * Anthony Coke, 6th Earl of Leicester
 * Sir Weldon Dalrymple-Champneys CB DM FRCP
 * David W. Doyle – CIA officer and author
 * James Halman (died 1702), Master of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
 * Christopher Newbury – Council of Europe
 * John Carnegie, 12th Earl of Northesk
 * Ian Proctor – yacht designer
 * 8th Baron Suffield

In fiction
Among fictional OGs, John Mortimer's television barrister Rumpole sent his son Nick to the school during the 1970s.

Notable Gresham's masters

 * Logie Bruce Lockhart – Scotland rugby footballer, headmaster
 * Warin Foster Bushell – later headmaster of Michaelhouse and Birkenhead School and president of the Mathematical Association
 * Antony R. Clark – headmaster since 2002, first-class cricketer
 * C. V. Durell – writer of mathematics textbooks
 * Graeme Fife – writer – playwright and broadcaster
 * Walter Greatorex – composer
 * Dalziel Llewellyn Hammick – research chemist
 * John Holmes – writer of textbooks on grammar, rhetoric and astronomy
 * George Howson – headmaster, 1900-1919
 * Charles W. Lloyd – Master of Dulwich College
 * Frank McEachran – author
 * Geoffrey Shaw – organist and composer
 * Patrick Thompson – Conservative Member of Parliament
 * Hugh Wright – Headmaster 1985–1991, later Chairman of the Headmasters' Conference
 * Graeme Fife – Writer and broadcaster
 * Professor Richard D'Aeth (later Master of Hughes Hall, Cambridge)

Notable governors of the school

 * Graham George Able, 2013–2020
 * Theodore Dyke Acland
 * A. C. Benson
 * Field Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood
 * Sir Richard Carew Pole, 13th Baronet
 * Pauline Perry, Baroness Perry of Southwark
 * Sir Angus Stirling
 * David Cairns, 5th Earl Cairns
 * Anthony Duckworth-Chad
 * Anne, Princess Royal
 * James Dyson