List of people from the London Borough of Merton

The following is a list of people who were born in the London Borough of Merton, or have dwelt within the borders of the modern borough (in alphabetical order):

A

 * Khalid Abdalla – actor, The Kite Runner and United 93
 * Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot – Commander of the Royal Navy in North America during the American War of Independence
 * Bob Astles – former associate of Ugandan presidents Milton Obote and Idi Amin
 * Ray Austin – TV and film director, actor, stuntman; born in Merton

B

 * Barloc of Norbury
 * Ben Barnes – actor, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian
 * Cyril Barton – posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II
 * Ian Bazalgette – posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II
 * Sir Joseph Bazalgette (1819–1891) – civil engineer; his creation in the mid-19th century of the sewer network for central London eliminated cholera epidemics
 * Dave Benson-Phillips – children's television presenter, lived in Cannon Hill Lane
 * Bernard Braden – TV personality, mainly of the 1960s
 * Jo Brand – comedian, lived in Mitcham
 * Martin Brett (Brett Martini) – musician, voice of Beehive
 * Richard Briers – actor
 * Raymond Briggs – cartoonist
 * Steve Brookstein – winner of the first series of TV talent show The X Factor
 * James Brunlees – engineer, lived at Argyle Lodge, Parkside
 * Roy Budd – jazz musician
 * Josephine Butler – feminist campaigner of the Victorian era, Blue Plaque at 8 North View, Wimbledon Common

C

 * Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton – British peer and Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
 * Anthony Caro – sculptor, born here in 1924
 * George Edward Cates – World War I Victoria Cross recipient
 * Ernst Boris Chain – joint winner of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of penicillin; Blue Plaque at 9 North View, Wimbledon Common
 * Mavis Cheek – novelist born and brought up in Wimbledon
 * Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough – close friend of Queen Anne
 * Danny Cipriani – rugby player
 * Norman Coburn – actor, played Donald Fisher in Australian soap opera Home and Away
 * Vernon Corea – radio broadcaster
 * Annette Crosbie – actress, screen wife of Victor Meldrew in the BBC TV sitcom One Foot in the Grave
 * Ambrose Crowley – ironmaster
 * Steve Curtis – eight-time World Offshore powerboat racing champion

D

 * Sean Davis – footballer, played for Bolton Wanderers, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth
 * Clint Dempsey – footballer, during his playing career at Fulham
 * Sandy Denny – singer, born at the Nelson Hospital
 * Laurence Doherty – winner of thirteen Wimbledon tennis championships and two Olympic gold medals
 * Reginald Doherty – winner of twelve Wimbledon tennis championships and three Olympic gold medals
 * John Donne – Jacobean poet
 * Hugh Dowding – commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain in 1940, Blue Plaque at 3 St Mary's Road
 * Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville – Home Secretary and Secretary of State for War to William Pitt the Younger, resident of Cannizaro House

F

 * The Field Mice – pop group
 * Michael Fielding – The Mighty Boosh comedian; Noel's younger brother
 * Noel Fielding – The Mighty Boosh comedian
 * Mike Fillery – footballer
 * Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939) – author; works include The Good Soldier and Parade's End

G

 * Paul Geraghty – author, illustrator
 * David Gibson – cricketer
 * John William Godward – painter
 * Good Shoes – indie music band whose first album, Think Before You Speak, included the track "Morden"
 * Charles Patrick Graves – journalist
 * Robert Graves – poet
 * Deryck Guyler – actor

H

 * Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia – guest at a house in Parkside while in exile from Ethiopia owing to the Italian invasion; his statue stands in Cannizaro Park
 * Victoria Hamilton – actress
 * George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen – prime minister 1852–55; resident of Cannizaro House
 * Florence Harmer – historian, born in Mitcham
 * Will Hay – actor
 * Tubby Hayes – jazz musician
 * Georgette Heyer – novelist, born and grew up in Wimbledon; wrote her first five novels there; a later novel, Pastel, is set in a suburb very like Wimbledon
 * Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha – while Minister of Transport, 1934–7, he introduced the driving test and the Belisha Beacon; then Secretary of State for War, 1937–40
 * John Horne Tooke – politician, lived at Chester House on Wimbledon Common
 * Neil Howlett – opera singer, born in Mitcham
 * Thomas Hughes – author of Tom Brown's Schooldays, written in Wimbledon
 * James Hunt – 1976 Formula 1 World Champion

J

 * Vinnie Jones – former footballer and film actor

K

 * Barbara Kelly – TV personality
 * Hetty King – music hall artiste and male impersonator; a blue commemorative plaque was erected on her home in Palmerston Road, Wimbledon by The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America in November 2010
 * Lorelei King – actress
 * Maxwell Knight – spymaster
 * David Kynaston – author, historian

L

 * Jay Laga'aia – actor
 * Don Lang – Britain's answer to Bill Haley; with his band, a mainstay of Britain's first television rock and roll programme Six-Five Special
 * Libera – boy vocalists; regular contributors to the BBC's Songs of Praise TV programme; have toured extensively throughout the world; have released several chart-topping albums; based at St Phillip's Parish Church in Norbury
 * Glen Little – footballer
 * Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer – scientist and astronomer; joint discoverer of helium

M

 * M.I.A. – singer-songwriter and rapper
 * Alexander Maconochie – founder of the Royal Geographical Society; penal reformer
 * Frederick Marryat – author, Blue Plaque at Gothic Lodge, 6 Woodhayes Road; also lived at Wimbledon House
 * John Martyn – singer-songwriter
 * Master Shortie – MC
 * Tony McGuinness – musician, Above and Beyond
 * Will Mellor – actor
 * Thomas Ralph Merton – physicist
 * Sally Morgan – celebrity psychic medium
 * Mud – glam rock group
 * Marcus Mumford – musician, Mumford & Sons
 * Gillian Murphy – dancer, American Ballet Theatre
 * John Murray III (1808–1892) – publisher; significant publications include Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species; built a house called "Newstead" at Somerset road.
 * Mat McNerney – singer-songwriter Hexvessel, Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures, Code, Dødheimsgard, guitarist, grew up in Wimbledon and attended Donhead Catholic Prep School and Wimbledon College

N

 * Lord Horatio Nelson – Admiral; his estate, Merton Place, included part of Wimbledon at the eastern end of the Broadway, though strictly he was a resident of Merton, the neighbouring parish

O

 * Mikel John Obi – Chelsea FC defensive midfielder

P

 * F.W.J. Palmer – engineer, born here
 * Alan Pardew – football manager
 * Michelle Paver – author, Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
 * Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham – Lord Chancellor
 * Augustus Porter – socialite
 * Chris Powell – manager of The Championship football club Charlton Athletic, former footballer, grew up in Mitcham
 * Sir William Henry Preece – developed English telephone system; Blue Plaque at Gothic Lodge, 6 Woodhayes Road
 * Robert Prizeman – classical crossover music composer; choirmaster of Libera and St Phillip's Parish Church, Norbury; composed the BBC's Songs of Praise signature music
 * Steve Punt – comedian

R

 * Oliver Reed – actor
 * Diana Rigg – actress
 * Laura Robson – Junior Wimbledon tennis champion
 * Annie Ross – jazz singer
 * Rox – musician
 * Margaret Rutherford – actress, Blue Plaque at 4 Berkeley Place

S

 * Sampha – singer-songwriter, known for collaborative work with SBTRKT, Jessie Ware and Drake
 * Arthur Schopenhauer – philosopher, Blue Plaque at Eagle House where he lived in 1803
 * Ridley Scott – film director, Blade Runner and Gladiator
 * Jay Sean – R&B singer
 * Brian Sewell – art critic and media personality
 * Slick Rick (Richard Walters) – rapper, hip-hop musician, born in Mitcham but moved to the Bronx, New York
 * Shane Smeltz – New Zealand footballer: lived in Mitcham when he played for AFC Wimbledon
 * Mark Edgley Smith – composer
 * Alex Stepney – former Manchester United footballer and 1968 European Cup winner
 * Steve-O – Jackass performer
 * Herbert Strudwick – cricket wicket-keeper
 * Graham Stuart – footballer
 * Dave Swarbrick – fiddler of Fairport Convention

T

 * Jamie T – singer-songwriter and musician
 * Arnold Toynbee (1852–1883) – economic historian, Blue Plaque at 49 Wimbledon Parkside
 * Joseph Toynbee (1815–1866) – surgeon, Blue Plaque at 49 Wimbledon Parkside
 * Ralph Tubbs – architect; his buildings include the Dome of Discovery and Charing Cross Hospital
 * John Mosely Turner – supercentenarian

W

 * Terri Walker – R&B and soul singer
 * Max Wall – actor, comedian and entertainer
 * David Walliams – actor, comedian, TV sensation, children's book writer - awarded OBE from Queen
 * Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730–1782) – twice Prime Minister
 * William Allison White – recipient of the Victoria Cross
 * William Wilberforce (1759–1833) – 19th-century anti-slavery campaigner
 * Nigel Winterburn – football player
 * Jamie Woon – singer-songwriter

Y

 * Young MC (Marvin Young) – hip-hop musician, born in Wimbledon and moved to Queens, New York

Z

 * Faryadi Sarwar Zardad – Afghan warlord; later tried for war crimes, convicted and imprisoned