List of people from the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

This is a list of people from Oldham, in North West England. The demonym of Oldham is Oldhamer; however, this list may include people from Chadderton, Failsworth, Lees, Royton, Saddleworth, and Shaw and Crompton, all from the wider Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. This list is arranged alphabetically by surname:

A

 * Sir Elkanah Armitage (1794–1876) – industrialist and Mayor of Manchester; born in Failsworth
 * Mike Atherton (born 1968) – broadcaster, journalist and retired cricketer for Lancashire and England; born in Failsworth

B

 * Vera Baird (born 1950) – Labour politician, author and barrister
 * Bobby Ball (1944–2020) – one half of comedy double act Cannon and Ball; born in Boundary Park General Hospital
 * Tony Barber (born 1940) − radio and television host and Gold Logie winner
 * Lydia Becker (1827–1890) – leading 19th-century suffragette, born in Chadderton's Foxdenton Hall
 * Hannah Beswick (1688–1758) – woman who was so afraid of being buried alive that she insisted on her body being embalmed and kept above ground
 * Christopher Biggins (born 1948) – television presenter, pantomime actor and winner of 2007's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
 * Scholes Birch (1826–1910) – first-class cricketer
 * Lally Bowers (1914–1984) – actress, and next door neighbour to Dora Bryan
 * Helen Bradley (1900–1979) – 20th-century oil painter born in Lees in 1900
 * Benjamin Brierley (1825–1896) – Failsworth-born weaver, poet and writer in Lancashire dialect
 * Louise Brown (born 1978) – world's first baby conceived by in vitro fertilisation; born in Oldham General Hospital
 * Dora Bryan (1923–2014) – Parbold-born actress, best known for her role in A Taste of Honey and as Roz in Last of the Summer Wine
 * Will Buckley (born 1989) – footballer for Sunderland

C

 * Tommy Cannon (born 1938) – one half of comedy double act Cannon and Ball
 * Ronald Castree (born 1953) – murderer convicted for the killing of Lesley Molseed
 * Laurence Chaderton (c. 1536–1640) – one of the original translators of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible
 * Brian Clarke (born 1953) – Oldham-born architectural artist and painter known for his work in stained glass
 * J. R. Clynes (1869–1949) – Labour politician, Leader of the Labour Party, 1921–22
 * Olivia Cooke (born 1993) – TV and film actress known for Bates Motel, "Ouija" and "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl"; from Oldham
 * Jodie Connor (born 1981) – recording artist, lyricist, fashion model and goodwill ambassador for The Prince's Trust; from Shaw and Crompton
 * Nicholas Connor (born 1999) – film director, born in Oldham
 * Carl Cox (born 1962) – record producer and DJ, born in Oldham
 * Brian Cox (born 1968) – Chadderton-born television presenter, particle physicist, Royal Society research fellow, and professor at the University of Manchester
 * Bernard Cribbins (1928–2022) – character actor and musical comedian
 * Don Cupitt (born 1934) – English philosopher of religion and scholar of Christian theology

D

 * Agyness Deyn (born 1983) – Failsworth-raised supermodel
 * David Dyson (1823-1856) - naturalist, scientific collector, curator and weaver

E

 * Paul Edwards (born 1947) – ex-association footballer who played for Manchester United, Oldham Athletic and Stockport County
 * Karen Elson (born 1979) – Chadderton-raised supermodel and singer-songwriter

F

 * Kate Fenton (born 1954) – Failsworth-born novelist and former BBC radio producer
 * Siobhan Finneran (born 1966) – Oldham-born television, film and theatre actress; Happy Valley and The Loch
 * George Ford (born 1993) – Oldham-born England rugby union player
 * Des Foy (born 1963) – Great Britain, Ireland and Oldham rugby league footballer; Director of Rugby League Ireland
 * Roy Fuller (1912–1991) – Failsworth-born writer, known mostly as a poet

G

 * Ian Greaves (1932–2009) – Shaw and Crompton-born association football player and manager; one of the Busby Babes
 * Nick Grimshaw (born 1984) – television presenter and DJ; raised in Oldham
 * Shobna Gulati (born 1966) – Oldham-born actress, writer and dancer

H

 * Terry Hall (1926–2007) – pioneering ventriloquist and early children's television entertainer
 * Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1834–1894) – etcher, painter and art critic; born in Crompton in 1834
 * Graham Harding (born 1966) – cricketer
 * Paul Harrison (born 1945) – Oldham-born writer on environment and development; founder of the World Pantheist Movement
 * Jack Hilton (1900–1983) – British novelist, essayist, and travel writer
 * John Hogan (1884–1943) – Royton-born recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the British and Commonwealth forces
 * Prof Arthur Cyril William Hutchinson (1889–1969) – professor of dentistry

I

 * Inspiral Carpets – Madchester/indie rock band

J

 * Nicole Jackson (born 1992) – professional ice hockey player for Göteborg HC and the Great Britain women's national ice hockey team
 * Lee Jasper (born 1958) – race equality activist and champion of over 30 years originally from Manchester
 * Suranne Jones (born 1978) – Chadderton-born actress who played Karen McDonald in Coronation Street
 * William Joyce (1906–1946) – Brooklyn-born fascist politician and Nazi propagandist; short-term resident of Glodwick in Oldham

K

 * Annie Kenney (1879–1953) – one of the first suffragettes to be imprisoned for protesting for women's suffrage
 * Ian Kershaw (born 1943) – historian, regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany
 * Anne Kirkbride (1954–2015) – soap opera actress best known for playing Deirdre Barlow in Coronation Street
 * Jack Kirkbride (1923–2006) – cartoonist who worked for the Oldham Evening Chronicle
 * John Kneller (1916–2009) – English-American professor and fifth President of Brooklyn College
 * Barbara Knox (born 1933) – soap opera actress best known for playing Rita Sullivan in Coronation Street

L

 * Sarah Lancashire (born 1964) – Oldham-born television actress
 * John Lees – Royton-born inventor who made a substantial improvement to machinery for carding cotton in 1772
 * Joseph Lees (1748–1824) – regional dialect poet from Glodwick; wrote Jone o Grinfilt
 * Ralf Little (born 1980) – television actor, best known for his roles in The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
 * Eric Longworth (1918–2008) – Shaw-born actor, best known for his semi-regular part in sitcom Dad's Army, as the town clerk of Walmington-on-Sea

M

 * Michelle Marsh (born 1982) – glamour model and page 3 girl
 * Matthew Maynard (born 1966) – former England Test cricketer
 * William McDougall (1871–1938) – Chadderton-born psychologist and writer of several highly influential textbooks
 * Liz McInnes (born 1959) – former Labour MP of the House of Commons
 * Fergus Mills (1840–1924) – member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
 * Simon Moore (born 1974) – cricketer

N

 * N-Trance – dance music producers

O

 * Kieran O'Brien (born 1973) – actor who gained notoriety for his role in the 2004 film 9 Songs
 * Mark Owen (born 1972) – member of boyband Take That; born and raised in Oldham

P

 * David Platt (born 1966) – association footballer, formerly captain of the England national football team; born in Chadderton
 * Tony Prince (born 1944) – British radio disc jockey and businessman

R

 * Tony Radakin (born 1965) – senior Royal Navy officer
 * Akke Rahman (born 1982) – British Bengali mountaineer
 * Alan Rankle (born 1952) – artist
 * Jim Ratcliffe (born 1952) – founder and CEO of Ineos, raised in Failsworth
 * Hervey Rhodes, Baron Rhodes (1895–1987) – Greenfield-born Labour party politician and life peer
 * Andy Ritchie (born 1960) – former Oldham Athletic player and manager
 * Roy Rolland (1921–1997) – comedian and stage actor who appeared as Old Mother Riley from the 1950s to 1980s
 * Alan Rothwell (born 1937) – actor and television presenter
 * Clive Rowe (born 1964) – actor

S

 * Sahil Saeed (born 2004) – British Pakistani from Shaw and Crompton who was kidnapped for ransom in Pakistan in 2010
 * Phillip Schofield (born 1962) – Oldham-born television presenter
 * Paul Sculthorpe (born 1977) – England and St Helens RLFC player and captain
 * Ruth Shevelen (born 1992) – trampoline gymnast
 * Edward Sinclair (1914–1977) – television actor, Dad's Army
 * Kevin Sinfield (born 1980) – England and Leeds RLFC player and captain
 * Nicola Stephenson (born 1971) – television actress
 * Philip Sydney Stott, 1st Baronet (1858–1937) – Chadderton-born architect, civil engineer and surveyor of cotton mills
 * William Stott (1857–1900) – impressionist painter
 * Eric Sykes (1923–2012) – comedy writer and actor
 * Glenn Simon – Dwarf Fireman and Monopoly tycoon from the Oldham borough of Failsworth.

T

 * Henry Taylor (1885–1951) – British Olympic freestyle swimming triple gold medallist and champion
 * Kevin Thaw (born 1967) – alpinist, climber; many first and notable ascents, member of the North Face climbing team, Altitude Everest Expedition 2007
 * Stephen Timms (born 1955) – British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament
 * Geoff Tootill (1922–2017) – Chadderton-born scientist helped create the Manchester Baby in 1948, the world's first wholly electronic stored program computer
 * Dame Eva Turner (1892–1990) – soprano opera singer; born in Werneth
 * Twisted Wheel – punk rock trio; reside in Oldham
 * The Tides—Liam Pennington's indie band, Oldham born and bred

W

 * Jane Walsh – writer
 * Paul Walsh (born 1955) – Chadderton-born Chief Executive of Diageo
 * Sir William Walton (1902–1983) – composer and conductor
 * Darren Wharton (born 1961) – keyboardist for rock band Thin Lizzy
 * Nicola White (born 1988) – hockey player for England and Team GB
 * Annie Whitehead (born 1955) – jazz trombone player
 * Ronald Whittam (1925–2023) - physiologist
 * Ricky Whittle (born 1979) – Oldham-born model and actor
 * Jack Wild (1952–2006) – Royton-born Academy Award-nominated actor, best known for his role as the Artful Dodger in the 1968 musical film Oliver!
 * Phil Woolas (born 1959) – Lincolnshire-born politician representing Oldham East and Saddleworth; lives in Lees
 * Arthur Worsley (1920–2001) – Failsworth-born ventriloquist; appeared regularly on British television from the 1950s to the 1970s