List of people from 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:

Table of contents: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also • References

A

• Mike Atherton - broadcaster, journalist and retired cricketer for Lancashire and England. Born in Failsworth^[1]
• Sir Elkanah Armitage (1794–1876) - industrialist and Mayor of Manchester. Born in Failsworth^[2]

B

• Vera Baird QC - Labour politician, author and barrister.^[3][4]
• Bobby Ball - one half of comedy double act Cannon and Ball. Born in Boundary Park General Hospital.^[5][6]
• Lydia Becker - leading 19th century suffragette, born in Chadderton's Foxdenton Hall.^[7]
• Hannah Beswick - woman who was so afraid of being buried alive that she insisted on her body being embalmed and kept above ground.^[8][9]
• Christopher Biggins - television presenter, pantomime actor and winner of 2007's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.^[10]
• Lally Bowers - actress, and next door neighbour to Dora Bryan
• Helen Bradley - 20th-century oil painter born in Lees in 1900.^[11]
• Benjamin Brierley - Failsworth-born weaver, poet and writer in Lancashire dialect.^[7]
• Louise Brown - the world's first baby to be conceived by in vitro fertilisation. Born in Oldham General Hospital^[5][12]
• Dora Bryan - Parbold-born actress, best known for her role as Roz in Last of the Summer Wine.^[5]
• Will Buckley - footballer for Sunderland

C

• Tommy Cannon - one half of comedy double act Cannon and Ball.^[5][6]
• Ronald Castree - murderer convicted for the killing of Lesley Molseed.^[13][14][15]
• Laurence Chaderton - one of the original translators of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible.^[16]
• Brian Clarke - Oldham-born artist known for his work in stained glass.^[5][17]
• J. R. Clynes - Labour politician, Leader of the Labour Party, 1921-22^[18]
• Jodie Connor - recording artist, lyricist, fashion model and goodwill ambassador for The Prince's Trust, from Shaw and Crompton.^[19]
• Brian Cox - Chadderton-born television presenter, particle physicist, a Royal Society research fellow, and a professor at the University of Manchester.^[20][21]
• Bernard Cribbins - character actor and musical comedian.^[22]

D

• Agyness Deyn - Failsworth-raised supermodel.^[23][24]

E

• Paul Edwards - ex-association footballer who played for Manchester United, Oldham Athletic and Stockport County.^[25]
• Karen Elson - Chadderton-raised supermodel and wife of American musician Jack White.^[26][27][28]

F

• Des Foy - Oldham and International rugby league player, and Director of Rugby League Ireland.^[29][30]

G

• Ian Greaves - Shaw and Crompton-born association football player and manager, and one of the Busby Babes.^[31][32]
• Emma Greenwood - one of the thirteen 2004 Big Brother housemates.^[33]
• Nick Grimshaw - television presenter and DJ, raised in Oldham^[34]
• Shobna Gulati - Oldham-born actress, writer and dancer.^[6]

H

• Philip Gilbert Hamerton - acclaimed etcher, painter and art critic was born in Crompton in 1834.^[35]
• Terry Hall - pioneering ventriloquist and early children's television entertainer.^[36][37]
• Paul Harrison - Oldham-born writer on environment and development and founder of the World Pantheist Movement.^[38]
• John Hogan - 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.^[39]

I

• Inspiral Carpets - Madchester/indie rock band.^[5]

J

• Lee Jasper - Race equality activist and champion of over 30 years standing.
• Suranne Jones - Chadderton-born actress who played Karen McDonald in Coronation Street.^[40]
• William Joyce - Brooklyn-born fascist politician and Nazi propagandist was a short-term resident of Glodwick in Oldham.^[41]

K

• Annie Kenney - one of the first suffragettes to be imprisoned for protesting for women's suffrage.^[5][7]
• Anne Kirkbride - soap opera actress best known for playing Deirdre Barlow in Coronation Street.^[22][42]
• Jack Kirkbride - acclaimed cartoonist who worked for the Oldham Evening Chronicle.^[42]
• Barbara Knox - soap opera actress best known for playing Rita Sullivan in Coronation Street.^[22]

L

• Sarah Lancashire - Oldham-born television actress.^[43]
• John Lees - Royton-born inventor who made a substantial improvement to machinery for carding cotton in 1772.^[44]
• Joseph Lees (1748–1824) - regional dialect poet from Glodwick, who wrote Jone o Grinfilt.^[45] He was a hand-loom weaver and schoolteacher accustomed to "study on his seatboard, and when he had thrown a few ideas into rhyme he stopt picking-o'er and wrote it down".^[46]
• Ralf Little - television actor, best known for his roles in The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.^[47]
• Eric Longworth - Shaw-born actor, best known for his semi-regular part in sitcom Dad's Army, as the town clerk of Walmington-on-Sea.^[48][49]

M

• Michelle Marsh - glamour model and page 3 girl.^[50]
• Matthew Maynard - former England Test cricketer.^[51]
• William McDougall - Chadderton-born psychologist and writer of several highly influential textbooks.^[52]
• Fergus Mills - member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.^[53]

N

• N-Trance - Dance music producers.^[5]

O

• Kieran O'Brien - actor who gained notoriety for his role in the 2004 film 9 Songs.^[54]
• Mark Owen - member of boyband Take That who was born and raised in Oldham.^[33][55]

P

• David Platt - association footballer, formerly captain of the England national football team. Born in Chadderton.^{[5][55][56][57]}

R

• Alan Rankle - Artist^[58]
• Hervey Rhodes, Baron Rhodes - Greenfield-born Labour party politician and life peer.^[59]
• Andy Ritchie - former Oldham Athletic player and manager.^[6]
• Roy Rolland, comedian and stage actor who appeared as Old Mother Riley from the 1950s to 1980s^[60]
• Alan Rothwell - Actor and Television Presenter.

S

• Sahil Saeed - a British Pakistani from Shaw and Crompton who was kidnapped for ransom in Pakistan during 2010.^{[61][62][63][64]}
• Phillip Schofield - Oldham-born television presenter.^[5][55]
• Nicola Stephenson - television actress.^[55]
• Philip Sydney Stott, 1st Baronet, Chadderton-born architect, civil engineer and surveyor of cotton mills.^[65]
• William Stott - successful impressionist painter.^[66]
• Eric Sykes - comedy writer and actor.^[67]
• Kevin Sinfield - England and Leeds RLFC player and captain.
• Paul Sculthorpe - England and St Helens RLFC player and captain.

T

• Henry Taylor - British Olympic freestyle swimming triple gold medallist and champion.^[68][69][70]
• Kevin Thaw, alpinist, climber; many first and notable ascents, member of the North Face climbing team, Altitude Everest Expedition 2007
• Geoff Tootill - Chadderton-born scientist helped create the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine in 1948, the world's first wholly electronic stored program computer.^[71]
• Dame Eva Turner, DBE - Renowned soprano opera singer, Born in Werneth^[72]

W

• Jane Walsh, writer.^[73]
• Paul Walsh - Chadderton-born Chief Executive of Diageo.^[74]
• Sir William Walton - acclaimed composer and conductor.^[75]
• Darren Wharton - Keyboardist for rock band Thin Lizzy
• Nicola White - Hockey player for England and Team GB
• Annie Whitehead - Jazz trombone player.^[76]
• Ricky Whittle - Oldham-born model and actor.^[77]
• Jack Wild - Royton-born Academy Award nominated actor, best known for his role as the Artful Dodger in the 1968 musical film Oliver!.^[78][79]
• Woolly Wolstenholme - Chadderton-born vocalist and keyboard player with progressive rock band Barclay James Harvest.^[80]
• Phil Woolas MP - Lincolnshire-born politician representing Oldham East and Saddleworth, lives in Lees.^[81]

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    • Twisted Wheel Punk rock trio Twisted Wheel reside in Oldham]
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Bibliography

• Allen, George (1907), Shaw Church in By-gone Days, York: Coultas & Volans (published 1985)
• Clendening, Logan (2005), The Romance of Medicine: Behind the Doctor, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1-4191-5172-X
• Hough, Peter; Randles, Jenny (1993), Mysteries of the Mersey Valley, Sigma Leisure, ISBN 1-85058-355-2
• Daly, J.D, Oldham From the XX Legion to the 20th Century, ISBN 5-00-091284-5
• Gurr, Duncan; Hunt, Julian (1998), The Cotton Mills of Oldham, Oldham Education & Leisure, ISBN 0-902809-46-6
• Lawson, Michael; Johnson, Mark (1990), Looking Back at Chadderton, Oldham: Oldham Leisure Services, ISBN 0-902809-23-7

Fanning, Gerry;Hollinwood Canal 1792-2000; Neil Richardson; ISBN 1-85216-139-6

External links

• Famous Sons & Daughters, a page from visitoldham.co.uk.