List of people from Plymouth

People from the English city of Plymouth are known as Plymothians or less formally as Janners.^[1] The definition of Janner is described as a person from Devon, deriving from Cousin Jan (the Devon form of John), but more particularly in naval circles anyone from the Plymouth area.^[2] The Elizabethan navigator, Sir Francis Drake was born in nearby town of Tavistock and was the mayor of Plymouth.^[3] He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world and was known by the Spanish as El Draco meaning "The Dragon" after he raided many of their ships.^[4] He died of dysentery in 1596 off the coast of Panama.^[5] In 2002 a mission to recover his body and bring it to Plymouth was allowed by the Ministry of Defence.^[6] Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Frank Bickerton both lived in the city.^[7][8]

Many artists have originated in Plymouth. Joshua Reynolds, the famous 18th-century portrait painter and the first president of the Royal Academy was born in Plympton, and more recently artists have included Beryl Cook whose paintings depict the culture of Plymouth^[9] and Robert Lenkiewicz, whose paintings looked at themes such as: vagrancy, sexual behaviour and suicide, lived in the city from the 1960s until his death in 2002.^[10] In addition, George Passmore of Turner Prize winning duo Gilbert & George was born in the city.^[11] Famous politicians Michael Foot and David Owen are from Plymouth and notable athletes include swimmer Sharron Davies,^[12] diver Tom Daley,^[13] dancer Wayne Sleep,^[14] and footballer Trevor Francis.^[15] Other past residents include composer Ron Goodwin,^[16] and journalist Angela Rippon.^[17]

Notable Plymothians

Image	Name	Born	Died	Notability	Notes
	Sir Francis Drake	1540	1596	First English person to circumnavigate the world	He was born in Tavistock and was the mayor of Plymouth. He died of dysentery off the coast of Panama and was slipped overboard inside a lead casket.[18]
	William Cookworthy	1705	1780	Pharmacist/Industrialist	Born in Kingsbridge, Devon. Pioneered porcelain manufacture in Plymouth.[19][20]
	Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet	1784	1854	Colonial governor	Spent most of his time in British colonies.[21]
(no known portrait)	William Elford Leach MD, FRS	1791	1836	Naturalist at the British Museum	Virtually solely responsible for the modernisation of British zoology in the early 19th century, which laid the foundations for Charles Darwin.
	Jonathan Nash Hearder	1809	1876	Electrical engineer	Born and died in Plymouth. Notable for the development of the induction coil.[22]
	William Henry Wills	1810	1880	Journalist and newspaper editor	A close friend of Charles Dickens, Wills was the subeditor of Household Words and All the Year Round
	Robert Julian Scott	1861	1930	Emeritus Professor of Engineering, Canterbury University, New Zealand	Notable for the creation of New Zealand's first indigenous steam buggy in 1881 and the development of Canterbury University's school of engineering. Cousin of Robert Falcon Scott.
	Robert Falcon Scott	1868	1912	Antarctic explorer	Died in central Antarctica. His body was found eight months later.[7]
	Philip Jacks	1877	1941	Hong Kong colonial administrator	Wrote Digest of Instructions From the Secretary of State For the Colonies (With Local Rulings) Regarding Disposal and Tenure of Land in the Colony of Hong Kong (1930).
	Isaac Foot	1880	1960	President of the Liberal Party	He was president in 1947.[23]
	Frank Bickerton	1889	1954	Antarctic explorer	He moved to Plymouth at the age of six and lived there until 1920.[8]
	Robert Victor Walling	1890	1976	Soldier, journalist, and poet	Born and educated in Plymouth. In peacetime he worked as a journalist with Plymouth-based newspaper The Western Daily Mercury. He was also a member of Gorseth Kernow.[24]
	Joe Symonds	1894	1953	Boxer	Born in Plymouth, Symonds held the British, European and IBU World flyweight boxing titles in the 1910s.
	Michael Foot	1913	2010	Leader of the Labour Party	Son of Isaac Foot.[25]
	Duncan Scott-Ford	1921	1942	Merchant seaman	Hung during World War II for treachery to the Germans.[26]
	Beryl Cook	1926	2008	Comical artist	Born in Epsom, Surrey.[9]
	William Goad	1944	2012	Businessman and pedophile	Lived in Plymouth and abused up to 3,500 boys.[27] He operated businesses in the area, in which he employed some of his victims.[28]
	Lewis Pugh	5 December 1969	Alive	Ocean advocate and pioneer swimmer	First person to undertake a long distance swim in every ocean of the world.
	Liam Mooney	18 May 1972	Alive	Entrepreneur	Born in Gosport, Hampshire
	Lisa Cross	4 April 1978	Alive	IFBB professional bodybuilder	Born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester
	Kate Nesbitt	c. 1988 (age 27–28)	Alive	Medical Assistant in the Royal Navy	Raised in Whitleigh, the first female recipient of the Military Cross in the Royal Navy, for bravery during the War in Afghanistan in March 2009.[29]
	Tom Daley	21 May 1994	Alive	Olympic diver	BBC Sports Personality of the Year Young Personality in 2007.[30]
	Rūta Meilutytė	19 March 1997	Alive	Olympic swimmer	Won gold in the 100 meter breaststroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London.[31] Meilutyté is also the world record holder in the 100 breaststroke (short course), and the 50, and 100 meter breaststroke (long course)

See also

• Category:People from Plymouth
• List of people from Devon

References

1. "Anger over slave trader pub name". BBC. 27 March 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
2. Tawney, Cyril (1987). Grey Funnel Lines: Traditional Song & Verse of the Royal Navy, 1900-1970. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7102-1270-2.
3. "Sir Francis Drake". BBC. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
4. Rasor, Eugene (2004). English/British Naval History to 1815: A Guide to the Literature. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 190. ISBN 0-313-30547-1. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
5. "Sir Francis Drake (c.1540 - c.1596)". BBC. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
6. "Mission to rescue Drake's body". BBC. 12 November 2001. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
7. "Robert Falcon Scott". BBC. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
8. "Antarctic explorer Frank Bickerton". BBC. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
9. "Painter Beryl Cook dies aged 81". BBC. 28 May 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
10. "Controversial artist". BBC. 30 January 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
11. "Gilbert & George". Britannica Online Encyclopaedia. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
12. "New centre to honour Plymouth Olympian Sharron Davies". Plymouth City Council. 14 March 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
13. "Thomas Daley Biography". The British Olympic Association. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
14. "About Sleep". Wayne Sleep's website. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
15. "Englishmen Abroad: Trevor Francis". The FA. 7 July 2003. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
16. "Plymouth's movie maestro". BBC. 30 January 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
17. "The talented Angela Rippon". This Is Hampshire. 19 August 2000. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
18. "Sir Francis Drake". BBC. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
19. Mackenna, F. S. (1947) Cookworthy's Plymouth and Bristol Porcelain
20. Penderill-Church, John (1972) William Cookworthy 1705-1780: a study of the pioneer of true porcelain manufacture in England. Truro: Bradford Barton
21. Lewers, Alan George (1980). Sir George Arthur, Bart, 1784-1854. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84195-3. Retrieved 19 July 2008.
22. Hearder, Ian G. (September 2004). "Hearder, Jonathan Nash (1809–1876)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
23. Goodman, Stanley (2004), ‘Foot, Isaac (1880–1960)’, rev. Mark Pottle, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007 accessed 12 June 2008
24. Who was who among English and European authors, 1931-1949. An Omnigraphics book Gale composite biographical dictionary series; no. 2. Gale Research Co. 1978. ISBN 0-8103-0400-7.
25. Chavda, Jayant (4 March 2007). "Michael Foot 1980-1983". The Labour History Group. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
26. Stratford, Stephen. "British Military & Criminal History in the period 1900 to 1999: Duncan Scott-Ford". Stephen's Study Room. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
27. "New probe into William Goad paedophile ring allegations". BBC News. 13 September 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
28. Keenan, Shy; Payne, Sara (2009). "20". Where Angels Fear. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-93745-7.
29. "Navy woman awarded Military Cross". BBC News. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
30. "Thomas Daley Biography". The British Olympic Association. Retrieved 31 May 2008.
31. Walker, Peter; Bull, Andy (30 July 2012). "Ruta Meilutyte grabs a gold for Lithuania". The Guardian (London).