List of people from Cornwall

A

• John Couch Adams, co-discoverer of the planet Neptune
• Michael Adams, chess grandmaster
• Dr. Donald Adamson, historian and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
• Jack Andrew, rugby player, Cornish Pirates prop forward
• Paul Andrew, rugby player, brother of Jack Andrew, Cornish Pirates prop forward
• Michael An Gof, leader of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497
• John Arnold, watchmaker and pioneer of the marine chronometer
• Humphrey Arundell, leader of the Cornish Rebellion of 1549
• Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle, administrator and alleged conspirator, executed 1552
• Candy Atherton, MP for Falmouth and Camborne

  B

• Morwenna Banks, comedian and actress
• Jonah Barrington, squash player
• the Basset family, landowners and tin mining entrepreneurs who owned Tehidy Country Park
• Tom Bawcock, legendary fisherman from Mousehole
• John Betjeman, British Poet Laureate
• William Bickford, inventor of the safety fuse
• Lamorna Birch, artist and member of the Newlyn School
• William Bligh, captain of the ship Bounty
• Thomas Bedford Bolitho, banker and industrialist
• Max Bodilly rugby player Exeter Chiefs full-back/centre
• Thomas Bond, topographer from Looe
• Arthur Townshend Boscawen, Anglican priest and horticulturist
• Admiral Edward Boscawen, a naval commander in the Royal Navy known as "Old Dreadnought"
• John Boson, Nicholas Boson, and Thomas Boson, 18th-century writers in the Cornish language
• Maria Branwell, mother of the Brontë sisters
• James Silk Buckingham, author, journalist and traveller
• Barry Bucknell, the original DIY TV presenter, who lived at St Mawes
• W. J. Burley, author of the Wycliffe series of crime novels

  C

• Richard Carew, translator and antiquary
• Elizabeth Carne, geologist
• James Carne, Victoria Cross DSO, Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Gloucestershire Regiment, in the Korean War
• Joseph Carne, geologist, industrialist and Fellow of the Royal Society
• John Carter, smuggler known as the "King of Prussia", who operated from Prussia Cove
• Charles Causley, poet
• Jack Clemo, blind poet and novelist
• William Clift, naturalist and Fellow of the Royal Society
• Joseph Henry Collins, mining engineer, mineralogist and geologist
• Myrna Combellack, academic researcher and writer of Cornish history
• Constantine of Cornwall, Cornish ruler and saint
• William Cookworthy, discoverer of china clay in Cornwall
• Saint Corentin, missionary to Brittany
• Corineus, the legendary founder of Cornwall in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae
• Dr Jonathan Couch, naturalist and physician
• Richard Quiller Couch, naturalist
• Luke Cowan-Dickie rugby player Exeter Chiefs and England hooker
• John Kevin Curtice, political scientist

  D

• Nick Darke, playwright
• Frederick Hamilton Davey, botanist
• Grenville Davey, artist, Turner Prize winner in 1992
• Sir Humphry Davy, scientist, inventor and president of the Royal Society
• Jamie Day, footballer
• Anne Dowriche, historian, poet and protestant writer
• Samuel Drew, Methodist theologian
• Daphne du Maurier, novelist
• Edwin Dunkin, FRS, president of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Institution of Cornwall
• Herbert Dyer, coppersmith
• John Dyer, painter

  E

• Richard Edmonds, geologist and antiquary
• John Passmore Edwards, Chartist and philanthropist
• Joseph Antonio Emidy, black composer who lived in Truro
• Enys family of Enys in Cornwall, includes many landowners, MPs and public officials
• Matthew Etherington, professional footballer who played in two FA Cup finals with two different teams, West Ham United and Stoke City

  F

• John Pascoe Fawkner, early Australian pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne, Australia.
• Bob Fitzsimmons, world champion bare knuckle fighter
• Thomas Flamank, leader of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497
• Mick Fleetwood, drummer
• Samuel Foote, dramatist
• Stanhope Forbes, artist and member of the Newlyn School
• Fox family of Falmouth, entrepreneurs and philanthropists
• Robert Were Fox the Elder, Quaker and businessman
• Robert Were Fox, FRS, geologist

  G

• Richard Gaisford, Good Morning Britain chief correspondent who trained at University College Falmouth
• Susan Elizabeth Gay, chronicler of Falmouth
• Richard Gendall, linguist and musician
• Ken George, scholar and Cornish nationalist
• Davies Gilbert, applied mathematician and technocrat, president of the Royal Society
• Helen Glover, Olympic gold medal winning rower
• Sir William Golding, novelist
• Julia Goldsworthy, former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne
• Gorlois, mythical Duke of Cornwall
• Andrew Graham, Master of Balliol College, Oxford, 2001-2011
• Winston Graham, novelist, author of the Poldark series
• William Gregor, clergyman and scientist, discoverer of titanium
• Pascoe Grenfell, businessman and politician
• Richard Grenville Navy officer
• Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, inventor of limelight

  H

• James Hawes, television director, re-launched Doctor Who
• Robert Stephen Hawker, Anglican priest and poet, Vicar of Morwenstow
• John Hawkins, geologist, traveller and FRS
• Harrison Hayter, civil engineer
• Tim Heald, author and journalist
• Donald Healey, automotive engineer
• John Hellins, FRS, mathematician, curate of Constantine
• Charles Napier Hemy, landscape and seascape artist, of Falmouth
• Barbara Hepworth, sculptress
• Antony Hewish, astronomer
• Robert Peverell Hichens DSO & Bar, DSC & Two Bars, most highly decorated officer of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
• William Robert Hicks, asylum superintendent
• Emily Hobhouse, humanitarian during the Boer War
• Silas Hocking, author and preacher
• E. G. Retallack Hooper, Cornish bard, writer and journalist
• Roger Hosen, rugby player, born in Mabe, who played rugby for England ten times in the 1960s
• Joseph Hunkin, Bishop of Truro

  J

• Jago, children's book illustrator
• John of Cornwall medieval writer of the Prophecy of Merlin said to be from a lost Cornish language text
• Richard D. James, electronica producer who works under pseudonyms including Aphex Twin and AFX
• Loveday Jenkin, Councillor for Crowan and Wendron
• Kenneth Hamilton Jenkin, Cornish historian, especially of Cornish tin mining
• Henry Jenner, scholar and leader of the revival of the Cornish language
• George Birch Jerrard, mathematician
• Charles Alexander Johns, botanist, clergyman and educator
• Thomas Brown Jordan, engineer
• Richard Jose, singer

  K

• Tony Kellow, footballer
• Allin Kempthorne, actor
• Kenneth Kendall, newsreader and broadcaster
• Henry Killigrew, 16th century diplomat and ambassador
• Dame Laura Knight, artist and member of the Newlyn School
• Keith Halfacree, academic, human geography

  L

• Richard Lander, explorer of Africa
• Peter Lanyon, abstract artist
• Walter Langley, artist and a member of the Newlyn School
• Cassandra Latham, contemporary witch and "village wisewoman" of St. Buryan, Cornwall
• John Lawn, gold miner in New Zealand
• John le Carré, novelist
• Bernard Leach, potter who set up a studio pottery in St. Ives in the 1920s
• Janet Leach, potter, wife of Bernard Leach
• Charles Lee, novelist
• Michael Loam, inventor of the man engine
• Richard Lower, blood transfusion pioneer
• Benjamin Luxon, baritone singer

  M

• Jessica Mann, crime writer
• Al Marconi
• Mark of Cornwall, ruler of Cornwall in the legend of Tristan and Iseult
• Archibald Pellow Marshall, politician and judge
• William Marshall, potter for Bernard Leach
• Nigel Martyn, former England footballer
• Steve Massey, professional footballer who has played for and managed Cornish teams
• John Mayow, physiologist
• Rory McGrath, comedian
• John Drew Mackenzie, painter and illustrator, started the Newlyn Copper industry
• Kevin Miller, footballer who played for Crystal Palace, Birmingham City and Watford
• Chris Morris, footballer who played for Glasgow Celtic and Sheffield Wednesday
• Matthew Paul Moyle, meteorologist and mining writer
• David Mudd, Conservative Party MP, local historian and broadcaster
• William Murdoch, engineer, inventor and sometime Cornish resident
• Sherryl Murray, MP for South East Cornwall

  N

• Robert Morton Nance, scholar and archaeologist
• John Nettles, actor
• Sarah Newton, Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Truro
• Thandie Newton, actress
• Obed Nicholls, art nouveau coppersmith
• William Nichols, mariner
• William Noye, Victorian entomologist
• Jack Nowell, England rugby union player

  O

• William Oliver, FRS, inventor of the Bath Oliver and a founder of the Royal Mineral Water Hospital at Bath
• Alan Opie, baritone
• John Opie, portrait painter, the only Cornishman to be buried in St Paul's Cathedral

  P

• Zoie Palmer, actress born in Camborne
• Crawford Pasco Royal Navy officer and Australian police magistrate during the 19th century, son of John Pasco
• John Pasco, British Admiral of Royal Navy
• Merlin Owen Pasco, New Zealand entomologist
• Samuel Pasco, United States Senator from Florida
• Francis Polkinghorne Pascoe, Cornish entomologist
• Alex Parks, singer/songwriter who won Fame Academy in 2003
• Philip Payton, historian and Professor of Cornish and Australian Studies
• Andrew Pears, soap manufacturer who invented Pears soap
• William Pengelly, geologist and archeologist
• David Penhaligon, Liberal Member of Parliament
• Susan Penhaligon, actress and writer
• Dolly Pentreath, fish pedlar who has been described as the last native speaker of the Cornish language
• Saint Petroc, a patron saint of Cornwall
• John Arthur Phillips, FRS, geologist, metallurgist, mining engineer
• Rosamunde Pilcher, novelist
• Saint Piran, patron saint of Cornwall and of tin miners

  Q

• Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, author, academic and literary critic

  R

• John Ralfs, botanist
• Rashleigh family merchants and landowners
• Andy Reed, rugby union player who played for Bath RFC and won 18 caps for Scotland
• Rick Rescorla, hero of the Twin Towers terrorist attack of September 11th 2001
• Henry Chidley Reynolds, dairy farmer who started the Anchor brand of butter
• Edward Hearle Rodd, ornithologist
• Geoffrey Rowe, Cornish comedian better known as Jethro
• Dr A. L. Rowse, CH, historian, novelist and poet
• Hilda Runciman, MP for St Ives

  S

• Sweet Saraya, professional wrestler and promoter
• William Scawen, soldier and linguist
• Kristin Scott Thomas, actress
• Hugh Scully, television presenter who lives in Truro
• Richard Sharp, rugby union footballer who played in the 1960s who captained England and won 14 caps
• Matthew Shepherd rugby player Plymouth Albion scrum-half/full-back
• Tim Smit, executive vice-chairman and co-founder of the Eden Project
• Barney Solomon, rugby union player who captained the silver medal winning Great Britain team in the 1908 Olympics
• John Spargo, socialist and scholar
• Matthew Spriggs, professor of archaeology specialising in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
• Howard Spring, novelist
• Emily Stackhouse, botanical artist and plant collector
• Tristan Stephenson, mixologist and drinks industry expert
• Claude Brian Stevens, known as "Stack Stevens", born in Godolphin, rugby player who won 25 caps for England

  T

• Derek Tangye, writer who wrote the Minack Chronicles
• Nigel Tangye, airman, author and hotelier at Newquay
• Richard Tangye, engineer
• Roger Taylor, rock drummer with the group Queen
• D.M. Thomas, novelist, poet, playwright and translator
• E. V. Thompson, historical novelist
• Mary Ann Tocker, early radical who exposed corruption in the Stannary Courts 1818
• Anthony Tonkin, footballer played for Yeovil Town, Cambridge United, Oxford United and Crewe
• Sam Toy, former chairman of the Ford Motor Company, UK
• Sheila Tracy, BBC Radio 2 presenter
• Mike Trebilcock, footballer who won the FA Cup in 1966 with Everton
• David Treffry, colonial administrator and international financier
• Giant Tregeagle, lawyer
• Peter Tregloan, powerlifter
• Jonathan Trelawny, Anglican bishop and antagonist of James II
• Petroc Trelawny, journalist and BBC Radio 3 presenter
• Sir William Trelawny, 6th Baronet MP for West Looe and Governor of Jamaica
• Henry Trengrouse, inventor of a rocket-powered maritime rescue system
• Silvanus Trevail, architect, mayor of Truro and president of the Society of Architects
• Raleigh Trevelyan, author and publisher
• John Trevisa, translator and co-author of the first Bible in English and earliest attestation of 1/3rd of words in the English Language
• Richard Trevithick, inventor, engineer and builder of the first steam locomotive
• Joseph Trewavas, able seaman who won the Victoria Cross
• Elizabeth Trewinnard, Lady Killigrew, aristocrat who was convicted of piracy during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
• Tristan, hero of the Tristan and Iseult legend, nephew of Mark of Cornwall
• Henry Scott Tuke, artist, photographer and impressionist painter

  V

• John Verran, Premier of South Australia
• Phil Vickery, England rugby player
• Andrew Vivian, Trevithick's cousin and collaborator, and captain of Dolcoath Mine

  W

• William Wagstaff, ornithologist and naturalist
• Alfred Wallis, Cornish fisherman and artist
• Samuel Wallis, explorer of the Pacific
• Williams family of Caerhays and Burncoose, landowners and entrepreneurs
• Patrick Woodroffe, fantasy artist
• Edward Woodward, actor who spent his last years at his home in Hawker's Cove, Cornwall and died in Truro
• Brenda Wootton, folk singer and poet
• Lilian Wyles, first female detective in the British Police Force
• Beatrice Frederika Wright, MP for Bodmin