# List of people from the London Borough of Southwark

The list of people from the London Borough of Southwark includes residents who were either born or dwelt for a substantial period within the borders of this modern London borough. It does not comprise notable individuals who only studied at educational institutions in the area, such as the Camberwell School of Art and the Dulwich College. Several of the men and women listed have been honoured with blue plaques in various parts of the borough, including more than 50 commemorative plaques awarded by the Southwark Council since 2003.
In 1965, the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark, the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell, and the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey were amalgamated to form the London Borough of Southwark. Located in the eastern part of South London, it is, along with the City of London, the oldest part of Greater London, with a history of civilisation that dates back to the Roman times. One of the 32 London boroughs, it constitutes several urban and suburban neighborhoods, including Bermondsey, Bankside, Camberwell, Dulwich, Peckham, Nunhead, Rotherhithe, Walworth, and The Borough, located at the southern bank of the river Thames.
The 2001 census recorded the population of Southwark to be nearly 244,866 residents, sixty-three per cent of whom are whites, sixteen per cent black African and 8 percent black Caribbean. For a decade, between 1997 and 2007, the borough's population grew at three times the rate of England as a whole. Sixty per cent of the borough's inhabitants are currently known to live in social housing.

## Notable residents

Key to "Notes" regarding the residents' affiliation to Southwark:
| Letter | Description |
| B | Indicates that the resident was born in Southwark. |
| D | Indicates that the resident died in Southwark. |
Citations in the Notes box refer to the information in the entire row.

### Academia and research

| Name | Notability | District | Notes |
| Michael Faraday | Chemist and physicist, invented the electric motor | Newington | B |
| Clement le Neve Foster | Geologist and mineralogist | Camberwell | B |
| Benjamin Jowett | Classical scholar, served as Master of Balliol College, Oxford | Camberwell | B |
| Anthony James Leggett | Physicist, received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on superfluidity | Camberwell | B |
| Alfred Marshall | Economist, wrote the popular textbook Principles of Economics (1890) | Bermondsey | B |
| Robert Recorde | Physician and mathematician, invented the "equals" sign (=) in 1557 | Southwark | D |
| Edward Burnett Tylor | Anthropologist, affiliated with the sociocultural evolutionism | Camberwell | B |

### Arts and entertainment

| Name | Notability | District | Notes |
| Jenny Agutter | Film and television actress, won an Emmy Award and a BAFTA | Camberwell | |
| Edward Alleyn | Actor of the Elizabethan theatre, founded Dulwich College and Alleyn's School | Dulwich | |
| Richard Ayoade | TV and film actor, director, writer | East Dulwich | |
| Pete Bennett | Winner of Big Brother 7 television reality series | Camberwell | B |
| John Boyega | Film actor currently starring in FOX series 24: Live Another Day, alongside fellow British-American actor, Kiefer Sutherland | Peckham | |
| Joshua Bradley | YouTuber and member of the Sidemen | Bermondsey | |
| Kenneth Branagh | Actor and film director, won an Emmy Award and received an Oscar nomination | Camberwell | |
| Michael Caine | Actor, recipient of two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, and four Golden Globe Awards | Rotherhithe | B |
| Charlie Chaplin | Actor, comedian and filmmaker, recipient of two Academy Awards | Walworth | B |
| Pat Coombs | Character actress, worked in film, radio and television | Camberwell | B |
| Madeline Duggan | Character actress, known for work in the BBC soap opera EastEnders | Bermondsey | B |
| Jenny Eclair | Comedian, actress and novelist | Camberwell | |
| Chiwetel Ejiofor | Actor with special prominence on the London stage | Camberwell | |
| Jade Goody | Reality TV personality | Bermondsey | B |
| Leslie Grantham | Television actor, known for work in the BBC soap opera EastEnders | Camberwell | B |
| Patricia Hayes | Comedy actress, prominent for her work in television | Camberwell | B |
| Lynette Hemmant | Artist and illustrator | Camberwell | |
| Albert Houthuesen | Artist of still-lives, landscapes, seascapes, and portraits | Camberwell | |
| Terry Jones | Comedian, actor and filmmaker, best known as member of the Monty Python team | Camberwell | |
| Boris Karloff | Actor, best recognised as Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein | Camberwell | B |
| Martin McDonagh | Playwright and film director, Academy Award winner | Camberwell | B |
| Ivor Moreton | Singer and pianist, known for performing in a duo with Dave Kaye | Peckham | |
| Erin O'Connor | Fashion model | Camberwell | |
| Samuel Palmer | Romantic landscape painter, etcher, printmaker and writer | Newington | B |
| Claude Rains | Actor and film star, winner of a Tony Award | Camberwell | B |
| Tim Roth | Film actor | Dulwich | B |
| Thomas Sangster | Film and voice actor | Southwark | |
| Steve Chandra Savale | Musician | Camberwell | B |
| Nicholas Serota | Art curator, serving as director of Tate Gallery | Camberwell | |
| Siouxsie Sioux | Singer-songwriter of Siouxsie and the Banshees | Southwark | B |
| John Stainer | Organist, composer, and professor of music at University of Oxford | Southwark | |
| Tommy Steele | Entertainer who brought rock music to the UK | Bermondsey | B |
| Emma Thompson | Actor and screenwriter, winner of Oscars, BAFTAs, an Emmy, a Golden Globe Award | Camberwell | |
| Mark Wallinger | Sculptor, a YBA known for the Ecce Homo (1999), and State Britain (2007) sculptures | Camberwell | |
| Florence Welch | Singer/songwriter (Florence + The Machine) | Camberwell | B |

### Engineering and technology

| Name | Notability | District | Notes |
| Charles Babbage | Victorian mathematician, inventor of the first mechanical computing machine | Walworth | B |
| Isambard Kingdom Brunel | Victorian engineer, designed Great Western Railway and SS Great Britain | Rotherhithe | |
| Marc Isambard Brunel | Engineer, known for designing the construction of the Thames Tunnel | Rotherhithe | |
| Edward Turner | Engineer, designed Ariel and Triumph motorcycles and Daimler cars | Camberwell | B |

### Journalism and media

| Name | Notability | District |
| Jeremy Bowen | Reporter and television presenter, best known as a war correspondent for the BBC | Camberwell |
| Peter Preston | Editor of The Guardian (1975–1995) and a chairman of International Press Institute (1995–97) | Camberwell |
| Zoe Williams | Reporter and columnist for The Guardian and the New Statesman | Camberwell |

### Literature

| Name | Notability | District | Notes |
| Enid Blyton | Children's author, with popular work like the Famous Five and Secret Seven series | East Dulwich | B |
| Robert Browning | Victorian poet and playwright, known for mastery of dramatic verse | Camberwell | B |
| Camilla Dufour Crosland | Victorian poet, novelist and writer on social and historical subjects, died in East Dulwich | East Dulwich | B |
| Charles Dickens | Victorian novelist, journalist and social campaigner | Southwark | |
| Harry Buxton Forman | Victorian bibliographer, editor, Shelley scholar | Camberwell | |
| Philip Massinger | Playwright of works such as A New Way to Pay Old Debts and The Roman Actor | Southwark | D |
| John Ruskin | Art critic, social theorist, painter and writer | Denmark Hill | |
| Hester Thrale | Diarist and author, whose writings illuminate life in 18th-century England | Southwark | |
| Mary Wollstonecraft | Author and feminist, known for writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) | Newington Butts | |

### Politics and government

| Name | Notability | District | Notes |
| Lord Eric Avebury | Liberal Member of Parliament, 1962–70; Liberal Democrat Representative peer, 1999- | Camberwell | |
| Joseph Chamberlain | Liberal and Liberal Unionist politician, entrepreneur and imperial statesman | Camberwell | B |
| Harriet Harman | Labour Member of parliament, 1983-; Leader of the House of Commons, 2007– | Dulwich | |
| Simon Hughes | Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (1983-) and party President (2004-) | Bermondsey | |
| Jack Jones | General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, 1968–77 | Denmark Hill | |
| Sir Timothy Laurence | Naval officer, Equerry to Queen Elizabeth (1986–89), and husband of Princess Anne | Camberwell | B |
| Henry Thrale | Anchor Brewery heir, Member of Parliament (1765–80), Sheriff of the City of London | Southwark | |
| Larry Whitty | Labour politician; General Secretary of the Labour Party (1985–94) | Camberwell | |

### Religion

| Name | Notability | District | Notes |
| Hester Biddle | Quaker pamphleteer, preacher and traveller | Bermondsey | D |
| Edmund Bonner | Bishop of London, known for persecuting heretics in Queen Mary I's Catholic rule | Southwark | D |
| John Harvard | English clergyman, first benefactor to College, 1639 named Harvard University in his honour | Southwark | B |
| Francis Pott | English clergyman and hymnwriter | Southwark | |
| Mother Mary Potter | Founder of the Little Company of Mary in 1877. On 8 February 1988, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her Venerable. | Bermondsey | B |
| Charles Spurgeon | Reformed Baptist preacher and eponym for Spurgeon's College | Elephant and Castle | |

### Sports

| Name | Notability | District | Notes |
| Bobby Abel | Cricketer (1881–1904), played as an opening batsman for the England cricket team | Rotherhithe | B |
| John Bostock | Footballer, plays as a midfielder for OH Leuven | Camberwell | B |
| Rio Ferdinand | Former footballer, played as a centre-back most notably for Manchester United; was also a former captain of England; currently a pundit for BT Sport | Peckham | B |
| Duncan Goodhew | Swimmer, winner of gold and bronze medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics | Camberwell | |
| David Haye | Boxer, former WBA heavyweight champion, former unified world cruiserweight champion and former European cruiserweight champion | Bermondsey | |
| John Keene | Cricketer (1897–1907), played as a bowler for Surrey, Worcestershire, and Scotland | | B |
| Nosher Powell | Boxer and actor | Camberwell | B |
| Martin Ruane | Wrestler, known as "Giant Haystacks" and a European Union Heavyweight Champion | Camberwell | B |
| Kenny Sansom | Footballer, played as a left back for Arsenal and England | Camberwell | B |