# 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
* Richard Bowker (British businessman) (born 1966)
* 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
* Stephen Michael Bywater (born 1981) – footballer for Derby County

## 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
* Julian Shevlin (born 1967) – Violinist. Principal Concert Master with Munich Philharmonic
* 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

## 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

## 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