# List of people from Exeter

This is a list of people from Exeter, a city in south-west England. People from Exeter are known as Exonians. This list is arranged chronologically by date of birth.

## Born before 1701

* Baldwin of Exeter (died 1190), Archbishop of Canterbury
* Joseph of Exeter (12th century), poet
* Robert Stone (1516–1613), composer and member of the Chapel Royal
* John Hooker (1525–1601), constitutionalist
* William Peryam (1534 – after 1603), lawyer
* Sir Thomas Bodley (1545–1613), diplomat and founder of the Bodleian Library
* Nicholas Hilliard (c. 1547–1619), portraitist
* John Rainolds (1549–1605), Puritan scholar
* Richard Hooker (1554–1600), Anglican theologian
* William Hakewill (1574–1655), legal antiquarian
* George Hakewill (1578–1649), clergyman and author
* Matthew Locke (c. 1621–1677), Baroque composer
* Henrietta Anne Stuart (1644–1670), daughter of King Charles I
* Peter King, 1st Baron King (1669–1734), Lord Chancellor
* Thomas Yalden (1670–1736), poet
* Simon Ockley (1678–1720), orientalist
* Eustace Budgell (1686–1737), writer
* Andrew Brice (1690–1773), printer and writer

## Born 1701–1850

* Thomas Hudson (1701–1779), portrait painter
* Francis Hayman (1708–1776), Rococo artist
* John Rowe (1715–1787), merchant and owner of ship involved in Boston Tea Party
* Thomas Mudge (horologist) (1715-1794), horologist who was responsible for the Lever escapement mechanism
* Samuel Stennett (1727–1795), Baptist minister and hymnwriter
* Richard Langdon (1729–1803), organist and composer
* William Jackson (1730–1803), referred to as Jackson of Exeter, was an organist and composer
* Robert Trewman (1738/39–1802), first proprietor of Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, published 1763–1917
* Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet (1740–1810), banker
* Richard Eastcott (baptised 1744–1828), Anglican clergyman and writer on music
* Robert Hawker (1753–1827), Anglican clergyman
* David Collins (1756–1810), first governor of Van Diemens Land (Tasmania)
* John Stockham (1765–1814), naval officer
* Richard Parker (1767–1797), sailor and mutineer
* John Blackall (1771–1860), physician
* George Oliver (1781–1861), Catholic churchman and historian
* James Holman (1786–1857), noted blind traveller
* Sir John Bowring (1792–1872), political economist and Governor of Hong Kong
* Thomas Shapter (1809–1902), doctor and author of History of the Cholera in Exeter in 1832
* Samuel Cousins (1801–1887), engraver
* Mary Carpenter (1807–1877), educational and social reformer
* William Benjamin Carpenter (1813–1885), physiologist and naturalist
* John Carne Bidwill (1815–1853), botanist, first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
* Lilly Martin Spencer (1822–1902), US painter
* Lavington Glyde (1824-1890), South Australian politician and accountant
* Henry Chadwick (1824–1908), journalist, "father of baseball"
* Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924), writer, clergyman, antiquary and folklorist
* Sir Harry James Veitch (1840–1924), horticulturist
* William John Seward Webber (1842–1919), sculptor
* William Kingdon Clifford (1845–1879), mathematician

## Born 1851–1950

* Eva Luckes (1854–1919), matron of The London Hospital 1880–1919, pioneer of training for nurses
* Theodore Bayley Hardy (1863–1918), Army chaplain and VC
* Fred Karno (1866–1941), comedy pioneer and impresario
* Irene Vanbrugh (1872–1949), actress
* Herbert Augustine Carter (1874–1916), army officer and VC
* William Temple (1881–1944), Archbishop of Canterbury
* Ernest Kennaway (1881–1958), pathologist who suggested a link between smoking and lung cancer
* Gordon Steele (1891–1981), recipient of the Victoria Cross
* Primrose Pitman (1902–1998), artist
* W. G. Hoskins (1908–1992), historian of the English landscape
* Cliff Bastin (1912–1991), Arsenal and England footballer
* John Manners (1914–2020), English cricketer and Royal Navy officer; oldest living first-class cricketer
* Tommy Cooper (1921–1984), comedian born in Caerphilly but living in Exeter from the age of three
* Denis Pereira Gray (born 1935), physician
* Tony Burrows (born 1942), pop singer
* Sarah Harrison (born 1946), novelist
* Peter Rutley (born 1946), former professional footballer
* Doug Finley (1946–2013), Canadian Senator and principal operational strategist of the Conservative Party of Canada

## Born since 1950

* Clare Morrall (born 1952), novelist
* John Scott (born 1954), England rugby union international
* Beth Gibbons (born 1965), singer with Portishead
* Ben Nealon (born 1966), actor
* Toby Buckland (born 1969), gardener, TV presenter and author
* Michael Caines (born 1969), chef and restaurateur
* Jane Griffiths (born 1970), poet and literary historian
* Chris Martin (born 1977), lead singer of Coldplay
* Mathew Theedom (born 1977), cricketer
* Dominic Wood (born 1978), TV presenter
* Matthew Goode (born 1978), actor
* David Lye (born 1979), cricketer
* Scott C Shephard (born 1979), music executive
* Jim Causley (born 1980), folk singer
* Stuart Hooper (born 1981), rugby union player
* Rebecca Worthley (born 1981), singer/songwriter
* Trevor Anning (born 1982), cricketer
* Bradley James (born 1983), actor
* Kate Bushell (born 1983), victim of a high-profile child murder in the city in 1997, her murder remains unsolved as of 2022
* Tim Shaw (born 1984), American football player for Tennessee Titans
* Harry Treadaway (born 1984), actor
* Ben Aldridge (born 1985), actor
* Liam Tancock (born 1985), world champion swimmer
* Aaron Jarvis (born 1986), Wales rugby union player
* Liam Lewis (born 1986), cricketer
* Kour Pour (born 1987), artist
* James Yeoburn (born 1987), theatre producer and entrepreneur
* Liam Sercombe (born 1990), professional footballer
* Luke Newberry (born 1990), actor
* Joe Launchbury (born 1991), England rugby union international
* Harry Tincknell (born 1991), professional racing driver, 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2-class winner
* Tristan Evans (born 1994), drummer in The Vamps
* Matt Grimes (born 1995), footballer for Swansea City A.F.C.
* Xia Vigor (born 2009), actress for ABS CBN
* Thomas Cameron (born 1999), classical singer, radio host