Famous British Biographers

Famous People From England

Find out more about the greatest British Biographers, including Samuel Johnson, G. K. Chesterton, David Irving, Stefan Zweig and William Hague.

Randolph Churchill

28 May 1911

Journalist, Politician

Samuel Johnson

18 September 1709

Writer

Evelyn Waugh

28 October 1903

Writer

David Irving

24 March 1938

Writer

Mary Soames

15 September 1922

Youngest Child of Winston Churchill

Thomas De Quincey

15 August 1785

Essayist

A. N. Wilson

27 October 1950

Writer & Columnist

Nick Mason

27 January 1944

Drummer

Kevin McCloud

08 May 1959

Designer

Jim Davidson

13 December 1953

Comedian

Janette Scott

14 December 1938

Actress

Nancy Mitford

28 November 1904

Novelist

Howard Marks

13 August 1945

Writer

Robert Peston

25 April 1960

Journalist

Roy Jenkins

11 November 1920

Politician

Karl Pearson

27 March 1857

Mathematician, Historian of mathematics,

Lytton Strachey

01 March 1880

Writer

Margaret Drabble

05 June 1939

Novelist

James Boswell

18 October 1740

Biographer

Antonia Fraser

27 August 1932

Novelist

Merlin Holland

1945 AD

writer, editor, poet, journalist

Harold Nicolson

21 November 1886

Diplomat

Peter Ackroyd

05 October 1949

Writer

E. P. Thompson

03 February 1924

Historian

Josephine Tey

25 July 1896

Writer, Playwright, Novelist, Screenwriter,

Izaak Walton

09 August 1593

Writer

Eleanor Farjeon

13 February 1881

Writer

Frank Muir

05 February 1920

Writer

Compton Mackenzie

17 January 1883

Writer

David Brewster

11 December 1781

Botanist, Civil engineer, Physicist, Engineer,

Harold Acton

05 July 1904

Writer

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Andrew Motion

26 October 1952

Poet

Richard Aldington

08 July 1892

Writer

Edmund Gosse

21 September 1849

Poet

Robert Lacey

03 January 1944

Biographer, Historian

Sheridan Morley

05 December 1941

Author

Margaret Forster

25 May 1938

Novelist

Lord David Cecil

09 April 1902

Biographer

Michael Holroyd

27 August 1935

Biographer

Edward John Trelawny

13 November 1792

Biographer

Humphrey Carpenter

29 April 1946

Biographer

James Anthony Froude

23 April 1818

Historian

Maxwell Fry

02 August 1899

Architect

Brigid Brophy

12 June 1929

Novelist

Mary Anne Clarke

03 April 1776

Author

Juliana Berners

1388 AD

Writer

Thomas Jefferson Hogg

24 May 1792

Barrister

Amelia Opie

12 November 1769

Novelist and poet

Robin Maugham

17 May 1916

Author

Hartley Coleridge

19 September 1796

Poet

Tom Taylor

19 October 1817

Dramatist

Frances Partridge

15 March 1900

Writer

Andrew Mango

14 June 1926

Author

W. N. P. Barbellion

07 September 1889

Author

Elaine Feinstein

24 October 1930

Poet

Thomas Deloney

1543 AD

Novelist

Henry Francis Cary

06 December 1772

Biographer

William Hayley

09 November 1745

Writer

Audrey Withers

28 March 1905

Journalist

Gladys Bronwyn Stern

17 June 1890

Journalist, Novelist, Literary critic, Biographer

Martin Boyd

10 June 1893

Writer

Peter Hebblethwaite

30 September 1930

Priest

Paul Bailey

16 February 1937

Novelist

Charles Cowden Clarke

15 December 1787

Author

E.F. Benson

24 July 1867

Novelist

Frederick Robert Tennant

01 September 1866

Theologian

Elijah Fenton

20 May 1683

Poet

Richard Garnett

27 February 1835

English librarian

Sir Leslie Stephen

28 November 1832

Author

Alexander Walker

23 March 1930

Film critic, Journalist, Biographer

Elizabeth Mavor

17 December 1927

Writer

Ram Gopal

20 November 1912

Choreographer

John Forster

02 April 1812

Biographer

George Cavendish

1497 AD

Writer

Elizabeth Jenkins

31 October 1905

Novelist

A.J.A. Symons

16 August 1900

Writer

Sir Peter Quennell

09 March 1905

Writer

Quentin Claudian Stephen Bell

19 August 1910

Art historian

Deborah Cavendish, dowager duchess of Devonshire

31 March 1920

Writer

Elizabeth Harman Pakenham, Countess of Longford

30 August 1906

British historian and biographer