This is a list of notable people who have lived in Hampstead, an area of northwest London known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical, and literary associations. After 1917, and again in the 1930s, it became base to a community of avant garde artists and writers and was host to a number of émigrés and exiles from the Russian Revolution and Nazi Europe.
Amongst the people on this list who were born in Hampstead are politician Nigel Lawson, racing driver Damon Hill, actors Stephen Fry and Dirk Bogarde, singer Jon English, novelist Evelyn Waugh, and the English educator and administrator Robert Laurie Morant. Several of the people on this list, including John Constable, Eleanor Farjeon, and Hugh Gaitskell are buried in the churchyard of St John-at-Hampstead. The Hampstead post code district (NW3) includes the neighbourhoods of Frognal, Chalk Farm, Swiss Cottage, Belsize Park and parts of Primrose Hill.
Note: * indicates people born in Hampstead.
Music and dance
Larry Adler (American harmonica player) Thomas Augustine Barrett aka Leslie Stuart (English composer) Sir Arnold Bax (English classical composer and poet)"Arnold Bax (Composer, Arranger)" Bach-Cantatas.com (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Arthur Bliss (English classical composer) Dennis Brain (English classical horn player) Alfred Brendel (Austrian classical pianist)Franks, Tim, "A master of thoughtfulness" NewStatesman.com, 12 February 2001 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Jonny Buckland (British guitarist and songwriter, member of Coldplay) Clara Butt (English contralto opera singer) Will Champion (English drummer and songwriter, member of Coldplay) Sir Edward Elgar (English classical composer)Mundy, Simon (2001). Elgar 2nd edition. Omnibus Press, p. 140. Frederick Delius (English classical composer) Jacqueline du Pré (British cellist)"Yet another string to Gemma’s cello bow" theCNJ.co.uk (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Jon English Australian singer, songwriter, musician and actor Marianne Faithfull (English singer-songwriter)Mottram, James, "Stay Faithfull: A revealing audience with Marianne Faithfull" Independent.co.uk, 26 April 2008 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Howie Payne (English singer, songwriter, music producer) Kathleen Ferrier (English contralto opera singer) Liam Gallagher (English singer and songwriter, member of Oasis)Mad for it "The Guardian", Accessed 3 July 2012 Tamara Karsavina (Russian ballerina) Hans Keller (Austrian-born violinist and musicologist)Wintle, Christopher, "Hans Keller: The Jerusalem Diary (excerpts)" Plumbago.co.uk (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Frederic King (Victorian era baritone and teacher of singing)'Mr F. King Dead – A Famous Teacher of Singing' – The Straits Times 6 June 1933 pg 19 Stephen Kovacevich (American classical pianist and conductor)Miller, Malcolm, "Ensemble: Meeting of minds" MVDaily.com (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Nick Mason (English drummer, member of Pink Floyd)Pink Floyd Drummers House Raided Accessed 21 May 2010 Tobias Matthay (English classical pianist and composer) John McCormack (Irish tenor opera and concert singer) Yehudi Menuhin (American-born classical violinist of Lithuanian Jewish origin) Orlando Morgan, English music teacher, composer and musicologist, at Harvard Court, Honeybourne Road.'Musician's Will', in Hampstead News, 23 August 1956, p. 1 Jon Moss (English drummer, best known as member of Culture Club) Anna Pavlova (Russian ballerina)"Communities: Pavlova, Anna" 20thCenturyLondon.org.uk (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Paul Robeson (American classical singer and actor) Cecil Sharp (English composer, principal of the Hampstead Conservatoire) Slash * (British-American musician, guitarist for Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver) Sting (English rock musician, singer-songwriter) Harry Styles (English singer and member of One Direction) Jess Glynne * (English singer and songwriter) Sam Smith * (English pop singer and songwriter) Jennifer Vyvyan(English operatic soprano)
Literature
Edwin Abbott Abbott (headmaster and theological writer)Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Retrieved 23 January 2011 Eliza Acton (English poet and cook) Robert Aickman (English fiction writer) Lucy Aikin (English author and historian) Alfred Ainger (English biographer and critic) Martin Amis (British novelist)Leader, Zachary (2006). The Life of Kingsley Amis. Cape, p. 614. William Allingham (Irish poet) Christopher Andrewes (British academic and editor) John Armstrong (Scottish poet) Alan Ayckbourn * (British playwright)Allen, Paul (2002). Alan Ayckbourn: grinning at the edge. Continuum, p. 132. Joanna Baillie (Scottish poet and dramatist) Robert Bakewell (English geologist) William Bayliss (English physiologist) Enid Blyton (British author) Robert Dudley Baxter (English economist and statistician) Sybille Bedford (German-born English novelist, biographer, and travel writer)Obituary: Sybille Bedford Telegraph.co.uk, 21 February 2006 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Walter Besant (English novelist and historian) John Betjeman (English poet)Wilson, James A J, "Limelight: Sir John Betjeman" Intute.ac.uk (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Basil Bunting (English poet) Lord Byron (English poet)"Hampstead & West Hampstead Area Guide" AllinLondon.co.uk (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Gilbert Cannan (British novelist and dramatist) Elias Canetti (Bulgarian-born modernist novelist and playwright) Allan Chappelow (English photographer and writer of books on George Bernard Shaw) Agatha Christie (British crime writer of novels, short stories and plays)Adams, Gene, "The mystery of the Lawn Road novels" CamdenNewJournal.co.uk (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English poet)Wilson, Anne, "London's Literary Village" NYTimes.com, 30 September 1990 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Hunter Davies (British writer and journalist) Jean de Bosschère (after 1944: Jean de Boschère) (Belgian (French) poet, author, essayist, painter, illustrator, sculptor)Jean Azaïs, Annuaire International des Lettres et des Arts (1922-1923), page 44.Selected Letters of John Gould Fletcher, page 82. Daphne du Maurier (English novelist and playwright; granddaughter of George du Maurier)Wade, David, "Whatever happened to Hampstead Man?" Telegraph.co.uk, 8 May 2004 George du Maurier (British novelist and cartoonist) Halide Edip (Turkish novelist) T. S. Eliot (American-born British poet, playwright, and literary critic)Maddrey, Joseph (2009). The making of T.S. Eliot: a study of the literary influences. McFarland, p. 69. Sir William Empson (English literary critic and poet)"What's Happening" (Playback, Spring 2007, issue 37, p.2) BL.uk, 20 December 1970 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Eleanor Farjeon (English writer, particularly of children's literature)The Houghton Mifflin dictionary of biography. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003, pp. 189, 516. Ian Fleming (British journalist and novelist, creator of the James Bond novels)Rose, Steve, "James Bond: the enemy of architecture" Guardian.co.uk, 4 November 2008 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Margaret Forster (English novelist) John Fowles (English novelist and essayist)"A great teacher and a literary genius" CamdenNewJournal.co.uk (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Antonia Fraser (British biographer) Carlos Fuentes (Mexican novelist) John Galsworthy (English novelist and playwright; recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature) Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (English Georgian poet) Jane Green (English novelist and screenwriter) Geoffrey Grigson (English poet) Thom Gunn (Anglo-American poet)"Poet: Thom Gunn (1929–2004)" PoetryFoundation.org (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Leigh Hunt (English critic, essayist, poet)"People: Leigh Hunt" NNDb.com (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Aldous Huxley (English novelist and essayist)"Poetic licence" Independent.co.uk, 6 April 2005 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) John Keats (English poet) Marghanita Laski (English novelist, playwright and critic)Jones, Rhydderch (2003). Ryan: A Biography. Y Lolfa, p. 78. Margaret Laurence (Canadian novelist) D H Lawrence (English novelist, poet, and literary critic) John Le Carré (English novelist) Eddie Linden (Scottish poet and editor)London Metropolitan Archives; London, England, UK; Electoral Registers; Reference: Lcc/Per/B/3022 Katherine Mansfield (New Zealand-born short story writer) John Mortimer * (English barrister and dramatist). Retrieved 21 March 2010. John Middleton Murry (English essayist, novelist, and critic) George Orwell (British novelist and journalist) J. B. Priestley (English novelist, playwright, and broadcaster) Percy Bysshe Shelley (English poet) Edith Sitwell (English poet and critic) Stephen Spender (English poet, novelist, and essayist) Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist) Kate Summerscale (English non-fiction writer) Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali poet, novelist, musician, painter and playwright) Alec Waugh (British novelist) Evelyn Waugh * (English novelist, travel writer, and biographer)"Biography: Evelyn Waugh" Penguin.co.uk (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Anna Wickham (British poet)
Theatre and film
Simon Amstell (English comedian, television presenter, screenwriter and actor)Elliott, John, "Moving on: Simon Amstell" TimesOnline.co.uk, 18 February 2007 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Dame Peggy Ashcroft (English actress)Associated Press. "Dame PeggyAshcroft Now Finds Herself Overexposed After Almost Total Anonymity". The Vindicator, 1 December 1984, p. 12 Peter Barkworth (English actor) Dirk Bogarde * (English actor and novelist)Jury, Louise, "The private world of Dirk Bogarde" Independent.co.uk, 28 March 2007 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Michael Byrne [English actor] Born, schooled and resided in Hampstead Richard Burton (Welsh actor)"What I've Learned: Peter O'Toole" Esquire.com, 17 February 2007 (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Rhys Matthew Bond (British-born actor whose family moved to Canada when he was 10 years old) Emilia Clarke (English actress)"The Gorgeous Balance of Emilia Clarke, Sexiest Woman Alive 2015" "Esquire" 13 October 2015 (Retrieved 21 October 2015) Tom Conti (Scottish actor) Peter Cook (English satirist, writer and comedian)Hodkinson, Richard, "Bonnie 'n' Pete in the comeback disaster" CamdenNewJournal.co.uk (Retrieved 18 June 2009) Dame Judi Dench (English actress, widow of Michael Williams)Waterman, Ivan. "I've got Judi on my mind". The Independent, 23 March 1998 Gerald du Maurier * (English actor and theatre manager) Stephen Fry * (English actor, screenwriter, playwright, comedian)Chase's Calendar of Events 2009. McGraw-Hill Professional, p. 113. Ricky Gervais (British comedian, actor, director, and writer) Michael Gothard (British actor) Laurence Harvey (British actor) Mamoun Hassan (Saudi-born British Film Maker) Jim Henson (American puppeteer and filmmaker) Sophie Hunter (English theatre and opera director, wife of actor Benedict Cumberbatch) Jeremy Irons (English actor) and Sinéad Cusack (Irish actress) Wolf Kahler (German actor) Valerie Leon (British actress and model) Hugh Manning (English actor)