LM#1
Famous people · Stanley, County Durham
Of the 35 famous people born in Stanley, an unusual share are athletes
Articles in 19 languages make the English association football player Lewis Miley the best known. Kim Darroch and Ben Wilson follow. More than half were born in the 20th century, 21 in all. From Mary Field Garner to Lewis Miley, the births on the list run from 1836 to 2006.
Born here
35
notable people
Best known
Lewis Miley
in 19 Wikipedia languages
First
1836
Mary Field Garner
Youngest
2006
Lewis Miley
Most common field
Sports
27 people
What stands out about Stanley’s famous people
★ What stands out · Known for
What Stanley is known for
Set against the usual town, athletes come out 1.6 times as common.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed across UK towns. Tap a field to see its people.
The best known
Born in Stanley
Lewis Miley, Kim Darroch and Ben Wilson are written about in 19, 15 and 9 languages.
KD#2
#3Through the years
When Stanley’s famous people were born
More of them were born in the 1920s than in any other ten years, 5 in all.
SportsFilm, TV & StagePolitics & LawWriting & ArtsNotableMilitaryMusic
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Stanley
A further 32 follow, born between 1836 and 1997.
Jimmy Kilkenny
1934–2003Footballer who played as a right half forDoncaster Rovers. (1934-2003)
SportsWikipedia ↗
Mary Field Garner
1836–1943NotableWikipedia ↗
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Around it, Lanchester has the most people on record, 15 of them.
Lanchester · 4 miDora Greenwell & 14 more
Annfield Plain · 2 miAlun Armstrong & 10 more
Burnopfield · 3 miEddie Chapman & 6 moreJCDipton · 3 miJohn Craggs & 4 moreJBBurnhope · 3 miJames Barron & 2 moreMMWhitehill · 3 miMaurice McDermott & 1 more
Kibblesworth · 4 miSi King & 1 moreBBNewfield · 3 miBill BlenkironQuestions about famous people from Stanley
Who is the most famous person from Stanley?
Lewis Miley (English association football player) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 19 languages. Next come Kim Darroch and Ben Wilson.
How many famous people were born in Stanley?
35 people born in Stanley have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace. Wikidata places 37 people here; the rest aren’t listed because their article names somewhere else, or no town.
What is Stanley known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 27 of the 35. That is 77% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Stanley?
Mary Field Garner, born in 1836. The youngest on the list was born in 2006.
Who counts as from Stanley?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Stanley’s built-up area (the ONS 2022 boundary), a hospital or district within it included, whose English Wikipedia article agrees. People who only lived here, adult performers and people known mainly for crimes aren’t listed.
Why is someone missing?
Their Wikidata birthplace may be a bigger area (“London”), another town, or missing, or their article may give no birthplace. We only list people both sources agree on; editing Wikidata or Wikipedia changes this page at the next refresh.
From Wikidata (CC0: birthplaces, descriptions, years, occupations) and English Wikipedia (each person’s article confirms the birthplace; linked, not quoted). Birthplaces are placed in the town by the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary (Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence v3.0). Ranked by how many Wikipedia languages cover each person. Fields are read from Wikidata’s description and occupations. “The usual town”: everyone listed across UK towns. Portraits: each person’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (9)
- Ben Wilson: Bradford City AFC, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- David Horsley: Robert Grau, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Brian Tinnion: Matt101, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Ross Adams: Rossadam3000, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Malcolm Ridley: SteveUllathornePhotography, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Dora Greenwell: Roshni Ravi Prasad, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Alun Armstrong: Garry Knight, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Eddie Chapman: Unknown British photographer., Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Si King: Jo Marshall https://www.flickr.com/people/jo-h/, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.