Photo: Rosser1954 · Public domainNo famous person yet from Instow
John Gay tops the 75 names on record in Barnstaple, 5 mi away. The longest list of any town in Devon belongs to Plymouth, with 565. After Plymouth, the next longest list in Devon is Exeter’s, with 303. In all of Devon, the famous people on record come from 83 towns.
Who’s listed here
We list people whose Wikidata birthplace is in Instow’s built-up area and whose English Wikipedia article agrees they were born here. Wikidata has nobody with an English article born in Instow yet.
Famous people born near Instow
Barnstaple has the longest list next door: 75.
Barnstaple · 5 miJohn Gay & 74 more
Bideford · 3 miRichard Grenville & 28 moreACIlfracombe · 10 miArthur Cleave & 8 more
Great Torrington · 7 miWilliam Johnson Cory & 7 moreGSNortham · 2 miGeorge Stapledon & 5 more
Appledore · 1 miEdward Calvert & 3 moreDBBraunton · 3 miDanny Barrow & 1 moreGWWestward Ho! · 3 miG. N. WatsonQuestions about famous people from Instow
Who counts as from Instow?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Instow’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 (4)
- John Gay: Godfrey Kneller, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Richard Grenville: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- William Johnson Cory: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Edward Calvert: Edward Calvert, Public domain, 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.