#1Famous people · Ormiston, East Lothian
From 1795 to 1934, Ormiston was the birthplace of 4 famous people
At the top of the list is the Scottish missionary Robert Moffat, covered in 16 languages. Bobby Gordon, the Scottish footballer, comes second, with Jimmy Kerr third. The biggest group are athletes: 3. The list comes to 15.5 for every 10,000 residents, about the same as the typical town in East Lothian, at 13.
Born here
4
notable people
Best known
Robert Moffat
in 16 Wikipedia languages
First
1795
Robert Moffat
Youngest
1934
Bill Punton
Most common field
Sports
3 people
The best known
Born in Ormiston
Athletes take two of the three places.
#1BG#2
JK#3
Through the years
When Ormiston’s famous people were born
No decade has more births than the 1790s, at 1.
SportsFaith
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Known for
What Ormiston is known for
The field furthest above the usual share is athletes, at 1.5 times.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed across UK towns. Tap a field to see its people.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Ormiston
1 more, best known first.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Of the towns nearby, 8 have famous names listed.
Musselburgh · 4 miHenry Yule & 70 more
Dalkeith · 5 miPeter Guthrie Tait & 32 more
Haddington · 7 miJohn Knox & 24 more
Tranent · 2 miGelie Duncan & 10 more
Mayfield · 5 miBilly Ritchie & 9 moreACGorebridge · 6 miAnnette Crosbie & 9 more
Bonnyrigg · 7 miMichael Leslie & 9 more
Wallyford · 3 miMargaret Oliphant & 5 moreQuestions about famous people from Ormiston
Who is the most famous person from Ormiston?
Robert Moffat (Scottish missionary (1795-1883)) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 16 languages. Next come Bobby Gordon and Jimmy Kerr.
How many famous people were born in Ormiston?
4 people born in Ormiston have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace.
What is Ormiston known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 3 of the 4. That is 75% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Ormiston?
Robert Moffat, born in 1795. The youngest on the list was born in 1934.
Who counts as from Ormiston?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Ormiston’s locality (the NRS 2022 locality 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 National Records of Scotland’s Census 2022 locality boundaries (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 (8)
- Robert Moffat: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Henry Yule: Theodore Blake Wirgman, c. 1890, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Peter Guthrie Tait: George Reid, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- John Knox: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Gelie Duncan: Carolyn Sutton, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Billy Ritchie: Behrens, Herbert / Anefo, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
- Michael Leslie: Benutzer:Bill da Flute, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Margaret Oliphant: No photo credit, 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.