#1Famous people · Alness, Highland
From 1728 to 1954, Alness was the birthplace of 4 famous people
The best known is the New Zealand chess player David Forsyth, with articles in 7 languages. Behind the leader come Robert Munro, 1st Baron Alness and John Munro. For its size the list is short: 6.7 for every 10,000 residents, against 13.2 in the typical Highland town. Leaders make up the largest group, 2 of them.
Born here
4
notable people
Best known
David Forsyth
in 7 Wikipedia languages
First
1728
John Munro
Youngest
1954
Roddie MacDonald
Most common field
Politics & Law
2 people
The best known
Born in Alness
Two of the three are leaders.
#1
#2Politics & Law
Robert Munro, 1st Baron Alness
1868–1955British politician (1868-1955)
5 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
#3Through the years
When Alness’s famous people were born
The 1850s alone account for 1 of the births charted here.
Politics & LawNotableSports
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Known for
What Alness is known for
Politics & Law leads the fields, with 2 people.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed across UK towns. Tap a field to see its people.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Alness
1 more, best known first.
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
The most names next door are in Dingwall: 14.
Questions about famous people from Alness
Who is the most famous person from Alness?
David Forsyth (New Zealand chess player) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 7 languages. Next come Robert Munro, 1st Baron Alness and John Munro.
How many famous people were born in Alness?
4 people born in Alness have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace.
What is Alness known for?
Among its famous people, leaders: 2 of the 4. That is 50% of the town’s list, against 9% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Alness?
John Munro, born in 1728. The youngest on the list was born in 1954.
Who counts as from Alness?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Alness’ 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 (4)
- David Forsyth: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Robert Munro, 1st Baron Alness: The Library of Congress, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- John Munro: unknown, from an engraving in the Canadian National Archives, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Kate Forbes: Scottish Government, 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.