#1Famous people · Accrington, Lancashire
54 famous people were born in Accrington, most of them in the 20th century
Jon Anderson, the English musician, is the most widely known, written about in 34 languages. The next two names are Harrison Birtwistle and Ron Hill. 10 of them were born since 1970. Born in 1801, Harry Swift is the first name on record, and Dominic Knowles, born in 1992, the most recent.
Born here
54
notable people
Best known
Jon Anderson
in 34 Wikipedia languages
First
1801
Harry Swift
Youngest
1992
Dominic Knowles
Most common field
Sports
33 people
What stands out about Accrington’s famous people
★ What stands out · Through the years
When Accrington’s famous people were born
The 1940s saw the most births of any decade: 7.
SportsWriting & ArtsMusicPolitics & LawScience & MedicineFilm, TV & StageBusinessMilitary
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
The best known
Born in Accrington
Two of the three are musicians.
#1
#2
#3Sports
Ron Hill
1938–2021English former runner and clothing entrepreneur (1938–2021)
17 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
Known for
What Accrington is known for
Compared with the usual town, musicians are the most over-represented field, at 1.4 times.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed across UK towns. Tap a field to see its people.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Accrington
Another 51, 32 of them athletes.
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
The best known from each town within 12 miles of Accrington, with how many people each has.
WFHaslingden · 4 miWilliam Foster & 26 moreHHPadiham · 4 miHarry Hill & 24 more
Rawtenstall · 5 miJane Horrocks & 20 moreJBOswaldtwistle · 2 miJackie Bray & 16 moreJSClayton-le-Moors · 2 miJack Simmons & 6 more
Church · 1 miMina Anwar & 5 moreMDRishton · 2 miMartin Dobson & 4 more
Huncoat · 2 miHarold Davenport & 2 more
Rawtenstall · 5 miJane Horrocks & 20 moreJBOswaldtwistle · 2 miJackie Bray & 16 moreJSClayton-le-Moors · 2 miJack Simmons & 6 moreChurch · 1 miMina Anwar & 5 moreMDRishton · 2 miMartin Dobson & 4 moreHuncoat · 2 miHarold Davenport & 2 moreQuestions about famous people from Accrington
Who is the most famous person from Accrington?
Jon Anderson (English musician) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 34 languages. Next come Harrison Birtwistle and Ron Hill.
How many famous people were born in Accrington?
54 people born in Accrington have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace. Wikidata places 64 people here; the rest aren’t listed because their article names somewhere else, or no town.
What is Accrington known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 33 of the 54. That is 61% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Accrington?
Harry Swift, born in 1801. The youngest on the list was born in 1992.
Who counts as from Accrington?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Accrington’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 (14)
- Jon Anderson: Stéphane Gallay, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Harrison Birtwistle: MITO SettembreMusica, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Ron Hill: Bert Verhoeff for Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl, Wikimedia Commons
- Julie Hesmondhalgh: Harry (Howard) Potts, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- David Lloyd: Pedro Stephano, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Graham Jones: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Derek Oldham: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Dominic Knowles: Mattythewhite, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Paul Manning: Carbon04, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Andy Kanavan: Davecringle, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Anthony Rushton: Justin Griffiths-Williams, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jane Horrocks: richiiebam, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Mina Anwar: Steve Bowbrick from Radlett, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Harold Davenport: Konrad Jacobs, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, 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.