WF#1
Sports
William Foster
1890–1963British swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, former world record-holder
16 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
Famous people · Haslingden, Lancashire
Haslingden counts 27 famous people, first among them William Foster
With articles in 16 languages, William Foster is the most widely known. Second place goes to the British businessman John Cockerill, third to Alan Rawsthorne. 11 of them were born in the 20th century, more than in any other period. The list comes to 16.9 for every 10,000 residents, against 2.3 in the typical town in Lancashire.
Born here
27
notable people
Best known
William Foster
in 16 Wikipedia languages
First
1757
William Cockerill
Youngest
2002
Joe Rodwell-Grant
Most common field
Sports
14 people
The best known
Born in Haslingden
Counted by languages, William Foster is ahead of John Cockerill and Alan Rawsthorne: 16, 15 and 13.
#2AR#3
Through the years
When Haslingden’s famous people were born
No decade has more births than the 1900s, at 3.
SportsBusinessPolitics & LawScience & MedicineFilm, TV & StageMusicMilitary
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Known for
What Haslingden is known for
Set against the usual town, business people come out 5.8 times as common.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed across UK towns. Tap a field to see its people.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Haslingden
A further 24 follow, born between 1757 and 2002.
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Accrington leads the towns around it, with 54 names.
Accrington · 4 miJon Anderson & 53 more
Rawtenstall · 2 miJane Horrocks & 20 more
Bacup · 5 miJohnny Clegg & 19 moreJBOswaldtwistle · 4 miJackie Bray & 16 moreTGRamsbottom · 4 miTim Greaves & 10 more
Church · 5 miMina Anwar & 5 more
Huncoat · 5 miHarold Davenport & 2 more
Hoddlesden · 4 miAlan Walsh & 1 moreQuestions about famous people from Haslingden
Who is the most famous person from Haslingden?
William Foster (British swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, former world record-holder) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 16 languages. Next come John Cockerill and Alan Rawsthorne.
How many famous people were born in Haslingden?
27 people born in Haslingden have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace. Wikidata places 31 people here; the rest aren’t listed because their article names somewhere else, or no town.
What is Haslingden known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 14 of the 27. That is 52% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Haslingden?
William Cockerill, born in 1757. The youngest on the list was born in 2002.
Who counts as from Haslingden?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Haslingden’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 (15)
- John Cockerill: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- William Cockerill: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Antony Higginbotham: David Woolfall, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Choppy Warburton: Jules Beau, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Ethel Bidwell: History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Rhodes Boyson: File:Margaret Simey and Rhodes Boyson appearing on "After Dark", 20 May 1989.jpg: Open Media Ltd. derivative work: Begoon, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Beryl Ingham: Carpenter (Sgt), No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- James Alty: JLenton, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Robert Scott: James Taddy & Co, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Jon Anderson: Stéphane Gallay, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jane Horrocks: richiiebam, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Johnny Clegg: davidata, CC BY-SA 3.0, 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
- Alan Walsh: division, CSIRO, CC BY 3.0, 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.