#1Famous people · Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire
109 famous people were born in Coatbridge, most of them in the 20th century
The best known is the Scottish comic book writer Mark Millar, with articles in 27 languages. Among the 19 towns in North Lanarkshire with famous people on record, the town ranks 3rd. Over 164 years of births, the list goes from Robert Lees (1842) to Dylan Wells (2006). 22 of them were born since 1970.
Born here
109
notable people
Best known
Mark Millar
in 27 Wikipedia languages
First
1842
Robert Lees
Youngest
2006
Dylan Wells
Most common field
Sports
71 people
What stands out about Coatbridge’s famous people
★ What stands out · Through the years
When Coatbridge’s famous people were born
Count by decade and the 1940s come out on top, with 14 births.
SportsPolitics & LawFilm, TV & StageScience & MedicineWriting & ArtsMusicNotableFaithMilitary
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
The best known
Born in Coatbridge
Counted by languages, Mark Millar is ahead of Chris Iwelumo and Tony Watt: 27, 16 and 14.
#1
#2Sports
Chris Iwelumo
born 1978Scottish association football player (born 1978)
16 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
#3Known for
What Coatbridge is known for
Compared with the usual town, leaders are the most over-represented field, 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 Coatbridge
106 more, best known first.
Helen Liddell, Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke
born 1950British politician (born 1950)
Politics & LawWikipedia ↗
Jim Brown
born 1952Scottish former professional association football player, born 1952
SportsWikipedia ↗
Annie Inglis
1922–2010(1922 - 2010) Scottish actor, director, drama teacher and theatre group founder
Film, TV & StageWikipedia ↗
Eddie McAteer
1914–1986Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland (1914-1986)
Politics & LawWikipedia ↗
Robert Waldron Plenderleith
1901–1974Scottish engineer and museum curator (1901-1974)
Science & MedicineWikipedia ↗
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Of the towns nearby, Bellshill lists the most people: 261.
DMBellshill · 3 miDavid MacMillan & 260 more
Airdrie · 2 miBarry Bannan & 86 more
Bothwell · 4 miJoanna Baillie & 15 more
Holytown · 3 miRobert Crosser & 11 moreJBUddingston · 3 miJames Black & 10 moreJCChapelhall · 3 miJohn Clark & 7 moreFBGlenboig · 3 miFrancis Burns & 3 moreWWNew Stevenston · 4 miWillie Watson & 3 more
Airdrie · 2 miBarry Bannan & 86 moreBothwell · 4 miJoanna Baillie & 15 moreHolytown · 3 miRobert Crosser & 11 moreJBUddingston · 3 miJames Black & 10 moreJCChapelhall · 3 miJohn Clark & 7 moreFBGlenboig · 3 miFrancis Burns & 3 moreWWNew Stevenston · 4 miWillie Watson & 3 moreQuestions about famous people from Coatbridge
Who is the most famous person from Coatbridge?
Mark Millar (Scottish comic book writer) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 27 languages. Next come Chris Iwelumo and Tony Watt.
How many famous people were born in Coatbridge?
109 people born in Coatbridge have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace. Wikidata places 128 people here; the rest aren’t listed because their article names somewhere else, or no town.
What is Coatbridge known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 71 of the 109. That is 65% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Coatbridge?
Robert Lees, born in 1842. The youngest on the list was born in 2006.
Who counts as from Coatbridge?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Coatbridge’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 (26)
- Mark Millar: Luigi Novi, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Chris Iwelumo: Jon Candy, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Tony Watt: Jon Candy from Cardiff, Wales, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Stephen Welsh: Jim Easton, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
- Margaret Skinnider: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Peter Grant: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Ricky Burns: Superdry19, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Tom Clarke: Scottish Labour, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Helen Liddell, Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jim Cunningham: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Mark Meechan: Bunty King, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Elaine Smith: Scottish Labour, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Michael Connarty: Bridawg, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Peter Marshall: Self-scanned from collection of User:JGHowes, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Alan Frew: Gary Wood, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Anne McTaggart: Scottish Labour, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Anne Donovan: ASL (Association for Scottish Literature on YouTube), CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- B. T. Gunn: Pretzelles, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- David Lilly: Wjarrettc, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Frank Mulholland: The Scottish Parliament, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- John Millar: ScottishFootballObseasive, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Alexander Watson: Photo by E Hawkins of Brighton, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Peter McWhannell: Supplement to the Auckland Weekly News, 24 January 1940, page 34 - photographer unknown, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Barry Bannan: Timmy96, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
- Joanna Baillie: Mary Ann Knight, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Robert Crosser: Harris & Ewing, 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.