#1Sports
John Collins
born 1968Scottish association football player and manager
25 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
Famous people · Galashiels, Scottish Borders
46 famous people come from Galashiels, John Collins the best known
John Collins leads the list, covered in 25 languages. Behind the leader come Peter Kemp and Archie Cochrane. Only one town in Scottish Borders lists more. In the 20th century, 21 were born, the most of any period.
Born here
46
notable people
Best known
John Collins
in 25 Wikipedia languages
First
1822
David Stirling
Youngest
2002
Charis Scott
Most common field
Sports
32 people
What stands out about Galashiels’ famous people
★ What stands out · Through the years
When Galashiels’s famous people were born
The 1970s saw the most births of any decade: 7.
SportsWriting & ArtsPolitics & LawScience & MedicineFilm, TV & StageMilitaryNotable
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
The best known
Born in Galashiels
Athletes take two of the three places.
#1PK#2
Sports
Peter Kemp
1877–1965British swimmer and water polo player (1877–1965)
21 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
#3Science & Medicine
Archie Cochrane
1909–1988British doctor (1909–1988)
17 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
Known for
What Galashiels is known for
Galashiels has 1.4× the usual share of athletes.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed across UK towns. Tap a field to see its people.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Galashiels
43 more names, born between 1822 and 2002.
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
The fullest list close by belongs to Innerleithen, with 5.
Questions about famous people from Galashiels
Who is the most famous person from Galashiels?
John Collins (Scottish association football player and manager) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 25 languages. Next come Peter Kemp and Archie Cochrane.
How many famous people were born in Galashiels?
46 people born in Galashiels have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace. Wikidata places 50 people here; the rest aren’t listed because their article names somewhere else, or no town.
What is Galashiels known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 32 of the 46. That is 70% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Galashiels?
David Stirling, born in 1822. The youngest on the list was born in 2002.
Who counts as from Galashiels?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Galashiels’ 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 (9)
- John Collins: User:Herny Wood, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Archie Cochrane: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Danny Galbraith: Mattythewhite, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Arthur Lapworth: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Richard Tait: Jonesy702, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Carl Hogg: Worcswarriors, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Andrew McMenemy: 34 super héros, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- J. B. Selkirk: Emma Brown, Contribution from the family of James Brown from his own book, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Jimmy Curran: CraigS1969, CC BY-SA 4.0, 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.