#1Jenson Button tops a list of 16 famous people born in Frome
Articles in 73 languages make the British racing driver Jenson Button the best known. 7 of them were born in the 20th century, more than in any other period. Fewer than a quarter of the 100 towns in Somerset with famous people list more. The list comes to 5.7 for every 10,000 residents, about the same as the typical town in Somerset, at 4.9.
What stands out about Frome’s famous people
Born in Frome
First, Jenson Button (73 languages), then Charlie Higson (13) and Charles Oatley (9).
#1
#2Charlie Higson
born 1958British actor, comedian and author
Charles Oatley
1904–1996British physicist and electrical engineer
When Frome’s famous people were born
The 1950s saw the most births of any decade: 3.
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
What Frome is known for
Frome has 2.5× the usual share of scientists and doctors.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed across UK towns. Tap a field to see its people.
Everyone else born in Frome
The rest number 13, with 5 athletes among them.



Edgar Milne-Redhead
1906–1996British naturalist and botanist (1906–1996)

No one matches both filters.
Famous people from the towns next door
Of the towns nearby, Trowbridge lists the most people: 39.
Questions about famous people from Frome
Who is the most famous person from Frome?
Jenson Button (British racing driver) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 73 languages. Next come Charlie Higson and Charles Oatley.
How many famous people were born in Frome?
16 people born in Frome have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace. Wikidata places 20 people here; the rest aren’t listed because their article names somewhere else, or no town.
What is Frome known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 6 of the 16. That is 38% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Frome?
Henry Thomas Ryall, born in 1811. The youngest on the list was born in 1991.
Who counts as from Frome?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Frome’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 (10)
- Jenson Button: Engyles, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Charlie Higson: Christopher William Adach from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Joseph Robson Tanner: Shimer College, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Will Thorp: Richard Hopkins, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Chris Stokes: Bruce Fenn, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Richard Vranch: Auntiep69, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Nathan Dyer: Ronnie Macdonald, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Andy Sheppard: Hreinn Gudlaugsson, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Bryan Edwards: Lemuel Francis Abbott, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Alfred Parsons: not stated, 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.



