#1Famous people · Elland, West Yorkshire
From 1883 to 1987, Elland was the birthplace of 6 famous people
The best known is the cricket player of England Bill Bowes, with articles in 8 languages. Edith Pretty and Danny Racchi follow. Most were born in the 20th century: 4 of them. Per 10,000 residents, the town has 3.8, close to the 5 of the typical West Yorkshire town.
Born here
6
notable people
Best known
Bill Bowes
in 8 Wikipedia languages
First
1883
Edith Pretty
Youngest
1987
Danny Racchi
Most common field
Sports
3 people
The best known
Born in Elland
The three are covered in 8, 7 and 4 languages: Bill Bowes, Edith Pretty and Danny Racchi.
#1
#2
#3Through the years
When Elland’s famous people were born
Count by decade and the 1900s come out on top, with 2 births.
SportsPolitics & LawScience & Medicine
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Known for
What Elland is known for
The field with the most names is Sports: 3.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed across UK towns. Tap a field to see its people.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Elland
Here are 3 more, born from 1905 to 1923.
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
The neighbour with the most names is Huddersfield, at 325.
Huddersfield · 3 miHarold Wilson & 324 more
Halifax · 3 miEd Sheeran & 305 moreBYBrighouse · 3 miBarbara Young & 18 more
Kirkheaton · 5 miWilfred Rhodes & 6 moreASSowerby Bridge · 4 miArthur Southern & 3 moreGDLinthwaite and Slaithwaite · 4 miGeoff Dyson & 2 more
Shelf and Northowram · 4 miJoseph Jagger & 1 moreJWRipponden · 4 miJames WaltonQuestions about famous people from Elland
Who is the most famous person from Elland?
Bill Bowes (cricket player of England. (1908-1987)) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 8 languages. Next come Edith Pretty and Danny Racchi.
How many famous people were born in Elland?
6 people born in Elland have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace. Wikidata places 7 people here; the rest aren’t listed because their article names somewhere else, or no town.
What is Elland known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 3 of the 6. That is 50% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Elland?
Edith Pretty, born in 1883. The youngest on the list was born in 1987.
Who counts as from Elland?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Elland’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 (7)
- Bill Bowes: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Edith Pretty: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Danny Racchi: Ingy The Wingy, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Harold Wilson: Eric Koch for Anefo, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
- Ed Sheeran: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Wilfred Rhodes: George Beldam, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Joseph Jagger: 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.