#1Famous people · Rawdon, West Yorkshire
4 famous people come from Rawdon, Brian Close the best known
The best known is the English cricketer Brian Close, with articles in 10 languages. Close behind are Claude Barrett and George Douglas Verity. From Claude Barrett to Richard Jowett, the births on the list run from 1907 to 1937. Athletes make up the largest group, 4 of them.
Born here
4
notable people
Best known
Brian Close
in 10 Wikipedia languages
First
1907
Claude Barrett
Youngest
1937
Richard Jowett
Most common field
Sports
4 people
The best known
Born in Rawdon
Brian Close, Claude Barrett and George Douglas Verity are written about in 10, 6 and 2 languages.
#1CB#2
GV#3
Through the years
When Rawdon’s famous people were born
The 1930s alone account for 3 of the births charted here.
Sports
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Rawdon
1 more, best known first.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Around it, Bradford has the most people on record, 669 of them.
Bradford · 5 miEdward Victor Appleton & 668 more
Shipley · 4 miTony Richardson & 35 more
Pudsey · 4 miBenjamin Henry Latrobe & 30 more
Otley · 4 miJulian Sands & 23 moreAMBaildon · 4 miArthur Mitchell & 7 moreDWYeadon · 1 miDavid Wilman & 5 more
Calverley · 2 miFrederick William Faber & 4 moreWBBurley in Wharfedale · 5 miWalter Burley & 2 moreQuestions about famous people from Rawdon
Who is the most famous person from Rawdon?
Brian Close (English cricketer (1931-2015)) is the best known by our measure: Wikipedia has an article about them in 10 languages. Next come Claude Barrett and George Douglas Verity.
How many famous people were born in Rawdon?
4 people born in Rawdon have an English Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace. Wikidata places 5 people here; the rest aren’t listed because their article names somewhere else, or no town.
What is Rawdon known for?
Among its famous people, athletes: 4 of the 4. That is 100% of the town’s list, against 49% across UK towns.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Rawdon?
Claude Barrett, born in 1907. The youngest on the list was born in 1937.
Who counts as from Rawdon?
People Wikidata records as born in a place inside Rawdon’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 (6)
- Brian Close: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Edward Victor Appleton: Nobel foundation, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Tony Richardson: Reginald Gray, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
- Benjamin Henry Latrobe: Charles Willson Peale, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Julian Sands: 5of7, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Frederick William Faber: Joseph Brown, engraver, 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.