Famous People Born In Hampshire

Widely considered the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, Charles Dickens was an English writer famous for creating world-renowned fictional characters. Regarded by critics and scholars as a literary genius, most of his short stories and novels are read around the world even today. His distinctive style of writing is referred to as Dickensian.

Martin Freeman is an English actor best known for playing iconic characters, such as Dr. Watson and Bilbo Baggins. A frequent contributor to charity and a avid cricket fan, Martin umpired a charity cricket match in 2011 in order to raise money to help the victims affected by the Christchurch earthquake.

Considered one of the greatest writers in English history, Jane Austen is best known for her six major novels - Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Her writing was set among the British landed gentry and dealt with ordinary people in everyday ordinary situation. The author achieved great fame after her death. 

Alexa Chung began as a model and then graduated to fashion journalism. She has been an editor for British Vogue and has also written the book It. She owns a fashion brand and has been a host on shows such as Frock Me, Popworld, and It's On with Alexa Chung.

Although best known as the chief instructor of SAS: Who Dares Wins, a reality quasi-military training television program, Ant Middleton is more than just that. A former soldier and successful Mt Everest-summiter, he has also appeared in the role of William Bligh in Mutiny and authored four books, two of which have become No.1 on The Sunday Times best-seller chart.

Born in England, Gary Mehigan, celebrated chef and restaurateur, received his initial training in prominent London hotels before moving to Melbourne, Australia. After heading several well-known restaurants there, he opened his own establishment and currently co-owns The Boathouse, located in Moonee Ponds. Concurrently, he can also be seen on televisions productions like MasterChef Australia and Far Flung with Gary Mehigan.

Angus Imrie, son of actor couple Celia Imrie and Benjamin Whitrow, gained recognition as Josh Archer in the BBC Radio 4 series The Archers and played Merlin in the film The Kid Who Would Be King. A talented stage actor, too, he has also appeared in productions of Shakespeare’s plays.

British actor David Oakes started his acting career at Shakespeare's Globe. A Bristol Old Vic Theatre School alumnus, he also boasts of a degree in English literature and drama. Known for series such as The Pillars of the Earth and Vikings: Valhalla, he also hosted the podcast Trees A Crowd.

Swithin was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester in the 9th century. He subsequently became the patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. According to Christian traditions, he is recorded as a witness to nine charters. More than a century after his death, he was adopted as patron of the restored church at Winchester. Several miracles are attributed to him.

Tom Denning, Baron Denning was a British lawyer and judge. In 1938, Denning was appointed a King's Counsel before becoming a judge in the High Court of Justice in 1944. In 1962, he was appointed Master of the Rolls, a position which he held for two decades. Denning was called the greatest British judge of modern times by Margaret Thatcher.

British-American merchant Samuel Sewall is best remembered for a diary that he had penned and which threw light on the infamous Salem witch trials, which he had judged. He was the only judge to have publicly regretted the decision of the trials. A Harvard alumnus, he initially also managed a printing press.

Associated with early Imagist movement, Richard Aldington was an English writer and poet, known for his fierce attack on the hypocrisy prevalent in the modern industrial civilization. Among his best known novels are Death of a Hero and The Colonel’s Daughter. His best-known long poems are Dream in the Luxembourg and A Fool i’ the Forest.

Apart from serving as the Bishop of the Church of England, Robert Lowth had also been an Oxford professor. Among his written works are books on English grammar and treatises on Hebrew poetry. Though offered the position of the Archbishop of Canterbury, he rejected  it citing ill health.

Born to Scottish migrants in Canada, John Murray later went back to Scotland to study medicine but quit without graduating. He later studied geology and became one of the pioneers of oceanography. He was also associated with the Challenger Expedition and was knighted for his work as a marine biologist.