List of former pupils of Westminster The following people were educated at
Westminster School , and are sometimes listed with
OW (
Old Westminster ) after their name (collectively,
OWW ):-
Robert Bruce Cotton (1570 - 1631), antiquarian
Ben Jonson (1573 - 1637), poet and dramatist
Charles Chauncy (1592 - 1672), President of Harvard 1654-72
George Herbert (1593 - 1633), public orator and poet
John Dryden (1631 - 1700), poet and playwright
John Locke (1632 - 1704), philosopher
Sir Christopher Wren (1632 - 1723), architect and scientist, co-founder of the Royal Society
Robert Hooke (1635 - 1703), scientist
George Jeffreys , 1st Baron (1648-1689), Lord Chief Justice of the Bloody Assize, Lord Chancellor , died a prisoner in the Tower
Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695), composer
Charles Montagu , Earl of Halifax (1661 - 1715), creator of the Bank of England
William King (1663 - 1712), poet
John Carteret , 1st Earl Granville (1690 - 1763), statesman and Cabinet Minister
Thomas Pelham-Holles , Duke of Newcastle (1693 - 1768), First Lord of the Treasury 1754 - 1756, Prime Minister
Henry Pelham (1696 - 1754), First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1743 - 1754, Prime Minister
Charles Wesley (1707 - 1788), Methodist preacher and writer of over 6,000 hymns
James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave (1715 - 1763), First Lord of the Treasury, Prime Minister for five days in 1757
Francis Lewis (1713 - 1803), signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence
General Thomas Gage (1721-1787), C in C North America, Governor of Massachusetts 1774
John Burgoyne (1723 - 1792), Lieutenant-General who surrendered British Army at Saratoga
Richard Howe , Earl Howe (1726-1799), Admiral of the Fleet
Charles Watson-Wentworth , 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (1730 - 1782), Prime Minister
Warren Hastings (1732-1818), Governor-General of Bengal
Edward Gibbon , FRS (1737 - 1794), historian
William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738 - 1809), Prime Minister
Arthur Middleton (1742 - 1787), signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence
Charles Pinckney (1746 - 1825), ADC to Washington 1777, defeated by Jefferson in 1804 in contest for Presidency
Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832), lawyer, eccentric, and philosopher
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin (1766 - 1841), ambassador to Constantinople , bringer of the Elgin Marbles to Britain
Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey (1768-1854), cavalry and horse artillery officer at Waterloo , where he lost a leg
Robert Southey (1774 - 1843), Poet Laureate 1813
Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Lord Raglan (1788-1855), lost his right arm at Waterloo , C in C in the Crimea
Sir James Robert George Graham (1792 - 1861), politician
Lord John Russell , 1st Earl Russell (1792 - 1878), Prime Minister
John Nelson Darby (1800 - 1882), Irish clergyman
Benjamin Hall (1802 - 1867), Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings responsible for, amongst others, the current Palace of Westminster
Gilbert Abbott a Beckett (1811 - 1856), writer
Charles Dodgson (1832 - 1898), author under the pen name "Lewis Carroll"
George Henty (1832 - 1902), author of more than 80 popular books for boys
William Knox D'Arcy (1849 - 1917), entrepreneur
A. A. Milne (1882 - 1956), author and journalist
Henry Tizard (1885 - 1959), scientist and inventor
Sir Adrian Boult (1889 - 1984), conductor
Sir John Gielgud (1904 - 2000), actor and director
H. A. R. (Kim) Philby (born 1912), journalist who defected to USSR 1963
Angus Wilson (born 1913), novelist
Norman Parkinson (born 1913), photographer
Sir Andrew Huxley (born 1917), scientist
Sir Peter Ustinov (born 1921), actor, writer and director
Michael Flanders (1922 - 1975), entertainer and writer
Donald Swann (born 1923), entertainer and musician
Tony Benn (born 1925), politician
Peter Brook (born 1925), theatre director
Nigel Lawson (born 1932), politician
Anthony Howard (born 1934), journalist
Roger Norrington (born 1934), musician
Dan Topolski (born 1945), rower
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948), composer and producer
John Brown (born 1953), publisher
Stephen Poliakoff (born 1952), playwright
Imogen Stubbs (born 1961), actress
Matt Frei (born 1963), television journalist
Gavin Rossdale (born 1965), lead singer of the band Bush
Helena Bonham Carter (born 1966), model and actress
Ruth Kelly MP (born 1968), Treasury minister
Joe Cornish (born 1968), comedian
Adam Buxton (born 1969), comedian
Louis Theroux (born 1970), television presenter
Dido Armstrong (born 1971), musician under the name "Dido"
Oli Bennett (1972 - 2001), financial journalist, WTC attack victim
Martha Lane Fox (born 1973), e-commerce businessperson, lastminute.com founder
All persons listed are thought to be or have been British unless otherwise stated.
