History of Headington's famous people
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The earliest named Headington people are probably the potter Thamesubugus who signed his name on a piece of pottery made at the Roman kiln on the site of the Churchill Hospital, and Hedena (or Headan), after whose tun Headington was named.
Those shown marked ODNB have a full entry
in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Those marked with an asterisk have a road in Headington named after them.
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- Cyril ARAPOFF (1898–1976)
Photographer with a studio in Headington - Mrs Maria BALLACHEY (1797–1884)
Owner of Bury Knowle House who did good works in Headington - Sir Isaiah BERLIN (1909–1997) ODNB
Philosopher who lived at Headington House - Elizabeth BOWEN (1899–1973) ODNB
Novelist who lived in Old Headington - John Henry BROOKES (1891–1976) ODNB
Headington man who gave his name to Oxford Brookes University - Godfrey ELTON (1892–1973) ODNB
First Baron Elton of Headington, who lived in Osler Road - Alfred EMDEN (1888–1979) ODNB
First President of the Friends of Old Headington, after whom Emden House is named - ETHELRED II* (968–1016) ODNB
A king with a palace in Headington - Miss Katharine FEILDEN* (1864–1954)
Built High Wall and helped to start Headington’s Orthopaedic Centre - Gathorne R. GIRDLESTONE* (1881–1950) ODNB
Orthopaedic surgeon who developed the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre - C. P. GOLIGHTLY (1807–1885) ODNB
A curate of St Andrew’s Church before he became famous - Eric HEBBORN (1934–1996)
An art forger from a family best known locally for its fairground rides - Dr Robert HITCHINGS (b.1863)
The Headington doctor who co-founded Headington United Football Club - William JACKSON (1724–1795)
The founder of Jackson’s Oxford Journal who built Headington House - Elizabeth JENNINGS (1926–2001) ODNB
Poet who lived in an Old Headington bedsit - Orlando JEWITT (1899–1869) ODNB
Famous wood engraver who lived at Church House in Old Headington - JOAN of Headington (fl. second half of 16th century)
Heroine of a 1712 play who kept a house of ill repute at the White Hart - John JOHNSON (1882–1956) ODNB
Collector of ephemera who lived in Barton Lane - Miss Mary JONES (1741–1815)
Fishmonger’s daughter who became Lady of the Manor of Heddington - William KIMBER* (1872–1961) ODNB
Quarry morris dancer who inspired Cecil Sharp - Adeline KINGSCOTE ("Lucas Cleeve") (1860–1908) ODNB
Novelist who lived at Bury Knowle House and bankrupted the Vicar of Headington - Edward LATIMER* (1775–1845) and his family
Lords of the Manor of Heddington - C. S. LEWIS* (1898–1963) ODNB
World-famous author who lived in Headington - Sir Joseph LOCK (1760–1844
Built Bury Knowle House and annoyed the people of Quarry - LORDS OF THE MANOR of Headington (1) 1179–1613
Bassett*, de Plessis, d'Amory, Wilcote*, and Brome* families - LORDS OF THE MANOR of Headington (2) 1613–1849
Whorwood dynasty, including Jane Whorwood (ODNB), the mistress of Charles I - LORDS OF THE MANOR of Headington (3) 1849–1917
Peppercorn* and Hoole families - Sir William MARKBY (1829–1914) ODNB
First Reader in Indian Law at Balliol - John MATHER (1676–1748) and his daughter
John Mather, President of Corpus, and his daughter Catherine, who founded the Free School - William MATTHISON (1853–1926)
Watercolour painter known for his postcards who lived in Old High Street - John MATTOCK* (1827–1913) and his family
A family who lived and grew roses in Headington for a hundred years - Robert MAXWELL (1923–1991) ODNB
Lived at Headington Hill Hall and owned Oxford United - MORRELL family* (+ Tawneys* and Whartons*) ODNB
Brewers who built Headington Hill Hall and Headington Lodge in Osler Road - Lord NUFFIELD* (1877–1963) ODNB
Lived at Brasenose Farm before moving to Cowley Road area at age of 14 - William ORCHARD* (d.1504) ODNB
Famous architect and mason who lived in Barton and got his stone from Quarry - Joe PULLEN* (1631–1714) ODNB
A don who planted a landmark tree at the top of Headington Hill - The Revd John Holford SCOTT (later SCOTT-TUCKER) (1891–1908)
Vicar of St Andrew's and co-founder of Headington United Football Club - Revd John STANSFELD* (1854–1939)
Vicar of St Ebbe’s who founded the Stansfeld Field Study Centre in Quarry Road - Henry STEPHEN (1889–1965) and his wife Dora STEPHEN
Famous chemist in whose memory the Henry Stephen/C.S. Lewis nature reserve was created - John W. A. TAYLOR (1818–1886)
Owner of the Rookery responsible for the development of Highfield - J. R. R. TOLKIEN (1892–1973) ODNB
World-famous author who lived at Sandfield Road in Headington - Revd Samuel WARNEFORD* (1763–1855) ODNB
The man who paid for the Warneford Hospital - Vashti de Montfort WELLBORNE (1869–1930)
Actress who lived at Barton Manor and has a window in St Andrew’s Church - Charles WINGFIELD (1786/7–1846) and his wife Hannah (1788–1870)
Responsible for the Wingfield Convalescent Home (now the NOC) - "Parson" James WOODFORDE (1740–1803) ODNB
Famous diarist who paid many visits to Headington - Mrs Barbara WOODHOUSE (1910–1988) ODNB
Dog-trainer who grew up at Sandfield Cottage, Headington - John WOODWARD (1879–1912)
A musician from Windmill Road who died on the Titanic
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography contains numerous other people who were associated with Headington, including the following:
- Evelyn Abbott, Classical Scholar
Lived at Pullens Cottage in Pullens Lane from 1890 to 1901 - J. L. N. Baker (1893–1971), Geographer
Lived at Stone Rise, 11/13 New High Street, from 1928 - Henry Balfour (1863–1939), Museum curator
Lived at Langley Lodge in Pullens Lane from 1909 to 1939 - John Hugh Marshall Beattie (1915–1990), Social anthropologist
Lived at The Cottage at the top of Headington Hill from 1956) - Stuart Highworth Blanch (1918–1994), Archbishop of York
Curate of All Saints Church, Lime Walk 1949–1952 - James Leslie Brierly (1881–1955), International lawyer
Lived at 6 Brookside until 1955 - Rhoda Broughton (1840–1920), Novelist
Lived at River View, Headington Hill from 1900 to 1920 - Alice Bruce (1867–1951), educationist
Lived at White Gables at the top of Headington Hill to 1951 - George Albert Cooke (1865–1939), Biblical scholar
Curate of St Andrew’s Church, Headington from 1889 - Richard Lynch Cotton (1794–1880), Provost of Worcester
Instrumental in the building of Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry - William Harbutt Dawson (1860–1948), Journalist
Lived at 23 Latimer Road in the 1930s - Vigo Auguste Demant (1893–1983), Theologian and social commentator
Lived at 31 St Andrew’s Road from 1971 - Sir Henry Harness (1804–1883), Army officer
Lived at Barton End in the 1880s - Francis John Haverfield (1860–1919), Historian and archaeologist
Built Winshields in Pullens Lane and lived there until 1919 - Charles Herford (1853–1931), Literary scholar
Lived at 80 Old Road (then numbered 24) until 1931 - Rosamund Davenport-Hill (1825–1902), Social reformer
Lived at Hillstow (now renamed Dorset House) on the London Road - Thomas Lionel Hodgkin (1910–1982), Historian
Born in 1910 at Mendip House, Pullens Lane - Sir William Markby (1829–1914), Judge and legal writer
Lived at The Pullens from 1880 to 1914 - John Massie (1842–1925), Biblical scholar and politician
Lived in the Rookery (now Ruskin Hall) from 1910 to 1925 - Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), Writer and poet
Lived in The Firs at the top of Headington Hill from 1963 - Henry Whitehead Moss (1841–1917), Headmaster of Shrewsbury School
Lived at Highfield Park (now the Park Hospital) from 1909 - Joan Murray (1917–1996), Cryptanalyst and numismatist
Lived at 7 Larkfields in Quarry until 1996 - Gabriel Turville-Petre (1908–1978), Icelandic scholar
Lived at the Court in the Croft until 1978 - Sir Alan Pim (1871–1958), Administrator in India and colonial adviser
Lived at 3 Harberton Mead until 1958 - Henry Habberley Price (1899–1984), Philosopher
Lived at 69 Jack Straw’s Lane until 1984 - Ian Ramsey (1917–1972), Bishop of Durham
Curate of Headington Quarry in the 1940s - James Edwin Thorold Rogers (1823–1890), Political economist and politician
Acted voluntarily as assistant curate at Headington from 1854 to 1858 - William Hume-Rothery (1899–1968), Chemist and metallurgist
Lived at 54 Sandfield Road in the 1930s - (William) Ritchie Russell (1903–1980), Neurologist
Worked at Headington Hill Hall rehabilitation centre and studied brain wounds sustained in World War II - Sir Michael Ernest Sadler (1861–1943), Educationist, his wife Eva Margaret Gilpin (1868–1940), Headmistress and educationist, and their son Michael Thomas Harvey Sadleir [sic] (1888–1957), Bibliographer and novelist
Lived at The Rookery (now Ruskin Hall) from 1934 to 1943 - Percy Simpson (1865–1962), Literary scholar
Lived at 61A Old Road - Simon Harcourt Nowell-Smith (1909–1996), Book collector
Lived at 7 Beaumont Road, Headington Quarry from 1965 - Sydney Vines (1849–1934), Botanist
Built the Vineyard, later named Pollock House, in Pullens Lane in 1885
