List of people from Glasgow

This list covers famous or notable people or groups who were born or raised in Glasgow, Scotland or have been connected with it.

Arts

Architecture

• David Hamilton – architect
• Charles Rennie Mackintosh – architect and designer
• Alexander "Greek" Thomson – architect

Film

• Bill Forsyth – film director
• May Miles Thomas – screenwriter, filmmaker

Journalism

• Lawrence Donegan – journalist
• Johann Hari – journalist
• Jack House – journalist, writer and broadcaster
• Andrew Marr – journalist, writer and television presenter
• Jack Webster – journalist

Literature

• Freddie Anderson – socialist playwright and poet originally from Ireland
• James Bridie – playwright
• Catherine Carswell – novelist and biographer of the Scottish Renaissance
• A. J. Cronin – doctor and novelist
• Ivor Cutler – poet, songwriter, humourist
• Lavinia Derwent – children's writer
• Alasdair Gray – artist, novelist and essayist
• Pearse Hutchinson – poet
• James Kelman – novelist
• Tom Leonard – poet
• Liz Lochhead – poet and playwright
• Peter May – crime writer
• Edwin Morgan – poet and translator
• Grant Morrison – comic book author
• Tony Roper – actor, television writer, author
• Suhayl Saadi – physician, novelist, playwright, anthologist; co-editor of A Fictional Guide to Scotland
• J David Simons – author
• Alan Spence – novelist and poet
• Nigel Tranter – historical novelist

Performing arts

• Moyo Akandé – actress
• John Barrowman – singer and actor (The Producers, Torchwood)
• Sean Biggerstaff – actor (Harry Potter)
• Billy Boyd – actor (The Lord of the Rings)
• Frankie Boyle – comedian
• Kevin Bridges – comedian
• John Cairney – actor
• Peter Capaldi – actor (The Thick of It, In The Loop, Doctor Who)
• Robert Carlyle – actor (Trainspotting, The World Is Not Enough)
• Lawrence Chaney – drag queen and winner of the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK
• Morven Christie – actress
• Robbie Coltrane – actor (Harry Potter, Cracker)
• Billy Connolly – comedian (The Man Who Sued God)
• Kate Copstick – actress and director
• Tony Curran – actor
• Iain De Caestecker – actor (The Fades, Young James Herriot, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
• Craig Ferguson – actor and writer
• Gregor Fisher – comedian
• Laura Fraser – actress
• Rikki Fulton – comedian
• Michelle Gomez – actress (Doctor Who, Green Wing)
• Greg Hemphill – actor
• Olaf Hytten – actor
• Ford Kiernan – actor
• Gary Lewis – actor
• Brian Limond – comedian and actor
• Marie Loftus – music hall entertainer
• Kelly Macdonald – actress (Trainspotting, Boardwalk Empire)
• Angus Macfadyen – actor
• Freya Mavor – actress (Skins)
• James McAvoy – actor
• David McCallum – actor, first noted for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin
• Rory McCann – actor
• Jane McCarry – actress
• Joe McFadden – actor (Holby City, Heartbeat)
• Des McLean – comedian and actor
• Graham McTavish – actor
• David O'Hara – actor
• Daniel Portman – actor
• Richard Rankin – actor
• Maurice Roëves – actor
• Jerry Sadowitz – comedian
• John Gordon Sinclair – actor
• Dawn Steele – actress
• Brian Vernel – actor
• Susan Calman – comedian and actor
• Jonathan Watson – actor

Visual arts

• Jacqueline Donachie – artist
• Hannah Frank – artist and sculptor
• John Glashan – cartoonist
• Bud Neill – cartoonist (Lobey Dosser)
• Cordelia Oliver – artist, writer and art critic
• Frank Quitely – comic book artist

Business

• William Beardmore – Beardmores, Parkhead Forge, Arrol-Johnston motor company
• George Bogle of Daldowie – wealthy tobacco merchant
• Sir William Burrell – shipping magnate and philanthropist
• William Cunninghame – tobacco merchant
• John Glassford – wealthy tobacco merchant, partner in Thistle Bank
• Sir Thomas Lipton – entrepreneur, Lipton Tea
• Norman Macfarlane, Baron Macfarlane of Bearsden – entrepreneur
• James McAlpin – merchant tailor
• James McGill – businessman and philanthropist
• Robert Napier – co-founder of Cunard Line
• Reo Stakis – entrepreneur
• Charles Tennant – St. Rollox Chemicals Works

Civic

Founder

• Saint Mungo – traditional founder of the city

Campaigners

• Mary Barbour
• Ian Dunn, gay and paedophile rights activist
• Deborah Knox Livingston, temperance and suffrage activist

Crime and punishment

• Ian Brady – violent criminal
• Archibald Hall – murderer
• Allan Pinkerton – detective
• Edward William Pritchard – murderer who was publicly executed in Glasgow and was the last person to be publicly executed in Scotland

Law

• Madge Easton Anderson, lawyer

Provosts

• George Elphinstone (died 1634) – Lord Provost and courtier

Education

• Mary Ellen Bews, New Zealand school principal and educationalist, born in Glasgow
• Mary Cranston Mason (1846-1932), social reformer, temperance leader, Glasgow school board member

Humanities

• David Stow Adam, theologian
• C. A. Campbell – metaphysical philosopher
• William Purdie Dickson – scholar
• Niall Ferguson – historian and writer
• William MacAskill – philosopher and ethicist

Fictional figures

• Scrooge McDuck – fictional multi-billionaire cartoon duck
• Desmond Hume, fictional character in the TV series Lost.

Military

• William Anderson – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Andrew Bogle – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Robert Downie – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Francis Farquharson – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Herbert Henderson – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• John Knox – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Donald MacKintosh – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Henry May – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• John McAulay – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• John McDermond – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Hugh McInnes – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• James Miller – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Sir John Moore – British military officer
• James Park – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Harry Ranken – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• William Reid – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Walter Ritchie – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• George Rodgers – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• John Skinner – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• James Stokes – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• James Turnbull – recipient of the Victoria Cross
• William Young – recipient of the Victoria Cross

Musicians and bands

Politics

• Bashir Ahmad – first Asian MSP
• Mhairi Black – youngest ever Member of Parliament (MP) elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since at least the Reform Act of 1832
• Sir Menzies Campbell – Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2006–2007)
• Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman – British prime minister
• Roseanna Cunningham – Scottish National Party MP, MSP
• Donald Dewar – Secretary of State for Scotland, First Minister
• Pearse Doherty – Sinn Féin politician
• Winnie Ewing – Scottish National Party MP, MEP and MSP
• Margaret Ferrier – Scottish National Party MP
• George Galloway – MP for Glasgow Hillhead (1987–97) and Glasgow Kelvin (1997–2005)
• Nigel Griffiths – Labour Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South
• Arthur Henderson – Chairman of the Labour Party
• Bonar Law – British prime minister
• John MacCormick – Scottish National Party
• Sir John A. Macdonald – first Prime Minister of Canada
• John Maclean – Socialist
• Michael Martin – Speaker of the House of Commons
• James Maxton – Independent Labour Party MP
• Tommy Sheridan – Scottish Socialist Party MSP
• Manny Shinwell – Labour MP
• Nicola Sturgeon – Scottish First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (2014–2023)
• Humza Yousaf – Scottish First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party

Sports

Athletics

• Angela Bridgeman – sprinter

Baseball

• Mac MacArthur – Major League Baseball player
• Jim McCormick – baseball player
• Bobby Thomson – baseball player

Boxing

• Scott Harrison – boxer
• Benny Lynch – boxer
• Jim Watt – boxer

Cricket

• James Stewart Carrick (1855–1923) – first-class cricketer
• William Foster (born 1934) – first-class cricketer
• David Livingstone (1927–2011) – international cricketer for Scotland

Cycling

• Philippa York – cyclist

Football

• Jen Beattie – footballer
• Tom Boyd – footballer
• Jim Craig – footballer
• Graeme Churchill – footballer
• Pat Crerand – footballer
• Sir Kenny Dalglish – former football player and manager
• Tommy Docherty – football manager
• Sir Alex Ferguson – former Manchester United manager
• Alexander Watson Hutton – "Father of Argentine football"
• Mo Johnston – footballer
• Ruesha Littlejohn – footballer
• Ross McCormack – footballer
• James McFadden – footballer
• Frank McGarvey – footballer
• Danny McGrain – footballer and manager
• Jimmy McGrory – footballer and manager
• Andrew Robertson – footballer
• Peter Sermanni – footballer
• Robert Snodgrass – footballer
• Jock Stein – football manager
• David Templeton – footballer
• John Wark – international footballer

Golf

• Kylie Henry – professional golfer
• Martin Laird – professional golfer
• Colin Montgomerie – professional golfer
• Janice Moodie – professional golfer
• Edith Orr – amateur golfer

Ice hockey

• Andy Aitkenhead – ice hockey player
• Gordie Clark – ice hockey player
• James Foster – ice hockey player
• Alex Gray – ice hockey player
• Frank Jardine – ice hockey player
• Colin Shields – ice hockey player
• Steve Smith – ice hockey player

Rugby union

• Adam Ashe – rugby union player and coach
• Johnnie Beattie – rugby union player
• Magnus Bradbury – rugby union player
• Alan Bulloch – rugby union player
• Gordon Bulloch – rugby union player
• Thomas Chalmers – rugby union player
• Rory Hughes – rugby union player
• James Malcolm – rugby union player
• Duncan Weir – rugby union player
• Jon Welsh – rugby union player

Snooker

• Marcus Campbell – professional snooker player
• Stephen Maguire – professional snooker player
• Anthony McGill – professional snooker player
• Alan McManus – professional snooker player

Swimming

• Michael Jamieson – swimmer
• Duncan Scott – swimmer

Tennis

• Andy Murray – Olympic tennis player

Wrestling

• Nikki Cross – professional wrestler
• Joe Coffey – professional wrestler
• Mark Coffey – professional wrestler
• Wolfgang – professional wrestler
• Isla Dawn – professional wrestler

Science and engineering

• June Almeida – virologist
• Joseph Black – physicist and chemist
• Phillip Clancey – ornithologist
• Thomas Hopkirk – botanist
• Ronald David Laing – psychiatrist
• Elizabeth Janet MacGregor – medical doctor
• David Napier – marine engineer
• Robert Napier – marine engineer, co-founder of Cunard Line
• James Beaumont Neilson – inventor
• Sir William Ramsay – chemist
• William Thomson, Lord Kelvin – mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer
• James Watt – engineer
• Nora Wattie – public health pioneer
• John Scott Russell – naval engineer
• Charles Macintosh – inventor
• William Wright Virtue – engineer

References

1. List of bands and musicians from Glasgow
2. List of University of Glasgow people
3. Glaswegian
4. List of people from Compton, California
5. People's Palace, Glasgow
6. List of places in Glasgow
7. List of deaths due to COVID-19
8. List of people from Leeds
9. List of people from Northampton
10. Glasgow
11. List of Glasgow Warriors players
12. List of people from Gateshead
13. List of people from Michigan
14. List of people from Guernsey
15. List of people from Kentucky
16. List of people from Arkansas
17. University of Glasgow
18. Glasgow Green
19. List of people from Edinburgh
20. Glasgow Subway