NNDB
This is a beta version of NNDB
Search: for
Edinburgh, Scotland

CITY

Official Website:
http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/

Population:
448,624 (2001 census)

SCHOOLS

SchoolFounded
Fettes College
1870
Heriot-Watt University
1821
University of Edinburgh
1583

COMPANY HEADQUARTERS

CompanyFounded
HBOS
2001
Royal Bank of Scotland
1727
Bank of Scotland
1695

BIRTHS

NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Spottiswoode Aitken
Actor
16-Apr-1868 26-Feb-1933 Silent film actor
John Anderson
Politician
8-Jul-1882 4-Jan-1958 Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1943-45
Tommy Armour
Golf
24-Sep-1894 12-Sep-1968 Winner of 3 Majors
Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor
3-Mar-1847 2-Aug-1922 Inventor of the telephone
Sir Charles Bell
Doctor
Nov-1774 28-Apr-1842 New Idea of Anatomy of the Brain
Tony Blair
Head of State
6-May-1953   UK Prime Minister, 1997-2007
James Boswell
Author
29-Oct-1740 19-May-1795 The Life of Samuel Johnson
Ewen Bremner
Actor
23-Jan-1972   Julien Donkey-Boy
Gilbert Burnet
Religion
18-Sep-1643 17-Mar-1715 Bishop of Salisbury
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
Head of State
25-May-1713 10-Mar-1792 UK Prime Minister, 1762-63
Donald Cammell
Film Director
17-Jan-1934 24-Apr-1996 Performance
Ian Charleson
Actor
11-Aug-1949 6-Jan-1990 Chariots of Fire
William Cochran
Physicist
30-Jul-1922 28-Aug-2003 Crystallography
George Combe
Paranormal
21-Oct-1788 14-Aug-1858 Scottish phrenologist
Iain Conn
Business
c. 1963   CEO Refining & Marketing, BP
Sean Connery
Actor
25-Aug-1930   James Bond
James Connolly
Politician
5-Jun-1868 12-May-1916 Irish nationalist, shot after Easter Uprising
Ronnie Corbett
Comic
4-Dec-1930 31-Mar-2016 The Two Ronnies
Finlay Currie
Actor
20-Jan-1878 9-May-1968 Great Expectations
Thomas Davidson
Paleontologist
17-May-1817 14-Oct-1885 British Fossil Brachiopoda
Arthur Conan Doyle
Novelist
22-May-1859 7-Jul-1930 Creator of Sherlock Holmes
Lindsay Duncan
Actor
7-Nov-1950   Perfect Strangers
John Dury
Religion
1596 26-Sep-1680 The Reformed Librarie-Keeper
Fish
Singer
25-Apr-1958   Lead singer of Marillion, 1981-88
Robert Garioch
Poet
9-May-1909 26-Apr-1981 Scots dialect poet
Iain Glen
Actor
24-Jun-1961   Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Kenneth Grahame
Novelist
8-Mar-1859 6-Jul-1932 The Wind in the Willows
Douglas Haig
Military
19-Jun-1861 29-Jan-1928 British Field Marshall in WWI
Elizabeth Sanderson Haldane
Author
27-May-1862 24-Dec-1937 Descartes: His Life and Times
John Scott Haldane
Doctor
3-May-1860 14-Mar-1936 Breathing regulated by CO2
Richard Burdon Haldane
Government
30-Jul-1856 19-Aug-1928 Lord Chancellor, 1912-15 and 1924
Francis Horner
Economist
12-Aug-1778 8-Feb-1817 Bullion Report
Leonard Horner
Geologist
17-Jan-1785 5-Mar-1864 Scottish geologist, educator
David Hume
Philosopher
7-May-1711 25-Aug-1776 Empiricist nonpareil
James Hutton
Geologist
3-Jun-1726 26-Mar-1797 Theory of the Earth
Frieda Inescort
Actor
29-Jun-1901 26-Feb-1976 A Place in the Sun
Alaric Jacob
Journalist
8-Jun-1909 26-Jan-1995 A Window in Moscow
James II
Royalty
16-Oct-1430 3-Aug-1460 King of Scotland, 1437-60
Leander Starr Jameson
Head of State
9-Feb-1853 26-Nov-1917 Last Prime Minister of Capetown
Ben Jelen
Singer/Songwriter
8-Jul-1979   Come On
Alexander Gordon Laing
Explorer
27-Dec-1793 26-Sep-1826 Explorer killed returning from Timbuktu
Harry Lauder
Singer
4-Aug-1870 26-Feb-1950 Roamin' in the Gloamin'
John Mackenzie
Film Director
16-Aug-1932 8-Jun-2011 The Long Good Friday
Bruce Marshall
Novelist
24-Jun-1899 18-Jun-1987 The White Rabbit
Arthur Marwick
Historian
29-Feb-1936 17-Sep-2006 The Deluge
David Maxwell Fyfe
Politician
29-May-1900 27-Jan-1967 UK Home Secretary, 1951-54
James Clerk Maxwell
Physicist
13-Jun-1831 5-Nov-1879 Maxwell's equations
Hugh McDermott
Actor
20-Mar-1906 29-Jan-1972 The Seventh Veil
William McGonagall
Poet
1825 29-Sep-1902 The Tay Bridge Disaster
Fergus Millar
Historian
5-Jul-1935   Rome the Greek World, and the East
Keith Moffatt
Mathematician
12-Apr-1935   Fluid dynamics
Jamie Muir
Drummer
?   Experimental percussionist
Ian Nish
Scholar
3-Jun-1926   Japanese Foreign Policy specialist
John Ogilby
Publisher
1600 4-Sep-1676 Royal Cosmographer, printer
Jane G. Pepper
Agriculturalist
c. 1945   Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Lesley Rankine
Singer
11-Apr-1965   Vocalist for Ruby and Silverfish
Ian Richardson
Actor
7-Apr-1934 9-Feb-2007 House of Cards
Malcolm Rifkind
Politician
21-Jun-1946   UK Foreign Secretary, 1995-97
Peter J. Robertson
Business
1947   Vice Chairman of Chevron
Sir Walter Scott
Author
15-Aug-1771 21-Sep-1832 Ivanhoe
Richard Norman Shaw
Architect
7-May-1831 17-Nov-1912 Late 19th c. British architect
Sir Robert Sibbald
Doctor
15-Apr-1641 Aug-1722 Scottish physician and antiquary
Alastair Sim
Actor
9-Oct-1900 19-Aug-1976 Scrooge in A Christmas Carol
John Smibert
Painter
24-Mar-1688 2-Apr-1751 The Bermuda Group
Iain Duncan Smith
Politician
9-Apr-1954   Conservative Party leader, 2001-03
Muriel Spark
Novelist
1-Feb-1918 13-Apr-2006 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Dennis Stevenson
Business
19-Jul-1945   Chairman of HBOS
Robert Louis Stevenson
Author
13-Nov-1850 3-Dec-1894 Treasure Island
Balfour Stewart
Physicist
1-Nov-1828 19-Dec-1887 Studied magnetism, radiant heat
Marie Stopes
Scientist
15-Oct-1880 2-Oct-1958 Scientist and birth control advocate
Ken Stott
Actor
1955   Messiah series
Stuart Sutcliffe
Musician
23-Jun-1940 10-Apr-1962 Briefly a Beatle
James Syme
Doctor
7-Nov-1799 26-Jun-1870 Leading Scottish surgeon
Archibald Campbell Tait
Religion
21-Dec-1811 3-Dec-1882 Archbishop of Canterbury, 1868-82
D'Arcy Thompson
Biologist
2-May-1860 21-Jun-1948 On Growth and Form
KT Tunstall
Singer/Songwriter
23-Jun-1975   Eye to the Telescope
Tam White
Singer
c. 1944   Scottish blues singer and actor

DEATHS

NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Edward Victor Appleton
Physicist
6-Sep-1892 21-Apr-1965 Ionosphere, shortwave radio
Charles Glover Barkla
Physicist
7-Jun-1877 23-Oct-1944 X-ray scattering
William Burke
Criminal
1792 28-Jan-1829 Cheap cadavers for science
Thomas Chalmers
Religion
17-Mar-1780 30-May-1847 Free Church of Scotland
William Chambers
Publisher
16-Apr-1800 20-May-1883 W. & R. Chambers, Ltd.
A. J. Clark
Scientist
19-Aug-1885 30-Jul-1941 Drug responses
William Cochran
Physicist
30-Jul-1922 28-Aug-2003 Crystallography
Bernard Crick
Political Scientist
16-Dec-1929 19-Dec-2008 In Defence of Politics
Lord Darnley
Royalty
7-Dec-1545 9-Feb-1567 Husband of Mary, Queen of Scots
David II
Royalty
5-Mar-1324 22-Feb-1371 King of Scotland, 1329-71
Thomas De Quincey
Author
15-Aug-1785 8-Dec-1859 Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
T. R. Fraser
Scientist
5-Feb-1841 4-Jan-1920 Made poison and venom into medicine
Robert Garioch
Poet
9-May-1909 26-Apr-1981 Scots dialect poet
David Hume
Philosopher
7-May-1711 25-Aug-1776 Empiricist nonpareil
Russell Hunter
Actor
18-Feb-1925 25-Feb-2004 Scottish actor
James Hutton
Geologist
3-Jun-1726 26-Mar-1797 Theory of the Earth
Archibald Johnston
Religion
1611 22-Jul-1663 Scottish presbyterian patriot
Nicholas Kemmer
Physicist
7-Dec-1911 21-Oct-1998 Nuclear weapons and reactors
John Knox
Religion
c. 1514 24-Nov-1572 Scottish Reformation
Hugh MacDiarmid
Poet
11-Aug-1892 9-Sep-1978 A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle
Compton MacKenzie
Novelist
17-Jan-1883 30-Nov-1972 Carnival
St. Margaret
Royalty
c. 1045 17-Nov-1093 Queen of Scotland
William McGonagall
Poet
1825 29-Sep-1902 The Tay Bridge Disaster
John Playfair
Mathematician
10-Mar-1748 20-Jul-1819 Huttonian Theory of the Earth
William Robertson
Historian
19-Sep-1721 11-Jun-1793 History of Scotland
Adam Smith
Economist
5-Jun-1723 17-Jul-1790 The Wealth of Nations
Robert Stevenson
Engineer
8-Jun-1772 12-Jul-1850 Scottish lighthouse designer
James Stirling
Mathematician
1692 5-Dec-1770 Methodus differentialis
James Syme
Doctor
7-Nov-1799 26-Jun-1870 Leading Scottish surgeon
Peter Guthrie Tait
Physicist
28-Apr-1831 4-Jul-1901 Treatise on Quaternions
Francis Henry Underwood
Author
12-Jan-1825 7-Aug-1894 Quabbin: The Story of a Small Town
George Wishart
Religion
c. 1513 1-Mar-1546 Scottish religious reformer and martyr





Copyright ©2025

๐ŸŽ„
Merry Christmas

or happy holidays, whatever

from the NNDB staff

โ„๏ธ โญ โ„๏ธ
๐Ÿ“š
Bibliographies

NNDB has added thousands of bibliographies for people, organizations, schools, and general topics โ€” listing more than 50,000 books and 120,000 other references.

Access via the "Bibliography" tab or the "Related Topics" sidebar.