Nottinghamshire Heroes

Literary Heroes

JM Barrie

Sir James Matthew, Baronet Barrie (1860-1937) the celebrated children’s author, began his career in journalism on the Nottingham Daily Journal before moving to London. He lived in the area known as the Arboretum and it’s rumoured that Peter Pan was inspired by a Nottingham street urchin he saw walking in Clifton Grove.

Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler (1835 - 1902) was the son and grandson of eminent clergymen. In 1859, refusing to be ordained, he went to New Zealand, where he established a sheep farm and in a few years made a modest fortune. He returned to England in 1864 and devoted himself to a variety of interests, including art, music, biology, and literature. Author of Erewhon, Life and Habit, The Authoress of the Odyssey and The Way of All Flesh.

Stephan Collishaw

Author Stephan grew up in Nottinghamshire, and studied at Nottingham Trent University. Having travelled extensively, he returned to Nottingham to live and work as a teacher. He won an art bursary from East Midlands Arts for his work, The Last Girl, which Newsweek International called “a spectacular novel.” His second novel, Amber, was published in July 2004.

Helen Cresswell

Helen Cresswell (1924 - 2005) started writing at the tender age of six years old. At that time her main interest was poetry. She was born in Nottingham, educated at Nottingham Girls High School, and until her death in September 2005, she lived locally in an old farmhouse. An acclaimed children's author, she wrote over 60 books including The Piemakers and the Phoenix Award winning The Night Watchmen. In 2000, she was awarded a Bafta Children's Writers' award. She also wrote screenplays for acclaimed television drama serials like Lizzie Dripping, The Secret World of Polly Flint, and Five Children and It..

Sir George Dance

The son of a Nottingham clay-pipe maker who grew up on what is now Lower Parliament Street, Dance received a knighthood in 1923. By the age of 17, he came to write the Alhambra, his first play for the Nottingham theatre. He was more than just a songwriter. His musicals such as The Gay Parisienne and A Chinese Honeymoon were two of the longest-running musicals ever to be staged in London's theatreland.

Graham Greene

Henry Graham Greene (1904 - 1991) was a versatile author famed for his serious religious novels. He was a former employee of the old Nottingham Daily Journal and it was here in Nottingham that he was instructed in the Roman Catholic faith. He left the city to become sub-editor on The Times and went on to write travel books, novels, short stories, plays and film scripts.

Robert Harris

Born in Nottingham in 1957, Robert Harris is the bestselling author of books such as Fatherland in 1992. A former TV news reporter, journalist and columnist, he has followed it with novels such as Enigma, Archangel, and Pompeii. He's a graduate of Cambridge University and has also written five non fiction books.

John Harvey

Initially a writer of paperback fiction - both for adults and teenagers - John Harvey has published over 90 books. Now he's principally known as a writer of crime fiction, including the award winning Charlie Resnick novels which are set against a backdrop of Nottingham. He continues to work on scripts for television and radio, where he has specialised in adapting the work of himself and others. A former student of the University of Nottingham, he taught Film and Literature there between 1980 - 1986, and has now returned to live here.

In 'Darkness and Light', the third of John Harvey's series featuring Frank Elder, the detective is quoted as saying of Nottingham: "... something about it nonetheless, something that meant once you'd lived there, it never quite let you go."

Arthur Mee

Born in Stapleford, Mee was a prolific author and editor of non-fiction for both children and adults. He helped to write Harmsworth's Self-Educator and History of the World. He then wrote his own Children's Encyclopedia, My Magazine, The Children's Newspaper, 1000 Heroes, The Little Treasure House, The Children's Bible, Children's Shakespeare, Bunyan and 'Arthur Mee's ' books about many things. When he was twenty he was appointed editor of the Nottingham Evening News and later moved to the Daily Mail. Mee was offered honours several times, including a knighthood on two occasions, but always refused.

Geoffrey Trease

Chiefly a children’s author, Trease (1909 - 1998) wrote 110 books in a 60 year career. He was also a playwright, historian and biographer. He was one of the first authors who deliberately set out to appeal to both boys and girls and to feature strong leading characters of both sexes. He was born in Nottingham, part of the wine merchant Treases (who still operate today). One of his stories, A Flight of Angels, was inspired by the deep sandstone cellar-caves dug out under Nottingham by the old merchants.

Local Heroes

Dr Stewart Adams

Ibuprofen belongs to the group of medicines know as Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs. It's been a pharmacy medicine since 1983. Yet it was invented by Dr Stewart Adams, when he was working as a research scientist for Boots, Nottingham in the late 1950s. He was looking for a drug to reduce inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Instead he found a headache remedy that was more potent than aspirin, with fewer side-effects. Dr Stewart Adams won an OBE for services to science in 1987, and his name is on the ibuprofen patent.

Nottingham Science City

Nottingham was designated as a Science City in 2005 in recognition of its rich scientific heritage, industrial base and role as a leading research centre. Nottingham has since embarked on a wide range of business, property, knowledge transfer and educational initiatives in order to build on its growing reputation as an international centre of scientific excellence. The University of Nottingham is a partner in Nottingham: the Science City.

Liz Blackman MP

Liz Blackman joined the Labour Party when she was 39 and her rise through the political ranks since then has been swift. A former head teacher, she joined Broxtowe Borough Council in 1989. By 1995 she was its deputy leader. Two years later she had been elected MP for Erewash. Since then she has campaigned for an inquiry into the licensing of airguns and fought for more lottery money to be given to the East Midlands.

Richard Parkes Bonington

Richard Parks Bonington (1802-1828) was a fine arts 'romantic' painter who sadly died at the age of 26. Born in Arnold, he spent his early years in the city of Nottingham. His family relocated to Calais, France when he was 15 and he started painting water colour coastal scenes. The Wallace Collection holds many of his pictures, representing his major areas of interest, ranging from richly costumed historical scenes to views in France and northern Italy. A few paintings are displayed in the Castle Museum.

William Bradford

Born in 1590 in the small farming community of Austerfield, Yorkshire, Bradford was a principal player in the Pilgrim Fathers story. When he was about 18 years old, Bradford fled England with his mentor William Brewster and the Scrooby Congregation. By 1620, Bradford and his wife Dorothy joined the Mayflower venture to the New World, and in April 1621 he was elected Governor of the Plymouth colony.

William Brewster

Another of the leading Pilgrim Fathers, Brewster (1566 - 1644) was instrumental in establishing the small Separatist church with Richard Clyfton. Fearing persecution and prosecution, Brewster and the others from Nottinghamshire fled the country in autumn 1607. They reached Amsterdam in spring 1608 and moved on to Leiden, Holland in 1609 where Brewster became the church's Elder. In 1620 Brewster and his family also left on the Mayflower to the US.

Mr Brompton

The creator of the ‘Brompton Stock’, a sweet smelling biennial popular today, was from Worksop in the north of Nottinghamshire. He had a nursery in the town.

Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP

An MP for Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire since 1970, Kenneth Clarke first developed his interest for politics at seven years old. Born in Nottingham in 1940, he started his working life as a colliery electrician, had a stint as a film projectionist and worked his way to becoming a high profile politician. He became a barrister on the Midland Circuit in 1963 and practised until 1979. During the Conservative party time in office he was Health, Education and Home Office secretary, before becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1993.

Thomas Cranmer

Born in Aslockton, Nottinghamshire, Cranmer (1489-1556) is remembered as the Father of the Church of England. A former Archbishop of Canterbury, he wrote ‘The Book of Common Prayer’ and ordered a Bible to be placed in every place of worship in England. He was burned at the stake at the orders of Queen Mary when she attempted to take England back into the Roman Catholic Church.

Erasmus Darwin

The grandfather of Charles Darwin, Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was born in Elston near Nottingham. He was one of the leading intellectuals of eighteenth century England. He was a respected physician, a well known poet, philosopher, botanist, and naturalist.

Dame Laura Knight

Dame Laura Knight (nee Johnson) (1877-1970) attended Nottingham School of Art in 1880. She is best known for her coastal scenes and later her circus paintings. During World War II she served as an official war artist and she also traveled to Nuremberg in 1946 to record the War Criminals’ Trial. Knight was made a Dame in 1929 for her services to art and in 1936 became the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy.

Professor Sir Peter Mansfield

Born in Nottingham in 1933, Mansfield dropped out of school age 15 to work in a printing company and join the army. Having returned to education, he received his degree in Physics in 1959 and a PhD in 1962. While working in the physics department at the University of Nottingham in the 1970s, he invented the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner now used in every hospital. He shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Paul C Lauterbur of the University of Illinois (Mansfield was Appointed Research Associate at the Physics Department 1962-1964) for his work in magnetic resonance imaging.

Richard Parkes Bonington

Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828) was born in Arnold, but spent most of his younger years in Nottingham. Following in the footsteps of his father, also was an artist and Richard became a talented watercolour painter. He moved to France when he was 16, lived in Italy, and died at the age of 26 in London. The Wallace Collection has 35 of his works in oil and water-colours, and the Nottingham Museum has two of his pictures. The School of Art in Nottingham has a statue of him in the grounds which was donated by Watson Fothergill.

The Duke of Portland

The peerage title created in 1716 for Henry Bentinck, who was already Earl of Portland. The 3rd Duke was the most famous as statesman and Prime Minister. The ducal seat was Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire. The 5th Duke was an eccentric recluse, who shunned visitors. He had fifteen miles of tunnels dug under the house which housed libraries; a billiard room large enough for twelve full size tables and an enormous subterranean ballroom - all of which remained unused. The dukedom became extinct on the 9th Duke's death, though his distant cousin succeeded him as Earl of Portland.

Samuel Reynolds Hole

Reverend Samuel Reynolds Hole was a horticulturalist specialising in the care of roses. Born in 1819, he lived in Caunton Manor with his wife Caroline, where he was the local vicar. Hole was the author of the oldest books in the world on rose growing and Tennison dubbed him the "Rose King". He was quoted as saying "He who would have beautiful roses in his garden must have beautiful roses in his heart." When the National Rose Society was founded in 1876, Hole became and remained its president until his death in 1904.

Stella Rimington

Stella Rimington DCB was the first woman to become Director General of MI5 in 1992. Born in 1935 her early education was at Nottingham High School for Girls. Following university education, her career began part-time for MI5 in New Delhi, India. On her return to the UK she joined the Security Service full time. During her thirty year career at MI5, Stella Rimington worked in all the main fields of the Service’s responsibilities. Stella Rimington pursued a policy of greater openness at MI5, seeking to explain to the public what the Service was and the extent of its responsibilities. She was made a Dame Commander of the Bath (DCB) in the New Year’s Honours 1995/6. She was also awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law by the Universities of Nottingham and Exeter.

Local War Heroes

Captain Albert BallFighter pilot, 7th Btn, Sherwood Foresters & Royal Flying Corps

Nottingham's most celebrated war hero Captain Albert Ball was born in Lenton in 1897. He is known to be the most renowned fighter pilot in the RFC and shot down 44 planes in the First World War.

His many awards included the Victoria Cross (1917), Legion d'Honneur, Croix de Chevalier, and the Russian Order of St. George. Major-General Trenchard was quoted as saying Captain Albert Ball was "The most daring, skilful, and successful pilot the Royal Flying Corps has ever had".

Lord Admiral Richard HoweSoldier, MP

Richard Howe was born the fourth Viscount Howe in 1726. He joined the Navy aged just 14. By 20, he had risen to the rank of Captain. Credited with firing the first shots of the Seven Years War, he's best remembered for his victory over the French fleet in the battle of The Glorious First of June” in 1794. He earned the dubious nickname "Black Dick" because he was rumoured never to smile unless a battle was about to begin.

Lord Nelson called Lord Howe a "great master in tactics and bravery". Lord Howe's key achievements included the Battle of Long Island (1776), The Battle of White Plains (1776) and becoming Member of Parliament for Nottingham (1758).