List of Scots
The following is a list of some of famous people from Scotland:
Actors
- Ian Bannen, (1928-1999)
- Billy Boyd, (born 1968)
- Gerard Butler, (born 1969)
- Robert Carlyle, (born 1961)
- Robbie Coltrane, (born 1950)
- Sean Connery, (born 1930)
- Billy Connolly (born 1942)
- Tom Conti, (born 1941)
- James Cosmo, (born 1948)
- Brian Cox, (born 1946)
- Alan Cumming, (born 1965)
- Craig Ferguson, (born 1962)
- Rikki Fulton, (born 1924)
- Dougie Henshall, (born 1965)
- James Robertson Justice, (1905-1975)
- Deborah Kerr, (born 1921)
- Fulton Mackay, (1922-1987)
- David McCallum, (born 1933)
- Angus McFadyen, (born 1963)
- Ewan McGregor, (born 1971)
- Peter Mullan, (born 1954)
- Bill Paterson, (born 1945)
- Dougray Scott, (born 1965)
- Alastair Sim, (1900-1976)
- John Gordon Sinclair, (born 1962)
Architects
Artists
- Robert Colquhoun
- Margaret MacDonald, (1865-1933), wife of Charles Rennie Mackintosh
- Robert MacBryde
- Dugald MacColl
- James MacGillivray, sculptor
- Alexander Nasmyth, (1758-1840), landscape painter
- Patrick Nasmyth, (1787-1831), landscape painter, son of Alexander
- David Wilkie (1785 -1841) painter
Business
- Arthur Anderson, (1792-1868), co-founder of P&O
- Alexander Berry, (1781-1873), Australias first Millionaire?? Had a town named after him.
- David Buick, founded the Buick car company
- Andrew Carnegie, (1835-1919), ruthless steel magnate and death-bed philanthropist
- William Paterson, (1658-1719), founder Bank of England
Composers
Engineers and Inventors
- Sir William Arrol, (1839-1913), bridge builder
- Alexander Graham Bell, (1847-1922), telephone, National Geographic, Hydrofoil
- Henry Bell, (1767-1830), ran Euope's first commercially successful steamboat.
- John Logie Baird, (1888-1946), television
- James Chalmers, (1782-1853), adhesive postage stamp
- Sir Dugald Clerk, (1854-1932), two-stroke Clerk Cycle engine
- John Boyd Dunlop, the modern rubber tyre
- Sir Robert McAlpine (Concrete Bob), (1847-1934), road builder
- Charles Macintosh, (1766-1843), patented waterproofing
- John McAdam modern road construction
- Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, steamboat pioneer.
- James Nasmyth, (1808-1890), Steam Hammer
- William Symington, (1764-1831), engineer, built the first practical steam boat.
- Thomas Telford, (1757-1834) architect, civil engineer, bridge designer
- James Watt, (1736-1819), engineer, significantly improved the steam engine
Humourists
- Ronald Balfour Corbett (Ronnie), (born 1930)
- Stanley Baxter, (born 1926)
- Janet Brown, (born 1924)
- Graeme Garden, (born 1943)
- Rory Bremner, (born 1961)
Musicians
- Ian Anderson singer, flautist, songwriter, and guitarist Jethro Tull
- Ali Bain fiddler
- David Byrne (born 1952)
- Phil Cunningham accordionist
- Justin Currie (born 1964), singer, songwriter and bassist with Del Amitri
- Donovan (born 1946)
- Fish (born 1958)
- Sheena Easton (born 1959)
- Roddy Frame songwriter Aztec Camera
- Franz Ferdinand, band
- Bobby Gillespie, singer with Primal Scream
- Evelyn Glennie (born 1965), percussionist
- Alex Harvey (1935-82), singer, songwriter, and guitarist
- Hamish Henderson folk song collector and writer
- Annie Lennox (born 1954)
- Sir Harry Lauder (1870-1950)
- Lulu (born 1948)
- James Kerr (Jim), (born 1959)
- Mark Knopfler (born 1949), guitarist, Dire Straits frontman
- Canon Sydney MacEwan, singer
- Shirley Manson (born 1966), singer/songwriter, Garbage frontwoman
- Michael Marra songwriter
- Dougie MacLean contemporary folk songwriter
- Ewan MacColl (1915-1989), folk-singer/songwriter
- Kenneth McKellar
- Craig Reid (born 1962) songwriter The Proclaimers
- Charles Reid (Charlie) (born 1962) songwriter The Proclaimers
- Jimmy Shand
- Andy Stewart (1933-1994)
- James Ure (Midge), (born 1953)
- Lena Zavaroni (1963-1999)
Philosophers
Rulers, Politicians
- Tony Blair, (born 1953), UK Prime Minister
- Gordon Brown, (born 1951), Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Robert the Bruce, Robert I of Scotland
- Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Young Pretender to the throne of Great Britain
- Donald Dewar, (born 1937), Scotland First Minister
- Robert Cunninghame-Graham ('Don Roberto') aristocrat socialist
- Jo Grimond, (1913-1993), Liberal Party leader from 1956 to 1967
- James VI of Scotland and I of England, (1603-1625)
- Jimmy Maxton, leader of the Independent Labour Party
- Tom Johnston (Tam), post WW2 Secretary of State for Scotland
- Mary, Queen of Scots, (1542-1587)
- Macbeth, King on the receiving end of a bad press
- John MacCormick, Nationalist
- John A. Macdonald, First Prime Minister of Canada
- Margo MacDonald, Nationalist
- Ramsay Macdonald, (1866-1937), UK Prime minister
- Malcolm Macdonald
- Alex Salmond, Nationalist (SNP leader 1990-2000)
- Jim Sillars, founder of Scottish Labour Party, MP
- John Smith, (1938-1994) Labour Party leader
- David Steel, (born 1938), Liberal Party leader from 1976 to 1988
- William Wallace, (c. 1270-1305), a.k.a. Braveheart
Scientists
- James Dewar, (1842-1923), low temperature physicist, invented the vacuum flask
- Alexander Fleming, (1881-1955), biologist
- Professor George Forbes, (1849-1936), electrical engineering, hydro-electric power generation
- Thomas Graham, (1805-1869), chemist
- James Hutton, (1726-1797), put geology on a scientific basis
- Joseph Lister, (1827-1912), surgeon, pioneered antisepsis techniques
- James Clerk Maxwell, (1831-1879), thermodynamics and electromagnetic theorist
- John Napier, (1550-1617), mathematician (see logarithms)
- Mary Fairfax Sommerville, mathematician and astronomer
- William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), mathematician, physicist,engineer
- Robert Watson-Watt, (1892-1973), invented radar
- Charles Wilson, physicist
- Paraffin Young a.k.a. James Young, James (Paraffin) Young
Sportsmen and -women
- Ken Buchanan, (born 1945), world champion boxer
- Jim Clark Formula 1 driver
- David Coulthard, (born 1971), Formula 1 driver
- Kenny Dalglish, (born 1951), footballer and a manager of Liverpool F.C.
- Alex Ferguson footballer and a manager of Manchester United F.C.
- Wyndham Halswelle, runner
- Dougal Haston mountaineer
- Eric Liddell (1902-1945), athlete, one of the two subjects of Chariots of Fire
- Benny Lynch, (1913-1946), world champion boxer
- Hamish MacInnes mountaineer
- Colin MacRae world champion rally driver
- Ally McCoist, (born 1962), football player
- Liz McColgan (Liz), (born 1964), athlete
- Billy McNeill footballer and a manager of Glasgow Celtic F.C.
- Graham Obree broke world hour record (on a home-made bike)
- Jackie Stewart world champion Formula 1 driver
- Jim Watt world champion boxer, won the WBC World Lightweight title
- David Wilkie (swimmer)
Television Personalities
- Nicky Campbell, (born 1962)
- Gail Hipgrave (Gail Porter), (born 1971)
- John Leslie (John Leslie Stott), (born 1965), television presenter
- Lorraine Kelly, (born 1959), television presenter and journalist
- Carol Smillie, (born 1961)
Theologians
- William Robinson Clark, (1829-1912) Born Daviot, Aberdeenshire became Dean of Taunton and prebendary of Wells 1859-1880 and Professor of Theology, mental and moral philosophy - University of Toronto, Canada 1888-1912. External link: and .
Writers
See List of Scottish writers
Others
- Alison Balfour, a "notorious witch"
- Helen Duncan, "Hellish Nell", the last woman to be tried under the witchcraft act
- Craig Ferguson, (born 1962)
- Muriel Gray, (born 1959), author, broadcaster and businesswoman
- Douglas Haig, (1861-1928), commander-in-chief of British forces during World War I
- Elsie Inglis, medical reformer and suffragette
- John Paul Jones, (1747-1792), admiral of the Russian and American Navies
- Captain Kidd, (1645-1701), pirate
- David Livingstone, (1813-1873), explorer, missionary
- Flora Macdonald, jacobite and empire loyalist
- Rob Roy MacGregor, romantic outlaw
- John James Richard Macleod, (1876-1935)
- John Muir, (1838-1914), 19th century environmentalist
- Robert Noble
- Allan Pinkerton, (1819-1884), US detective
- Sir William Ramsay, (1852-1916), Chemist
- John Charles Walsham Reith, (1889-1971), a.k.a Lord Reith, first Director General of BBC
- James Clark Ross, (1800-1862), explorer
- Alexander Selkirk, (1676-1723), inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
- Christian Shaw, started the Paisley thread industry
- Moira Shearer
- Mary Slessor, missionary and advocate for women's rights
- Adam Smith, (1723-1790), economist, free trade, laisser-faire, division of labour
- Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland, enthusiastic contributor to the Highland Clearances
- Josephine Tey, (1896-1952), writer
- Robert William Thomson
- Kirsty Wark, (born 1955), journalist and broadcaster
See also: List of people by nationality, List of Kings of the Picts
