List of Old Rossallians

Academic

• Peter Barton – First World War historian and author
• William Chawner – Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1899–1901
• John Standish Fforde – economist, historian and Chief Cashier at the Bank of England
• David Fowler – mathematician
• Robert James – High Master of St Paul's School and Headmaster of Harrow School
• Sir Henry Stuart Jones – classical scholar and lexicographer
• Charles Lethbridge Kingsford – historian and fellow of the British Academy
• Geoffrey Kirk – Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge
• Dr John Morris – historian and founder of the historical journal Past & Present
• Charles Kay Ogden – linguist, psychologist and philosopher and inventor of Basic English
• Sir Isambard Owen – first Vice Chancellor of Bristol University and founder of The University of Wales
• Niall Shanks – philosopher

Literary

• J. R. Ackerley – author, editor, and memoirist
• Leslie Charteris – creator of The Saint
• J.G. Farrell – novelist and winner of the Booker Prize
• F. W. Harvey, DCM – poet
• Raymond M Patterson – explorer and travel writer
• Clive Phillipps-Wolley – author and big game hunter

  Media and television

• Michael Barratt – BBC TV Nationwide anchorman
• Patrick Campbell – team captain on Call My Bluff
• Sonny Flood – actor in Hollyoaks
• Davinia Taylor – actress and It Girl

  Military

• George Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe – Governor of Bombay and Victoria
• Major General Ralph Arthur Penrhyn Clements – British Army general during the Second Boer War
• Field Marshal Sir Charles Comyn Egerton – First World War Field Marshal, member of the Council of the India, Commander of the Somaliland Field Force
• Edward Fitzherbert – British Army general
• Air Commodore Robert Groves – Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
• Captain George S. Henderson
• General Sir Thomas Hutton
• Wing Commander Ronald Gustave Kellet – Second World War flying ace
• Frederick Lugard – governor of Hong Kong and Nigeria and founder of the University of Hong Kong
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Edward Hasting Medhurst – Director of Allied Air Co-Operation and key figure in the RAF throughout the Second World War
• General John Nixon – First World War General
• Sir Charles Noble Arden-Clarke – Colonial Governor, last Governor of the Gold Coast
• Brigadier George Rowland Patrick Roupell
• Erroll Chunder Sen – First World War Indian aviator
• Vice Admiral Sir David Steel – Second Sea Lord

  Misc

• Sir Alexander Carmichael Bruce – Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
• Sir Norman Kendal – Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and Barrister
• Rachel Lomax – Deputy Governor of the Bank of England

  Music and the arts

• Bill Ashton – founder of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra
• Sir Thomas Beecham – conductor and founder of numerous orchestras including the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic
• Anthony Besch – opera director
• Little Boots – singer/songwriter
• James Donald – actor
• Bill Hopkins – composer, pianist and music critic
• Christopher Whall – founder of the New England School of Stained Glass craftsmanship. Helped William Morris establish the William Morris Arts and Crafts Society.

  Politics and law

• Edward Colborne Baber – colonial administrator
• Eric Alfred George Shackleton Bailey – Conservative MP for Manchester Gorton 1931–1935
• Robert Bernays – Liberal MP for Bristol North 1931–1945, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health 1937–1939, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport 1939–1940
• Arthur John Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham Private Secretary to Queen Victoria and to George V
• Harry Brittain – Conservative MP for Acton 1918-1929 and founder of the Pilgrims Society
• Wilfred Banks Duncan Brown, Baron of Machrihanish – Minister of State at the Board of Trade 1970–1975 and member of the Privy Council
• Alfred Broughton – long-serving Labour MP, central to the Labour government downfall in 1979
• Milne Cheetham – diplomatic minister to Switzerland, Greece and Denmark
• Octavius Leigh Clare – Conservative MP for Eccles 1895–1906
• Sir Robert Francis Dunnell – solicitor, civil servant and railway executive
• Sir Herbert Brent Grotrian, 1st Baronet – Unionist MP for South-West Hull 1924–1929
• Sir Henry Hoyle Howorth – barrister, author, Fellow of the Royal Society and Conservative MP for Salford South 1886–1900

• Pedro Pablo Kuczynski - 66th President of the Republic of Peru who had to leave due to corruption.
• Neil Marten – Conservative MP for Banbury 1959–1983 and Minister for Overseas Development 1979–1983
• Charles Heron Mullan – Conservative MP for Down 1946–1950
• Oswald Partington, 2nd Baron Doverdale – Liberal MP 1900–1918
• Robert Frederick Ratcliff – MP for Burton 1900–1918
• William Rolleston – cabinet minister in New Zealand, and later Leader of the Opposition
• Walter Dorling Smiles – MP for Blackburn 1931–1945; later for Down 1945–1950 and for Down, North 1950–1953
• John Ellis Talbot – Conservative MP for Brierley Hill 1959–1967
• Walter Topping – Northern Irish Minister of Home Affairs
• George Frederic Verdon – Treasurer of Australia
• Derek Colclough Walker-Smith – Conservative MP for Hertford 1945–1955 and then for East Hertfordshire 1955–1983; Minister of Health
• Ralph Champneys Williams – Governor of Newfoundland
• Colonel Sir Charles Edward Yate – Conservative MP for Melton 1918–1924
• Robert Armstrong Yerburgh – Unionist MP for Chester 1886–1906 and 1910–1916

  Religion

• Father Thomas R. D. Byles – Catholic priest who refused to leave the Titanic, in order to help fellow passengers. He perished as it sank.
• William Henry Temple Gairdner – missionary
• John Maurice Key – Bishop of Truro and Bishop of Sherborne
• Martin Patrick Grainge Leonard – Bishop of Thetford
• Mark Green – Bishop of Aston
• John Edward Mercer – Bishop of Tasmania
• William Moore Richardson – Bishop of Zanzibar
• Bryan Robin – Bishop of Adelaide
• George Sinker – Christian Missionary in India
• Wilfrid Lewis Mark Way – Bishop of Masasi
• Alwyn Williams – Bishop of Oxford, Durham and Winchester, chaplain to George V, prelate of the Order of the Garter, headmaster of Winchester College, and Dean of Christ Church

  Science, medicine and engineering

• Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney – astronomer, chemist and photographer
• John Fleetwood Baker – civil engineer and designer of the Morrison indoor shelter
• William Blair-Bell – co-founder of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
• David Brown – engineer, entrepreneur and one-time owner of Aston Martin; his initials are still given to the finest models of Aston Martin cars. He also owned Lagonda.
• Sir Frederick Brundrett – Chief Scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence 1954–1960
• Professor Sir William Boyd Dawkins – geologist, archaeologist and fellow of The Royal Society
• George Garrett – clergyman and submarine designer
• Francis Graham-Smith – Astronomer Royal
• Dikran Tahta – maths teacher who inspired Stephen Hawking
• John Turtle Wood – architect, engineer and archaeologist

  Sport

• Rex Crummack – 1920 Olympic gold medal winning hockey player
• Liam Botham – rugby union, rugby league and cricket player
• Walter Clopton Wingfield – the "inventor of lawn tennis"
• Paul Dalglish – football player
• Michael Dickinson – world record holding National Hunt trainer
• Lewis Dingle – cricketer for Oxford University
• Harry Goodwin – cricketer for Gloucestershire
• Thomas Higson – cricketer for Derbyshire and Lancashire, and England test selector
• Nigel Howard – last amateur England cricket captain
• Francis Inge – cricketer
• Arthur Irvin – cricketer
• Nick Köster – rugby player
• Ham Lambert – Irish international cricketer, rugby player and referee
• Chris Leck – rugby union player
• Geoffrey Marsland – cricketer
• Philip Morton – cricketer
• Brian Redman – Formula 5000 champion
• Vernon Royle – England test cricketer
• Charles Eastlake Smith – footballer, played for England in 1876
• William Townshend – cricketer
• Benjamin Spilsbury – 19th-century England international footballer
• Geoffrey Plumpton Wilson, England international footballer
• Peter Winterbottom – England rugby union captain; also played for the Lions

  Famous parents of Rossall students

• Jamil al-Assad – Syrian politician
• Ian Botham – cricketer
• Carl Brisson – silent film actor
• Kenny Dalglish – football manager
• Syd Little – comedian
• Sir Frank Whittle – inventor of the jet engine
• Bruno Labaddia - football manager

• Notable masters

• John Ambrose Fleming – inventor
• Walter Besant – novelist and historian
• Warin Foster Bushell – President of the Mathematical Association
• Robert Clayton – 19th-century England and Yorkshire cricketer
• Harry Dean – cricketer
• Jack Ellis – rugby player
• Paul Grice – philosopher
• John Eldon Gorst – politician
• S. P. B. Mais – author and journalist
• Rupert Morris – clergyman, antiquarian and chaplain to the Duke of Westminster
• John Rees – Welsh rugby international
• Owen Seaman – poet, journalist and editor of Punch
• Thomas Llewellyn Thomas – scholar of the Welsh language
• George Utley – England international and twice FA Cup winner, assistant cricket coach from 1911 to 1931

  Notable Council Members

• Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire – Leader of the Liberal Party; later Leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords
• Walter Clegg – Conservative MP
• Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton – landowner and MP
• Robert Ladds – Bishop of Whitby
• William Temple – Archbishop of Canterbury
• Edward Henry Stanley – 15th Earl of Derby and Foreign Secretary
• Frederick Arthur Stanley – 16th Earl of Derby, notable for donating the Stanley Cup
• John Woolley – first Principal of the University of Sydney
• Every Earl of Derby since the 15th Earl of Derby has been President of the Corporation of Rossall School

  Fictional

• Dan Dare