List of people educated at Bedford School

Academia

• Revd James Dennis, paleontologist and natural historian
• Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth FRS, geologist
• Francis Penrose FRIBA FRS, Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, architect, archaeologist and astronomer
• Professor Charles Piazzi Smyth FRSE FRS FRAS FRSSA, Professor of Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, and Astronomer Royal for Scotland, 1846–1888
• John Thompson Platts, Indian and Persian language scholar
• Richard Daintree CMG, geologist who gave his name to the Daintree National Park, the Daintree Rainforest and the Daintree River, Australia
• Thomas Gwyn Elger FRAS, selenographer who gave his name to the lunar crater Elger
• Dr Arthur Coke Burnell, Sanskrit scholar
• Dr Charles Heycock FRS, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, chemist, winner of the Royal Society's Davy Medal, 1920
• Dr Walter Gardiner FLS FRS, Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, botanist, winner of the Royal Society's Royal Medal, 1898
• Professor Sir Wyndham Dunstan KCMG FRS FCS, chemist and Director of the Imperial Institute, 1903–1924
• Professor Sir Walter Langdon-Brown, Regius Professor of Physic, University of Cambridge, 1932–1935
• Dr Thomas Cecil Fitzpatrick, President of Queens' College, Cambridge, 1906–1931, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, 1915–1917 and 1928–1929
• Dr Charles Meek FRAI FRGS, Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, anthropologist
• Revd Canon Thomas Wentworth Pym DSO, Fellow in Theology, Balliol College, Oxford
• Dr Laurence Beddome Turner, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Reader in Engineering, University of Cambridge
• Professor William Rowan FRSC, Canadian biologist
• Sir Karl Parker CBE FBA, art historian and Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, 1945–1962
• Professor John Desmond Bernal FRS, pioneer of X-ray crystallography in molecular biology
• Professor Herbert Squire FRS, Zaharoff Professor of Aviation, Imperial College London, 1952–1961
• Dr Archer John Porter Martin FRS, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1952
• Professor Richard D'Aeth, educationalist and President of Hughes Hall, Cambridge, 1978–1984
• Professor John Selwyn Bromley, Fellow in Modern History, Keble College, Oxford, 1947–1960, and Professor of Modern History, University of Southampton, 1960–1977
• Professor Harry Cranbrook Allen MC FRHS, Fellow and Tutor in Modern History, Lincoln College, Oxford, 1946–1955, and Commonwealth Fund Professor of American History, University College London, 1955–1971
• Professor Peter Corbett, Yates Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, University College London, 1961–1982
• Professor Paul Talalay, John Jacob Abel Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1974–
• Professor Roger Sargent FIChemE FIMA FREng, Courtaulds Professor of Chemical engineering, Imperial College London, 1966–1992
• Professor Frank Adams FRS, Fielden Professor of Mathematics, University of Manchester, 1964–1970, and Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry, University of Cambridge, 1970–1989
• Professor Robert Cassen OBE, Professor of the Economics of Development, University of Oxford, 1986–1997
• Professor Quentin Skinner FRHS FBA, Fellow in History, Christ's College, Cambridge, 1962–1996, and Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge, 1996–2008
• Professor Richard Hills FRAS FRS, Professor of Radio Astronomy, University of Cambridge, 1990–2007
• Professor Andrew O'Shaughnessy FRHS, Saunders Director, International Centre for Jefferson Studies, Monticello, and Professor of History, University of Virginia
• Professor C.E.M. Hansel, Emeritus Professor of Experimental Psychology, Swansea University.

  Actors, directors and entertainers

• Cyril Harcourt, actor and playwright
• H B Warner, actor nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, 1937
• H F Maltby, actor, playwright and screenwriter
• Roy Limbert, theatre director and producer
• Torin Thatcher, actor
• Bob Kellett, film director, producer and screenwriter
• John Wood CBE, actor noted for his performances in Shakespeare and for his long association with Tom Stoppard
• Andrew McCulloch, actor and writer
• Michael Radford, film director and screenwriter, noted for films including Nineteen Eighty-Four, White Mischief and
• Simon Chandler, actor
• Richard Hopkins, television producer
• Bob Barrett, actor
• Al Murray, comedian
• Joel Beckett, actor
• David Lloyd Vitty, BBC Radio 1 presenter

  Adventurers and nonconformists

• Revd Stainton Moses, spiritualist
• Colonel Frederick Burnaby, adventurer, army officer, author, balloonist, and correspondent for The Times
• Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, occultist
• Ardern Hulme Beaman, adventurer, author, diplomat, and war correspondent
• Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker OBE, adventurer, army officer, author of First over Everest, and weapons designer
• John de Vars Hazard MC, mountaineer who took part in the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, famous for the disappearance of Mallory and Irvine
• Reginald Teague-Jones MBE, intelligence officer active in the Caucasus and Central Asia during the Russian Civil War
• Norman Baillie-Stewart, traitor known as 'The Officer in the Tower'
• Simon Murray CBE, adventurer, author, French Foreign Legionnaire, and the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported

  Architecture

• John Pollard Seddon FRIBA, architect
• Harry Bulkeley Creswell FRIBA, architect and author
• Oswald Milne FRSA FRIBA, architect
• Peter "Joe" Chamberlin CBE FRIBA, architect and town planner responsible for the Barbican Centre and the Barbican Estate in London
• Sir Bernard Feilden CBE FRIBA, conservation architect whose work encompassed cathedrals, the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal

  The Armed Forces

Victoria Cross and George Cross

• First World War
• *Lieutenant Colonel George Campbell Wheeler VC
• *Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Walderne St. Clair Tisdall VC
• *Major Montague Shadworth Moore VC
• Second World War
• *Commander Richard Jolly GC
• *Major General Henry Bowreman Foote VC CB DSO, General Officer Commanding, 11th Armoured Division, 1950–1953

  Navy

• Rear Admiral Alfred Ransom CBE, served during the Gambia Expedition, 1894, the Boxer Rebellion, 1900–1901, and the First World War
• Vice Admiral Fawcet Wray DSO, commanded HMS Talbot at Gallipoli, 1915
• Vice Admiral Arthur Kemmis Betty DSO, Aide-de-camp to King George V, Commander First Destroyer Flotilla, 1920–1922
• Rear Admiral Edward Dyke Acland MVO CB, Naval Attaché to King George V
• Rear Admiral James Ashton DSO, Aide-de-camp to King Edward VIII
• Vice Admiral Sir Richard Lane-Poole KBE CB, Commander Australian Fleet, 1936–1938
• Rear Admiral Julian Patterson OBE, commanded HMS Hood
• Vice Admiral Sir Cecil Ponsonby Talbot KCB KBE DSO & Bar, Aide-de-camp to King George V and Director of Dockyards at the Admiralty, 1937–1946
• Major General Robert Glunicke DL, Aide-de-camp to King George VI, 1939–1940, and Commandant, Plymouth Division, Royal Marines, 1939–1941
• Admiral Sir Robert Burnett GBE KCB CStJ DSO, Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic, 1944–1946, and Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, 1946–1950
• Rear Admiral Hector Mackenzie Woodhouse CB OBE
• Admiral Sir Geoffrey Audley Miles KCB KCSI, Head of British Military Mission, Moscow, 1941–1943, Commander-in-Chief, Levant, 1943, Naval Force Commander, Eastern Expeditionary Force, 1943, Deputy Naval Commander, South East Asia Command, 1943–1944, Flag officer, Western Mediterranean, 1944–1945, Senior British Representative on the Tripartite Naval Commission, 1945–1946, and last Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy of the unified Royal Indian Navy, 1946–1947
• Rear Admiral Laurence Boutwood CB OBE KStJ, Fleet Supply Officer, British Pacific Fleet, 1945–1946, Assistant Director of Plans at the Admiralty, 1946–1948, Fleet Supply Officer, Mediterranean Station, 1950–1953, and Command Supply Officer, Portsmouth, 1953–1956
• Vice Admiral Sir Charles Hughes-Hallet KCB CBE, Chief of Staff, Home Fleet, 1950–1951, Head of British Naval Mission, Washington, 1952–1954
• Vice Admiral John Hughes-Hallett CB DSO, Naval Commander during the Dieppe Raid, 1942, Commodore commanding Channel Assault Force and Naval Chief of Staff, 1942–1943, Head of Naval Branch, Supreme Allied Command, 1943, Vice-Controller of the Navy, 1950–1952, Flag Officer, Heavy Squadron, Home Fleet, 1952–1953, Conservative MP for Croydon, 1954–1964, credited with proposing the idea of the Mulberry harbour
• Rear Admiral Keith McNeil Campbell-Walter CB, Aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II, Flag Officer, Germany, and Commander of Allied Naval Forces Northern Area, Central Europe, 1955–1958
• Vice Admiral Sir Raymond Hawkins KCB, Fourth Sea Lord and Vice Controller of the Navy, 1963–1964, Chief of Fleet Support, 1964–1967
• Rear Admiral Kenneth Farnhill CB OBE, Director of the Management of Intelligence, Ministry of Defence, 1966–1969
• Admiral of the Fleet Sir Michael Le Fanu GCB DSC, Director-General, Naval Weapons, 1958–1960, Controller of the Navy, 1961–1965, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, 1965–1968, and First Sea Lord, 1968–1970
• Rear Admiral James Dunbar Cook CB DL, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, 1973–1975
• Rear Admiral Robin Trower Hogg CB FRSA, Flag Officer, First Flotilla, 1984–1986, and Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief Fleet, 1986–1987

  Army

• Major General William Carmichael Russell, served during the First Anglo-Sikh War, 1845–1846, and during the Indian Mutiny, 1857
• General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth KCMG FSA FRGS, served during the Crimean War and was present at the Siege of Sevastopol, 1854–1855, General Officer Commanding, South Africa, 1886–1889, Governor-General of Cape Colony, 1889, High Commissioner for Southern Africa, 1889, and Governor of Malta, 1890–1893
• Major General Francis Glanville
• Major General Willoughby Clarke, served during the Santhal rebellion, 1855–1856, and during the Second Opium War, 1856–1860
• Lieutenant General John Le Mesurier, served during the Anglo-Persian War, 1856–1857
• Major General George Elphinstone Erskine, served during the Indian Mutiny, 1857
• Major General George More-Molyneux CB DSO, served during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878–1880, the Suakin Expedition, 1884–1885, the Third Anglo-Burmese War, 1885–1889, and during the Tirah Campaign, 1897–1898
• Major General William Cross Barratt CB CSI DSO, General Officer Commanding, 9th Division and General Officer Commanding, 16th Indian Division
• General Sir Walter Braithwaite GCB, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command, India, 1920–1923, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Scottish Command, 1923–1926, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command, 1926–1927, Adjutant-General to the Forces, 1927–1931
• Major General John Hill CB DSO, General Officer Commanding, 52nd Infantry Division, 1916–1918
• Major General Louis Lipsett CB CMG, General Officer Commanding, 3rd Canadian Division, 1916–1918, General Officer Commanding, 4th Infantry Division, 1918
• Field Marshal Sir Cyril Deverell GCB KBE ADC DL, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command, 1931–1933, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command, 1933–1936, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1936–1937
• Major General Sir Digby Shuttleworth KCIE CB CBE DSO, President of the Allied Commission of Control, Turkey, 1920–1923
• Major General Sir Horace de Courcy Martelli KBE CB DSO, General Officer Commanding, 42nd Division, 1925–1930, Commandant, Shanghai Defence Force, 1927–1928, Major General, Southern Command, 1930–1934, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, 1934–1939
• Lieutenant General Sir William Montgomery Thomson KCMG CB MC, military governor of Baku, 1918
• Major General Sir William Twiss KCIE CB CBE MC FRGS, General Officer Commanding, Army in Burma, 1937–1939
• Major General Sir Hubert Huddleston GCMG GBE CB DSO MC, Commandant, Sudan Defence Force and General Officer Commanding, Sudan, 1925–1930, and Governor-General of the Sudan, 1940–1947
• Major General Hugh MacMahon CB CSI CBE MC, Aide-de-camp to King George V, and Quartermaster General, Northern Command, 1933–1937
• Major General Sir Claude Liardet KBE CB DSO TD DL, General Officer Commanding, 56th Division, 1938–1941, and first Commandant-General of the RAF Regiment, 1942–1945
• Major General Maxwell Brander CB OBE, War Office, 1937–1940, Ministry of Supply, 1941–1947
• Major General Lancelot Hickes CB OBE MC, War Office, 1939–1941
• Major General Sir Guy Riley KBE CB, War Office, 1937–1943
• Major General Algernon Fuller CBE, War Office, 1938–1940, Ministry of Supply, 1940–1941, and inventor of the Fullerphone
• Lieutenant General Sir William Baker KCIE CB DSO OBE, Adjutant-General of India, 1941–1944
• Major General Austin Timeous Miller CB MC & Bar, Scottish Command, 1941–1945
• Major General Sir Noel Holmes KBE CB MC, War Office, 1939–1946
• Major General Christopher Maltby CB MC DL, Commander British Troops in China, 1941
• General Sir Henry Colville Wemyss KCB KBE DSO MC, Adjutant-General to the Forces, 1940–1941, Head of British Army Mission, Washington, 1941–1942, Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War, 1942–1945
• Major General Sir Leslie Gordon Phillips KBE CB MC, Director of Signals, War Office, 1943–1946
• Major General Sir Eustace Tickell KBE CB MC, Engineer-in-Chief, War Office, 1944–1948
• Lieutenant General Sir Harold Rawdon Briggs KCIE KBE CB CBE DSO, Commander-in-Chief, Burma Command, 1946–1948
• Major General Alfred Curtis CB DSO MC, General Officer Commanding, 14th Indian Infantry Division, and Aide-de-camp to King George VI
• Major General Raymond Briggs CB DSO, General Officer Commanding, 1st Armoured Division, 1942–1943
• General Sir Sidney Kirkman GCB KBE MC, General Officer Commanding, 50th Division, 1942–1944, General Officer Commanding, XIII Corps, 1944–1945, Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1945–1947, and Quartermaster-General to the Forces, 1947–1950
• Major General Bernard Cooke Dixon CB CBE MC, Engineer-in-Charge, General Headquarters, Middle East, 1944–1947, and Chief Engineer, Headquarters, Western Command, 1947–1948
• Major General Sir Reginald Kerr KBE CB MC, Director of Supplies and Transport, War Office, 1943–1946
• Major General Francis St David Benwell Lejeune CB CBE, Commander, Anti-Aircraft Group, 1944–1946, War Office, 1946–1949
• General Sir Frank Simpson GBE KCB DSO, Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, 1940–1942, Deputy Director of Military Operations at the War Office, 1942–1943, Director of Military Operations at the War Office, 1943–1945, Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1945–1946, Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1946–1948, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command, 1948–1952, Commandant, Imperial Defence College, 1952–1954
• Major General Robert Cottrell-Hill CB CBE DSO & Bar MC, Commandant, British Sector, Berlin, 1955–1956
• Lieutenant colonel Arthur Cocks, first British Army officer to be killed on D-Day
• Major General Sir Nigel Tapp KBE CB DSO, General Officer Commanding, East Africa Command, 1957–1960
• Major General Gerald Kellett CB CBE, Director General of Artillery, War Office, 1957–1960
• Lieutenant General Sir William Pike KCB CBE DSO, Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1960–1963
• Major General Kenneth Bastyan CB CBE, Chief Signal Officer, British Army of the Rhine and Northern Army Group, 1957–1960
• Major General Henry Maughan Liardet CB CBE DSO DL, Chief of Staff, British Joint Services Mission, Washington, 1956–1958
• Major General Ronald Urquhart CB DSO, Director of Combined Operations, 1947–1949, Chief of Staff, Western Command, 1956, and Commandant, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 1957–1960
• Major General Michael Whitworth Prynne CB CBE, Deputy Director, War Office, 1960–1964, and Chief of Staff, Headquarters, Southern Command, 1964–1967
• Major-General Edward Maitland-Makgill-Crichton OBE, General Officer Commanding, 51st Division, 1966–1968
• Lieutenant General Sir John Read KCB OBE, Director of Military Operations, Ministry of Defence, 1968–1970, Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff, Ministry of Defence, 1970–1971, and Director of International Military Staff, NATO Headquarters, Brussels, 1971–1975
• Major General Colin Shortis CB CBE, Director of Infantry, British Army, 1983–1986, and General Officer Commanding, North West District, 1986–1989
• Major General Timothy Toyne Sewell DL, Commandant, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 1991–1994
• Captain Aubrey Beaty MC First British soldier to enter Germany after D-Day.
• Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Balfour Oatts DSO

  Air Force

• Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker KCB AFC, Director-General of Civil Aviation, 1922–1930, and victim of the R101 disaster
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett KCB CBE DSO, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, 1931–1932, Air Officer Commanding British Forces, Iraq, 1932–1935, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Training Command, 1936–1939, and Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942
• Marshal of the RAF Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall GCB OM GCMG CBE AM, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, 1926–1931, Air Officer Commanding, Middle East Command, 1931–1934, Air Member for Supply and Organisation, 1935–1937, Chief of the Air Staff, 1937–1940, and Governor-General of New Zealand, 1940–1946
• Air Vice-Marshal Sir Paul Maltby KCVO KBE CB DSO AFC DL, Air Officer Commanding, Java, 1942, and Black Rod, 1946–1962
• Major Charles Dawson Booker DSC, First World War flying ace
• Air Vice-Marshall Hugh Hamilton Brookes CB CBE DFC, Air Officer Commanding, Rhodesia, 1951–1954, Air Officer Commanding, Iraq, 1954–1956, and Air Officer Commanding, No 25 Group, RAF Flying Training Command, 1956–1958
• Air Vice-Marshal Douglas Ryley CB CBE, Air Officer Commanding and Commandant, RAF Henlow, 1949–1952, Director of Armament Engineering, Air Ministry, 1954–1957, and Director of Guided Weapons Engineering, Air Ministry, 1957–1958
• Air Vice-Marshal Brian Courtenay Yarde CVO CBE, Commandant-General of the RAF Regiment, 1954–1957
• Marshal of the RAF Sir Thomas Pike GCB CBE DFC & Bar DL, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, 1953–1956, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Fighter Command, 1956–1959, Chief of the Air Staff, 1960–1964, and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, 1964–1967
• Air Vice-Marshal Clayton Boyce CB CBE, Secretary General of Allied Air Forces, Central Europe, 1953–1954, Air Officer Commanding, Cyprus and the Levant, 1954–1956
• Air Vice-Marshal Hubert Chapman CB CBE, Air Officer Commanding, No. 43 Group, 1950–1951
• Air Chief Marshal Sir David Lee GBE CB, the United Kingdom's Military Representative to NATO, 1968–1971
• Group Captain Brian Kingcome DSO DFC & Bar, Second World War flying ace
• Air Vice-Marshal Michael Adams CB AFC FRAeS, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for Operational Requirements, Ministry of Defence, 1984–1986, Senior Directing Officer, Royal College of Defence Studies, 1987–1988

  Aviation

• Commander Sir Walter Windham, pioneering aviator who established the world's first airmail services
• Claude Grahame-White, pioneering aviator who made the world's first night-time takeoff
• John Dudley North CBE, aircraft designer and chairman of Boulton Paul Aircraft
• Group Captain George Bulman CBE MC AFC & Bar FRAeS, chief test pilot and director at Hawker Aircraft
• Bob Feilden CBE FRS FREng FIMechE, mechanical engineer, an essential part of the Power Jets team that developed the first jet engine with Sir Frank Whittle, 1940–1946, author of the seminal Report of the Feilden Committee on Engineering Design, 1963, and Director General of the British Standards Institution, 1970–1981

  The Church

• Revd Canon John Hensman, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and prolific church builder
• Revd Fr William Lockhart, first of the Oxford Movement to convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism
• Revd Canon Dr George Maclear, theological writer
• Ven William Percival Johnson, missionary in Africa
• Rt Revd Walter Ruthven Pym, Bishop of Mauritius, 1898–1903, Bishop of Bombay, 1903–1908, and grandfather of Francis Pym, Foreign Secretary under Margaret Thatcher
• Rt Revd Ernest Augustus Anderson, Bishop of Riverina, 1895–1925
• Rt Revd Dr Hubert Murray Burge, Headmaster of Winchester College, 1901–1910, Bishop of Southwark, 1910–1919, and Bishop of Oxford, 1919–1925
• Rt Revd William Surtees, Bishop of Crediton, 1930–1954
• Most Revd Dr John Gregg CH, Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin, 1915–1920, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, 1920–1939, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, 1939–1959
• Rt Revd Walter Carey, Bishop of Bloemfontein, 1921–1935, theological writer, and British Isles XV rugby international
• Rt Revd John Weller, Bishop of the Falkland Islands, 1934–1945
• Rt Revd Richard Dyke Acland, Bishop of Bombay, 1929–1947
• Rt Revd Dr Bertram Lasbrey, Bishop on the Niger, 1922–1945
• Rt Revd Dr Wilfred Askwith KCMG, Bishop of Blackburn, 1942–1954, and Bishop of Gloucester, 1954–1962
• Rt Revd Noel Hall, Bishop of Chota Nagpur, 1936–1957
• Rt Revd David Farmbrough, Bishop of Bedford, 1981–1993
• Rt Revd Robin Smith, Bishop of Hertford, 1990–2001
• Canon David Watson , Vicar of St Cuthbert's Church, York/St. Michael-le-Belfry, York, 1965-1982

  The Civil and Diplomatic Services

• Vivian Gordon Bowden CBE, Australian businessman, public servant and diplomat, Australian Official Representative in Singapore.
• Sir Walter Hillier KCMG CB, diplomat, author, Sinologist and Professor of Chinese, King's College London
• Sir Aubrey Vere Symonds KCB, Permanent Secretary, Board of Education, 1925–1931
• Sir Edward Crowe KCMG, Comptroller-General, Department for Overseas Trade, 1928–1937
• Gilbert Campion, 1st Baron Campion GCB, Clerk of the House of Commons, 1937–1948
• Sir Harold MacMichael GCMG DSO, Governor of Tanganyika, 1934–1938, High Commissioner to Palestine, 1938–1944
• Sir John FitzGerald Moylan CB CBE, Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, 1940–1945
• Sir Bernard Rawdon Reilly KCMG CIE OBE, British Resident in Aden, 1931–1932, Chief Commissioner of Aden, 1932–1937, Governor of Aden, 1937–1940
• Sir William Castle Cleary KBE CB, Principal Private Secretary to the President of the Board of Education, 1931–1935, Principal Assistant Secretary for Elementary Education, 1940–1945, and Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Education, 1945–1950
• Bertram Lamb Pearson CB DSO MC, Principal Private Secretary to the President of the Board of Education, 1937–1946, and Under Secretary, Ministry of Education, 1946–1955
• Sir Charles Belgrave KBE, Chief Administrator to the rulers of Bahrain, 1926–1957
• Herbert Gybbon-Monypenny CBE, Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, 1953–1955
• Sir Percivale Liesching KCMG KCB GCMG KCVO, Permanent Under-Secretary, Ministry of Food, 1946–1948, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 1949–1955, and High Commissioner to South Africa, 1955–1958
• Sir Pierson Dixon GCMG CB, Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary, 1943–1948, Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, 1948–1950, Deputy Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, 1950–1954, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, 1954–1960, and Ambassador to France, 1960–1965
• Sir George Godber GCB, Chief Medical Officer, 1960–1973
• Sir George Lisle Clutton KCMG FSA, Ambassador to the Philippines, 1955–1959, and Ambassador to Poland, 1960–1966
• Ian Clayton Mackenzie CBE, Ambassador to South Korea, 1967–1969
• Sir Bruce Fraser KCB, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, 1960–1964, Joint Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Department of Education and Science, 1964–1965, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, 1965–1966, Comptroller and Auditor General, Exchequer, 1966–1971
• Thomas Rogers MBE CMG, Ambassador to Colombia, 1970–1973
• John Glendwr Owen CB, Under Secretary at HM Treasury, 1959–1973
• John Gordon Doubleday OBE, Ambassador to Liberia, 1978–1980
• Peter Tripp CMG, Ambassador to Libya, 1970–1974, High Commissioner to Singapore, 1974–1978, and Ambassador to Thailand, 1978–1981
• Sir James Hennessy KBE CMG, Ambassador to Uruguay, 1971–1972, High Commissioner to Uganda, 1973–1976, Ambassador to Rwanda, 1973–1976, Governor of Belize, 1980–1981, and Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, 1982–1987
• Peter Maxey CMG, Under Secretary at the Cabinet Office, 1978–1981, Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic, 1981–1984, and Ambassador to the United Nations, 1984–1986
• Sir Alan Bailey KCB, Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1971–1973, Under Secretary at HM Treasury, 1973–1978, Deputy Secretary at HM Treasury, 1978–1983, Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury, 1983–1985, and Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport, 1986–1991
• William Myles Knighton CB, Principal Private Secretary to the Minister of Technology, 1966–1968, Assistant Secretary, Department of Trade, 1967–1974, Under Secretary, Department of Trade, 1974–1978, Deputy Secretary, Department of Trade, 1978–1983, Deputy Secretary, Department for Transport, 1983–1986, and Principal Establishment and Finance Officer, Department of Trade and Industry, 1986–1991
• Sir Michael Burton KCVO CMG, British Minister in Berlin, 1985–1992, Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, 1993, and Ambassador to the Czech Republic, 1994–1997
• Sir Allan Ramsay KBE CMG, Ambassador to the Lebanon, 1988–1990, Ambassador to the Sudan, 1990–1991, and Ambassador to Morocco, 1992–1996
• John Martin CMG, High Commissioner to Malawi, 1993–1998
• Paul Wright, Under Secretary, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1992–1999
• Richard Northern MBE, Ambassador to Libya, 2010–2011
• John Hawkins, Ambassador to Qatar, 2008–2012
• Benjamin Lyster-Binns, Ambassador to Uruguay, 2012–

  Industry and commerce

• Sir William Harpur, Sheriff of the City of London, 1556–1557, Lord Mayor of London, 1561–1562
• Julius Drewe, creator of Home and Colonial Stores, and builder of Castle Drogo, Devon
• Sir Reginald Butler, 1st Baronet, chairman of United Dairies
• Sir Harold Yarrow, 2nd Baronet GBE, chairman and managing director of Yarrow Shipbuilders and chairman of Clydesdale Bank
• Sir John Howard DL, civil engineer responsible for construction of the Severn Bridge, the Humber Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge and the Channel Tunnel
• Sir Peter Parker KBE LVO, chairman of British Rail, 1976–1983
• Sir Peter Hunt FRICS, chairman and managing director of Land Securities, 1978–1997
• Derek Bonham, CEO of Hanson Group, 1992–1997, chairman of Imperial Tobacco, 1996–2007, chairman of Cadbury Schweppes, 2000–2003, and chairman of Marconi, 2001–2002
• Miles Young, chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, 2009–
• Andrew Horton, CEO of Beazley Group, 2008–

  Journalism

• William White, parliamentary sketch writer
• Henry Corbet, agricultural writer and editor
• E H D Sewell, author, cricket and rugby journalist, Essex and MCC cricketer
• Hugo Tyerman, author and journalist
• Major Peter Lawless MC, war correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, killed during the Battle of Remagen
• Henry Longhurst, BBC sports commentator and golf writer, Golfing Correspondent of The Sunday Times, Conservative MP for Acton, 1943–1945
• Peter Stursberg CM, Canadian writer, broadcaster and war correspondent
• Pearce Wright, Science Editor of The Times, 1974–1990
• Michael De-la-Noy, author, journalist and gay rights advocate
• Richard Lindley, BBC and ITN journalist
• John Percival, BBC and Channel 4 documentary film maker
• Michael Brunson OBE, ITN Political Editor, Diplomatic Editor and Washington Correspondent
• Robert Hewison, Theatre Critic of The Sunday Times
• John Witherow, Editor of The Sunday Times, 1995–2013, Editor of The Times, 2013–
• Matthew Chilton, BBC sports commentator
• Will Gompertz, BBC Arts Editor
• Ned Boulting, author, sports journalist and commentator

  The Law

• Sir John Leach KC, Judge, Privy Councillor, Whig and Tory MP for Seaford, 1806–1816, Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall, 1816–1818, Vice Chancellor of England, 1818–1827, and Master of the Rolls, 1827–1834
• Erskine May, 1st Baron Farnborough KCB, constitutional theorist, Privy Councillor, Clerk of the House of Commons, 1871–1886, and the original author of
• Henry Hawkins, 1st Baron Brampton QC, High Court Judge, 1876–1898, and Privy Councillor
• Sir Henry Verey, Official Referee of the Supreme Court of Judicature, 1876–1920
• Sir Frank Beaman, High Court Judge, Bombay, 1906–1918
• Sir Reginald Ward Poole KCVO, President of the Law Society, 1933–1934
• Sir Henry Gompertz, Supreme Court Judge, Hong Kong, 1909–1925, and Chief Justice of the Federated Malay States, 1925–1929
• Sir Babington Bennett Newbould, High Court Judge, Calcutta, 1916–1927
• Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson, High Court Judge, 1921–1939, Privy Councillor, and grandfather of Sir Richard Branson
• Sir Cecil Fforde KC, High Court Judge, Lahore, 1922–1931
• Mr Justice Saul Solomon KC, Supreme Court Judge, South Africa, 1927–1945
• Sir Lynden Macassey KBE KC, labour lawyer
• Mr Justice Harold Blacker, High Court Judge, Lahore, 1937–1944
• Sir Gerald Osborne Slade KC, High Court Judge, 1948–1962
• Sir Audley McKisack QC, Attorney General of Nigeria, 1951–1956, Chief Justice of Uganda, 1956–1962, President of the High Court of the Federation of South Arabia, 1964–1966, and Appeal Court Judge of the Bahamas and Bermuda, 1965–1966
• Sir Phillip Bridges CMG QC, Solicitor General of The Gambia, 1963–1964, Attorney General of The Gambia, 1964–1968, and Chief Justice of The Gambia, 1968–1983
• Sir Stephen Mitchell QC, High Court Judge, 1993–2003

  Literature

• John Pomfret, poet
• Samuel Palmer, biographer
• Foster Barham Zincke, antiquary
• Morley Roberts, novelist and short story writer
• Frederick Carruthers Cornell OBE, South African short story writer and poet
• Saki, short story writer
• Hesketh Pearson, biographer
• Noel Carrington, originator of Puffin Books, and brother of the artist Dora Carrington
• John Armitage, Editor of Encyclopædia Britannica, 1949–1967
• C E T Warren MBE, author of Above Us The Waves
• John Fowles, novelist, author of The Magus and The French Lieutenant's Woman
• Jonathon Green, lexicographer
• Shoo Rayner, author and illustrator of children's books

  Medicine

• Professor Robert Elliot FRCS, surgeon and author
• George Drummond Robinson FRCP, obstetrician
• Sir Maurice Craig CBE FRCP, psychiatrist to Virginia Woolf and to the future King Edward VIII, and pioneer in the treatment of mental illness
• Major General Francis Hutchinson CIE, Surgeon to the King
• Frank Eve FRCP physician who gave his name to the "Eve Method" of artificial respiration
• William Branson CBE FRCP, physician, author, and great uncle of Sir Richard Branson
• Professor James Radclyffe McDonagh FRCS, surgeon and author
• Sir Adolphe Abrahams OBE FRCP, physician and founder of British sports science
• Felix Warden Brown FRCP FRCPsych, psychiatrist
• Professor Charles Enrique Dent CBE FRCP FRS, physician and biochemist who gave his name to Dent's Disease
• George Crichton Wells FRCP, dermatologist who gave his name to Wells' Syndrome
• Frank Cockett FRCS, surgeon, author and art historian
• Professor John MacFarlane Cliff FRCP, Professor of Naval Medicine, Royal Hospital Haslar
• Major General Michael Brown FRCPE FRCP, Director of Army Medicine and Physician to the Queen
• Professor Rory Shaw FRCP, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine, 1997–

  Music

• C H Bovill, lyricist, songwriter, author, and collaborator with P G Wodehouse
• Dr Marmaduke Conway FRCO, organist and writer
• Darrell Fancourt, bass-baritone singer who starred in more than 10,000 performances with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
• Dr Herbert Kennedy Andrews FRCO, Fellow in Music, New College, Oxford, composer, musicologist and organist
• Richard Kerr, songwriter
• Frank Musker, composer and songwriter
• Alec Dankworth, jazz bassist
• Marius de Vries, composer and record producer
• Andrew Manze, Associate Director of the Academy of Ancient Music, 1996–2003, Artistic Director of The English Concert, 2003–2007, Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, 2006–
• Philip Stopford, choir director and composer of sacred choral music
• Grzegorz Turnau, composer, pianist, poet and singer
• Xander Rawlins, singer-songwriter and documentary film maker

  Politicians and statesmen

• John Williams, MP for Bedford, 1554–1555
• Thomas Barnard DL, Whig MP for Bedford, 1857–1859
• Lieutenant Commander Norman Carlyle Craig KC, Conservative MP for the Isle of Thanet, 1910–1919
• Sir Walter Preston, Conservative MP for Mile End, 1918–1923, Conservative MP for Cheltenham, 1928–1937
• Auberon Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas, Liberal politician and fighter pilot, Privy Councillor, Under-Secretary of State for War, 1908–1911, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1911, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1911–1914, President of the Board of Agriculture, 1914–1915
• Sir Richard Wells, 1st Baronet DL, Conservative MP for Bedford, 1922–1945
• Colonel Eric Harrison, Australian MP, 1931–1937
• Air Commodore Sir Frank Nelson KCMG, Conservative MP for Stroud, 1924–1931, and the first head of Special Operations Executive, 1940–1942
• Leslie Ruthven Pym, Conservative MP for Monmouth, 1939–1945, and father of Francis Pym, Foreign Secretary under Margaret Thatcher
• Charles Theodore Te Water, President of the Assembly of the League of Nations, 1933–1934
• Sir Walter Jackson Cooper MBE, Australian Senator, 1928–1968, Minister of Repatriation, 1949–1960
• Sir Trounsell Gilbert CBE KC, Chief Justice and President of the Senate of Bermuda, 1952–1958
• Alan Grahame Brown, Labour and Conservative MP for Tottenham, 1959–1964
• Sir Anthony Fell, Conservative MP for Great Yarmouth, 1951–1983
• Joseph Godber, Baron Godber of Willington, Privy Councillor, Conservative MP for Grantham, 1951–1979, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1957–1960, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1960–1961, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, 1961–1963, Secretary of State for War, 1963, Minister of Labour, 1963–1964, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, 1970–1972, and Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1972–1974
• Major Richard Harden DSO MC, Ulster Unionist MP for Armagh, 1948–1954
• Major Geraint Morgan QC, Conservative MP for Denbigh, 1959–1983, and champion of the Welsh language
• Stephen Ross, Baron Ross of Newport, Liberal MP for the Isle of Wight, 1974–1987
• Michael Morris, Baron Naseby, Privy Councillor, Conservative MP for Northampton South, 1974–1997
• Krishnan Srinivasan, Indian Foreign Secretary, 1994–1995, Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations, 1995–2002
• Paddy Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon GCMG KBE, Privy Councillor, Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil, 1983–2001, leader of the Liberal Democrats, 1988–1999, international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2002–2006
• Sir Gerry Neale, Conservative MP for North Cornwall, 1979–1992
• John Carlisle, Conservative MP for Luton, 1979–1997
• John Taylor, Baron Taylor of Holbeach CBE FRSA, Conservative politician, Minister at the Home Office, 2012–2014, and Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords, 2014–
• Bob Clay, Labour MP for Sunderland North, 1983–1992
• Malcolm Harbour CBE, Conservative MEP for the West Midlands, 1999–2014
• Desmond Swayne, Conservative MP for New Forest West, 1997–, Parliamentary Private Secretary to David Cameron, 2010–2012, and Minister of State for International Development, 2014–
• Brooks Newmark, Conservative MP for Braintree, Essex, 2005–2015, and Minister for Civil Society, 2014
• Neil Coyle, Labour Party Member of Parliament for Bermondsey and Old Southwark

  Sport

All-Rounders

• Percy Christopherson, England rugby international and Kent cricketer
• Freddie Brooks OBE, England rugby international and Rhodesia cricketer
• Frank Brooks, Rhodesia cricketer, rugby international and tennis player
• Lieutenant Colonel Stan Harris CBE, England and British Lions rugby international, water polo international, South Africa Davis Cup tennis player, South Africa light-heavyweight boxing champion, and Wimbledon mixed doubles winner, who turned down a place in the 1920 Great Britain Olympic team
• Gilbert Cook CVO CBE, England rugby international and Ireland cricketer

  Athletics

• Harold Abrahams CBE, Olympic sprinter and long jumper, winner of the gold medal in 1924 for the 100-metre sprint; a feat portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire
• Brigadier Dick Webster, Olympic pole vaulter, 1936 and 1948

  Cricket

• William Weighell, Sussex cricketer
• William Woof, Gloucestershire and MCC cricketer
• Herbert Orr, Western Australia cricketer
• Ralph Joyce, Leicestershire cricketer
• Percy Sherwell, South Africa cricketer
• Harold Baumgartner, South Africa cricketer
• Arthur Cantrell, Royal Navy first-class cricketer
• Francis Joyce, Leicestershire cricketer
• Bertram Peel, Oxford University and Scotland first-class cricketer
• Denis Peel, Oxford University first-class cricketer
• Arthur Cocks, British Army cricketer
• Lancelot Robinson, MCC cricketer
• Cyril Reed, Madras cricketer
• William Sime CMG MBE QC, Nottinghamshire cricketer, and Judge
• Brian Disbury, Kent cricketer
• Michael Allen, Northamptonshire, MCC and Derbyshire cricketer
• Martin Meeson, Cambridge University first-class cricketer
• Rex Collinge, Combined Services first-class cricketer
• Ian Peck, Northamptonshire cricketer
• Robin Boyd-Moss, Northamptonshire cricketer
• Toby Bailey, Northamptonshire cricketer
• Will Smith, Hampshire, Durham and Nottinghamshire cricketer
• Adrian Shankar, Worcestershire cricketer
• Sir Alastair Cook CBE, Essex, MCC and England cricketer, and captain of the England cricket team
• Alex Wakely, Northamptonshire cricketer and captain of the England Under-19 cricket team
• James Kettleborough, Northamptonshire cricketer

  Equestrianism

• Brigadier Lyndon Bolton DSO & Bar DL, Olympic horseman, 1948

  Fencing

• Colonel Ronald Bruce Campbell CBE DSO, Olympic fencer, 1920

  Football

• Harold Henman, international footballer who played for both South Africa and Argentina

  Hockey

• Stefan Tewes, Olympic gold medalist in hockey, 1992
• Sven Meinhardt, Olympic gold medalist in hockey, 1992

  Motor Sport

• Dan Wheldon, racing driver, Indianapolis 500 winner, 2005 and 2011

  Rowing

• William Crofts, rower
• Jack Beresford CBE, Olympic rower, winner of five medals at five Olympic Games in succession, 1920–1936
• Harold Morphy, Olympic rower, 1924
• Dr Edward Vaughan Bevan, Olympic rower, gold medalist, 1928
• William Windham, Olympic rower, 1952
• James Crowden, Olympic rower, 1952
• Michael Beresford, Olympic rower, 1960
• Phelan Hill, Olympic rower, bronze and gold medalist, 2012 and 2016

  Rugby

• Major General Sir Robert Henderson KCMG CB, England rugby international, and Physician to the King
• Philip Jacob, England rugby international
• Francis Palmer MC, England rugby international
• Curly Hammond, England rugby international
• Basil Maclear, Ireland rugby international
• Ernest Chambers, England rugby international
• Cecil Milton, England rugby international
• Jumbo Milton, England rugby international whilst still a pupil at Bedford School
• Henry Vassall, England rugby international
• Sir Arthur Blakiston, 7th Baronet MC, England and British Lions rugby international
• Sir Basil McFarland, 2nd Baronet CBE ERD, Ireland rugby international
• Robert Jones, Wales rugby international
• Leo Oakley, England rugby international
• Budge Rogers OBE, England and British Lions rugby international
• Martin Bayfield, England and British Lions rugby international
• Andy Gomarsall MBE, England rugby international
• David Callam, Scotland rugby international
• George Furbank, England rugby international

  Tennis

• Patrick Wheatley, tennis player who competed at Wimbledon on eleven separate occasions, 1921–1933, at the Olympic Games, 1924, and in the Davis Cup, 1926