Damien Hirst
(Born 1965 in Bristol), Painting,Sculpture
Controversial British artist and sculptor.
Dennis Potter
(Born 1935 in Berry Hill in Gloucestershire), Fiction
Potter was a writer of fiction such as Pennies from Heaven, The Singing Detective and Blue Remembered Hills. He mixed reality and fiction with popular culture.
Jane Grigson
(Born 1928 in Gloucester in Gloucestershire), Nonfiction
Jane Grigson was an English cookery writer. She wrote her first book Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery in 1967 and went on to write many more cookery books.
Dick King Smith
(Born 1922 in Bitton in Gloucestershire), Fiction
He is perhaps best known for writing The Sheep-Pig. Not heard of it? Well in America it was known as Babe, the Gallant Pig and adapted for film in 1995 as just Babe.
Geoffrey Grigson
(Born 1905 in Pelynt in Cornwall), Poetry
A British poet, writer and critic becoming known as an influential poet in the 1930s and was the editor of the poetry magazine New Verse from 1933 to 1939.
Ralph Bates
(Born 1899 in Swindon in Wiltshire), Fiction
He wrote nine novels between 1933 and 1950, his last one being The Dolphin in the Wood.
Mary Thomas
(Born 1889 in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire), Embroidery, Knitting, Nonfiction
She is the writer of the Mary Thomas Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches, Book of Knitting Patterns), Embroidery Book, Knitting Book and Teach Yourself Embroidery. Dispute publishing all her works back in the 1930s, she is well respected now. Just goes to show that some thing do not need to change.
John Angel
(Born 1881 in Newton Abbott in Devon), Sculpture
John Angel was particularly known for his ecclesiastical sculptures. In 1919 he was elected to the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Harold Gilman
(Born 1876 in Rode in Somerset), Painting
Harold Gilman, British artist, painted portraits and landscapes and was a member of the Camden Town Group.
Vaughan Williams
(Born 1872 in Down Ampney in Gloucestershire), Music
The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was born in Down Ampney but spent his childhood in Leith Hill Place in Surrey (now a National Trust property). He is well known for his works such as The Lark Ascending. He attended the Royal College of Music and Trinity, Cambridge. He wrote ballets, symphonies, chamber music and more.
Sidney Curnow Vosper
(Born 1866 in Plymouth in Devon), Painting, Etching
Perhaps his most best known work was the portrait of Sian Owen, who was in the congregation at Capel Salem in Pentre Gwynfryn. The paint is know simply by the name of Salem.
Alfred Wallis
(Born 1855 in Devonport in Devon), Painting
He was a Cornish Fisherman, who became an artist after the death of his wife in 1922 when he began to paint. He was completely self taught and never had any lessons. The style of his paintings are known as naive art, where perspective is ignored and the scale of the object is based on its relative importance to the scene.
Emma Gifford
(Born 1840 in Plymouth in Devon), Fiction, Poetry
Emma was a writer in her own right. As well as being a suffrage supporter and marcher. She was the first wife of Thomas Hardy. Hardy wrote some of his best poetry after her death in 1912. Inspired by his remorse.
Emma met Thomas at her home at St Juliot. She was the unpaid companion to Reverend Caddell Holder and he was an architect writing a report about the local church.
Thomas Hardy
(Born 1840 in Stinsford in Dorset), Fiction, Poetry
Hardy is a famous British author, well known for works such as Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the dUrbervilles and more.
He wrote Far from the Madding Crown whilst at the home he was born in. A thatched cottage in Dorchester, thought to be the inspiration for his fictional Wessex.
John Brodribb Henry Irving
(Born 1838 in Keinton Mandeville in Somerset), Theatre
He was the first ever actor to be awarded a knighthood. He performed at the Lyceum in the West End of London. There is a statue of Irving behind the National Portrait Gallery in London. He is believed to be the inspiration for Bram Stokers Dracula.
Edwin Longsden Long
(Born 1829 in Bath in Somerset), Painting
Edwin Longsden Long, English artist, painted portraits and historical scenes.
William Henry Fox Talbot
(Born 1800 in Melbury Abbas in Dorset), Photography
Talbot was an inventor who developed an early photographic process called calotype.
Margaret Fownes Luttrell
(Born 1726 in Dunster in Somerset), Art, Painting
An English artist, born in and heiress to Dunster Castle, where you can see two of her paintings (View of an Imaginary Castle with a Round Tower - View of an Imaginary Castle with Two Towers). Also at the castle, you can see four painting of Margaret.
Joshua Reynolds
(Born 1723 in Plympton in Devon), Painting
Reynolds was an 18th century English portrait painter, who helped to found the Royal Academy and was there first president. He painted in the grand manner, not copying his subjects exactly as they really were but reflected their nobility. You can see a number of his portraits in the Reynolds room at Knole in Kent.
