Historical figures in London
The atlas holds 101 people and 455 moments here, from 1374 to 2022. The most recorded lives are Elizabeth I, John Locke and Geoffrey Chaucer. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Scientists, across the Space Age and the Cold War.
Notable people
Elizabeth I
from 1533 to 1603
7 moments here
Elizabeth I (1533–1603), daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until her death.…
John Locke
from 1647 to 1702
6 moments here
English philosopher, physician, and political writer. Locke was born in Somerset, educated in London and Oxford, served Lord Shaftesbury in London,…
Geoffrey Chaucer
from 1374 to 1400
6 moments here
English poet, courtier, diplomat, and civil servant, best known for The Canterbury Tales. His documented career included military service in France,…
Vladimir Lenin
from 1902 to 1908
5 moments here
Russian Marxist revolutionary, Bolshevik leader, political theorist, and founding head of government of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union.…
Adam Smith
from 1764 to 1777
5 moments here
Scottish moral philosopher and political economist of the Scottish Enlightenment, author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the…
Helen Keller
from 1930 to 1946
5 moments here
Helen Adams Keller was an American deafblind author, lecturer, disability-rights advocate, and political activist.…
Judy Garland
from 1951 to 1969
5 moments here
American actress, singer, and vaudevillian, born Frances Ethel Gumm. Garland rose from childhood vaudeville and MGM musical films to become a major…
Doris Lessing
from 1949 to 2013
5 moments here
British novelist Doris May Lessing was born in Kermanshah, Iran, grew up in Southern Rhodesia, and moved to London in 1949.…
Douglas Adams
from 1952 to 1994
5 moments here
English author, screenwriter and humourist best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.…
Ronald Reagan
from 1982 to 1989
4 moments here
American broadcaster, actor, labor leader, governor of California, and 40th president of the United States.…
Mahatma Gandhi
from 1888 to 1931
4 moments here
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, political ethicist, and leader of mass nonviolent resistance.…
Winston Churchill
from 1888 to 1965
4 moments here
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874–1965) was a British soldier, journalist, author and statesman whose career ranged from imperial campaigns in…
Mark Twain
from 1871 to 1900
4 moments here
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, journalist, lecturer, riverboat pilot, and traveler.…
Sigmund Freud
from 1938 to 1939
4 moments here
Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. This chronology traces documented locations from his Moravian birthplace and Viennese education…
John F. Kennedy
from 1938 to 1961
4 moments here
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was an American naval officer, journalist, congressman, senator, and the 35th president of the United States.…
Charles de Gaulle
from 1940 to 1944
4 moments here
French army officer, leader of Free France during the Second World War, head of France's Provisional Government, and president of the French Fifth…
Frédéric Chopin
from 1837 to 1848
4 moments here
Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period. Born in Żelazowa Wola, he grew up and trained in Warsaw, travelled through Central…
Agatha Christie
from 1918 to 1941
4 moments here
English novelist, playwright, and memoirist, internationally known for detective fiction featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.…
Nelson Mandela
from 1962 to 2000
3 moments here
South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, lawyer and statesman. Mandela helped lead the African National Congress, co-founded its armed wing,…
Vincent van Gogh
from 1873 to 1876
3 moments here
Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose documented movements trace a path from a Brabant childhood through work and religious study in the…
Voltaire
from 1726 to 1727
3 moments here
François-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, dramatist, and philosopher.…
Benjamin Franklin
from 1724 to 1764
3 moments here
American printer, scientist, civic leader, colonial agent, revolutionary statesman, and diplomat.…
James Joyce
from 1904 to 1931
3 moments here
Irish novelist, poet, and critic whose life moved between Dublin, continental Europe, and Switzerland.…
J. R. R. Tolkien
from 1936 to 1972
3 moments here
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an English philologist, university professor, and author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.…
Moments
- 1632 Move to Hammersmith John Milton
- 1640 Aldersgate Street residence John Milton
- 1640 Lodgings at St Bride's Churchyard John Milton
- 1645 Barbican residence John Milton
- 1647 Westminster School education John Locke
- 1647 High Holborn residence John Milton
- 1649 Scotland Yard chambers John Milton
- 1649 Charing Cross residence John Milton
- 1651 Return to London and private life in Fetter Lane Thomas Hobbes
- 1651 Petty France garden house John Milton
- 1656 Marriage to Katherine Woodcock John Milton
- 1660 Birth in Cripplegate Daniel Defoe
- 1660 Encounter with Charles II in the Strand Thomas Hobbes
- 1660 Hiding at Bartholomew Close John Milton
- 1660 Holborn refuge after imprisonment John Milton
- 1661 Jewin Street residence John Milton
- 1663 Marriage to Elizabeth Minshull John Milton
- 1664 Artillery Walk residence John Milton
- 1667 Residence at Exeter House John Locke
- 1673 First London visit and Royal Society demonstration Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1674 Death at Bunhill Row John Milton
- 1676 Second London visit Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1679 Arrival in London after French travels John Locke
- 1684 Marriage to Mary Tuffley Daniel Defoe
- 1687 Faces the Ecclesiastical Commission Isaac Newton
- 1689 Residence at Dorset Court John Locke
- 1689 Return voyage with Princess Mary John Locke
- 1689 Attends Hampton Court meeting Isaac Newton
- 1689 Volunteer escort in the City Daniel Defoe
- 1696 Begins work at the Royal Mint Isaac Newton
- 1697 Lives on Jermyn Street Isaac Newton
- 1698 Arrival on Victoria Embankment Peter the Great
- 1698 Fleet review at Deptford Peter the Great
- 1701 With the Kentish petitioners Daniel Defoe
- 1702 Final visit to London John Locke
- 1703 Imprisonment in Newgate Daniel Defoe
- 1703 Pilloried at Cheapside Conduit Daniel Defoe
- 1703 Pilloried at Temple Bar Daniel Defoe
- 1703 Pilloried at the Royal Exchange Daniel Defoe
- 1703 Seditious-libel trial Daniel Defoe
- 1707 First-Fruits mission in London Jonathan Swift
- 1709 Relocates to Chelsea Isaac Newton
- 1710 First London visit George Frideric Handel
- 1710 Political work in London Jonathan Swift
- 1710 Settles in St Martin's Street Isaac Newton
- 1712 Permanent settlement in England George Frideric Handel
- 1713 Barn Elms residence George Frideric Handel
- 1714 Testifies on the longitude problem Isaac Newton
- 1717 Water Music river party George Frideric Handel
- 1723 Brook Street residence George Frideric Handel