People featured here may not have been known outside a small circle in the community, or may have a national or international reputation. As this section grows we will divide it into subcategories - so far Artists and Scientists.
Harpenden has nurtured artists, writers, musicians, scientists, politicians, lawyers, sportsmen and women, teachers and many who can't be 'labelled'. Some spent their life here; some came and went.
Listed alphabetically by surname - though the most recently added may be near the top of the list.
Pages about Artists, Scientists and George Hogg are grouped together at the top of the list.
An Eligible Bachelor Comes to Harpenden
but does not stay long at Harpenden Hall in 1840
Cuthbert John Wolfe Lydekker
His work in Kenya and life in Harpenden
Edwin Grey
Research Worker and Historian (1859-1955)
Harpenden Memorials and Sculptures
A survey in 2020 of plaques dedicated to individuals, organisations and events
Harpenden memories
A tribute to Enid Summers
John James Willis (1842-1911) and his family
Births Marriages and Deaths and other information
My 300 Years of Harpenden History - Part II: 1823 onwards
A report on a talk given by Peter Wilson to the Society on 11 April 2018 reviewing his family history in Harpenden over 300 years.
Harpenden's MPs
Changing constituencies
Charles Akrill (1840-1907)
His name remembered in a place he probably never knew
The Anscombe family
A few references to the family of the founders of Harpenden's department store
Shepherd Arnold
Painted by Ernest Heasman and remembered by many
The Diary of a Visit to Harpenden in 1962
Abel Banwell visits his sister and brother 50 years after emigrating to Australia
Douglas Bader, RAF Hero
Did he live in Harpenden? The answer is 'No' but he did visit to play golf
Dr William Henry Blake (1853-1933)
Harpenden physician from 1879-1920
Ursula Bloom, cinema pianist
Music maker for silent films at the White Palace cinema
Elizabeth Bowen - 1899-1973
School days at Harpenden Hall School for Girls, 1912-14
Cornelia Clutterbuck (1916 -1987), seen through her Scrapbook Diaries
Observations on life in Harpenden, and on national and international events
Mary Constable - 1810-1912
The story of an old Harpenden inhabitant, born in Bowling Alley
Dr Edward Charles Davenport - 1871-1958
Successor to Dr Blake of Bower's House
Albert Edward Dines (Ted)
A.E Dines in WWII at Singapore
The Dunkley Family (Harpenden Blacksmiths)
From Sheepskin Hall on the Common to New Zealand
Percy English
A lifetime of service
Commander in Care
The Story of Percy English and Harpenden St John's Ambulance Brigade
Major Esterhazy - "Count de Voilement"
His life in Harpenden after the Dreyfus Affair - 1909 -1923
Captain G E Forsaith
From Harpenden to Ferry Master, Sydney Harbour NSW
Judy Fryd
A short film about the founder of Mencap
Frederick Arthur Harris - c1891-1962
Clerk to Harpenden Urban District Council
John Henshaw: A British Schools Headmaster
Derived from Harpenden Free Press articles, 1952 &1958 and "Harpenden British Schools" by Lieut.-Col. Durnford, 1891
George Howard Herring - c.1891-1956
Architect and Chief Fire Officer for Harpenden
Dr Hester
A patient's tribute
The Life and Times of Charles Hill
Talk by Susan Fairbairn, daughter of the late "Radio Doctor", on 25 February 2014
The Jarvis brothers - founders of a Harpenden building company
Ernest Charles Jarvis (1881-1966) & Frank H Jarvis (1886-1962)
The Kiff Family
One of the biggest families in Harpenden
Sir Charles Lawes-Wittewronge
Sportsman, Sculptor, Edwardian Lord of Rothamsted Manor
Terry Lightfoot
Jazz at the Three Horseshoes Pub.
The Lines Family in the Lea Valley
Descendants of Emily Lines (b. 1875 in St Albans)
The Lydekker Family, 1650-1983
From Dutch origins to residence in Harpenden from 1857
The Lydekkers of Harpenden Lodge - 1853-1979
Three generations, and no direct descendents
The Lydekkers of Tollgate Cottage
Captain Arthur Lydekker - 1853-1935
Eric Meadows (1924-2009)
Man focused on capturing our heritage
Eric Morecambe
Harpenden resident from 1960-1984
Eric Morecambe
Parking his car
Dr Griffith Pugh - 1909-1994
Obituary in The Independent, 27 January 1995
My WWII - What it was like for me, Peter Rayner
by Peter Alan Rayner (8 December 1924 - 29 July 2007)
James Quilter Rumball (1795-1872)
Phrenologist, and Medical Attendant at Harpenden Asylum
Adam Rutherford
Institute of Pyramidology
Raphael Salaman - 1906-1993
Collector and Scholar of Craftmen's Tools
The Salisburys of Limbrick Hall
James Wright Salisbury and his family
Sir Edward Salisbury and Chrystel Lebas
Exhibition in Amsterdam of landscape and botanical photos across a century of change
Henry Salisbury - 1839-1923
Founder of Kingston House, builder, Methodist
The Samwells Family in Harpenden
Five generations - The Samwells Family and Descendants in Harpenden during the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries
Dolphin Smith - 1879 - 1956
Local farmer who gave land for All Saints Church
Walter Steabben, 1847 - 1932
Butcher, Church Green, Harpenden
Ellen Terry (1847-1928)
Her years in Harpenden - 1868-1874
Wilfred OttoThomas
St George's pupil on the Harpenden War Memorial
Frederick Thurston - 1854-1933
Photographer with a Studio in Harpenden
Weston family
Do you know of Cecily Mildred Weston born around 1886?
I rang a doorbell in Colchester and a door opened in Harpenden.
Connected by Theodora Wilson. The serendipity of family history
Winifred (Freda) Wyborn - 1899-1990
Councillor for Harpenden East - 1964-1979