Find out about people who were born in, who have lived in, who have made a significant visit or contribution to, or who otherwise have a connection with the city of Perth and its surrounding area.
A
Henry Adamson ~ Poet and Historian
Patrick Adamson ~ Religious Figure and Writer
Adam Anderson ~ Schoolmaster, Engineer, and Professor of Natural Philosophy
William Archer ~ Dramatic Critic, Playwright, and Translator of Ibsen
Robert Archibald Armstrong ~ Lexicographer
William Arnot ~ Free Church Minister
Kitty Atholl (Katherine Murray) ~ Politician and Scotland’s First Woman MP
B
Will Ballantine ~ Trade Unionist and Socialist
George Ballingall ~ Military Surgeon and Medical Pioneer
Edward Balliol ~ King of Scotland
Patrick Bannerman ~ Minister, Writer, and Religious Radical
Alexander Balmain Bruce ~ Minister and Theologian
James Barbour ~ Communist Councillor
Hugh Barclay ~ Judge and Writer on Legal Matters
John Evelyn Barlas ~ Poet and Anarchist-Communist
Arthur Kinmond Bell ~ Distiller and Whisky Magnate
Charles Bisset ~ Surgeon and Military Engineer
Patrick Blair ~ Botanist, Surgeon, and Anatomist
John Blaw of Castlehill, Culcross ~ Jacobite
John Blow (Blaw) Printer and Bookseller
George Scott Boyd ~ Biochemist
General Edward Braddock ~ Military Officer
Mary Brooksbank ~ Revolutionary, Poet, and Songwriter
John Brown ~ Minister, Professor of Theology
John Brown of Priesthill ~ Covenanter
James Browne ~ Journalist, Writer, and Editor
Charles Bruce ~ Colonial Governor and Imperialist
Alexander Bryce ~ Mathematician and Church of Scotland Minister
Alexander Buchan ~ Meteorologist
Anna Buchan – O. Douglas ~ Writer
John Buchan ~ Author and Statesman
Agnata Frances (Ramsay) Butler ~ Classical Scholar
C
James Clark Cameron ~ Medical Doctor and Chair of the BMA
Sir David Young Cameron ~ Painter
Neil Cameron ~ Marshall of the RAF
Paul Cameron ~ Pitlochry’s Photographer
Robert Campbell ~ Glencoe Massacre
Robert Campbell of the Yukon ~ Explorer
Winifred Anna Cavendish-Bentinck ~ Avian Rights Activist
William Cleland (c1661-1689) ~ Scottish Covenanting Poet and Soldier
James Connolly ~ Socialist, Revolutionary, Trade Unionist, and Republican
Helen Crawfurd ~ Political Activist, Suffragette and Red Cydesider
James Crichton – Admirable Crichton
Oliver Cromwell ~ Bourgeois Revolutionary and Soldier
John Cunningham ~ Historian and Minister
Robert Cunninghame-Graham ~ Politician, Writer, and Founder of the Scottish Labour Party
D
John Alexander Dewar ~ Distiller
William Croft Dickinson ~ Historian
James Donn ~ Botanist and Horticulturalist
Frederick Douglass ~ Abolitionist and Statesman
David Douglas ~ Botanist and Explorer
General Robert Douglas ~ Soldier
Alexander Dow ~ Army Officer and Writer
Alexander Drummond ~ the Auchterarder Warlock
Anabella Drummond ~ Wife of 1st Earl of Montrose
James Eric Drummond ~ Diplomat
Peter Robert Drummond ~ Bookseller and Agriculturist
Victoria Alexandrina Drummond ~ Marine Engineer
Henry Dundas ~ Lawyer and Politician
E
F
Major General William Farquhar ~ Founder of Singapore
David Farquharson ~ Landscape Painter
Adam Ferguson ~ Philosopher and Chaplain to the Black Watch
Jane Findlater and Mary Findlater ~ Writers
Neil Forsyth ~ Opera House Manager
G
Patrick Geddes ~ Biologist, Sociologist, Geographer, Philanthropist and Pioneering Town Planner
William Geddes and the Blairgowire School of Painting
James Edward Gordon ~ Politician and Religious Activist
Alan Gorrie and the Average White Band
Niel Gow ~ Musician and Composer
James (Gillespie) Graham ~ Architect
John Graham (Viscount Dundee) Royalist Soldier, Nobleman, and Jacobite
Thomas Graham ~ Soldier and Politician
Francis Grant ~ Portrait Painter and Painter of Sporting Scenes
General James Hope Grant ~ Soldier
John Grierson ~ Documentary Film Maker
Christopher William Graham Guest ~ Judge
H
Patrick Haldane ~ Politician and Lawyer
Charles Frederick Hempel ~ Organist and Composer
Hamish Henderson ~ Poet and Songwriter
William Henderson ~ Medical Doctor
David Octavius Hill ~ Painter and Photographer
John Burns Hynd ~ Trade Unionist and Labour MP
I
J
St John of Dunkeld ~ Scottish Saint
Robert Johnson ~ Draughtsman and Engraver
K
Arthur Keith ~ Curator, Anthropologist, and Anatomist
John Scott Keltie ~ Geographer
James Peeble Ewing Kennaway ~ Novelist & Screenwriter
Marjory Kennedy Fraser ~ Singer and Folk-song Collector
L
Henry Duncan Littlejohn ~ Professor of Medical Jurisprudence
James Lorimer ~ Professor of Public Law
M
Hugh MacDiarmid ~ Poet and Political Activist
James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie ~ Politician
James Mackenzie ~ Medical Pioneer
William Macdonald Mackenzie ~ Architect
Johannes Machabeus ~ Dominican Prior and Professor of Theology
Rob Roy MacGregor (1671-1734) ~ Farmer and Cattle-dealer
Charles MacKay ~ Journalist and Songwriter
Alexander Mackenzie ~ Canada’s Second Prime Minister
Thomas Maclagan ~ Medical Pioneer
Ian Maclaren ~ Author and Theologian
John Maclean ~ Revolutionary & Educator
John James Rickard Macleod~ Nobel Prize Winner and Developer of Insulin
David Mallet (Malloch) ~ Poet and Songwriter
Thomas Hay Marshall ~ Magistrate and Baillie
Patrick Matthew of Gourdiehill ~ Arboriculturist and Evolutionist
James Maxton ~ Orator and Politician
James McGregor ~ Minister and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Professor Donald B McIntyre ~ Mountaineer, Piper, Scholar, and Writer
Archibald Menzies ~ Naturalist and Surgeon
Naomi Mitchison ~ Poet and Writer
David Morrison ~ Chartist Leader and Trade Unionist
Oswald Mosely ~ Leader of British Union of Fascists
Lord George Murray ~ Jacobite General
William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield ~ Judge and Politician
James Murray ~ Assassin and Radical
The Mylne Family ~ Master Masons
N
Martin Niemoller ~ Pastor and Defier of Adolf Hitler
Eliza Ogilvy ~ Poet and Letter Writer
Caroline Oliphant – Lady Nairne ~ Poet
P
Richard Parker ~ Seaman and Mutineer
James Peeble Ewing Kennaway ~ Novelist and Screenwriter
Pontius Pilate ~ Roman Procurator of Judaea
Q
R
John Ramsay ~ Owner of Ochtertyre Estate
John Robertson Reid ~ Soldier and Musician
Robert Gillespie Reid ~ Bridge and Railway Builder
William Ritichie ~ Scientist and Mathematician
John Monteath Robertson ~ Crystallographer
Annie Erskine Robinson ~ Suffragist, Socialist and Pacifist
John Row ~ Religious Reformer and Hebrew Scholar
The Ruthven Family and the Gowrie Conspiracy
S
St William of Perth (St William of Rochester) ~ Martyr
Robert Sandeman ~ Promoter of the Glasite Church
Lord Sands ~ Politician, Lawyer, Church Advisor, and Educationalist
John Henry Saville ~ Perth Theatre and Opera House
Thomas Semton ~ Clergyman and Moderator of the Church of Scotland
George Seton ~ Civil Servant, Historian, and Genealogist
William Shakespeare ~ Actor, Poet, Playwright, and Dramatist
William Simpson ~ Watercolourist and Journalist
Duleep Singh ~ Maharajah of Lahore and King of the Sikh Empire
Jess Smith – Writer, Historian, and Traditional Storyteller
William Soutar – Poet and Diarist
Alexander Stewart ~ Shoemaker and Gaelic Scholar
Belle Stewart ~ Singer, Poet, and Songwriter
David Stewart ~ Soldier and Historian
Daniel Stewart ~ Master of the Court of Exchequer
Andy Stewart ~ Singer and Entertainer
Robert Louis Stevenson ~ Author
Robert Stirling ~ Clergyman and Inventor
(Robert) Douglas Strachan ~ Stained Glass Artist
John Strang ~ Religious Figure and Principal of Glasgow University
John Proudfoot Strattons ~ Surgeon and Governmental Official
Lieutenant-General Robert Stuart of Annat and Rait
Robert Stuart ~ Historian and Writer
Lieutenant-General Robert Stuart ~ Soldier
James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie ~ Statesman
T
Thomas Thomson ~ Professor of Chemistry
Ramsay Heatley Traquair ~ Palaeontologist
Threipland Family ~ Merchant Family of Perthshire
Thomas Tullidelph ~ Minister and University Principal
Patrick Torry ~ Scottish Episcopal Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane
Lawrence Tuttiett ~ Minister, Poet, and Hymn Writer
U
V
W
William Wallace ~ Mathematician
Robert Watt ~ Revolutionary or Police Informer
John Wedderburn ~ Jacobite Army Officer
John Welwood ~ Covenanting Minister
David Wemyss ~ Jacobite Army Officer
Francis Buchanan White ~ Entomologist
Sir Alexander Frederick Whyte ~ Politician
Bill Wilkie ~ Accordionist, Entertainer, Dance band Leader, and Impresario
Frederick Charles Wilton ~ Stage Manager and Actor
General James Wolfe ~ Soldier & Conqueror of Quebec
X
Y
James Young ~ Inventor, Agricultural Engineer, and Philanthropist
Thomas Young or Yonge ~ Minister and Religious Figure
Thomas Young ~ Religious Figure, Writer, and Teacher
Z