List of University of Cambridge people
The following persons attended the University of Cambridge but did not necessarily complete a degree course there. At least one, Hannah Murray (Actress in the award winning Skins (TV Series), who is currently reading English at Queen's college, is a current student. This list has been divided into categories, but these categories are somewhat arbitrary, and that many of the university's graduates and other members have been polymaths. In these cases, an attempt has been made to put them in the category for which they were best known.
Politics/Royalty
Kings and Queens
Dina al-Hussein of Jordan (Princess Dina Abdul Hamid after 1957 divorce) (Girton)
Edward VII of the United Kingdom (Trinity)- George VI of the United Kingdom (Trinity)
Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, India (Trinity)
Margrethe II of Denmark (Girton)
Mutesa II of Buganda, Kabaka of Buganda (Magdalene)- Muwenda Mutebi II, Kabaka of Buganda (Magdalene)
Peter II of Yugoslavia (Unknown)
Tunku Abdul Rahman of Kedah, Malaysia (St Catherine's)
Sofía, Queen Consort of Spain (Fitzwilliam)
Princes and Princesses
- Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia (Clare)
- Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (Trinity)
- Charles, Prince of Wales (Trinity)
- Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex (Jesus)
Shaikh Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain (Unknown)- Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid of Jordan (Christ's)
- Princess Rahma bint Hassan of Jordan (Trinity)
- Prince Rashid bin Hassan of Jordan (Caius)
- Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Magdalene)
Princess Takamado of Japan (Girton)- Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia (Clare)
- Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (Trinity)
- Prince William of Gloucester (Magdalene)
- Prince William, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (Trinity)
- Prince Zeid bin Raad of Jordan (Christ's)
Lord Protector
- Oliver Cromwell (Sidney Sussex)
Presidents and Prime Ministers (international)
- Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (St Catharine's) President of India 1974-1977
Sir Francis Bell (St John's) Prime Minister of New Zealand 1925
Stanley Bruce (Trinity) Prime Minister of Australia 1923-1929
Jerzy Buzek (Unknown) Prime Minister of Poland 1997-2001
Erskine Hamilton Childers (Trinity) President of Ireland 1973-1974- Alfred Domett (St John's) Prime Minister of New Zealand 1862-1863
- Rajiv Gandhi (Trinity) Prime Minister of India 1984-1989
John Lionel Kotelawala (Christ's) Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1953-1956
Lee Hsien Loong (Trinity) Prime Minister of Singapore 2004-
Ba Maw (Unknown) First Prime Minister of Burma (Myanmar) 1937-1939; Head of State 1943-1945- Edward Mutesa II (Magdalene) First President of Uganda 1963-1966, Kabaka of Buganda
Khawaja Nazimuddin (Trinity Hall) Prime Minister of Pakistan 1951-1953- Jawaharlal Nehru (Trinity) First Prime Minister of India 1947-1964
Anand Panyarachun (Trinity) Prime Minister of Thailand, 1991–1992, then again in 1992- Tunku Abdul Rahman (St Catharine's) First Prime Minister of Malaysia 1957-1970
George Maxwell Richards (Pembroke) President of Trinidad and Tobago 2003-- Samir Rifai (Trinity) Prime Minister of Jordan 2009-
William Philip Schreiner (Downing) Prime Minister of the Cape Colony 1899-1902- Dudley Senanayake (Corpus Christi) Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1952–1953, 1960, 1965–1970
- Manmohan Singh (St John's) Prime Minister of India 2004-
Jan Smuts (Christ's) Prime Minister of South Africa 1919-1924,1939–1948
Gerald Strickland (Trinity) Prime Minister of Malta 1927-1932
William Henry Waddington (Trinity) Prime Minister of France 1879- Lee Kuan Yew (Fitzwilliam) First Prime Minister of Singapore 1965-1990
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Prime Ministers (Great Britain/United Kingdom)
- Robert Walpole (King's) First Prime Minister 1721-1742
- Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (Clare) Prime Minister 1754-1756, 1757–1762
- Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (St John's) Prime Minister 1765-66, 1782
- Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (Peterhouse) Prime Minister 1768-1770
- William Pitt the Younger (Pembroke) Prime Minister 1783-1801, 1804–1806
- Spencer Perceval (Trinity) Prime Minister 1809-1812
- Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Christ's) 1812-1827
- Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich (St John's) Prime Minister 1827-1828
- Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (Trinity) Prime Minister 1830-1834
- William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (Trinity) Prime Minister 1834, 1835–1841
- George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (Trinity) Prime Minister 1852-1855
- Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (St John's) Prime Minister 1855-1858, 1859–1865
- Arthur Balfour (Trinity) Prime Minister 1902-1905
- Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Trinity) Prime Minister 1905-1908
- Stanley Baldwin (Trinity) Prime Minister 1923-1924, 1924–1929, 1935–1937
Signatories of the American Declaration of Independence
- Thomas Lynch, Jr. (Gonville and Caius)
- Arthur Middleton (St John's)
- Thomas Nelson, Jr. (Trinity)
Soviet spies
known:
- Anthony Blunt (Trinity)
- Guy Burgess (Trinity)
- John Cairncross (Trinity)
- Donald Maclean (Trinity Hall)
- Kim Philby (Trinity)
- Michael Whitney Straight (Trinity)
suspected:
- Victor Rothschild (Trinity)
(for other suspects, see Cambridge Five)
Other political figures
- Allama Mashriqi, politician from Indian sub-continent
- Mani Shankar Aiyar, Indian politician
- Choudhary Rahmat Ali (Emmanuel) Pakistani nationalist
- Sri Aurobindo (King's) Member of Indian National Congress and freedom fighter
- Nathaniel Bacon (Sidney Sussex) Early American rebel
- Johan Baverbrant (St Edmund) Swedish diplomat
- Hans Blix (Trinity Hall) UN weapons inspector, Swedish diplomat and politician
- Subhash Chandra Bose (Fitzwilliam) Indian independence leader
- Richard Austen Butler (Pembroke) British politician
- Jerzy Buzek (Unknown) President of the European Parliament
- Vince Cable (Fitzwilliam) Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
- Alastair Campbell (Caius) Press Secretary and Director of Communications & Strategy under Tony Blair
- William Cecil (St John's) Chief adviser to Queen Elizabeth I
- Austen Chamberlain (Trinity) British politician, Nobel Prize winner
- Somnath Chatterjee, Indian politician, Speaker of the Lok Sabha
- Robert Erskine Childers (Trinity) Irish nationalist
- Jarat Chopra (Queens') Father of peacekeeping doctrine after the Cold War
- Charles Clarke (King's) British politician
- Kenneth Clarke (Caius) British politician, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor
- Nick Clegg (Robinson) Leader of the British Liberal Democrats and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Charles Cornwallis (Clare) British military commander (American Revolution), Governor-General of India
- Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (Trinity) Favourite of Queen Elizabeth I
- Abba Eban (Queens'/Pembroke) Israeli statesman
- Karen-Christine Friele, Norwegian gay rights activist
- Anthony Giddens (King's) Sociologist, propagator of "Third Way" social theory & political agenda, adviser to Tony Blair
- Nick Griffin (Downing) Leader of the British National Party
- Geoff Hoon (Jesus) British politician
- Michael Howard (Peterhouse) British politician; former leader of the Conservative Party (UK)
- Michael Ignatieff (King's) Canadian intellectual
- Norman Lamont (Fitzwilliam) British politician
- John Lehman (Caius), US conservative and former US Secretary of the Navy
- David & Arthur Li Hong Kong legislators
- Peter Lilley (Clare) British politician
- Mark Malloch Brown, Baron Malloch-Brown (Magdalene), Minister of State in theForeign and Commonwealth Office, and previously United Nations Deputy Secretary-General
- John McCallum (Queens') Canadian MP; currently the Liberal Finance Critic
- Andrew Mitchell (Jesus) Secretary of State for International Development
- Louis Mountbatten (Christ's) Last Viceroy of India; also First Governor-General under newly-formed Republic 1947-48
- Sarojini Naidu (Girton) Indian politician and poet
- Philip Noel-Baker (King's) Diplomat, Nobel Prize winner
- David Owen (Sidney Sussex) Co-founder of the Social Democratic Party (UK)
- Matthew Parris (Clare) Broadcaster, political analyst and former British politician
- Charles Stewart Parnell (Magdalene) Leader of the Irish Nationalists
- St. John Philby (Trinity) Arabist, British spy, father of Kim Philby
- Michael Portillo (Peterhouse) British politician
- Enoch Powell (Trinity) 'Right-wing' politician
- Geoffrey Robinson (Clare) British politician
- Chris Smith (Pembroke) British politician
- Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet (Trinity) Secretary of State for Scotland and Ireland
- Jim Wallace (Downing) Scottish politician, former Deputy First Minister of Scotland
- Francis Walsingham (King's) Head of the Elizabethan Secret Service
- William Wilberforce (St John's) Slavery abolitionist
- John Winthrop (Trinity) Founder and first Governor of Massachusetts
Clergy and spiritual leaders
Authors
Fiction writers
Poets
Literary scholars
Travel writers
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Actors, directors and comedians
Musicians
Scientists, technologists and mathematicians
See also Official list of Nobel Prize winners from Cambridge University
Astronauts
- Michael Foale (Queens), NASA astronaut
- Nicholas Patrick (Trinity) NASA astronaut
Philosophers
Armed forces
- Charles Cornwallis (Clare) Lieutenant General
- Oliver Cromwell (Sidney Sussex) Lord Protector
- Sir Richard Dearlove (Queens'/Pembroke) Head of Secret Intelligence Service
- Arthur Estcourt (Magdalene) First World War Soldier
- Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (St John's) Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War
- Billy Fiske (Trinity Hall) Second World War RAF pilot
- Louis Mountbatten (Christ's) First Sea Lord
- Arthur Tedder (Magdalene) First World War RAF Pilot
Architects
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Artists
- Sir Cecil Beaton (St John's) Academy Award winner
- Quentin Blake (Downing)
- Sir Roy Yorke Calne (Unknown)
- Sir Anthony Caro (Christ's)
- Roger Fry (King's)
- Antony Gormley (Trinity)
- Marc Quinn (Robinson)
- Mick Rock (Caius)
- Julian Trevelyan (Trinity)
Art experts
- Clive Bell (Trinity)
- Anita Brookner (Murray Edwards)
- Michael Kitson (King's)
- Simon Schama (Christ's)
- Sir Nicholas Serota (Christ's)
- Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (King's)
- Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt (Unknown)
Educationalists
- Theodore Acland (King's) Headmaster of Norwich School
- John Haden Badley (Trinity) Founder and first headmaster of Bedales School
- Isaac Barrow (Peterhouse) Founder of King William's College
- St. Vincent Beechey (Caius) Founder and first headmaster of Rossall School
- Niels Bohr (Trinity) Founder of the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen
- Sir Dominic Cadbury (Trinity) Chancellor of the University of Birmingham
- Henry Cavendish (Peterhouse) Co-founder of the Royal Institute
- William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire (Trinity) Founder of Eastbourne College and Chancellor of London and Cambridge
- Hugh Childers (Trinity) Founder of the University of Melbourne
- Sir Samuel Curran (St John's) Founder, first Principle and first Vice-chancellor of the University of Strathclyde
- Emily Davies (Girton) Founder of Girton College and suffragette campaigner for women's right to university education
- C. D. Deshmukh (Jesus) Vice-chancellor of the University of Delhi
- Arthur Dunn (King's) Founder and second master of Ludgrove School
- Henry Dunster (Magdalene) First president of Harvard
- Nathaniel Eaton (Trinity) First schoolmaster at Harvard
- John Eliot (Jesus) Founder of Roxbury Latin School, the oldest school in North America
- Anthony Giddens (King's) Director of the London School of Economics
- Malcolm Grant (Clare) Provost and President of University College London
- Eli Gottlieb (St John's) Director of the Mandel Leadership Institute
- Sir Thomas Gresham (Caius) Founder and first benefactor of Gresham College
- Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey (St John's) Co-founder of the Royal Institute of British Architects
- Sir Hari Singh Gour (Downing) Founder and Vice-chancellor of the University of Delhi, the University of Nagpur and the University of Sagar
- Sir Peter Hall (St Catharine's) Founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Director of the National Theatre
- John Harvard (Emmanuel) First benefactor of Harvard
- Marty Kaplan (Unknown) Professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and founding director of the Norman Lear Center
- Thomas Langley (Corpus Christi) Founder of Durham School
- George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (King's) First Chancellor of the University of York
- Edward Latymer (St John's) Founder of The Latymer School and Latymer Upper School
- Thomas Linacre (St John's) Founder of the Royal College of Physicians
- Anthony R. M. Little (Corpus Christi) Headaster of Eton College
- Adam Loftus (Trinity) Co-founder and first Provost of Trinity College, Dublin
- Roger Lupton (King's) Provost of Eton College and founder of Sedbergh School
- Karl Pearson (King's) Founder of the world's first university statistics department at University College London
- Stephen Perse (Caius) Founder of The Perse School
- Alison Richard (Newnham) Provost of Yale University and Vice-chancellor of Cambridge
- Henry Sidgwick (Trinity) Co-founder of the Society for Psychical Research and Newnham College
- Sir Nicholas Shackleton (Clare) Cambridge Professor and President of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA)
- Sir Thomas Sutton (Unknown) Founder of Charterhouse School
- John Sperling (King's) Founder of the University of Phoenix
- Edward Thring (King's) Headmaster of Uppingham School and founder of the Headmasters' Conference
- William Waynflete (King's Hall) Founder of Magdalen College, Oxford and Magdalen College School
- William Wentworth (Unknown) De facto founder of the University of Sydney
- John Whitgift (Queens'/Pembroke/Trinity) Founder of Whitgift School and Trinity School and, indirectly, Old Palace School
- James Maurice Wilson (St John's) Headmaster of Clifton College
Economists
" * " Not part of official Cambridge Nobel count.
Entrepreneurs, business leaders and philanthropists
- John Browne (St John's) Chief executive officer of BP
- Charles "Nick" Corfield (St John's) Silicon Valley Entrepreneur
- Ray Dolby (Pembroke) Audio technologies inventor and founder of Dolby
- Mohamed A. El-Erian (Queens') CEO and CIO of PIMCO - a company of Allianz SE
- Jude Gomila (Caius) Internet entrepreneur
- Andrew Gower (Fitzwilliam) video game developer, co-founder of Jagex Ltd and founder of RuneScape
- Hermann Hauser (King's) Electronics entrepreneur
- Andy Hopper (Corpus Christi) Electronics entrepreneur, academic
- Michael Johns (Caius) Healthcare executive, former White House speechwriter
- Raymond Kwok (Jesus) Hong Kong property billionaire
- Michael Lynch (Christ's) Software and internet entrepreneur
- Paul Mellon (Clare) American philanthropist
- Nathan Myhrvold (Unknown) Formerly Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft and co-founder of Intellectual Ventures
- Charles Rolls (Trinity) Co-founder of Rolls-Royce, the automobile and aviation company
- David Sainsbury (King's) Sainsbury's supermarket fortune heir; philanthropist
- Rod Smallwood (Trinity) and Andy Taylor (Trinity) Music entrepreneurs, managers of Iron Maiden, founders of Sanctuary Records
- Martin Sorrell (Christ's) Founder of WPP, the world's second largest advertising group
- John Sperling (King's) For-profit education entrepreneur, founder of the University of Phoenix
- Stephen B. Streater (Trinity) Electronics entrepreneur, founder of Eidos
- Kenneth Thomson (St John's) & David Thomson (Selwyn), Canada's wealthiest family, Thomson Corp. (information services)
- Tony Wilson (Jesus) Music and youth culture entrepreneur
- Daniel Yergin (Unknown) Founder of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and Pulitzer Prize winner
Legal experts
- Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh (Queens') International Court of Justice judge, Jordanian diplomat
- Edward Coke (Trinity) Jurist, influential on early English and American law
- Charles Falconer (Queens') British Lord Chancellor
- Rosalyn Higgins (Girton) First female International Court of Justice judge
- Karl Hudson-Phillips (Selwyn) International Criminal Court judge, Trinidad and Tobago legal advisor and politician
- Derry Irvine (Christ's) British Lord Chancellor, mentor of Tony Blair and Cherie Booth
- Anthony Julius (Jesus) Lawyer in Princess Diana and David Irving cases
- Lawrence Lessig (Trinity) US cyberlaw expert, founder of the Creative Commons movement, free software advocate
- Wong Yan Lung Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong
- Hisashi Owada International Court of Justice judge
- Nicholas Phillips (King's) Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
- James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger 1769-1844 Judge, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer
- Makhdoom Ali Khan (Corpus Christi) , Attorney General of Pakistan (2001–2007)
- Sir Hari Singh Gour (Downing), BA, LLM, LLD (Cantab); Founder Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi and University of Nagpur, Founder and Vice-Chancellor, University of Sagar; Author, Indian Penal Code; Member, Legislative Assembly;
- Zia Mody (Selwyn College), Founding Partner, AZB & Partners, India's Second Largest Law Firm, named among 25 most powerful women in India.
- Andrew Li, Chief Justice of Hong Kong
Historians
Journalists and media personalities
Sportsmen and women
- Harold Abrahams (Caius) Olympian sprinter, long jumper
- George "Gubby" Allen (Trinity) Cricketer
- Rob Andrew (St. John's) Rugby footballer, England Management
- Mike Atherton (Downing) Cricketer
- Giles Baring (Magdalene) Cricketer
- Mike Brearley (St John's) Cricketer
- Logie Bruce Lockhart (St John's) Rugby footballer
- Antony Roy Clark (Downing) Cricketer
- John Crawley (Trinity) Cricketer
- Percy de Paravicini (Trinity) Cricketer and England footballer
- Arthur Dunn (King's) England international footballer
- Deng Yaping (Jesus) Olympian table tennis player
- Ted Dexter (Jesus) Cricketer
- Phil Edmonds (Fitzwilliam) Cricketer
- Billy Fiske (Trinity Hall) Youngest US Olympic gold medalist (bobsleigh)
- Syed Mohammad Hadi (Peterhouse) Multi-talented Indian athlete
- Gavin Hastings (Magdalene) Scottish Rugby international
- E. S. Kennedy Mountaineer
- Alfred Lyttelton (Trinity) First man to play both cricket and football for England
- George Mallory (Magdalene) Mountaineer
- Peter May (Pembroke) Cricketer
- Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker (King's) Runner and Nobel Prize winner
- Derek Pringle (Fitzwilliam) Cricketer
- John Veitch (1869–1914), England international footballer
- Dan Vickerman (Hughes Hall) Australia international in rugby union
- Wavell Wakefield (Pembroke) Rugby footballer
- Kieran West (Christ's and Pembroke) Olympic Gold Medalist Oarsman
- H. de Winton and J. C. Thring (Trinity) Formalized rules of association football (soccer)
Explorers
- William John Bankes (Trinity)
- Julius Brenchley (Unknown)
- Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (Unknown)
- Walter Butler Cheadle (Caius)
- Kenneth Gandar-Dower (Trinity)
- St. John Philby (Trinity)