A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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1848-1929
Journalist and politician.A leading Irish nationalist (the only one elected to parliament for a seat outside Ireland), he was Father of the House of Commons (serving without break for just short of 50 years) and the first president of the British Board of Film Censors. He later lived in Rottingdean.
• 6 Marine Drive, Rottingdean [residence]
1847-1889
Baptised at St Nicholas, Brighton, daughter of Sir Chaloner Ogle, 3rd Bart, and Eliza Roe, heiress to the Withdean estate, which she inherited on the death of her mother in 1886, her elder brother having pre-deceased their mother. In 1865 she married Eldred Curwen and lived at Withdean Court.
1776-1865
Dublin-born poet and writer, notably of verses for children. Daughter of Irish actor and playwright John O'Keeffe, for whom she cared and memorialised. After his death she eventually settled in Brighton and Hove, supported by grants from the Literary Fund, and is buried in Brighton Extra-Mural Cemetery.
1907-1989
Actor, theatre administrator, film director.One of the greatest of all English actors. He made his professional début at the Hippodrome, Brighton at the age of 17 and returned in 1957 playing the lead in the English Stage Company's production of The Entertainer. His entry into the film world was in three British films in 1930-1931 before trying his luck in America in 1931-1932 where he made three more undistinguished films. Back in Hollywood in 1933 he starred with Greta Garbo in Queen Christina, but was replaced after two weeks’ shooting by John Gilbert. It was not until 1939 that he finally gained international film stardom in William Wyler’s production of Wuthering Heights. His début as a film producer/director followed in 1944 with Henry V, then by Hamlet (1948), which won him Academy Awards for best actor and best picture. His film and stage careers continued in parallel and in 1976-78 he was executive producer of the Granada Television series Laurence Olivier Presents. He was appointed artistic director of the new Chichester Festival from 1961 to 1965 and while there formed the first National Theatre company, of which he was foundingdirector from 1963 to 1973. During the break-up of Olivier’s second marriage (to Vivien Leigh), Sir John Clements lent his house at 7 Royal Crescent, Brighton to Olivier and Joan Plowright. Soon after the now-married Oliviers bought 4-5 Royal Crescent. He was knighted in 1947, awarded a life peerage in 1970 and Order of Merit in 1981.
1601-1664
Landowner, politician, regicide.The grandson of one Speaker of the House of Commons and grandfather of another, was an MP at various times between 1628 and 1664 and fought on the Parliamentary side in the Civil War. He was known as 'The Red Fox of Surrey'. His death at Arundel House in London was variously attributed to a case of gangrene and being struck by lightning for his role as a regicide. His mother was Isabel Shirley, daughter of Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston, Sussex. His second daughter,
Anne Onslow married Sir Anthony Shirley.
Portrait in the style of Robert Walker is in the National Trust collection at Clandon Park
1846-1921
Minor aristocrat.Née Wood, she came from a well-connected family: her father was Rev Sir John Page Wood 2nd bt, a former Lord Mayor of London was her grandfather, her brother was a field marshal. Already separated from her Irish Catholic MP husband, she had a long-standing relationship with Charles Stewart Parnell throughout the 1880s, which eventually led to a scandalous divorce case in 1889. She married Parnell at Steyning in the year of his death. She is buried at Littlehampton.
• 10 Walsingham Terrace