Famous faces of Shropshire throughout history to the present day... how many did you know were from our county?
To celebrate Shropshire Day, we’re taking a look at some of the famous faces who have put our beloved county on the map.
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Scientists, poets, comedians, musicians and reality TV stars have all gained prominence and made us proud to be from Shropshire.
Take a look. Did you know all of them were from round ‘ere?
Historical figures
Charles Darwin
The naturalist, geologist and Shrewsbury’s most famous son was born on February 12, 1809 at Mount House.
Famous for his work in evolutionary theory, he established himself as an eminent geologist after his voyage on the HMS Beagle.
Darwin attended Shrewsbury School and worked alongside his father as an apprentice doctor in Shropshire, before attending university and later embarking on the voyage.
Wilfred Owen
A soldier in the First World War who wrote poems about the horrors of trenches and gas warfare.
Owen, who was born in Oswestry, died in action a week before the end of the war, aged 25.
He spent much of his youth in Shrewsbury, living in Canon Street and attending Shrewsbury Technical School, later known as Wakeman School.
Most of his work was posthumously published, and he is considered as one of the leading poets of the First World War
Robert Clive
Born at Styche Hall, Market Drayton, Clive of India as he was known for being the first British governor of the Bengal Presidency.
He is widely credited as laying the foundation of the British East India Company, but now considered one of the most controversial colonial figures of his time for the role he played in the Great Bengal Famine of 1770. The famine is thought to have killed between one and ten million people.
A petition to pull down his statue in The Square in Shrewsbury was debated by Shropshire Council in 2020. The authority voted to keep it.
Thomas Telford
Telford was a Scotsman, but someone whose work in civil engineering in Shropshire makes him forever tied to the county.
His work included renovating Shrewsbury Castle, the town’s prison and the Church of St Mary Magdelene in Bridgnorth.
He designed 40 bridges in Shropshire and designed canals.
