Milford on Sea Famous Residents

Over the years famous and notable people have been born in, or made their home in Milford on Sea.

Here are a few you may, or may, not have been aware of:

Milford on Sea Famous & Notable Residents

Colonel Peter Hawker: Author, Diarist, Sportsman, Soldier & Shootist. - To find out more, please click here.

Alexander Siemens

Alexander Siemens: German electrical engineer. Westover Hall was built by the Siemens family over 100 years ago and later sold to the Morris family. (Now The Beach House). - To find out more, please click here.

William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield: Philanthropist, industrialist and motor manufacturer who owned and lived at Westover Hall. (Now The Beach House). - To find out more, please click here.

William Ravenscroft: Architect. During his practice in Milford on Sea, he was involved with 400 or more projects including alterations and internal works, war memorials and other public buildings. Between 1898 and 1928 he designed some 120 houses in the village. - To find out more, please click here.

Frank Cowper

Frank Cowper: Author, journalist, yacht broker, and the unsung pioneer of yachting for everyone. He sailed single-handed, and through his writings, encouraged other sailors to cruise solo. His Sailing Tours series of books were published between 1892-1896, and they were the first complete pilot book series covering the coastal waters around Britain for small boats not drawing more than 6ft. One time schoolmaster at the now long gone Kivernells School in Milford on Sea. - To find out more, please click here.

Edith Cowper (E.E. Cowper): Author and Frank Cowper's ex-wife. Prolific author of adventure books for girls and Wikipedia lists her writing 69 titles - 23 of which were published when she lived in Milford on Sea. - To find out more, please click here.

Lottie Dod: Five-time Wimbledon Champion and Olympic Silver Medallist. The Guinness Book of Records named her as the most versatile female athlete of all time.

Lottie went on the become an English multi-sport athlete, competing and becoming a champion in tennis, golf and archery. She also participated in many other sports, including field hockey, billiards, skiing, ice skating, mountain climbing, and cycling.

In the summer of 1887, she won her first Wimbledon Championship when she was only 15, earning her the nickname 'Little Miracle'. She remains the youngest Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Champion. Billie Jean King was later to described Lottie as "One of the world's great unsung sporting heroes.' In 1983, Lottie was inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. - To find out more, please click here.

Fred Keeping

Fred Keeping: Olympic cyclist and founder of village cycle shop & garage. - To find out more, please click here.

Mike Keeping: Southampton FC & England footballer and manager of Real Madrid FC. - To find out more, please click here.

Air Marshal Sir John Curtiss, KCB, KBE, FRAeS: Senior Royal Air Force officer. He served in Bomber Command during the Second World War and was Air Commander of the British forces involved in the Falklands War. (6th December 1924 to 14th September 2013). - To find out more, please click here.

Gordon Young: Gordon was second in command of a Landing Craft-Tank (LCT), landing tanks on the D-Day beachheads in Normandy, France. 

Gordon was later to be awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honor (Légion d’Honneur) by the French nation for his part in the D-Day Landings on 6th June 1944. - To find out more, please click here. 

Frank Wootton OBE
Artist (1911-1998)

Frank Wootton OBE: 20th century aviation artist. Born in Milford on Sea. - To find out more, please click here.

Montague Dawson RSMA, FRSA: Considered the greatest painter of the sea and sailing ships in the first part of the 20th century. He was also an official WW2 War Artist. - To find out more, please click here.

JRR Tolkien CBE. Author of Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit. Thought to have taken holidays at Cobblestones, a friend's house in Milford on Sea. - To find out more, please click here.

Frances Fisher
2012

Frances Fisher: Hollywood actress in films such as Titanic. Born in Milford on Sea. - To find out more, please click here.

Ivor Slaney: Musical Composer and Conductor. Notable for his work in film, television and radio. - To find out more, please click here.

Olive Troke: First female mayor of Lymington Borough who lived in Milford on Sea. - To find out more, please click here.

Giusseppe Lund

Giusseppe Lund: Sculptor & Architectural Metalsmith and Rower. Maker of The Queen Elizabeth Gate, Hyde Park, London. - To find out more, please click here.

Mark Shinn: World Champion Kiteboarder and founder of The World of Shinn. - To find out more, please click here.

Sammy Miller MBE: Eleven times British Motorcycling Champion and winner of over 1400 events over 50 years. Founder of Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum. - To find out more, please click here.

Alan Rayment: Alan was a professional Hampshire County Cricketer from 1948 to 1959, and a member of the Hampshire team that finished third, and then second, in the County Championship in 1956 and 1958.

He was also an accomplished dancer who set up dances and tuition sessions. In his later 18 years, living in Victoria Road Milford on Sea, Alan's memoirs were published in two books, 'Punchy Through the Covers' and 'Punchy's Hampshire Years'. Alan passed away in 2020 and is laid to rest at All Saints Churchyard in Milford on Sea. - To find out more, please click here.

David Peach

David Peach: Professional footballer and FA Cup Winner with Southampton FC in 1976 FA Cup Final. Scorer in the 1979 League Cup Final, and England Under 21 International. - To find out more, please click here.

Allen Greenwood: Former chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation, where he was a reluctant leading player in the process of nationalisation and merger by which it became part of British Aerospace. - To find out more, please click here.

Freda Cheney MBE

Freda Cheney MBE: Major village personality & heart of the community, and local charities for many years. - To find out more, please click here.

Chris Monk: Well known and respected village fishmonger and former councillor. - To find out more, please click here.

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Historic and Royal Connections

King Charles 1: Held captive briefly at Hurst Castle during the English Civil War and before his execution in London in 1649. - To find out more, please click here.

King Charles 1 by
Anthony van Dyck

Admiral William Cornwallis: Owned Newland Manor. Friend of Lord Nelson, Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom, Member of Parliament and made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1815. He was also a lifelong bachelor. - To find out more, please click here.

Newland Manor was inherited by Mary Ann Theresa Whitby, wife of Captain John Whitby. It then passed to Mrs Whitby’s daughter, Mrs Theresa West, and to her son William Cornwallis West.

Patsy Cornwallis West

His wife, Mary (Patsy) Cornwallis West was a favourite of the Prince of Wales and was largely responsible for extravagant house parties hosting Edward VII (after his accession), Kaiser Wilhelm II, Lady Randolph Churchill, together with many of the leading aristocracy of the day. - To find out more, please click here.

Milford on Sea Famous Residents Photo Album
Click image to view

To view the Milford on Sea Famous Residents Photo Album, please click here.

PS: If you know of anyone else to add, please just let me know.

david@milfordonsea.org