Notable Residents of Barnes

For a place of modest size, Barnes has attracted an extraordinary range of residents – spymasters and novelists, composers and comedians, footballers and film stars. The village atmosphere, the Thames views, and the quick train to Waterloo have drawn creative people here for centuries.

This article covers some of the best-known names, though Barnes’s character owes as much to its wider community as to its famous residents.

Historical Figures

Sir Francis Walsingham (c. 1532–1590), Elizabeth I’s Secretary of State and spymaster, made Barn Elms his principal residence. The queen visited three times, and it was from Barn Elms that Walsingham directed the intelligence operations that uncovered the Babington Plot. Jacob Tonson (1655–1736), the publisher and founding member of the Kit-Cat Club, later held Barn Elms and adapted a room at Barn Elms to house the club’s famous portrait collection, now in the National Portrait Gallery.

Writers

Henry Fielding (1707–1754), the author of Tom Jones, lived at Milbourne House around 1750 while writing Amelia. A blue plaque marks one of the oldest private houses in Barnes. Judith Kerr (1923–2019), who fled Nazi Germany as a child and wrote The Tiger Who Came to Tea and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, lived in Barnes for fifty-seven years – from 1962 until her death. Her kitchen inspired the illustrations in her most famous book.

P.C. Wren wrote Beau Geste at Church Road. Eric Newby, author of A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, grew up in Castelnau Mansions. The poet Roger McGough is a current resident and patron of the Barnes Literary Society.

Composers and Musicians

Gustav Holst lived at 10 The Terrace from 1908 to 1913. His successor as Director of Music at St Paul’s Girls’ School, Herbert Howells (1892–1983), lived at 3 Beverley Close, where he composed many of his finest works of Anglican church music. Howells’s house carries an English Heritage blue plaque; Holst’s house has an unofficial commemorative plaque.

Marc Bolan (1947–1977) of T. Rex bought a house on Upper Richmond Road West in 1976. He was killed the following year in a car accident on Queen’s Ride, Barnes Common. Sir Tim Rice, lyricist of Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and The Lion King, lived at Ivy House on The Terrace until approximately 2019.

Performers

Dame Ninette de Valois (1898–2001), founder of the Royal Ballet, lived at 14 The Terrace for twenty years. Rik Mayall (1958–2014) of The Young Ones lived in Barnes and died at his home on Suffolk Road. Robert Pattinson grew up on Ullswater Road. Peter Mayhew (1944–2019), who played Chewbacca in Star Wars, was born in Barnes.

Among current or recent residents, Stanley Tucci lives in Barnes with his wife Felicity Blunt, and Gary Lineker has had a home overlooking the Thames for more than a decade.

Blue Plaques in Barnes

Sources

1. List of residents of Barnes, London – Wikipedia
2. The Terrace, Barnes – Wikipedia
3. English Heritage – Blue Plaques
4. Barnes Village – A History of Writing
5. Barnes Village – Musical Barnes