100 Greatest British Heroes

By Sarah-Jane Hollands

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In the pages of yesterday's Daily Mail, author George Courtauld, (The Pocket Book of Patriotism) lists his 100 Greatest British Heroes, from his latest offering, The Pocket Book of Patriots.

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We at veryBritishsubjects felt it our patriotic duty to republish the list in it's entirety. The editor of this blog will be adding his comments very shortly in red. In chronological order, George Courtauld's heroes are as follows:

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BOADICEA

c.AD 20-61. Queen who led a revolt against the Romans.

ST.PATRICK

373-463. Converted Ireland to Christianity.

ST.AUGUSTINE

Dates unknown. First Archbishop of Canterbury.

THE VENERABLE BEDE

c.673-735. Theologian and historian.

OFFA

c.735-796. King of Mercia, dubbed King of the English by the Pope.

ALFRED THE GREAT

849-901. King around whom a unified country evolved.

ST.DUNSTAN

924-988. Archbishop of Canterbury and favourite of five kings.

KING HAROLD

1019-1066. Last Saxon King of England.

WILLIAM THE CONQUERER

1027-1087. First Norman King of England.

KING HENRY I

1068-1135. Began the evolution of Parliament.

KING HENRY II

1133-1189. First of the Plantagenets.

LLYWELYN ap GRUFFYDD

c.1228-1282. Known in Wales as Our Last Leader.

KING EDWARD I

1239-1307. The Hammer of the Scots.

ROBERT THE BRUCE

1274-1329. Victor of Bannockburn.

KING EDWARD III

1327-1377. Fought the Hundred Years' War.

GEOFFREY CHAUCER

c.1340-1400. Author of The Canterbury Tales.

OWEN GLENDOWER

1359-c.1416. Tried to rid Wales of English rule.

KING HENRY V

1387-1422. Victor of Agincourt.

WILLIAM CAXTON

1421-1491. First English printer, also a translator.

WARWICK THE KINGMAKER

1428-1471. Powerful baron.

CARDINAL WOLSEY

c.1475-1530. Failed to engineer Henry VIII's divorce.

SIR THOMAS MORE

1478-1535. Lord Chancellor who defied Henry VIII.

THOMAS CRANMER

1489-1556. Creator of the Book of Common Prayer.

KING HENRY VIII

1491-1547. Broke with Rome to form Church of England.

WILLIAM TYNDALE

c.1494-1536. Martyr and translator of The Bible.

QUEEN MARY I

1516-1558. 'Bloody Mary', who burned heretics at the stake.

QUEEN ELIZABETH I

1533-1603. Defeated the Armada.

KING EDWARD VI

1537-1553. Boy King, came to throne aged nine.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE

c.1540-1596. English sailor and explorer.

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS

1542-1587. Executed by Elizabeth I.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH

1552-1618. English explorer, courtier and poet.

EDMUND SPENSER

1552-1599. Author of the epic The Fairie Queene.

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

1564-1593. Spy and playwright, wrote Dr Faustus.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

1564-1616. Greatest ever playwright.

KING JAMES VI/I

1566-1625. United the crowns of Scotland and England.

OLIVER CROMWELL

1599-1658. Parliamentarian who ruled as Protector.

KING CHARLES I

1600-1649. Belief in divine right of Kings cost him his head.

JOHN MILTON

1608-1674. Puritan poet, wrote the epic Paradise Lost.

GEORGE FOX

1624-1691. Founded the Society of Friends, the Quakers.

JOHN BUNYAN

1628-1688. Wrote The Pilgrim's Progress.

KING CHARLES II

1630-1685. Restored to the throne after the Commonwealth.

JOHN LOCKE

1632-1704. Philosopher, champion of democracy.

SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN

1632-1723. Architect of St Paul's Cathedral.

SIR ISSAC NEWTON

1642-1727. Identified the force of gravity.

DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH

1650-1722. Victor at Blenheim.

WILLIAM OF ORANGE

1650-1702. Dutch prince, became King of Britain.

JONATHON SWIFT

1667-1745. Author of Gulliver's Travels.

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE

1676-1745. First British Prime Minister.

SAMUEL RICHARDSON

1689-1761. Wrote longest British novel, Clarissa.

JOHN WESLEY

1703-91. Preacher and founder of the Methodist movement.

HENRY FIELDING

1707-54. Author of Tom Jones and campaigner for justice.

WILLIAM PITT THE ELDER

1708-78. Whig Prime Minister.

DR SAMUEL JOHNSON

1709-84. Produced the first English dictionary.

BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE

1720-88. Young Pretender defeated at Culloden.

ADAM SMITH

1723-90. Economist who wrote ground-breaking Wealth of Nations.

CLIVE OF INDIA

1725-74. Victor of Plassey, first Governor of Bengal.

THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH

1727-88. Georgian painter.

GENERAL JAMES WOLFE

1727-59. Captor of Quebec, died in battle.

EDMUND BURKE

1729-97. Philosopher who sympathised with American revolution.

KING GEORGE III

1738-1820. Symbol of patriotic pride during wars with France.

WILLIAM BLAKE

1757-1827. Romantic poet and painter, author of Jerusalem.

LORD NELSON

1758-1805. Victor of Trafalger, died in battle.

WILLIAM PITT THE YOUNGER

1759-1806. Tory Prime Minister.

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

1759-1933. Led movement to abolish slavery.

DUKE OF WELLINGTON

1769-1852. Victor of Waterloo.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

1770-1850. Poet inspired by nature.

JANE AUSTEN

1775-1817. Influential and acutely perceptive novelist.

J.M.W.TURNER

1775-1851. painter, use of light aticipated impressionists.

JOHN CONSTABLE

1776-1837. Landscape painter with love of countryside.

ELIZABETH FRY

1780-1845. Quaker and prison reformer.

GEORGE STEPHENSON

1781-1848. Inventor and railway pioneer.

LORD PALMERSTON

1784-1865. Whig Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister.

LORD BYRON

1788-1824. Handsome romantic poet who wrote Don Juan.

SIR ROBERT PEEL

1788-1850. Prime Minister and founder of police force.

JOHN KEATS

1795-1821.

Romantic poet, wrote Ode To A Nightingale.

BENJAMIN DISRAELI

1804-81. Novelist and Conservative Prime Minister.

ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEI
1806-59. Built Great Western Railway.

CHARLES DARWIN

1809-82. Developed the theory of evolution

WILLIAM GLADSTONE

1809-98. Liberal Prime Minister and moral crusader.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY

1811-63. Journalist author of Vanity Fair.

CHARLES DICKENS

1812-70. Prolific and influential Victorian novelist.

ANTHONY TRO::OPE

1815-82. English novelist who invernted tha pillarbox.

QUEEN VICTORIA

1819-1901. Reigned for 64 years and gave her name to the age.

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

1820-1910. Raised nursing to the status of an honoured vocation.

LORD KITCHENER

1850-1916. Poster recruiting sergeant for World War I.

CECIL RHODES

1853-1902. Helped found Rhodesia.

SIR EDWARD ELGAR

1857-1934. Composer, wrote the Enigma Variations

EMMELINE PANKHURST

1858-1928. Suffragette campaigner for women's right to vote.

DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

1863-1945. Liberal Prime Minister, succeeded Asquith.

RUDYARD KIPLING

1865-1936. Empire poet and author of The Jungle Book.

CAPTAIN SCOTT

1868-1912. Doomed Antarctic explorer.

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL

1874-1965. Led Britain through World War II.

RUPERT BROOKE

1887-1915. Poet and soldier killed in World War I.

FIELD MARSHAL SLIM

1891-1970. Commanded the 'Forgotten Army' in Burma.

GEORGE ORWELL

1903-50. Author of Animal Farm and 1984.

SIR JOHN BETJEMAN

1906-84. Poet Laureate from 1972.

PHILIP LARKIN

1922-85. poet who echoed the nostalgia of millions.

MARGARET THATCHER

1925- Longest serving 20th Century Prime Minister.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II

1926- Celebrated Golden Jubilee in 2002.

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