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Themes Explorers and Adventurers Nobel Prize Winners
Actors/Actresses and Directors Famous People Places of Interest
Anglo-Saxons and Danes Historic Events Prime Ministers
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty Inventors and Scientists Royal Consorts and Heirs
Artists and Architects Monarchs World Heritage Sites
Composers National Parks Writers and Poets

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire lies in south-central England, to the north-west of London.



 Towns include the county seat of Aylesbury and the new town of Milton Keynes, home to the Open University.

Actors/Actresses and Directors

Margaret Rutherford died in the village of Chalfont St Peter in 1972 and was buried at Gerrards Cross. Best known for her depiction in 4 films of Agatha Christie's hobby detective Miss Marple she also won an Academy Award for her role in the 1963 film The V.I.P.s.

Margaret Rutherford



 The stage and film actor John Gielgud died at his home South Pavilion in the grounds of Wotton House in Wotton Underwood in 2000. A member of the famous Old Vic theatre in London, he made many critically acclaimed performances there. He also acted in many films winning an Academy Award late in his life for his supporting role in the 1981 film Arthur.

John Gielgud
 John Gielgud
 With Ralph Richardson



 The stage and film actor John Mills died at his home in Denham in 2005. He won an Academy Award for his role in the 1970 film Ryan's Daughter.

 John Mills

Anglo-Saxons and Danes
Once part of the kingdom of Mercia. Occupying a large part of central England, Mercia stretched from Wales in the west to the kingdom of the East Angles (East Anglia) in the east and from the West Saxon kingdom of Wessex in the south to Northumbria in the north.

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

The Chiltern Hills spread across four counties, starting in the Thames Valley in Oxfordshire, the hills stretch in a north-east direction up through Buckinghamshire to the counties of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. They were designated an AONB in 1965 to protect the chalk downland landscape and the abundance of woodland which covers it, providing an important haven for wildlife only 70km from London.

Famous People
William Penn the Quaker and founder of the state of Pennsylvania, was buried in 1718 at the Quaker village of Jordans near Chalfont St Giles.

William Penn
Quakers



 The politician Edmund Burke was buried in Beaconsfield in 1797.

Edmund Burke


When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770)



Nobel Prize Winners

Chemistry
The chemist William Ramsay died at High Wycombe in 1916. In 1904 he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.



 The chemist Arthur Harden died at Bourne End in 1940. In 1929 he had shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with the naturalised Swedish scientist Hans Euler-Chelpin for their research into the fermentation process.

 Arthur Harden

Physics
The physicist Nevill F. Mott died in Milton Keynes in 1996. In 1977 he had shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with the Americans Philip W. Anderson and John H. Van Vleck.

 Nevill F. Mott


Places of Interest

Historic Buildings
Hughenden Manor



 John Milton's cottage, Chalfont St Giles


Prime Ministers
Prime Ministers
Born as William Grenville in 1759 at Wotton House in Wotton Underwood, Lord Grenville became Prime Minister from 1806-07. His short-lived administration passed legislation to abolish the slave trade. Grenville died in 1834 in Dropmore Lodge at Burnham and is buried in the village.

Lord Grenville



His father George Grenville was Prime Minister from 1753-65 and in 1770 was buried at Wotton Church, the burial place of the Grenville family, whose ancestral home was nearby at Wotton House.

 George Grenville



The Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister in 1782-83, was buried at All Saints in High Wycombe in 1805, near to the family estate.

 Earl of Shelburne



William Bentinck, the Duke of Portland became Prime Minister twice in 1783 and 1807-09. He died in 1809, a few months after resigning, at Bulstrode House near Gerrards Cross.

Duke of Portland



 The twice Prime Minister in 1868 and 1874-80 Benjamin Disraeli, lived at Hughenden Manor from 1848 until his death in 1881. He is buried in the church of St Michael and All Angels in the manor grounds.

 Benjamin Disraeli


Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions.
Coningsby (1844)

Justice is truth in action.
(Speech at the House of Commons, 1851)



 Twice Prime Minister from 1846-51 and 1865-66, Earl Russell was buried at St Michael's in the village of Chenies in 1878. The parish church lies adjacent to Chenies Manor House, the Russell family seat.

 Earl Russell



Writers and Poets
John Milton finished Paradise Lost at his cottage in Chalfont St Giles, where he had moved to in 1665 due to the outbreak of the Plague in London. He died in the village in 1674 and is buried in London.

John Milton
Poetry Archive

Who overcomes
By force, hath overcome but half his foe.
Paradise Lost (1667)

The first and wisest of them all professed
To know this only, that he nothing knew.
Paradise Regained (1671)



The suspense writer Edgar Wallace was buried in Little Marlow in 1932. He had died in Hollywood, California whilst working on the screenplay to King Kong.

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Genealogy Links


Societies
Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society
Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society
Buckinghamshire Record Society