You may find the following people of particular interest when exploring the history of Holywell-cum-Needingworth.

NameRefDescription
Kate Langham ButcherP10499A cook in Bluntisham Rectory in 1901 when Dorothy L Sayers was 7 years old
Robert ButcherP1014Kate's father, a blacksmith who died in Langham House in 1908 from an accident with a gun he was cleaning
John ButcherP1011Robert's father, a beer retailer & blacksmith in the Hammer and Anvil, who once applied for a licence when he was "in a state of non-sobriety"
William ChadertonP7966Rector of Holywell, rebuilt Moynes Hall, became Bishop of Lincoln in 1595
Henry Alexis Chodak-GregoryP14127Born in Tashkent in 1889, he escaped when all his family were massacred, trained as a a Doctor in St Andrews, helped with the first Aldeburgh festival, farmed at Manor Farm, but fled when bankrupt and was extradited from France
Isaac CrowsonP3194Proprietor of Messrs. Crowson and Son, High Class Provision Merchants of London exporting around the empire, lived in Victoria House
Mavis de Vere ColeP127Brought up as Mabel Wright in Mill Cottage, she married Horace de Vere Cole (a prankster), then Sir Mortimer Wheeler, she was a muse of Augustus John, and jailed for six months for shooting Lord Vivian
Jonathan Miles Weston FloodP4693A gentleman, who among other duties was Overseer of Needingworth workhouse in 1834
Robert Winchester FraserP7858One of a large family of artists, many of whom lived in Holywell
Mary Anne GarrettP4709 A lady's maid to Queen Victoria in Windsor Castle in 1881
Lizzie GauntP3003All four sons died before her own death in 1940
John Thang HarradineP1216A farmer, also of Langham House, who in 1856 ran off with large debts, stole a horse, and was transported for 14 years to Western Australia
Benjamin HutchinsonP7977Rector of Holywell, Circulated proposals for a Natural History and Antiquities of Huntingdonshire, at a guinea subscription, but without much success; in 1803 he became deranged and died, leaving a widow and large family
Elizabeth JocelineP8731Said to be "one of the most notable young women of the times of James I", author of The Mothers Legacie to Her Vnborn [i.e. Unborn] Childe [i.e. Child], owned Moynes Hall
Josiah NewellP7919Joe Newell was born in 1921 and lived for the first 14 years of his life at Manor Farm, Holywell. He wrote three amply-illustrated books about Holywell and Needingworth (see Books)
Sir Ambrose NicholasP8147Became a Salter in London, and eventually became Lord Mayor of London in 1575
William RadfordP1510Brought up in the Rose and Crown, he emigrated in 1852 to Wisconsin and with brother Stephen founded a large saw mill
Sanders SpencerP329World famous Middle White pig breeder
Thomas TenisonP7970Rector of Holywell, Archbishop of Canterbury 1694-1715