This is a list of people educated at Bedford School.

Academia Revd James Dennis (1815–1861), paleontologist and natural historian Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth FRS (1817–1890), geologistDe-la-Noy, p.26 Francis Penrose FRIBA FRS (1817–1903), Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, architect, archaeologist and astronomer Professor Charles Piazzi Smyth FRSE FRS FRAS FRSSA (1819–1900), Professor of Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, and Astronomer Royal for Scotland, 1846–1888 John Thompson Platts (1830–1904), Indian and Persian language scholar Richard Daintree CMG (1832–1878), geologist who gave his name to the Daintree National Park, the Daintree Rainforest and the Daintree River, Australia Thomas Gwyn Elger FRAS (1836–1897), selenographer who gave his name to the lunar crater ElgerObituary, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol.57, 1897, p.210 Dr Arthur Coke Burnell (1840–1882), Sanskrit scholar Dr Charles Heycock FRS (1858–1931), Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, chemist, winner of the Royal Society's Davy Medal, 1920 Dr Walter Gardiner FLS FRS (1859–1941), Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, botanist, winner of the Royal Society's Royal Medal, 1898 Professor Sir Wyndham Dunstan KCMG FRS FCS (1861–1949), chemist and Director of the Imperial Institute, 1903–1924 Professor Sir Walter Langdon-Brown (1870–1946), Regius Professor of Physic, University of Cambridge, 1932–1935 Dr Thomas Cecil Fitzpatrick (1881–1931), President of Queens' College, Cambridge, 1906–1931, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, 1915–1917 and 1928–1929Obituary, The Times, 30 October 1931 Dr Charles Meek FRAI FRGS (1885–1965), Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, anthropologist Revd Canon Thomas Wentworth Pym DSO (1885–1945), Fellow in Theology, Balliol College, OxfordObituary, The Times, 21 July 1945, p.6 Dr Laurence Beddome Turner (1886–1963), Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Reader in Engineering, University of Cambridge Professor William Rowan FRSC (1891–1957), Canadian biologist Sir Karl Parker CBE FBA (1895–1992), art historian and Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, 1945–1962 Professor John Desmond Bernal FRS (1901–1971), pioneer of X-ray crystallography in molecular biologyGoldsmith, Maurice (1980), Sage: A Life of J. D. Bernal, p.24, London, Hutchinson, Professor Herbert Squire FRS (1909–1961), Zaharoff Professor of Aviation, Imperial College London, 1952–1961 Dr Archer John Porter Martin FRS (1910–2002), winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1952 Professor Richard D'Aeth (1912–2008), educationalist and President of Hughes Hall, Cambridge, 1978–1984Professor Richard D'Aeth, obituary in The Independent dated 5 May 2008 Professor John Selwyn Bromley (1913–1985), Fellow in Modern History, Keble College, Oxford, 1947–1960, and Professor of Modern History, University of Southampton, 1960–1977Obituary, The Times, 29 April 1985, p.14 Professor Harry Cranbrook Allen MC FRHS (1917–1998), Fellow and Tutor in Modern History, Lincoln College, Oxford, 1946–1955, and Commonwealth Fund Professor of American History, University College London, 1955–1971Obituary, The Times, 20 July 1998, p.23 Professor Peter Corbett (1920–1992), Yates Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, University College London, 1961–1982 Professor Paul Talalay (1923-2019), John Jacob Abel Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1974– Professor Roger Sargent FIChemE FIMA FREng (1926-2018), Courtaulds Professor of Chemical engineering, Imperial College London, 1966–1992 Professor Frank Adams FRS (1930–1989), Fielden Professor of Mathematics, University of Manchester, 1964–1970, and Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry, University of Cambridge, 1970–1989 Professor Robert Cassen OBE (born 1935), Professor of the Economics of Development, University of Oxford, 1986–1997 Professor Quentin Skinner FRHS FBA (born 1940), Fellow in History, Christ's College, Cambridge, 1962–1996, and Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge, 1996–2008 Professor Richard Hills FRAS FRS (1945–2022), Professor of Radio Astronomy, University of Cambridge, 1990–2007 Professor Andrew O'Shaughnessy FRHS (born 1959), Saunders Director, International Centre for Jefferson Studies, Monticello, and Professor of History, University of VirginiaThe Men Who Lost America – Connect Professor C.E.M. Hansel (1917–2011), Emeritus Professor of Experimental Psychology, Swansea University.

Actors, directors and entertainers

Cyril Harcourt (1872–1924), actor and playwrightObituary, The Times, 691924, p.15 H B Warner (1875–1958), actor nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, 1937 H F Maltby (1880–1963), actor, playwright and screenwriter Roy Limbert (1893–1954), theatre director and producer Torin Thatcher (1905–1981), actor Bob Kellett (1927–2012), film director, producer and screenwriter John Wood CBE (1930–2011), actor noted for his performances in Shakespeare and for his long association with Tom Stoppard Andrew McCulloch (born 1945), actor and writerDe-la-Noy, p.157 Michael Radford (born 1946), film director and screenwriter, noted for films including Nineteen Eighty-Four, White Mischief and Il Postino Simon Chandler (born 1953), actor Richard Hopkins (1964–2012), television producer Bob Barrett (born 1966), actorThe Ousel Vol.LXXXIX, No.919, March 1985, p.3 Al Murray (born 1968), comedian Joel Beckett (born 1973), actor David Lloyd Vitty (born 1974), BBC Radio 1 presenter Jonno Davies (born 1992), actor

Adventurers and nonconformists Revd Stainton Moses (1839–1892), spiritualist Colonel Frederick Burnaby (1842–1885), adventurer, army officer, author, balloonist, and correspondent for The TimesDe-la-Noy, p.27 Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854–1918), occultist Ardern Hulme Beaman (1857–1929), adventurer, author, diplomat, and war correspondent Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker OBE (1887–1964), adventurer, army officer, author of First over Everest, and weapons designer John de Vars Hazard MC (1888–1968), mountaineer who took part in the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, famous for the disappearance of Mallory and Irvine Reginald Teague-Jones MBE (1890–1988), intelligence officer active in the Caucasus and Central Asia during the Russian Civil War Norman Baillie-Stewart (1909–1966), traitor known as 'The Officer in the Tower'De-la-Noy, p.125 Simon Murray CBE (born 1940), adventurer, author, French Foreign Legionnaire, and the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported Rupert T Dover (born 1967), Assistant Commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force

Architecture

John Pollard Seddon FRIBA (1827–1906), architect Harry Bulkeley Creswell FRIBA (1869–1960), architect and author Oswald Milne FRSA FRIBA (1881–1968), architectObituary, The Times, 17 January 1968, p.12 Peter "Joe" Chamberlin CBE FRIBA (1919–1978), architect and town planner responsible for the Barbican Centre and the Barbican Estate in London Sir Bernard Feilden CBE FRIBA (1919–2008), conservation architect whose work encompassed cathedrals, the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal

Artists James Ravilious (1939–1999), photographer, specialised in recording the rural life of north Devon

Armed forces

Victoria Cross and George Cross

First World War Lieutenant Colonel George Campbell Wheeler VC (1880–1938) Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Walderne St. Clair Tisdall VC (1890–1915)John Sargeaunt, Ernest Hockliffe, (1925), A History of Bedford School, page 224, (T.F. Unwin, ltd.) Major Montague Shadworth Moore VC (1896–1966) Second World War Commander Richard Jolly GC (1896–1939) Major General Henry Bowreman Foote VC CB DSO (1904–1993), General Officer Commanding, 11th Armoured Division, 1950–1953

Navy

Rear Admiral Alfred Ransom CBE (1871–1953), served during the Gambia Expedition, 1894, the Boxer Rebellion, 1900–1901, and the First World War Vice Admiral Fawcet Wray DSO (1873–1932), commanded HMS Talbot at Gallipoli, 1915Obituary, The Times, 7 March 1932, p.17 Vice Admiral Arthur Kemmis Betty DSO (1877–1961), Aide-de-camp to King George V, Commander First Destroyer Flotilla, 1920–1922Obituary, The Times, 13 May 1961, p.12 Rear Admiral Edward Dyke Acland MVO CB (1878–1968), Naval Attaché to King George V Rear Admiral James Ashton DSO (1883–1951), Aide-de-camp to King Edward VIIIObituary, The Times, 1 January 1952, p.8 Vice Admiral Sir Richard Lane-Poole KBE CB (1883–1971), Commander Australian Fleet, 1936–1938 Rear Admiral Julian Patterson OBE (1884–1972), commanded HMS Hood Vice Admiral Sir Cecil Ponsonby Talbot KCB KBE DSO & Bar (1884–1970), Aide-de-camp to King George V and Director of Dockyards at the Admiralty, 1937–1946 Major General Robert Glunicke DL (1886–1963), Aide-de-camp to King George VI, 1939–1940, and Commandant, Plymouth Division, Royal Marines, 1939–1941 Admiral Sir Robert Burnett GBE KCB CStJ DSO (1887–1959), Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic, 1944–1946, and Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, 1946–1950 Rear Admiral Hector Mackenzie Woodhouse CB OBE (1889–1971) Admiral Sir Geoffrey Audley Miles KCB KCSI (1890–1986), Head of British Military Mission, Moscow, 1941–1943, Commander-in-Chief, Levant, 1943, Naval Force Commander, Eastern Expeditionary Force, 1943, Deputy Naval Commander, South East Asia Command, 1943–1944, Flag officer, Western Mediterranean, 1944–1945, Senior British Representative on the Tripartite Naval Commission, 1945–1946, and last Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy of the unified Royal Indian Navy, 1946–1947 Rear Admiral Laurence Boutwood CB OBE KStJ (1898–1982), Fleet Supply Officer, British Pacific Fleet, 1945–1946, assistant director of Plans at the Admiralty, 1946–1948, Fleet Supply Officer, Mediterranean Station, 1950–1953, and Command Supply Officer, Portsmouth, 1953–1956 Vice Admiral Sir Charles Hughes-Hallett KCB CBE (1898–1985), Chief of Staff, Home Fleet, 1950–1951, Head of British Naval Mission, Washington, 1952–1954 Vice Admiral John Hughes-Hallett CB DSO (1901–1972), Naval Commander during the Dieppe Raid, 1942, Commodore commanding Channel Assault Force and Naval Chief of Staff, 1942–1943, Head of Naval Branch, Supreme Allied Command, 1943, Vice-Controller of the Navy, 1950–1952, Flag Officer, Heavy Squadron, Home Fleet, 1952–1953, Conservative MP for Croydon, 1954–1964, credited with proposing the idea of the Mulberry harbour Rear Admiral Keith McNeil Campbell-Walter CB (1904–1976), Aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II, Flag Officer, Germany, and Commander of Allied Naval Forces Northern Area, Central Europe, 1955–1958 Vice Admiral Sir Raymond Hawkins KCB (1909–1987), Fourth Sea Lord and Vice Controller of the Navy, 1963–1964, Chief of Fleet Support, 1964–1967 Rear Admiral Kenneth Farnhill CB OBE (1913–1983), Director of the Management of Intelligence, Ministry of Defence, 1966–1969 Admiral of the Fleet Sir Michael Le Fanu GCB DSC (1913–1970), Director-General, Naval Weapons, 1958–1960, Controller of the Navy, 1961–1965, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, 1965–1968, and First Sea Lord, 1968–1970 Rear Admiral James Dunbar Cook CB DL (1921–2007), Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, 1973–1975 Rear Admiral Robin Trower Hogg CB FRSA (born 1932), Flag Officer, First Flotilla, 1984–1986, and Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief Fleet, 1986–1987

Army

Major General William Carmichael Russell (1824–1905), served during the First Anglo-Sikh War, 1845–1846, and during the Indian Mutiny, 1857Obituary, The Ousel, Vol.IX, No.264, 28 February 1905, p.15 General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth KCMG FSA FRGS (1825–1906), served during the Crimean War and was present at the Siege of Sevastopol, 1854–1855, General Officer Commanding, South Africa, 1886–1889, Governor-General of Cape Colony, 1889, High Commissioner for Southern Africa, 1889, and Governor of Malta, 1890–1893 Major General Francis Glanville (1827–1910)Obituary, The Times, 12 February 1910, p.13