20th Anniversary of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

September 19, 2024

To celebrate the ODNB turning 20, we’re sharing thirty influential lives from the British Isles spanning nearly two millennia.

Each article represents a significant anniversary of a person or event which is being celebrated in 2024. Use our gallery wall to trace British events and milestones through time, from the construction of Hadrians wall 1900 years ago in 124AD to the birth of Mary Warnock, one of Britain’s most significant twentieth-century philosophers, 100 years ago in 1924.

Search over 60,000 lives on ODNB now or keep scrolling to discover the free-to-access biographies included in our anniversary spotlight. 

  
   
   
   
   
   
  
   

Platorius Nepos, Aulus (fl. 119–c. 125), Roman governor of Britain who oversaw the building of Hadrian’s wall c. 124AD

Brigit [St Brigit,Brigid] (439/452–524/526), patron saint of Kildare

2024 marks the 1500th anniversary of her death

Æthelstan [Athelstan] (893/4–939), king of England who succeeded his father [Edward the Elder] as king of Mercia in 924, and later his brother as king of Wessex to become first king of England in 927

Alexander I (d. 1124), king of Scots

2024 marks the 900th anniversary of his death

Early English Franciscans (act.1224–1272), reference Group article on the first friars to arrive in England 

2024 marks the 800th anniversary of the friars landing at Dover in September 1224.

Linacre, Thomas (c. 1460–1524), humanist scholar and physician

2024 marks the 500th anniversary of his death

Inglis [married name Kello], Esther (1570/71–1624), calligrapher

2024 marks the 400th anniversary of her death

Rich [née Boyle], Mary, countess of Warwick (1624–1678), noblewoman

2024 marks the 400th anniversary of her birth

Fox, George (1624–1691), a founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

2024 marks the 400th anniversary of his birth

Watts, Isaac (1674–1748), Independent minister and writer

2024 marks the 350th anniversary of his birth

Smeaton, John (1724–1792), civil engineer

2024 marks the 300th anniversary of his birth

Stubbs, George (1724–1806), painter, engraver, and anatomist

2024 marks the 300th anniversary of his birth

Hood, Samuel, first Viscount Hood (1724–1816), naval officer

2024 marks the 300th anniversary of his birth

Southey, Robert (1774–1843), poet and reviewer

2024 marks the 250th anniversary of his birth

Thicknesse [née Ford], Ann (1737–1824), writer and musician

2024 marks the 200th anniversary of her death

Elias, John (1774–1841), Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister

2024 marks the 250th anniversary of his birth

Smith, George Murray (1824–1901), publisher, businessman, and founder of the Dictionary of National Biography

2024 marks the 200th anniversary of his birth

Talbot [née Browne], Fanny (1824–1917), philanthropist

2024 marks the 200th anniversary of her birth

Thomson, William, Baron Kelvin (1824–1907), mathematician and physicist

2024 marks the 200th anniversary of his birth

Lutyens [née Bulwer-Lytton], Lady Emily (1874–1964), theosophist

2024 marks the 150th anniversary of her birth

Holst, Gustav Theodore (1874–1934), composer and teacher of music

2024 marks the 150th anniversary of his birth

Conrad, Joseph [formerly Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski] (1857–1924), master mariner and author

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of his death

Mallory, George Herbert Leigh (1886–1924), mountaineer 

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of his death

Nesbit [married name Bland], Edith (1858–1924), writer

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of her death

Matthew, (Henry) Colin Gray (1941–1999), historian and founding editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

In 2024, the print publication's successor, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography celebrates its 20th anniversary

Berry, James Radglan [also known as James Raglan Berry] (1924–2017), poet

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth

Black, Sir James Whyte (1924–2010), pharmacologist

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth

Milburn, John Edward Thompson [Jackie] (1924–1988), footballer

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth

Stirling, Sir James Frazer (1924–1992), architect

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth

Warnock [née Wilson], (Helen) Mary, Baroness Warnock (1924–2019), philosopher, headmistress, and public servant

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of her birth