Flintshire Lives
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is the national record of men and women who’ve shaped all walks of British life—from the Romans to the 21st century. Published online and updated every month, the ODNB includes more than 60,000 life stories.
1. Flintshire lives
The Oxford DNB includes nearly 300 men and women with connections to Flintshire—from the 14th-century poet, Dafydd Ddu o Hiraddug, to the boxer Randolph Turpin (1928-1966) and Huw Edwards (1892-1970), the so-called ‘first prime minister of Wales’.
In between you’ll find many sons and daughters of the region, including the philanthropist and political wife Catherine Gladstone (1812-1900), Mold-born novelist Daniel Owen (1836-1895), and the atomic weapons expert Sir John Rowlands (1915-2006).
You can also search within Flintshire, allowing you to find 84 people born in or near the county.
Across the ODNB’s 70 million words, you’ll also find 353 references to Flintshire, 1,896 to Gladstone, and 4 to Connah’s Quay.
2. Finding people near you
The Oxford DNB includes the life stories of more than 60,000 men and women. Online you can search for where they were born, baptized, lived, died or were buried, by date range or location.
- The advanced search ‘life event’ feature can be used to find people near you—be they men and women baptised in Edinburgh (189), those born in Whitby (28), or those buried in Exeter (133). Used in this way the ODNB is an excellent resource for school projects or family history.
- Text searching across the Oxford DNB’s 68 million words, you can also make links between people and places: for example, we’ve 102 references to “Clapham Common”, 27 to the “River Trent”, and 51 to “Snowdonia”.
3. Topical and local history
Try a map—from British brewers, to gardeners and seafarers.
Listen to a life
Every two weeks the ODNB releases a biography podcast. There are more than 250 episodes to choose from, including John Lennon, Madame Tussaud, Morecambe and Wise, Roald Dahl, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Browse the episodes by list or by place.
> More about the Oxford DNB
