J. R. ACKERLEY 1896–1967

Writer and editor.

(SIR) MALCOLM ARNOLD 1921–2006

Composer, whose works included symphonies and music for brass bands.

JOHN BENSUSAN-BUTT 1911–1997

Artist and historian. Lived in the Minories, Colchester.

ELIZABETH BOWEN (CBE) 1899–1973

Irish novelist and short-story writer loosely associated with the Bloomsbury Group.

(LORD) BENJAMIN BRITTEN (OF ALDEBURGH, OM, CH) 1913–1976

Composer, conductor and pianist. Co-founder of the Aldeburgh Festival. Partner of Peter Pears.

EDWARD CLODD 1840–1930

Banker, writer and anthropologist with a large circle of scientific and literary friends.

GEORGE CRABBE 1754–1832

Clergyman, poet (The Borough) and surgeon.

ERIC CROZIER 1914–1994

Theatre director and opera librettist associated with Benjamin Britten, with whom he co-founded the Aldeburgh Festival. Married mezzo-soprano Nancy Evans OBE in 1941.

EDWARD FITZGERALD 1809–1883

Poet and writer. Translator of the Rubáiyát.

E. M. (EDWARD MORGAN) FORSTER 1879–1970

Writer and librettist.

DAVID GASCOYNE 1916–2001

Surrealist poet.

(SIR) PETER HALL (CBE) 1930–

Theatre and film director. Directed Akenfield, based on Ronald Blythe’s Portrait of an English Village.

MAGGI HAMBLING 1945–

Painter and sculptor.

JAMES HAMILTON-PATERSON 1941–

Writer. Author of Gerontius, an imagined reconstruction of Sir Edward Elgar’s journey along the Amazon in 1923.

GUSTAV HOLST 1874–1934

Composer.

IMOGEN HOLST 1907–1984

Composer, conductor, musicologist and encourager of amateur musicians. A close friend of Benjamin Britten and the daughter of Gustav Holst.

KURT HUTTON 1893–1960.

Pioneering German-born photographer.

M.R. (MONTAGUE RHODES) JAMES 1862–1936

Scholar of medieval history and writer of ghost stories.

JOHN LEHMANN 1907–1987

Poet and literary editor, founder of New Writing and the London Magazine.

ARTHUR LETT-HAINES 1894–1978

Surrealist sculptor and painter. With Cedric Morris established the East Anglian School of Painting, first at Dedham and later at Benton End, Hadleigh.

ALUN LEWIS 1915–1944

Welsh poet, known particularly for his war poetry.

HEPHZIBAH MENUHIN 1920–1981

American-Australian pianist, writer and human-rights campaigner.

(SIR) CEDRIC MORRIS 1889–1982

Welsh painter and plantsman. See also Arthur Lett-Haines, above.

JOHN NASH (CBE RA) 1893–1977

Artist and engraver. Lived with his wife Christine at Bottengoms, Wormingford.

CONRAD NOEL 1869–1942

Priest of the Church of England, Vicar of Thaxted.

Founding member of the British Socialist Party and a friend of Gustav Holst.

GLENCAIRN STUART OGILVIE

Scottish writer, barrister and eccentric architect.

MERVYN PEAKE 1911–1968

Writer, artist, illustrator and poet.

(SIR) PETER PEARS (CBE) 1910–1986

Tenor. Partner of Benjamin Britten, with whom he co-founded the Aldeburgh Festival and established a long-standing recital partnership. Created many roles in Britten’s operas, including Peter Grimes and Captain Vere (Billy Budd).

WILLIAM PLOMER 1903–1973

South African and British writer and literary editor.

In later years was to write librettos for Britten.

MARY POTTER 1900–1981

Artist and close friend of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. Lived at the Red House in Aldeburgh, before exchanging Aldeburgh houses with Britten and Pears.

REX PYKE 1940–

Film editor and producer of drama and documentary.

VIKRAM SETH 1952–

Indian novelist and poet.

MARTIN SHAW (OBE FRCM) 1875–1958

Prolific composer, conductor and producer.

PEGGY SOMERVILLE 1918–1975

Child prodigy and Impressionist painter.

SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER 1893–1978

Novelist, poet and translator.

CHRISTINE WESTON 1905–1989

British Indian writer, author of Indigo.