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Frederick George Abberline was the Scotland Yard Inspector in charge of the investigation into the 1888 "Jack the Ripper" murders.  He joined the London Metropolitan Police in 1863 and in 1887 moved to Scotland Yard, where he was promoted to First Class Inspector.

After the brutal murder of prostitute Mary Ann Nichols in 1888, and because of his familiarity with Whitechapel, Abberline was selected to lead the investigation. Four similar killings occurred in the area through 1889 but the case was never solved. In 1892, and after 29 years of service, Abberline resigned at the rank of Chief Inspector. The rest of his career was spent in the field of private investigation. He died at the age of 86 and was originally buried in an unmarked grave next to his wife. Almost eighty years after his death a memorial stone was erected at the gravesite. In films of the "Jack the Ripper" story, fictionalized versions of Abberline have been played by actors Michael Caine and Johnny Depp.  This new headstone was erected in memory of him by the Police and the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Kenneth R. Balfour (1863 – 1936) was a Soldier and later a British Conservative politician.

Balfour purchased Brownsea Island in 1891. Following the introduction of electric lighting, the castle was gutted by fire in 1896. It was later rebuilt - with modern fire hydrants - and in 1901 Balfour put the island up for sale.

At the 1900 general election he was elected as MP for Christchurch and held the seat until 1906.

He was 24 years old, and a Company Sergeant-Major in the Special Reserve, The Royal Welch Fusiliers attached to 1st Battalion, The Royal Welch Fusiliers during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 16 May 1915 at Festubert in France, Company Sergeant-Major Barter, when in the first line of German trenches, called for volunteers to enable him to extend our line, and with the eight men who responded, he attacked the German position with bombs, capturing three German officers, 102 men and 500 yards of their trenches. He subsequently found and cut 11 of the enemy's mine leads situated about 20 yards apart.

He later achieved the rank of Captain.  He was born in Cardiff and his Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum at Caernarfon Castle.

Just 24 years old and a Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, 72nd Highlanders he was awarded the Victoria Cross during the Indian mutiny when the following deed took place in March 1858 at Kotah.

 

For conspicuous bravery on the 30th of March, 1858, at Kotah, in having headed a small party of men, and attacked a body of armed fanatic rebels, strongly posted in a loop-holed house, with one narrow entrance. Lieutenant Cameron stormed the house, and killed three rebels in single combat. He was severely wounded, having lost half of one hand by a stroke from a tulwar.

For someone who contributed so singularly to Bournemouth, Creeke is somewhat forgotten these days. A bust of him that once had pride of place at the Town Hall, had been consigned to backroom oblivion in the storerooms of the town museum the Russell-Coates until its retrieval was championed by local historian John Barker. It now graces the Mayor’s Parlour. There is one other carving of Creeke, commissioned by former mayor Keith Rawlings, and situated outside the conference hall where the major political parties hold their gatherings. It celebrates Creeke’s work as the surveyor of nuisances and master of the drains, and portrays him sitting on a toilet.

On 21st August 2009, a new Wetherspoons pub, called "The Christopher Creeke", opened in the Lansdowne area of Bournemouth .

Although he wrote a great deal of poetry, most of it went unpublished until after 1898, thus Hardy is best remembered for the series of novels and short stories he wrote between 1871 and 1895.

His novels are set in the imaginary world of Wessex, a large area of south and south-west England, using the name of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom that covered the area. Hardy was part of two worlds. He had a deep emotional bond with the rural way of life which he had known as a child, but he was also aware of the changes which were under way and the current social problems, from the innovations in agriculture — he captured the epoch just before the industrial revolution changed the English countryside — to the unfairness and hypocrisy of Victorian sexual behaviour.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence CB DSO  known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British military officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab revolt of 1916–18. His vivid writings, along with the extraordinary breadth and variety of his activities and associations, have made him the object of fascination throughout the world as Lawrence of Arabia, a title popularised by the 1962 film Lawrence Of Arabia based on his life.

Born in Somerset he was 35 years old, and a surgeon in the Royal Navy during the occupation of Crete 1897-1898 when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 6 September 1898 at Candia, Crete two parties of men from HMS Hazard went to the assistance of the Customs House Garrison which was being besieged. Later, when medical help was called for, Surgeon Maillard, who had disembarked and reached a place of safety, went back through a deluge of bullets in an attempt to rescue one of the seamen who was wounded and had fallen back into the boat. He was, however, almost dead and it was impossible for the surgeon to lift him, as the boat was drifting. He returned to his post unhurt, but his clothes were riddled with bullets. The first and only naval medical officer to win a VC. He later achieved the rank of Staff Surgeon.

The medal is in private ownership. A replica is on display at the Institute of Naval Medicine, Alverstoke, Gosport, PO12 2DL.

Mary Shelley (nee Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer.  Best known for her novel  Frankenstein (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the poet and philosopher Percy Byshee Shelley.  Her father was the political philosopher Willian Godwin and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

Becoming Prime Minister of the Federation in 1957, Welensky opposed British moves towards native African rule, and used force to suppress politically-motivated violence in the territories. After the advent of African rule in two of the Federation's three territories (Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, now Zambia and Malawi respectively), it collapsed in 1963. Welensky retired to Salisbury, where he re-entered politics and attempted to stop Rhodesia (formerly Southern Rhodesia) from unilaterally declaring itself independant. With the end of white rule in 1979, and the independence of Rhodesia as Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe in 1980, Welensky moved to England, where he died in 1991.

A fervent admirer of Britain and the Empire, Welensky described himself as "half Jewish, half Afrikaner [and] 100% British".