List of University of Manchester alumni

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2019)

This is a list of notable alumni related to the University of Manchester and its predecessors the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. It excludes those who only have an honorary degree.

• Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, British architect, (Pritzker Prize 1999, Stirling Prize 1998, 2004), designed among others the Swiss Re Building, Millennium Bridge, HSBC Hong Kong headquarters building, Commerzbank Tower, Millau Viaduct, Reichstag dome and the (proposed) Tower 2 of the World Trade Center
• Rod Hackney, British architect, past president of Royal Institute of British Architects
• Stephen Hodder, English architect, winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize in 1996
• Edward Hubbard, English architectural historian
• Leslie Martin, leading advocate of the International Style
• Alfred Waterhouse, English architect associated with the Victorian Gothic revival and probably best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London and the Town Hall in Manchester

• Louis de Bernières, born 1954. Writer whose novels include The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts (1990), Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord (1991), The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman (1992), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (1994) (winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for best book) and Red Dog (2001)
• Malcolm Bradbury, PhD, American Studies, 1955-62. Lecturer in English Literature at the university from 1955 to 1958. Academic and author best known for his novel The History Man (1975)
• Anthony Burgess, BA, English Literature, 1937–40. Writer and critic whose novels include the Malayan trilogy, the Enderby cycle, A Clockwork Orange, Nothing Like the Sun, Earthly Powers and The Kingdom of the Wicked. He produced acclaimed critical works on Joyce, Lawrence, Hemingway and Shakespeare, and studies of language and of pornography
• Miguel Esteves Cardoso, Portuguese writer and journalist^[1]
• Daniel Ford, American author and journalist
• Alex Garland, born 1970, BA, History of Art. Novelist and script-writer. Author of The Beach (1996), The Tesseract (1998), The Coma (2004) and Sunshine (2007)
• George Gissing, novelist
• Sophie Hannah, award-winning poet and novelist
• A. J. Hartley, Shakespeare professor and novelist
• A.M. Howell, children's writer
• Grevel Lindop, poet, academic and literary critic
• Ruth Manning-Sanders, Welsh poet and author
• Stephen Mitchell, Head of News Programmes, BBC
• Francis Thompson, English poet
• Barry Unsworth, British novelist who is known for novels with historical themes, Booker Prize winner with Sacred Hunger
• Alison Uttley, children's writer

• Edward Barton, songwriter and poet
• Martin Butler, composer
• Members of The Longcut, English rock band who all attended the university
• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, composer, Master of the Queen's Music
• Paul McCreesh, conductor
• Ed O'Brien, musician in Radiohead
• Mark Radcliffe, DJ on Radio 1 and Radio 2 and musician: Shirehorses and The Family Mahone
• Ed Simmons and Tom Rowlands, musicians, The Chemical Brothers
• Tim Booth, lead singer of James

• Cyril Ayden Fisk, Methodist priest and Royal Air Force chaplain

• Sir James Chadwick, physicist credited with the discovery of the neutron
• Alwen M. Evans, tropical entomologist
• Carole Goble CBE, computer scientist and a leading authority on the Semantic Web
• Nicholas Thatcher, professor of oncology
• Sir Joseph J. Thomson, physicist credited with the discovery of the electron