This is a list of notable people who were born or grew up in the London Borough of Bexley or otherwise have a strong association with the area.
Politics, government, military
George Albert Cairns (1913–1944), winner of the last Victoria Cross of World War II, lived and worked in Sidcup. Sir John Champneys (1495–1556), Lord Mayor of London in 1534, began the building of Hall Place in 1537. He is buried in St. Mary the Virgin Church in Old Bexley. William Claiborne (c.1600–c.1677), originally from Crayford, pioneer, early settler in the Americas, and from 1621 the surveyor of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, later establishing, in 1631, the first permanent European settlement in Maryland, on Kent Island where his own residence was called Fort Crayford. Sir Frederick Currie (1799–1875), British diplomat and colonial administrator, lived at the Manor House, May Place. Godfrey Huggins (1883–1971), 1st Viscount Malvern, Commonwealth statesman and Prime Minister of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, was born in Bexley. Melita Norwood (1912–2005), Cold War Soviet spy, lived undetected in Bexleyheath until her death. Harry Ord (1819–1885), colonial administrator who served as governor of Bermuda and Western Australia, born in North Cray. Mike Rann (1953–), Premier of South Australia, politician, born in Sidcup, lived in Blackfen prior to emigrating to New Zealand with his parents. Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell (1650–1707), naval officer, lived at May Place between 1694 and 1707. Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1769–1822), politician and Foreign Secretary from 1812, lived at Loring Hall, North Cray, until his suicide by knife in 1822. His residency at Loring Hall is marked by an English Heritage blue plaque. Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733–1800), politician and Cabinet minister, lived in Frognal House, Foots Cray. Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley (1766–1851), politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1812–22). Created Baron Bexley on his resignation as Chancellor, Vansittart lived in Foots Cray Place with his wife from 1821 until his death. As he died without children, he was the only Baron Bexley. James Wellbeloved (1926–2012), politician, first leader of newly created Bexley London Borough Council (1956–65), Labour MP for Erith & Crayford (1965–83), lived in Erith. Henry Wheatley (1777–1852), keeper of the privy purse for King William IV and Queen Victoria from 1830 to 1846, born and raised in Lesney House, Erith.
Scientists and inventors
Patrick Young Alexander (1867–1943), aeronautical pioneer, born in Hern Villa, Belvedere. Sir William Anderson (1834–98), engineer and philanthropist, lived in Erith from 1864 until 1889 and contributed substantial time and money to the local community. Augustus Applegath (1788–1871), inventor of the vertical printing-press, also built Shenstone House, lived and worked in Crayford. Sheila Callender (1914–2004), haematologist, born in Sidcup. Frank Farmer (1912–2004), physicist, pioneer in developing medical applications for physics, born in Bexleyheath. Mary Kingsley (1862—1900), ethnographer, scientific writer, and explorer, lived as a young woman with her mother and brother in Southwood or Southwark House, Main Road (Crook Log). Frederick George Loring (1869–1951), English naval officer and writer, and an early expert in wireless telegraphy, lived in Loring Hall, North Cray, until his death. Ivan Magill (1888–1986), innovative anaesthetist, worked in Sidcup. Sir Hiram Maxim (1840–1916), inventor of the Maxim Gun, moved his works to Crayford in 1884 and lived in Stoneyhurst from then until 1889. Sir John Pender (1816–1896), Scottish communications engineer and pioneer of undersea cabling, later politician, lived at Foots Cray Place from 1876 for the remainder of his life, buried at All Saints' Church. Anthony Reckenzaun (1850–93), engineer, worked at the Erith Ironworks and set up evening classes for the workmen. Flaxman Charles John Spurrell (1842–1915), archaeologist, geologist and photographer, moved to the borough as a child and later lived at The Priory, Picardy Road, Belvedere. Spurrell Avenue in Bexley is named after him. Joshua Trimmer (1795–1857), geologist, born in North Cray. Jack Wall (1932–2018), inventor of the Crayford focuser, which is incorporated into many modern telescopes.