← Fame through time1700-1799
The 18th century
Whose working lives fell in the 18th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 18th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
James Cook22 decades - 2
Adam Smith22 decades - 3
William Blake22 decades - 4
Anne, Queen of Great Britain0 decades - 5
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson22 decades - 6
David Hume22 decades - 7
Mary Wollstonecraft21 decades - 8
Robert Burns22 decades - 9
Samuel Johnson22 decades - 10
George III of the United Kingdom0 decades - 11
James Watt22 decades - 12
Blackbeard22 decades - 13
William Pitt the Younger3 decades - 14
John Wesley22 decades - 15
Robert Walpole22 decades - 16
Edward Jenner22 decades - 17
George IV of the United Kingdomnot measured- - 18
William Wilberforce22 decades - 19
Edward Gibbon22 decades - 20
Robert Clive22 decades - 21
William Godwin16 decades - 22
Joseph Priestley22 decades - 23
James Francis Edward Stuart, Prince of Walesnot measured- - 24
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallisnot measured- - 25
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Greynot measured- - 26
Thomas Gainsborough18 decades - 27
Henry Fielding22 decades - 28
George Vancouver14 decades - 29
Spencer Perceval22 decades - 30
Joshua Reynolds22 decades - 31
Alexander Selkirk22 decades - 32
Ann Radcliffe13 decades - 33
William Bligh16 decades - 34
John Harrison22 decades - 35
Bartholomew Roberts0 decades - 36
Thomas Bayes2 decades - 37
James Boswell22 decades - 38
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albanynot measured- - 39
Warren Hastings22 decades - 40
Erasmus Darwin22 decades - 41
Rob Roy MacGregor1 decades - 42
William Cowper22 decades - 43
George Whitefield22 decades - 44
William Carey22 decades - 45
Joseph Addison22 decades - 46
Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshirenot measured- - 47
Calico Jack1 decades - 48
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portlandnot measured- - 49
William Jones22 decades - 50
James Wolfe22 decades - 51
Mary Wortley Montagu22 decades - 52
Charles James Fox22 decades - 53
James Hutton22 decades - 54
Frances Burney13 decades - 55
William Blackstone22 decades - 56
Samuel Richardson22 decades - 57
Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmingtonnot measured- - 58
Richard Arkwright22 decades - 59
George Grenville22 decades - 60
David Garrick22 decades - 61
Prince William, Duke of Cumberland0 decades - 62
Henry Pelham22 decades - 63
Fletcher Christian17 decades - 64
Robert Adam22 decades - 65
Benjamin Hornygold0 decades - 66
Charles Wesley22 decades - 67
John Burgoyne22 decades - 68
Samuel Bellamy0 decades - 69
Jethro Tull22 decades - 70
Banastre Tarleton5 decades - 71
James Macpherson22 decades - 72
George Stubbs13 decades - 73
John Gay22 decades - 74
James Gillray7 decades - 75
William Hamilton22 decades - 76
Thomas Reid22 decades - 77
Edward Low1 decades - 78
Edward Braddock14 decades - 79
William Cobbett22 decades - 80
Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherstnot measured- - 81
Francis Hutcheson17 decades - 82
John Soane22 decades - 83
George Anson, 1st Baron Ansonnot measured- - 84
George Romney20 decades - 85
Charles Lee22 decades - 86
Thomas Arne0 decades - 87
Princess Mary of Great Britainnot measured- - 88
Adam Ferguson22 decades - 89
William Murdoch13 decades - 90
Sir Thomas Picton10 decades - 91
James Hargreaves17 decades - 92
James Thomson22 decades - 93
James Bruce22 decades - 94
Samuel Crompton15 decades - 95
Mary Astell8 decades - 96
Iolo Morganwg6 decades - 97
Ned Ludd1 decades - 98
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouthnot measured- - 99
John Law22 decades - 100
George Crabbe22 decades
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.