Orcadians, who reside primarily in Orkney, are the descendants of Iron Age Picts,[1][Notes 1] Norwegian Vikings and Scots. Because Orkney is a trading hub Orcadians are found all over the world.
- Jim Baikie British comics artist, who is best known for his work with Alan Moore on Skizz.
- William Balfour Baikie (1825–1864), explorer and naturalist
- George Mackay Brown (1921–1996), poet, author, playwright
- Mary Brunton (1778–1818), author of Self-Control, Discipline and other novels
- Stanley Cursiter (1887–1976), artist
- William Towrie Cutt (1898–1981), author
- Walter Traill Dennison (1826–1894), Orcadian folklorist
- Kris Drever, folk singer and guitarist
- Magnus Erlendsson (Saint Magnus) (c.1070-c.1117), Earl of Orkney c.1105-1117
- Matthew Forster Heddle (1828–1897), mineralogist, author of The Mineralogy of Scotland
- Malcolm Laing (1762–1818), author of the History of Scotland from the Union of the Crowns to the Union of the Kingdoms
- Samuel Laing (1780–1868), author of A Residence in Norway, and translator of the Heimskringla, the Icelandic chronicle of the kings of Norway
- Samuel Laing (1812–1897), chairman of the London, Brighton & South Coast railway, and introducer of the system of "parliamentary" trains with fares of one penny a mile.
- Kristin Linklater, born 1946, voice teacher, actor, director and author
- Magnus Linklater (b.1942), journalist, son of Eric Linklater
- John D Mackay (b.1909), headmaster and Orkney patriot
- Murdoch McKenzie (d.1797), hydrographer
- Edwin Muir (1887–1959), author and poet
- Dr. John Rae (1813–1893), Arctic explorer
- Rognvald Kali Kolsson (Saint Rognvald) (c.1103-1158), Earl of Orkney 1136-1158
- Julyan Sinclair, television presenter
- Thomas Stewart Traill (1781–1862), professor of medical jurisprudence at Edinburgh University and editor of the 8th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica
- Cameron Stout (b.1971) winner of Big Brother in 2003, brother of Julyan Sinclair
- William Walls (1819–1893), lawyer and industrialist
- The Wrigley Sisters Jennifer and Hazel, international folk duo
[edit] People associated with Orkney
- Rev. Matthew Armour (1820–1903), Sanday's radical Free Kirk Minister[3]
- Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (b.1934), composer and Master of the Queen's Music
- Andrew Greig (b.1951), Scottish writer
- Jo Grimond (1913–1993), Liberal Party leader and MP for Orkney and Shetland 1950-1983
- David Harvey (b.1948), footballer
- Eric Linklater (1899–1974), novelist, playwright, journalist, essayist and poet
- William Sichel (b.1951), ultra distance runner
- Luke Sutherland (b.1971), writer of novels Jelly Roll, Sweetmeat and Venus as a Boy
- Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness (b.1954), former MP for Orkney and Shetland (1983–2001), MSP for Orkney (1999–2007), Deputy First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
[edit] References
- Footnotes
- ^ Ritchie notes the presence of an Orcadian ruler at the court of a Pictish high king at Inverness in 565 AD.[2]
- Citations
- General references
- Omand, Donald (ed.) (2003) The Orkney Book. Edinburgh. Birlinn. ISBN 1841582549
- Thomson, William P. L. (2008) The New History of Orkney. Edinburgh. Birlinn. ISBN 9781841586960
