Information technology

About the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography consists of 50,000 biographies of people who have had an important impact on life in Britain throughout history.

There are several ways of searching these biographies; perform a simple search, search in the full-text of the biographies, and search for people by geographic area, year, their field of interest, amongst other options in advanced search, to mention just a few. There is also the opportunity to use the browse facility where people are listed alphabetically. Plus you can search within particular themes which contain lists of people who have held important positions; Kings and Queens, prime ministers, and people who have made important impacts in certain areas such as science, war, the law and the arts. The articles don’t only provide a lengthy piece of text on each individual, they provide images of them; both on the site and via links to the national portrait gallery, and they provide references for further reading.

The biographies only include the deceased, for those still living or those who are not from Britain try Who's Who, or the biography sections of Credo Reference and KnowUK. You can also search for people if they had a specific profession in some of our other resources such as Grove Art and Grove Music, or Contemporary Authors.

If you wish to save an article you have found, print it out or use it in an essay; look near the top left of the page and use the e-mail, print or cite options available. ‘Print’ links you to a printable view, if you don’t use this option your print will not be satisfactory.

This resource is accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection. From outside Westminster libraries simply type in the barcode number on your Westminster library card.

Search the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or return to the Exclusive Websites page