People of Glasgow: 9 legends from in and around Glasgow added to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

By Liam Smillie

Digital Reporter

Published 12th Jun 2025, 00:01 BST

The latest update of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography adds biographies of 238 people who left their mark on the UK, and who died in the year 2021 - including 9 from in and around Glasgow

The Oxford DNB is the national record of people who have shaped British history, worldwide, from prehistory to the year 2021. From June 2025 the dictionary includes biographies of more than 63,000 individuals, written by over 14,000 contributors, and with more than 12,000 portrait images.

Biographies in the online edition of the Oxford DNB now include people who died in or before the year 2021. No living person is included. People who died in later years will be added by calendar year in online updates.

The 238 new biographies are available online from 12 June 2025. Click here to see them now.

Take a look to see the 9 people from Greater Glasgow who were added to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography who died in 2021.

Born at 95 Panmure Street, Maryhill, Glasgow, Bertie Auld (1938–2021) was one of Celtic’s ‘Lisbon Lions’ (winners of the 1967 European Cup final), who won a total of thirteen major honours with Celtic as a player, and whose managerial career began in 1974 with Patrick Thistle FC and ended in Dumbarton, with stints at Hibernian and Hamilton Academical in between. Following the end of his football career, he ran a pub named The Buccaneer in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.

1. Bertie Auld

Born at 95 Panmure Street, Maryhill, Glasgow, Bertie Auld (1938–2021) was one of Celtic’s ‘Lisbon Lions’ (winners of the 1967 European Cup final), who won a total of thirteen major honours with Celtic as a player, and whose managerial career began in 1974 with Patrick Thistle FC and ended in Dumbarton, with stints at Hibernian and Hamilton Academical in between. Following the end of his football career, he ran a pub named The Buccaneer in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. | Getty Images

The Most Revd Philip Tartaglia (1951–2021) – born at 44 Maryland Street, Glasgow, the son of a café proprietor – was ordained as a priest in the Catholic Church in 1975 and, beginning in 2012, led Scotland’s largest Catholic community as archbishop of Glasgow, until his death (of Covid-19) in January 2021.

2. Most Revd Philip Tartaglia

The Most Revd Philip Tartaglia (1951–2021) – born at 44 Maryland Street, Glasgow, the son of a café proprietor – was ordained as a priest in the Catholic Church in 1975 and, beginning in 2012, led Scotland’s largest Catholic community as archbishop of Glasgow, until his death (of Covid-19) in January 2021. Photo: (Picture: Getty)

A titan of Scottish business, public, and cultural life, Glasgow-born Norman Macfarlane, Baron Macfarlane of Bearsden (1926–2021) used his gratuity on leaving the army to start a stationery business which grew into the multi-million pound Macfarlane Group. He was later chairman of the Guinness group after the departure of Ernest Saunders. As a philanthropist he supported initiatives that invested in Scottish institutions and the arts, including the refurbishment of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow’s west end.

3. Norman Macfarlane, Baron Macfarlane of Bearsden

A titan of Scottish business, public, and cultural life, Glasgow-born Norman Macfarlane, Baron Macfarlane of Bearsden (1926–2021) used his gratuity on leaving the army to start a stationery business which grew into the multi-million pound Macfarlane Group. He was later chairman of the Guinness group after the departure of Ernest Saunders. As a philanthropist he supported initiatives that invested in Scottish institutions and the arts, including the refurbishment of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow’s west end. | Contributed

Born at 200 Ledard Road, Battlefield, Glasgow, the oral historian Lyn Macdonald (1929–2021) recorded hundreds of interviews with veterans of the First World War and published a series of books based on her conversations that humanized the Western Front's brutal realities.

4. Lyn Macdonald

Born at 200 Ledard Road, Battlefield, Glasgow, the oral historian Lyn Macdonald (1929–2021) recorded hundreds of interviews with veterans of the First World War and published a series of books based on her conversations that humanized the Western Front's brutal realities. | Liam White Photo: Liam White

Glasgow Oxford Legends History Greater Glasgow

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