To be included, a person must:

• Appear in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – indicating national significance.

• Be of historical interest (not living).

• Have a connection to Skipton or its immediate surroundings by birth, residence, death/burial, or education.

• Robert Atkinson (1839–1908) – Philologist.
• Stephen Barrett (1719–1801) – Schoolmaster and clergyman, born at Bent (Kildwick in Craven).
• Frederick Gard Fleay (1831–1909) – Literary scholar and schoolmaster.
• Richard Dean (1726–1778) – Essayist and clergyman, baptised at Kirby Malham.
• Arthur Sidgwick (1840–1920) – Educational and classical scholar.
• Henry Sidgwick (1838–1890) – Philosopher.
• Nathaniel Simpson (1599–1642) – Writer on arithmetic.
• Christopher Taylor (1614/15–1646) – Religious writer and schoolteacher, born near Skipton.
• Thomas Taylor (1617/8–1682) – Quaker minister and writer.

• Dorothy Rosaman Hartley (1893–1985) – Historian.
• Susanna Lister (1670–1738) – Natural history illustrator, born at Carleton in Craven.
• Stephen Catterson Smith (1806–1872) – Portrait painter.
• Anna Jane Vardill (1781–1852) – Poet.
• William Reginald Mitchell (1928–2015) – Journalist and author.

• William Dean (c.1557–1588) – Roman Catholic priest and martyr, born at Linton in Craven.
• David Hall (1683–1756) – Schoolmaster and Quaker minister.
• Thomas Wimberley Mossman (1826–1885) – Anglican clergyman.
• Robert (“St Robert”, died 1159) – Abbot of Newminster, said to be born in Craven.

• Anne Clifford (1590–1676) – Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery.
• George Clifford (1558–1605) – Third Earl of Cumberland, courtier and privateer.
• Francis Clifford (1559–1641) – Fourth Earl of Cumberland.
• Henry Clifford (c.1493–1542) – First Earl of Cumberland.
• Henry Clifford (1517–1570) – Second Earl of Cumberland.
• Henry Clifford (1592–1643) – Fifth Earl of Cumberland, royalist officer.
• Roger Clifford (1333–1389) – Fifth Baron Clifford.
• Thomas Clifford (1414–1455) – Eighth Baron Clifford.
• Sir William Craven (c.1545–1618) – Merchant and local politician, born at Appletreewick.
• John Lambert (bap. 1619–1684) – Parliamentary soldier and politician, born at Calton in Craven.
• Iain Norman Macleod (1913–1970) – Politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• Sir Amos Nelson (1860–1947) – Cotton manufacturer, resident at Thornton-in-Craven.
• William Petyt (1640/41–1707) – Lawyer and political propagandist.

• Geoffrey Dawson (1874–1944) – Newspaper editor (The Times).
• (Henry) Christopher Dawson (1889–1970) – Cultural historian, buried at Burnsall.
• William Harbutt Dawson (1860–1948) – Journalist and civil servant.
• Arthur Raistrick (1896–1991) – Industrial archaeologist and pacifist.

• George Caley (1770–1829) – Farrier and botanist, born in Craven.
• William Cecil Slingsby (1849–1929) – Mountaineer.

• Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) – Novelist, worked as governess in Lothersdale (1839).
• George Croft (1747–1807) – Clergyman and religious writer, born at Beamsley.
• John Saul Howson (1816–1885) – Biblical scholar and Dean of Chester, born at Giggleswick.
• Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne (pseud. Weatherby Chesney) – Novelist, died at Kettlewell.
• John Malham (1747–1821) – Schoolmaster and writer, born at Burnsall.
• Charles McMoran Wilson, 1st Baron Moran (1882–1977) – Physician and writer.
• Thomas Wimberley Mossman (1826–1885) – Anglican clergyman.