- John Smeaton
John Smeaton (born 1975/76) is a Scottish baggage handler at Glasgow International Airport. He became involved in thwarting the 2007 Glasgow International Airport Attack. Although regarded as a Glaswegian, he actually lives in Erskine, Renfrewshire, a town outside the city near the airport where he was educated at Park Mains High School. Smeaton was a general bystander when he first witnessed the incident.
- Hugh Henry
Hugh Henry (b. 12 February 1952, Glasgow) is a Scottish Labour politician and Member of the Scottish Parliament for Paisley South since 1999. He was appointed Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care in the Scottish Executive in 2001, and moved to become Deputy Minister for Social Justice in 2002. He was appointed Deputy Minister for Justice after the Scottish Parliamentary Election, 2003, and became Minister for Education in 2006.
- John Wilson
John Wilson (18 May 1785 - 3 April 1854) was a Scottish writer, the writer most frequently identified with the pseudonym Christopher North of "Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine". He was born at Paisley, the son of a wealthy gauze manufacturer who died when John was eleven years old. He was the fourth child, but the eldest son, and he had nine brothers and sisters. He was only twelve when he entered the University of Glasgow, …
- James Sheridan
James Sheridan (known as Jim Sheridan) (born 24 November 1952) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. In the 2005 General Election, Sheridan was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Paisley & Renfrewshire North, Scotland.
- Paolo Nutini
Paolo Giovanni Nutini (born 9 January 1987) is a singer/songwriter from Paisley, Scotland. His father is of Italian descent, from Barga, Tuscany and his mother is Scottish, although his father's family have been in Scotland for four generations. His influences include The Beatles, David Bowie, Damien Rice, Oasis, U2, Van Morrison, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac.
- Richard Lochhead
Richard Neilson Lochhead (born May 24, 1969) is a Scottish National Party politician, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment and Member of the Scottish Parliament for Moray.
- Jim Mather
Jim Mather is a Scottish National Party politician, the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism and Member of the Scottish Parliament for Argyll and Bute. Mather was educated at Paisley Grammar School and Greenock High School before attending the University of Glasgow. Before his election to Holyrood he worked as a chartered accountant and ran his own business. He joined the SNP in 1996 and acted as the SNP’s National Treasurer from 2000.
- Bruce McFee
Bruce McFee (born 1961, Johnstone, Renfrewshire) is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP) he was elected to the Scottish Parliament to represent the West of Scotland at the 2003 election. McFee currently serves on the Scottish Parliament's Procedures and Justice 1 Committees. He has been involved in local campaigns to save Ferguson's ship yard in Port Glasgow and to retain the name of the University of Paisley.
- Colin Campbell
Colin Campbell (born 31 August 1938, Paisley) is a Scottish politician. He was educated in the town's Paisley Grammar School. He was a Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of the Scottish Parliament for West of Scotland region from 1999 to 2003. In the 1999 Scottish election, he stood as a constituency candidate in West Renfrewshire, where he finished second behind Labour's Trish Godman.
- George Reid
Sir George Houstoun Reid GCB GCMG (25 February 1845 - 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and fourth Prime Minister of Australia. Reid was the last leader of the Liberal tendency in New South Wales, led by Charles Cowper and Henry Parkes and which Reid organised as the Free Trade and Liberal Association in 1889. He was more effective as Premier of New South Wales from 1894 to 1899 than he was as Prime Minister in 1904 and 1905.
- Alexander Wilson
Alexander Wilson (July 6, 1766 - August 23, 1813) was a Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, naturalist and illustrator. Wilson was born in Paisley, Scotland, the son of an illiterate distiller. In 1779 he was apprenticed as a weaver. His main interest at this time was in writing poetry, and his poems commenting on the unfair treatment of the weavers by their employers got him into trouble with the authorities.
- Robert Tannahill
Robert Tannahill (June 3, 1774 - May 17, 1810) was a Scottish poet known as the 'Weaver Poet'. He was born in Paisley to a weaving family and was apprenticed in the same trade from the age of 12. After a short period of working in Bolton around 1800, Tannahill returned to Paisley to support the family in time of illness. In the years which followed, his interest in poetry and music blossomed and his writings began to appear in such publications as The Scots Magazine.
- Andrew Neil
Andrew Ferguson Neil (born May 21 1949, Paisley, Scotland, United Kingdom) is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. Neil made his name at "The Sunday Times" where he was editor for 11 years. In 1995 he was made editor-in-chief of the Press Holdings group of newspapers, owner of "The Business" and (from 2005) "The Spectator". Press Holdings sold "The Scotsman" in December 2005, ending Neil's relationship with the newspaper.
- John Byrne
John Byrne (born January 6, 1940) is a Scottish artist and playwright. Born a Catholic in Paisley, Byrne grew up in the Ferguslie Park housing scheme and was educated at the town's St Mirin's Academy before attending Glasgow School of Art from 1958 to 1963. From 1964 until 1966 he designed jackets for Penguin Books. Following unsuccessful experiences with London galleries, he released a series of works from 1967 under the pseudonym of "Patrick", …
- Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler (born November 13, 1969) is a Scottish actor and singer, perhaps best known for his roles as the Phantom from "The Phantom of the Opera", as well as King Leonidas from "300".
- Tom Conti
Tom Conti (born November 22, 1941) is a Scottish actor, theatre director, and novelist. Born Thomas Conti to an Italian father and an Irish Catholic mother in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Conti began working with the Dundee Repertory in 1959. He appeared on Broadway in "Whose Life is it Anyway?" in 1979. In London he played the lead in "Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell" at the Garrick Theatre. Conti also is an accomplished film and television actor.
- Fred Goodwin
Sir Frederick Anderson Goodwin (born 17 August 1958) is the current chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland group.
- Gerry Rafferty
Gerry Rafferty (born Gerald Rafferty, 16 April 1947, in Paisley) is a Scottish singer and songwriter. He is the son of a Scottish mother and an Irish father.
- Gordon McMaster
Gordon James McMaster was a Scottish politician. Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, he was elected as Labour Member of Parliament for Paisley South at a by-election in 1990, following the death of Norman Buchan, and retained the seat until his own death in 1997. McMaster had previously been leader of Renfrew District Council. He served as an opposition whip in opposition but was dismissed when his health broke down.
- William Arrol
William Arrol (1839 - 1913) was a Scottish civil engineer, bridge builder, and Liberal Party politician. The son of a spinner, he was born in Houston, Renfrewshire, and started work in a cotton mill at only 9 years of age. He started training as a blacksmith by age 13, and went on to learn mechanics and hydraulics at night school. In 1863 he joined a company of bridge manufacturers in Glasgow, but by 1872 had established his own business, the Dalmarnock Iron Works, …
- Darius Danesh
Darius Danesh (born 19 August 1980 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a songwriter, platinum recording artist and acclaimed West End stage actor, well-known from the British TV hit shows "Popstars", and "Pop Idol", the latter being the model from which "American Idol" was born. His first, self-penned single, "Colourblind", entered the UK singles chart at number one, …
- William Crawford
William Crawford (1760 - October 23, 1823) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Crawford was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1760. He received a liberal schooling, studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and in 1781 received his degree. He immigrated to the United States and settled near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He purchased a farm on Marsh Creek in 1785, where he spent the rest of his life practicing medicine.
- Chris Gorman
Chris Gorman is a serial entrepreneur who lives in Renfrewshire in Scotland. He grew up in Hartlepool. He was an organiser of the Live 8 concert in Edinburgh. A serial entrepreneur, Chris Gorman has headed several highly successful ventures in technology and retail businesses. A founder shareholder in UK mobile phone retailer DX Communications which was sold in 1999, Chris then went on to create the internet services company, Reality Solutions, …
- Malcolm Wallace
Sir Malcolm Wallace was Lord of Elderslie, Scotland, and father of the famous William Wallace (made famous through the movie Braveheart). He was born in 1249 and married Lady Margaret Craufurd. They had five children: Two older girls, then Malcolm 2nd, Sir William, and Sir John. When Sir Malcolm and his son Malcolm 2nd refused to swear allegiance to Edward I of England, they stole away in hiding for several months. Upon their return, at the Battle of Loudoun Hill, …
- Willie Gallacher
William Gallacher (popularly known as Willie Gallacher, born December 25 1881-died August 12 1965) was a Scottish trade unionist, activist and communist. He was one of the leading figures of the Shop Stewards' Movement in wartime Glasgow and a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He served two terms as a Communist Member of Parliament.
- Robert Broom
Professor Robert Broom was a South African doctor and palaeontologist. He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his DSc in 1905 from the University of Glasgow. In 1893 he married Mary Baird Baillie. From 1903 to 1910 he was professor of zoö and geology at Victoria College, Stellenbosch, South Africa, and subsequently he became keeper of vertebrate palaeontology at the South African Museum, Cape Town.
- Heather Reid
Heather Reid OBE CPhys FinstP (born c. 1969) is a Scottish meteorologist and television weather presenter for BBC Scotland. Reid was born in Paisley, and graduated from Edinburgh University with an honours degree in physics. She followed this with a masters degree in image processing from Edinburgh University's Meteorology Department. She has been employed by the UK Met Office since 1993, and works as a weather forecaster at Glasgow Weather Centre.
- Kenny Gibson
Kenneth J Gibson (born September 8 1961, Paisley) is a Scottish National Party politician and Member of the Scottish Parliament for Cunninghame North. Gibson served as an SNP councillor in Glasgow for Mosspark Ward from 1992 to 1999, becoming the first ever SNP councillor in the city to serve successive terms. In his second term he secured the biggest majority of Scotland's 1245 councillors. He was then the sole SNP councillor in Glasgow.
- Sandra Osborne
Sandra Currie Osborne, née Clark (born 23 February 1956, Paisley, Renfrewshire) is the Labour Member of Parliament for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock in Scotland. She was first elected in 1997, and resigned from a government job in 2003 over the Iraq War. She is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
- Archie Gemmill
Archibald "Archie" Gemmill is a Scottish former footballer, famous for his goal against the Netherlands in the 1978 World Cup. The goal is so famous that it overshadows an immensely successful career in which he won three league titles at two clubs (two of them under Brian Clough) and led his national side. He was the first player to appear as a substitute in Scottish football history. Gemmill’s career was also characterized by short, eventful stays at clubs, …
- Kenyon Wright
Canon Kenyon Wright (born 1932) is an Anglican clergyman who chaired the Scottish Constitutional Convention, that laid the groundwork for the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1997. Wright was born in Paisley in 1932, the son of a textile technician, and attended Paisley Grammar School, followed by Glasgow and Cambridge Universities. From 1955, he served as a Methodist missionary in India, and in 1963, was appointed Director of the Ecumenical, …
- Thomas Wright
Thomas Wright (November 9, 1809 - November 17, 1884) was a Scottish surgeon and palaeontologist. Wright published a number of papers on the fossils which he had collected in the Cotswolds, including "Lias Ammonites of the British Isles". Wright was born in Paisley and studied at the Royal college of Surgeons in Dublin. In 1846 he moved to Cheltenham, where he became medical officer of health to the urban district, and surgeon at Cheltenham General Hospital.
- Gordon James Ramsay OBE
Gordon Ramsay (Fee Group £16k - £25k) Scottish by birth, Gordon was brought up in England after his parents moved south to Stratford-upon-Avon. His first career break came whilst playing football for Oxford United where he was spotted by a Glasgow Rangers scout in a F.A. youth club match. After completing trials he was signed by the Scottish champions at the age of 15.
- William Morris
William Morris (October 31 1786-June 29 1858) was a businessman and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1786, the son of a Scottish manufacturer. His family came to Upper Canada in 1801, where his father set up an import-export business. The business failed and his father retired to a farm near Elizabethtown (Brockville). After the death of his father, he opened a general store with his brother, Alexander.
- Robert Pollok
Robert Pollok was a Scottish poet best known for "The Course of Time", published the year of his death. Pollok was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Sources differ on the exact year of his birth, some giving 1789, some 1798, and some 1799. He studied at the University of Glasgow for the ministry of the United Secession Church. During this time, he anonymously published three poems: "Helen of the Glen", "The Persecuted Family", and "Ralph Gemmell".
- William Scott
William Scott was a British artist known for still life and abstract painting. Born in Greenock, Scotland, son of an Irish father and Scottish mother, he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1958. Retrospective at the Tate Gallery 1972. Literature: Monaograph y Norbert Lynton published by Thames & Hudson.
- Margaret Ryan
Margaret Ryan is a Children's Writer currently residing in St. Andrews, Scotland. She was born and raised in the town of Paisley, Scotland. She went to Glasgow University, where she met her husband, John. She is the writer of the "Airy Fairy" books. She taught for a while before becoming a full-time writer for children.
- Jacqui Lait
Jacqueline Anne Lait (born 16 December 1947), known as Jacqui Lait is a British politician and Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Beckenham. Lait was born Jacqueline Anne Harkness in Paisley near Glasgow, and attended Paisley Grammar School and the University of Strathclyde, where she received a bachelor's degree in business management. After gratuating, Lait worked in public relations for the jute industry in Dundee, Scotland, …
- Kenneth McKellar
Kenneth McKellar (born June 23 1927, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland) is a Scottish singer (tenor). He originally studied Forestry at Aberdeen University, after graduation working for the Scottish Forestry Commission. He later trained at the Royal College of Music as an opera singer. He did not enjoy his time with the Carl Rosa Opera Company and left them to pursue a career singing traditional Scottish songs and other works.
- Craig Wright
Craig McIntyre Wright (born 28 April 1974 in Paisley) is a Scottish cricket player. He is a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler of the Scottish national team. He made his debut for Scotland in a match against Ireland on the 9 August 1997. He has played more than 100 times for Scotland in all, including six one-day internationals against Ireland, Netherlands, Bangladesh, Kenya and Canada.