52.4791° N, 1.9017° W
BIRMINGHAM
Most Famous People Born in Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Notable people
- 1,855
- Peak decade
- 1960s
- Median birth year
- 1945
- Most distinctive
- Cricket 4.2×
England's second city, and the engine room of the Industrial Revolution. Birmingham's distinctive professions are cricketers, boxers, footballers, and musicians — the last because the city produced an outsized share of the British heavy-metal scene, from Black Sabbath (Ozzy, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward) through Judas Priest and ELO. Matthew Boulton, Francis Galton, and Neville Chamberlain all belong to the 19th-century Midlands establishment that built the place.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Birmingham during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 216 notable births.
What Birmingham Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Football is Birmingham's biggest profession — 25% of all notables (467).
Birmingham over-indexes on cricket — 4.2× the global rate.
Birmingham under-produces politician — only 0.3× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Birmingham's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Music
- Art & Design
- Science
- Other
- Filtered to 1810s Clear ×
George Holyoake
1817 - 1906
Alexander Parkes
1813 - 1890
Louisa Anne Meredith
1812 - 1895
Joseph Jukes
1811 - 1869
William Pole
1814 - 1900
Priscilla Horton
1818 - 1895
Henry Noel Humphreys
1810 - 1879
Joshua Toulmin Smith
1816 - 1869
James Joseph Allport
1811 - 1892
James John Hill
1811 - 1882
Francis Skidmore
1817 - 1896
Samuel Allport
1816 - 1897
William Thomas Roden
1818 - 1892
John Brandard
1812 - 1863
Thomas Allcock
1815 - 1891
Harry Gem
1819 - 1881
Samuel Sidney
1813 - 1883
Rupert Alfred Kettle
1817 - 1894
Charles Walter Radclyffe
1817 - 1903
Louisa Ryland
1814 - 1889
Anna Braithwaite
1818 - 1905
Thomas Syme Warry
1819 - 1864