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 1820s Clear ×
Francis Galton
1822 - 1911
Brooke Foss Westcott
1825 - 1901
Edward White Benson
1829 - 1896
Benjamin Mountfort
1825 - 1898
Edward Oxford
1822 - 1900
Charles Walter De Vis
1829 - 1915
Alfred Wills
1828 - 1912
Bessie Rayner Parkes
1829 - 1925
Clement Mansfield Ingleby
1823 - 1886
William Tutin Thomas
1829 - 1892
William Jay Smith (Tennessee politician)
1823 - 1913
Harry John Johnson
1826 - 1884
Samuel Henry Baker
1824 - 1909
Alfred Mellon
1820 - 1867
William Bragge
1823 - 1884
George Linnaeus Banks
1821 - 1881
Allen Edward Everitt
1824 - 1882
John Alfred Langford
1823 - 1903
Emma Jane Guyton
1825 - 1887
Arthur Blyth
1823 - 1890
Caroline Emily Clark
1825 - 1911
Julia Goddard
1825 - 1896
Henry Twells
1823 - 1900
Neville Blyth
1825 - 1890
Benjamin Nash
1829 - 1890
Robert Alfred Tarlton
1828 - 1918
Jane Bragg Pitman
1825 - 1877