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 1850s Clear ×
Walter Langley
1852 - 1922
Napier Shaw
1854 - 1945
Constance Naden
1858 - 1889
Lee Mantle
1851 - 1934
Will Thorne
1857 - 1946
T. H. E. C. Espin
1858 - 1934
John Hall-Edwards
1858 - 1926
Henry Pereira Mendes
1852 - 1937
Edwin Harris
1855 - 1906
John Percival Postgate
1853 - 1926
Kate Bunce
1856 - 1927
George Thomas Bethune-Baker
1857 - 1944
Amelia Sarah Levetus
1853 - 1938
Arthur Brown (footballer, born 1858)
1859 - 1909
Jem Carney
1856 - 1941
Eden Smith
1858 - 1949
Charles Riley
1854 - 1929
William Breakspeare
1856 - 1914
William John Wainwright
1855 - 1931
Oliver Baker
1856 - 1939
Holcombe Ingleby
1854 - 1926
John McIntyre (archbishop of Birmingham)
1855 - 1935
James Cranston
1859 - 1904
Elizabeth Chambers Morgan
1850 - 1944
Arthur Stansfield Dixon
1856 - 1929
Joseph Lawton
1857 - 1934
Henry Fletcher (mayor)
1859 - 1953
Sydney Morse
1854 - 1929
Frederick Arthur Walton
1853 - 1922
Frankie Dawson
1858 - 1938
Samuel Wassall
1856 - 1927
George Frederick Harris (painter)
1856 - 1924
James B. Hawkes
1857 - 1936
Charlie Simms
1859 - 1935
Edward Corser
1852 - 1928
Charles F. Cooper (politician)
1852 - 1919