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 1860s Clear ×
Neville Chamberlain
1869 - 1940
Austen Chamberlain
1863 - 1937
Henry Tonks
1862 - 1937
Bernard Pyne Grenfell
1869 - 1926
Sepharial
1864 - 1929
Charley Mitchell (boxer)
1861 - 1918
Arthur Gaskin
1862 - 1928
George Vale Owen
1869 - 1931
Jack Devey
1866 - 1940
Thomas Vere Hodgson
1864 - 1926
George William de Saulles
1862 - 1903
Howard Vaughton
1861 - 1937
Alan Dale (critic)
1861 - 1928
Letty Lind
1861 - 1923
Mary Neal
1860 - 1944
Henry Payne (artist)
1868 - 1940
Albert Allen
1867 - 1899
Thomas Turner (metallurgist)
1861 - 1951
L. J. Greenberg
1861 - 1931
William Adlington Barrow Cadbury
1867 - 1957
Dennis Hodgetts
1863 - 1945
Ellis Ellis-Griffith
1860 - 1926
Henry McCardie
1869 - 1933
Sam Bernard
1863 - 1927
Beresford Kidd
1864 - 1948
Joseph Finnemore
1860 - 1939
Kineton Parkes
1865 - 1938
Frank Mobley
1868 - 1940
Harold Morse
1860 - 1930
Alf Farman
1869 - 1894
Wilmer Cave Wright
1868 - 1951
Paul Braddon
1864 - 1938
Gershom Cox
1863 - 1940
Stephen Ewart
1869 - 1953
James Lansdowne Norton
1869 - 1925
James Brown (footballer, born 1868)
1868 - 1934
Joe Wilson (footballer, born 1861)
1861 - 1952
Arthur Millard
1869 - 1891
Arthur Turner (footballer, born 1867)
1867 - 1890
Joseph Whitehead (sculptor)
1868 - 1951
Francis Banks
1865 - 1890
Harry Morris (footballer, born 1866)
1866 - 1931
Patrick Keogh
1867 - 1940
Rose Stern
1869 - 1953
James Rhodes (cricketer)
1866 - 1939
Albert Brown (footballer, born 1862)
1862 - 1930
Walter Richards (umpire)
1863 - 1917
Henry Hill (Warwickshire cricketer)
1861 - 1913
Thomas Harrison (footballer)
1867 - 1942
Batty Garvey
1864 - 1932
Oliver Whateley
1861 - 1926
Jack Hughes (footballer)
1866 - 1890
Archibald Barton
1862 - 1889
Eddy Stanley
1860 - 1930
Charles Moffatt Jenkinson
1865 - 1954
Walter Ward (footballer)
1869 - 1890
Alfred Law (cricketer)
1862 - 1919
John Rogers (rugby union)
1867 - 1922
Will Devey
1865 - 1935
Harold Oliver (footballer, born 1863)
Born 1863
George Short
1866 - 1895
Harry Devey
1860 - 1924
Albert Evers
1868 - 1890
Ernie Moore
1869 - 1894
Walter Gittins
1865 - 1890
Walter James Bird
1863 - 1953
George Smith (footballer, born 1868)
1868 - 1890
Len Curryer
1864 - 1891