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 1870s Clear ×
Francis William Aston
1877 - 1945
Albert Ketèlbey
1875 - 1959
Ernest Barnes
1874 - 1953
Edith Holden
1871 - 1920
Charles Talbut Onions
1873 - 1965
Arthur Henry Reginald Buller
1874 - 1944
Thomas Hicks (athlete)
1876 - 1952
Emma Barton (photographer)
1872 - 1938
Bertram Hopkinson
1874 - 1918
John Vincent (sailor)
1879 - 1941
Edward Pepper
1879 - 1960
Edith Wynne Matthison
1875 - 1955
Samuel Hodgetts
1877 - 1944
Billy Garraty
1878 - 1931
William Alexander Harvey
1874 - 1951
Bert Harris
1874 - 1897
Jeffery Farnol
1878 - 1952
Howard Spencer
1875 - 1940
Percy Brown (art historian)
1872 - 1955
May Louise Greville Cooksey
1878 - 1943
Herbert Nicol
1873 - 1950
Brother XII
1878 - 1934
Bernard Sleigh
1872 - 1954
Thomas Williams (Archbishop of Birmingham)
1877 - 1946
William Haywood (architect)
1876 - 1957
Julius Elias, 1st Viscount Southwood
1873 - 1946
Ida Maclean
1877 - 1944
Lionel Simeon Marks
1871 - 1955
William Sinclair Marris
1873 - 1945
George Ravenhill
1872 - 1921
Bert Roberts
1878 - 1964
Walter Myers (physician)
1872 - 1901
Wilfred Byng Kenrick
1872 - 1962
Jimmy Whitehouse
1871 - 1901
Harry Price (Royal Navy seaman)
1877 - 1965
David Noon (cyclist)
1878 - 1938
Billy Walton
1871 - 1963
Cyril Lloyd
1876 - 1963
Albert Gill
1879 - 1916
Arthur Lewis Hall
1872 - 1955
George E. Metcalf
1879 - 1956
Edmund Goodman
1873 - 1960
Alfred Herbert Richardson
1874 - 1951
Abraham E. Lefcourt
1877 - 1932
George Perrins
1873 - 1896
William Ward (cricketer, born 1874)
1874 - 1961
Howard Parkes
1877 - 1920
Albert Cope
1878 - 1930
Harry Williams (footballer, born 1875)
1875 - 1896
Walter Bailey (footballer)
Born 1876
Jack Price (footballer, born 1877)
1877 - 1908
Kenneth Chance
1879 - 1966
Billy Pratt (footballer, born 1872)
1872 - 1898
Ernest Frank Richardson
1872 - 1952
Arthur Griffiths (footballer, born 1879)
1879 - 1955
Harold Busher
1876 - 1954
Billy Pratt (footballer, born 1874)
1874 - 1902
Arthur Harrison (English footballer)
1878 - 1902
Guy Sparrow (cricketer)
1877 - 1958
Howard Harvey
1877 - 1904
Robert Brown (sport shooter)
1873 - 1918
Arthur Poole (cricketer, born 1878)
1878 - 1955
Harry Fletcher (footballer)
1873 - 1923
Len Hyde
1876 - 1932
Ted Devey
1871 - 1946
Sid Wharton
1876 - 1951
Charles Hudson (footballer)
1872 - 1955
William Henry James Blakemore
1871 - 1945
Fred Laws
1877 - 1954
Joe Fountain
1871 - 1946
Bernard Pumfrey
1873 - 1930
Thomas Farnall
1874 - 1927
Warwick Wright
1875 - 1945
Ernest Pointer
1872 - 1900
George Harper (footballer)
1877 - 1914
Arthur Charles Bannington
1879 - 1951
Tommy Green (footballer, born 1873)
1873 - 1921
Billy Dorrell
1872 - 1953
Hilda Hartle
1876 - 1974
Tom Pangborn
1870 - 1926
Howard Gallier
1872 - 1955
Leon Hyde
1876 - 1932
John Griffiths (footballer)
1876 - 1953