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 1880s Clear ×
Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
1881 - 1955
Sax Rohmer
1883 - 1959
Edward Bach
1886 - 1936
Albert Austin
1881 - 1953
Charley Rogers
1887 - 1956
Clifford Grey
1887 - 1941
Edgar Guest
1881 - 1959
Randolph Lycett
1886 - 1935
Gordon Lowe
1884 - 1972
Leo Smith (composer)
1881 - 1952
Henry Thomas (boxer)
1888 - 1963
F. J. M. Stratton
1881 - 1960
Victor Johnson (cyclist)
1883 - 1951
Elsie Maud Wakefield
1886 - 1972
Sidney Abrahams
1885 - 1957
Arthur Lowe (tennis)
1886 - 1958
Muriel Wheldale Onslow
1880 - 1932
Oscar Parkes
1885 - 1958
Walter Tysall
1880 - 1955
George Hassell (actor)
1881 - 1937
Albert Betts
1888 - 1924
Charles Vigurs
1888 - 1917
Reggie Pridmore
1886 - 1918
Owen Moran
1884 - 1949
John Whitaker (gymnast)
1886 - 1977
Samuel Walker (gymnast)
1883 - 1960
Edgar Chance
1881 - 1955
Katharine Woolley
1888 - 1945
Frank Foster (cricketer)
1889 - 1958
Arthur Edwin Hill
1888 - 1959
Alfred Messenger
1887 - 1968
Tiger Smith
1886 - 1979
Harry Weedon
1887 - 1970
Peter Bennett, 1st Baron Bennett of Edgbaston
1880 - 1957
Fred Barnes (performer)
1885 - 1938
Harry Herbert Trusted
1888 - 1985
Joseph Tozer
1881 - 1955
Clarence Raybould
1886 - 1972
Harry Haslam (field hockey)
1883 - 1955
Thomas Paterson
1882 - 1952
S. N. Cooke
Born 1883
Herbert Harper
1889 - 1983
Joseph Harcourt Tombs
1887 - 1966
Arthur Conway (sportsman)
1885 - 1954
Henry Crichton (cricketer)
1884 - 1968
Arthur Vickers
1882 - 1944
Hubert Beaumont (Labour politician)
1883 - 1948
Harold A. Lafount
1880 - 1952
George Travers
1888 - 1946
Albert Fisher (footballer)
1881 - 1937
Lizette Thorne
1882 - 1970
Frank Costello (footballer)
1884 - 1914
Pat Flanagan (English footballer)
1889 - 1917
Alf Miles
1884 - 1927
William Yates (footballer)
1883 - 1914
Eric Sherbrooke Walker
1887 - 1976
Frederick Banks
1888 - 1957
Tom Homer (footballer)
Born 1886
James Frederick Brailsford
1888 - 1961
Percival Bromfield
1886 - 1947
Tommy Callaghan (footballer, born 1886)
1886 - 1917
Eileen Hendriks
1887 - 1978
Walter Kimberley
1884 - 1917
George Stephens (cricketer)
1889 - 1950
Alfred Joseph Knight
1888 - 1960
William Amey
1881 - 1940
Ignatius Rice
1883 - 1955
Frank Stephens (cricketer)
1889 - 1970
Jack McKenna (athlete)
1889 - 1973
Jack Robinson (footballer, born 1887)
Born 1887
William Gell (RAF officer)
1888 - 1969
Alfred Wilcox
1884 - 1954
Fred Lewis (footballer, born 1886)
1886 - 1949
Charles Jones (footballer)
1888 - 1909
Ernie Newman
Born 1887
Harold Goodwin (cricketer)
1886 - 1917
Thomas Turrall
1885 - 1964
Lewis Moist
1881 - 1940
Albert Gardner
1887 - 1923
Tom Handley
1886 - 1962
Tom Thornton
1885 - 1951
Howard Humphries
1888 - 1960
Frank Arnold Bumpus
1886 - 1980
Ted Juggins
1882 - 1966
Helen Kirkland Dalrymple
1883 - 1943
Alfred H. Bellot
Born 1882