53.4668° N, 2.2333° W

MANCHESTER

Most Famous People Born in Manchester, United Kingdom

Notable people
1,751
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1950
Most distinctive
Boxer 3.3×

The first industrial city in the world, and still the one the British music press writes about more than any other. More than a quarter of Manchester's notables are footballers, and the distinctive shelves after that are boxers and actors — the legacy of the Salford and Wythenshawe boxing clubs and a stage tradition that has fed Coronation Street for sixty years. Emmeline Pankhurst, the Pankhurst daughters, David Lloyd George, and the Manchester University labs that built the world's first stored-program computer all belong to this bench too.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Manchester during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 202 notable births.

What Manchester Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is Manchester's biggest profession — 25% of all notables (437).

Manchester over-indexes on boxer3.3× the global rate.

Manchester under-produces politician — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Football437
  2. Actor173
  3. Politician86
  4. Writer63
  5. Singer51
  6. Painter42
  7. Player41
  8. Music35
  1. Boxer233.3×
  2. Football4372.3×
  3. Actor1731.9×
  1. Politician860.4×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Manchester's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

15001550160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Music
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Politics & Law
  • Other
All1,751
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Showing 13 of 1,751 notable people

0157 COLLECTOR

Thomas Phillipps

1792 - 1872

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0214 ORNITHOLOGIST

John Blackwall

1790 - 1881

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0338 CONVICT

Matthew Brady

1799 - 1826

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0582 PAINTER

Nathaniel George Philips

1795 - 1831

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0848 POLITICIAN

Robert Hyde Greg

1795 - 1875

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0887 BANK

Benjamin Heywood

1793 - 1865

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1027 PRIEST

Alfred Ollivant (bishop)

1798 - 1882

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1063 WRITER

Charles Henry Timperley

1794 - 1869

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1064 PHILANTHROPIST

John Owens (merchant)

1790 - 1846

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1159 PRIEST

John William Whittaker

1790 - 1854

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1180 ANTIQUARIAN

Thomas Heywood (antiquarian)

1797 - 1866

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1474 ACTOR

James H. Caldwell

1793 - 1863

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1727 ENGRAVER

John Potts (engraver)

1791 - 1841

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