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 16 of 1,751 notable people

0089 ASTRONOMER

Lydia Becker

1827 - 1890

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0196 WRITER

William Hepworth Dixon

1821 - 1879

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0283 WRITER

Isabella Banks

1821 - 1897

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0397 FAMILY

Lizzie Burns

1827 - 1878

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0425 CHEMIST

Edward Schunck

1820 - 1903

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0540 PAINTER

Henry Clarence Whaite

1828 - 1912

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0586 COLLECTOR

Thomas Fairbairn

1823 - 1891

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0594 POLITICIAN

Mary Burns

1821 - 1863

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0685 PAINTER

Martha Darley Mutrie

1824 - 1885

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1098 MISSING

Thomas Benbow Phillips

1829 - 1915

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1172 POLITICIAN

Alexander Brogden

1825 - 1892

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1250 POLITICIAN

John Snowdon Henry

1824 - 1896

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1299 POLITICIAN

William Brookes (Queensland politician)

1825 - 1898

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1319 LAWYER

Richard Dewhurst

1826 - 1895

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1532 CRICKET

John Earl (cricketer, born 1822)

1822 - 1874

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1747 INVENTOR

William Wallace (Erfinder)

1825 - 1904

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