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 26 of 1,751 notable people

0004 DRAMA

Frances Hodgson Burnett

1849 - 1924

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0066 CHESS

Joseph Henry Blackburne

1841 - 1924

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0088 PHYSICIST

John Hopkinson

1849 - 1898

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0105 PSYCHOLOGIST

William Thierry Preyer

1841 - 1897

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0151 LEXICOGRAPHER

Henry Bradley

1845 - 1923

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0165 PAINTER

Louise Jopling

1843 - 1933

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0271 LIBRETTIST

Sydney Grundy

1848 - 1914

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0367 ANARCHIST

James L. Walker

1845 - 1904

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0532 PAINTER

Louis Eysen

1843 - 1899

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0605 POLITICIAN

Joseph Henry Burrows

1840 - 1914

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0785 CHEMIST

John Theodore Merz

1840 - 1921

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0949 ARCHAEOLOGIST

John Parsons Earwaker

1847 - 1895

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0976 LIBERAL

Joseph Leese

1845 - 1914

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0993 ENGINEER

John Clarke Hawkshaw

1841 - 1921

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1043 PHILOSOPHER

Alfred Barratt

1844 - 1881

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1181 LAWYER

Loveland Munson

1843 - 1921

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1196 ARMY

Philip Baybutt

1844 - 1907

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1268 PAINTER

Ernest Preyer

1842 - 1917

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1370 ARMY

James Sweeney (Medal of Honor)

1845 - 1931

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1373 POLITICIAN

Sir Alfred Watkin, 2nd Baronet

1846 - 1914

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1392 CONVICT

Elizabeth Potts

1846 - 1890

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1419 POLITICIAN

Harry Nuttall (politician)

1849 - 1924

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1572 ARTIST

Alice Donlevy

1846 - 1929

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1648 LITERARY

James Goronwy Mathias

1842 - 1895

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1683 TRADE UNION

David Holmes (trade unionist)

1843 - 1906

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1707 OFFICER

William Stopford

1848 - 1928

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