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Second city of the United Kingdom

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The identity of the second city of the United Kingdom is a subject of some disagreement. A country's second city is the city that is thought to be the second most important, usually after the capital or first city (London, in this case), according to criteria such as population size, economic and commercial importance, political importance or some cultural criteria. There is no official mechanism by which second city status is conferred on a city, and citizens and civic leaders of rival cities often argue over their conflicting claims.

Birmingham has generally been regarded as the second city of the United Kingdom since around the time of World War I,[1] though some polls and media references have quoted Manchester as the second city (and also as the third city). Other cities in both England and Scotland have at times been considered the second city. For example, Glasgow, in Scotland, was in the past called The Second City of the Empire. During the 19th and early 20th century, the whole of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. During some of this time Dublin was considered to be the second city.[2][3]

It is perhaps even more difficult to make a distinction based on cultural factors, as all major UK cities play an important role in the cultural make-up of the country: in addition to Birmingham and Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow (European Capital of Culture for 1990), Liverpool (joint European Capital of Culture for 2008), Leeds, Sheffield, Cardiff, Newcastle upon Tyne and others all boast internationally recognised sporting, music and performing arts scenes.

History

Since the formation of the United Kingdom, several places have been described as the "second city". Dublin was the second most populous city at the time of the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, though it lost that position later in the 19th century as other cities grew through industrialisation.[4] As such, it was often described as the second city of the UK.[2] Dublin, and the rest of the Republic of Ireland, became independent of the UK in the 1920s.

By the early 19th century, Glasgow was frequently referred to as the second city;[5] and during much of the 20th century it had a population of over one million, larger than that of Birmingham until the 1951 census. For example, the Official Census population for Glasgow was 0.784 million in April 1911; 1.034 million in April 1921; 1.088 million in April 1931 and 1.090 million in April 1951.[6] However, slum clearances in the 1960s led to displacement of residents from the city centre to new communities located outside the city boundaries. This, together with local government reorganisation, resulted in the official population of Glasgow falling sharply. The Glasgow City Council area currently has a population of 600,000 although the surrounding conurbation of Greater Glasgow has a population of 1,199,629.[7] In contrast, the population of the city of Birmingham has remained steady around the one million mark; its central population fell like Glasgow's, but the city boundaries were extended several times in the early 20th century. Occasional claims were made for Liverpool,[8] Birmingham[9] and Manchester.[10]

The title Second City of Empire or Second City of the British Empire was claimed by a number of cities in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. These include Dublin,[11] Glasgow (which continues to use the title as a marketing slogan),[12][13] Liverpool;[14][15] and (outside the UK) Kolkata (known as Calcutta during the British Empire)[16] and Philadelphia.[17]

Prior to the union with Scotland in 1707, from the English Civil War until the 18th century, Norwich was the second-largest city of England, being a major trading centre, Britain's richest provincial city and county town of Norfolk, at that time the most populous county of England.[18] Bristol was the second wealthiest city in England in the 16th century;[19] and by the 18th century, Bristol was often described as the second city of England.[20] During the 19th century, claims were made for Manchester,[21] Liverpool[22] and York.[23] York had also been named as the second city in earlier centuries.[24]

Current

Birmingham or Manchester

Birmingham
File:Manchester Skyline Image.jpg
Manchester

Since World War I, Birmingham has historically been considered the second city of the United Kingdom, but recent polls and media references have indicated that Manchester is regarded as the second city.

In a 2007 survey commissioned by the BBC investigating the subject of the "'Second city' of England" (as opposed to the UK as a whole), 48% of 1,000 people said that Manchester deserves the distinction, with 40% choosing Birmingham.[25] The BBC further reported that Manchester is close to being the second city of the UK in 2005.[26] In a similar survey conducted by Ipsos MORI, commissioned by "Visit Manchester" (Manchester's tourism department), Manchester received the highest response for the category of second city at 34%, compared to Birmingham at 29%; and in the same poll, Manchester had the highest response for the category of third city with 27% of the vote, 6% more than the 21% for Birmingham.[27] Only 85% of respondents put London as first City.[28]

Manchester is reported by international news media as the UK's second city,[29] and sometimes as the UK's third city.[30] Whereas Birmingham is almost always reported as the UK's second city in similar international news media.[31][32][33][34]

Based on population within official city boundaries the City of Birmingham, the most populous local government district in Europe, is substantially larger than the City of Manchester, which is the fifth largest in the UK (2006 estimates, see List of English districts by population). However, most sources do not use formal city boundaries as the sole criterion for population comparison: for instance, the City of London, with a population of only 7,185 (2001 census), is very small, though London as a whole is the most populous city within city limits in the European Union[35] with an official population of 7.6 million (as of 2006) and has a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million people.[36][37]

The surrounding conurbations and the areas that can be considered informally part of each city are hard to define. However after the 1974 reorganisation of local government and the creation of metropolitan counties, the City of Birmingham was included with the City of Coventry and five other metropolitan boroughs (one, Wolverhampton gained city status in 2000) in a new West Midlands county. The City of Manchester joined with the neighbouring City of Salford and eight other Metropolitan boroughs within the County of Greater Manchester.

The City of Birmingham has a population of 1,006,500 (2006 estimate). It forms part of the larger West Midlands conurbation, which has a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census) and also includes the city of Wolverhampton, the towns of the Black Country, and other towns such as Solihull. The City of Manchester has a population of 452,000 (2006 estimate), while the Greater Manchester Urban Area is home to 2,240,230 people (2001 census) and also includes the City of Salford, and towns like Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Wigan. The populations of Metropolitan counties such as the West Midlands and Greater Manchester also differ slightly from those of the urban areas. Birmingham City Council (BCC) is the largest local authority in Europe and is notable for having the largest wards, by population, in the whole of the UK (each ward has approximately 18,000 voters). BCC is also the UK's largest landlord, with its Housing Department managing just under (?) council homes.[38][dead link‍]

There have been a variety of Ministerial opinions on the subject for some time: these include:

  • Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham (born and raised in Birmingham), former Minister of State at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Foreign Office (former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said "Birmingham is naturally the second most important city in Britain after London because of where she is and how important she is as part of that crossroads,".[40] Jones later said "As a Brummie it's not easy to say, but I can find no better place than the north west in terms of having a diverse manufacturing base, whether it's engineering manufacturing at Rolls-Royce, automotive manufacturing at Bentley or pharmaceuticals manufacturing at AstraZeneca." which contradicts what he said about Birmingham being the most important base outside London. He also praised "Manchester's 'first-class global' university, knowledge and transport infrastructure were the two key factors that determined the success of a city or region."[41]
  • John Prescott (born in Wales and raised in Merseyside), former Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Hull East, was also quoted as saying "Manchester - our second city", but this was later played down by his department, claiming they were made in a "light-hearted context".[42]
  • Graham Stringer (born and raised in and currently representing Manchester), MP for Blackley and Broughton, responded with "Manchester has always been the second city after the capital, in many ways it is the first. Birmingham has never really been in the competition."[42]
  • Sandra White (born and raised in and representing Glasgow), a Scottish National Party MSP for Glasgow, claimed "Glasgow was always seen as the second city in the Empire, and Glasgow is still the second British city. Manchester is probably the second city in England after London."[42]

Other candidates for the title

Leeds is usually thought of as being just behind Birmingham and Manchester when considering the second city title.[by whom?] Edinburgh,[44] Belfast[45] and Cardiff[citation needed] also have a claim on the title of "second city" by virtue of their status as the respective capital cities of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Glasgow and Liverpool make up the other major contenders. Both these cities have been awarded the title of European Capital of Culture in 1990 and 2008 respectively.

Leeds
File:Leeds skyline 2009.jpg
Leeds

With a population of over 770,000, Leeds is the second largest metropolitan district in the UK behind Birmingham, with the second largest employment total outside London ( including over 110,000 people commuting to work in Leeds from outside the district every day[46]). Leeds is the third largest centre for business, legal and financial services outside the top two of London and Edinburgh and according to the most recent Office for National Statistics estimates,[citation needed]. Leeds is the fastest growing city in the UK[citation needed]. Furthermore many of the UK's largest firms from a variety of sectors locate their resources and/or headquarters in the city[citation needed]. Examples include telecoms giants BT, who regard Leeds as their "second city"[47] and Asda, which have their head office Asda House in Leeds. In terms of public transport, Leeds railway station was the busiest English station outside London in 2008/9. (It was Manchester Piccadilly in 2005, 2006 and 2007). It has 17 platforms, again making it the largest in England outside London, although smaller than Edinburgh Waverley which is the second largest in the UK after London Waterloo.

Leeds was successful in becoming the first British city to have full broadband and digital coverage during the dot-com bubble, enabling it to become one of the key hubs in the emerging new media sector. Companies such as Freeserve, Energis, Sportal, TEAMtalk, Contactmusic.com and Ananova emerged from Leeds to dominate the UK internet industry. Now, over 33% of the UK's internet traffic passes through Leeds, making it one of the most important regional internet centres in the UK.

Edinburgh

In addition to being the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh is the second busiest tourist destination after London,[48] and since devolution has become the most important city after London in governmental terms, housing the Scottish Parliament. It is a growing financial centre and houses, amongst other financial and insurance companies, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, two of the UK's big five banks.[49] Edinburgh is also home to the world's largest arts festival every August; is the only British city to have hosted the Commonwealth Games twice (1970 and 1986); and has since the 1990s been one of the main alternatives in the UK to London for hosting major political summits, having hosted meetings of the European Council (1992), G8 (2005, nearby at Auchterarder - see 31st G8 summit), and the Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1997.

References

  1. ^ Hopkins, Eric (2001). Birmingham: The Making of the Second City 1850-1939. Tempus Publishing. ISBN ISBN 0-7524-2327-4. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  2. ^ a b Sidney Edwards Morse and Jedidiah Morse, A New System of Geography, Ancient and Modern, p.177, 1824
  3. ^ Provincial Towns in Early Modern England and Ireland: Change, Convergence, and Divergence, Oxford University Press, p.22, 2002
  4. ^ BBC: "A Short History of Ireland" - "The population, which had been 58,000 in 1683, was close to 129,000 by 1772 and 182,000 including the garrison by 1798, making Dublin the second largest city in the British Empire."
  5. ^ For example, see T. H. B. Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland, p.566, 1816 or Spencer Walpole, A History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815, p.103, 1878
  6. ^ Roberson, D. J. (1958). "Population, Past and Present". Chapter 2 in: Cunnison, J. and Gilfillan, J. B. S. (1958). The Third Statistical Account of Scotland, Volume V. The City of Glasgow. Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.
  7. ^ "Key Statistics for Settlements and Localities Scotland". General Register Office for Scotland. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  8. ^ D. Appleton, Appletons' American Standard Geographies, p.130, 1881.
  9. ^ W. Stewart & Co., The Journal of Education, p.38, 1867.
  10. ^ Chetham Society, Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancashire and Chester, 1862, p.531.
  11. ^ "When you remember that Dublin has been a capital for thousands of years, that it is the second city of the British Empire, that it is nearly three times as big as Venice it seems strange that no artist has given it to the world." James Joyce, Letter to Stanislaus Joyce, c. 24 September 1905 (Letters of James Joyce, vol. II, pp. 109-112. (Viking Press, 1966).
  12. ^ "The Second City". Glasgow City Council (glasgow.gov.uk).
  13. ^ W Hamish Fraser. "Second City of The Empire: 1830s to 1914". The Glasgow Story.
  14. ^ http://www.liv.ac.uk/researchintelligence/issue30/liverpool800.html Liverpool University: "... the city's pre-eminent position at the turn of the 19th century resulted from the port's willingness to handle a very wide range of cargo (including millions of migrants to the new world). Liverpool was second only to London in this respect - and this, together with its great ethnic diversity, was the basis of its claim to being the 'second city of empire'."
  15. ^ "The Empire in one city?". Manchester University Press. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  16. ^ Tourism of India - Special Feature - Relics of the Raj
  17. ^ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania facts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania travel videos, flags, photos - National Geographic
  18. ^ Williams, Laura. "Enabling Norwich in the Knowledge Economy" (pdf). The Work Foundation web pages. The Work Foundation. p. 11. Retrieved 2007-08-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ J. E. T. and A. G. L. Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, p.82, 1887
  20. ^ Charles Knight, The Popular History of England, p.8, 1859
  21. ^ Robert Southey, Letters from England, p.177, 1836
  22. ^ James Richard Joy, An Outline History of England, p.26, 1890
  23. ^ John Major, Aeneas James George Mackay and Thomas Graves Law, A History of Greater Britain as Well England as Scotland, p.xxxvi, 1892
  24. ^ John Macky, A Journey Through England, p.208, 1722
  25. ^ "Manchester tops second city poll". BBC NEWS. 2007-02-10. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  26. ^ "Manchester 'close to second city'". BBC NEWS. 2005-09-29. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
  27. ^ // Visit Manchester / Homepage //
  28. ^ "Manchester 'England's second city'". Ipsos MORI North. 2002. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
  29. ^ Britain's Second City Sandblasts Its Image - New York Times (article on Manchester)
  30. ^ "Queen closes 'stunning' games". cnn.com. Cable News Network LP, LLLP. 5 August 2002. Retrieved 2007-07-19. ... a 10-day-long sporting festival hailed by critics as a 'stunning' success for England's third city.
    •Agence France-Presse (20 April 2004). "Manchester United "target" of bomb attack". Brudirect.com. Brudirect.com. Retrieved 2007-07-19. ... plotting to bomb a football ground or a shopping centre in Manchester, Britain's third city with a population of 2.6 million.
    •Agence France-Presse (10 June 2007). "Church of England locks horns with Sony". channelnewsasia.com. MCN International Pte Ltd. Retrieved 2007-07-07. The Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, the Bishop of Manchester, Britain's third city, said that the game trivialises and glamourises (gun crime).
    •Agence France-Presse (10 June 2007). "Church of England locks horns with Sony". Deccan Herald. The Printers (Mysore) Private Ltd. Retrieved 2007-07-15. The Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, the Bishop of Manchester, Britain's third city, said that the game trivialises and glamourises (gun crime).
    •SA (18 July 2007). "Three held in UK terror probe". news24. 24.com. Retrieved 2007-07-19. The arrests in Manchester, Britain's third city, are not linked to the recent failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow ...
  31. ^ What It Was, Was Britball - New York Times
  32. ^ Australia news.com.au, "...Britain's second city of Birmingham...", 28 July 2007, retrieved 31 July 2007.
  33. ^ BBC News, "Is this the nicest place to live in Britain?...Britain's second city...Birmingham...", 09 July 2003, retrieved 31 July 2007.
  34. ^ BBC, "...Britain’s second city, Birmingham...", 15 March 2006, retrieved 01 August 2007.
  35. ^ National Statistics Online
  36. ^ World Gazetteer - World: metropolitan areas
  37. ^ Demographia - Southeast England Population by Area from 1891
  38. ^ Birmingham City Council: "About the Housing Department"
  39. ^ "New Labour troubles". BBC Sunday AM. BBC. 5 March 2005. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  40. ^ "Manchester tops second city poll". BBC News. BBC. 9 February 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  41. ^ "Jones: North west best for innovation". Manchester Evening News. 10 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
  42. ^ a b c "Prescott ranks Manchester as second city". Manchester Evening News. M.E.N media. 3 February 2005. Retrieved 2007-08-20. We have had fantastic co-operation here in Manchester - our second city, I am prepared to concede.
  43. ^ "'Setting the Standard' - Speech by Phil Woolas MP at the fifth Annual Assembly of Standards Committees on 16 October 2006". Department for Communities and Local Government. Department for Communities and Local Government. 16 October 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-02. And, of course, I, and colleagues in Manchester, am pleased to see its very sensible plans to relocate to Manchester - Britain's third city.
  44. ^ New York Times, August 6, 1989: "Edinburgh's castle high on the rock has looked down on many a triumph and tragedy in the proud Scots capital, but every year since 1947, Britain's Second City steals the spotlight from London during the three weeks of the international festival."
  45. ^ Hoge, Warren (2003-06-25). "LETTER FROM EUROPE; The Last Hard Case: Bleak, Stubborn Belfast". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  46. ^ http://www.leeds-city-guide.com/Body
  47. ^ http://www.yorkshire-forward.com/our-wonderful-region/our-cities/Leeds-the-facts
  48. ^ http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk "Edinburgh is the UK’s second city of tourism after London and acts as a gateway to the rest of Scotland. It generates 22% of UK and 33% of overseas tourism spend in Scotland"]
  49. ^ "Overview of Scotland's Financial Industry". Scottish Financial Enterprise. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
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