The second city of the United Kingdom is an unofficial claim made at various times by several cities since the establishment of the UK in 1801. Commonly a country's second city is the city that is thought to be the second most important, usually after the capital or first city according to criteria such as population size, economic importance and cultural contribution.
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Historically several cities have been considered the "second city of the British Empire". In the early 19th Century, Dublin was considered by many to be the second city; later in the century, Glasgow and Liverpool burgeoned as major industrial centres and had competing claims to be the busiest ports in the world for ship building and freight transport. Calcutta also laid the claim from as far away as India as the most populous city, while in 1911 the editor of the Irish Times laid a second claim for Dublin during a ceremonial visit by George V. Since the establishment of the Commonwealth in 1949 several cities have made claims to be the "second city of the Commonwealth" (often with particular reference to the significance of the Commonwealth Games) in particular Manchester in 2000 and Glasgow again in 2012.
In contrast throughout much of the 20th and 21st Century Birmingham has generally been regarded as the second city of the United Kingdom in terms of populace and GDP while Edinburgh has been promoted as the second city by virtue as the capital of Scotland. Less authoratitive claims have been made on behalf of Cardiff and Belfast due to their status as the respective capital cities of Wales and Northern Ireland.
History
Since the formation of the United Kingdom, several places have been described as the "second city". Aristocrat-dominated Georgian Dublin was the second most populous city at the time of the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 (it was also the fifth most populous in Europe), and was often described as the second city of the UK. Though it lost that position towards the end of the 19th century as the empire's Victorian cities grew through more rapid industrialisation. Dublin, and the rest of the Republic of Ireland, became independent of the UK in the 1920s.
Later, 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. Commercial trading city Liverpool was regarded as holding this title with its massive port, merchant fleet and world-wide trading links. Liverpool was constantly referred to as the New York of Europe. Others included Dublin, Glasgow (which continues to use the title as a marketing slogan), and (outside the UK) Calcutta and Philadelphia.
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. Bristol was the second wealthiest city in England in the 16th century; and by the 18th century, Bristol was often described as the second city of England. During the 19th century, claims were made for Manchester, Liverpool and York. York had also been named as the second city in earlier centuries.
By the early 19th century, Glasgow was frequently referred to as the second city; 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. 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. 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, Birmingham and Manchester.
Modern points of view
Since World War I, and up to the beginning of the 21st century, Birmingham had been considered by many to be the second city, but recent polls and media references have indicated that Manchester is now considered to be the second city of the United Kingdom.
Based on population within actual 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. 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.
While the 'second city' status of any country is decided upon a variety of economic or cultural indices, both Birmingham and Manchester have shown an edge in each over the years. For example, in 2010, Manchester City Centre became second to London for new office building take-up with almost a million square foot (86,400 m2) occupied in the year, whilst praise for Birmingham's striking modern architecture was cited as confirmation of its claim to second city status.
Public opinion polls
As the Second City is an unofficial title and one of subjective opinion, a number of polls have been conducted over the years. Despite Birmingham being viewed as the traditional second city, public polls have shown a consistent preference for Manchester since 2000. This shift has been attributed to Manchester's and the wider Greater Manchester region's rebranding of itself, most notably after the 1996 Manchester bombing and the successful hosting of the 2002 Commonwealth Games:
Ministerial statements
There have been a variety of Ministerial statements and opinions on the subject for some time. These include: