More footballers in the family? Jack Grealish’s family tree
3-4 minute read
By The Findmypast Team | June 10, 2024
Take a deep dive into the ancestry of one of England's star players, Manchester City Winger Jack Grealish.
If you’re into football, chances are you’ll know about Jack Grealish – but how much do you know about Jack’s background?
He’s not the only person in his family who’s played football for Aston Villa and England. And did you know that Jack Grealish could’ve been the star man for Ireland?
Explore even more of our celebrity discoveries via the History Hub. From Harry Kane’s family tree to Taylor Swift’s fascinating family tree there is so much history to explore.
Jack Grealish's early life
Jack Peter Grealish was born on 10 September 1995 in Birmingham, West Midlands.
The future England star debuted for his boyhood heroes Aston Villa on 7 May 2014 against Manchester City. He made over 200 appearances for the club before moving to Manchester City in 2021. He also had a brief loan spell at Notts County during the 2013/2014 season.
On the international stage, Jack Grealish had the choice to play for Ireland through his grandparents. However, in 2020, he made his debut for England in a 0-0 draw against Denmark.
His parents are Kevin Grealish (born 1965) and Karen T Grealish (maiden name Burke) born in 1964. Kevin Grealish is a property director, while Karen is the director of Hampton Gate Management company.
Jack Grealish with his parents.
Jack Grealish had a younger brother Keelan who sadly passed away in April 2000. He also has a little sister Hollie, who was born in August 2003.
Jack grew up in Solihull (just outside of Birmingham) with his family. He attended Our Lady of Compassion Roman Catholic Primary School and St Peter’s Roman Catholic Secondary School. A little digging into Jack’s ancestry revealed a few interesting discoveries. Starting with Jack’s parents and tracing his lineage back over 100 years, we uncovered regal connections, football player relatives and more.
A fellow footballer on Jack’s maternal side
Our research revealed that Jack Grealish has a footballer relative: his maternal great-great-grandfather William (Billy) Garraty (1878-1931) played football from 1897 until 1911. Billy played for Aston Villa over 200 times, scoring a staggering 96 league goals for the club.
He also went onto play for Leicester Fosse (who he joined for £300, 113 years before his great-great grandson Jack moved to Manchester City for £110 million), as well as West Bromwich Albion and Lincoln City.
William Garraty, Jack’s 2x great-grandfather.
Jack's great-great grandfather also won the FA Cup in 1905 with Villa, and the league in the 1899-1900 season. He achieved his only England cap in 1903 against Wales. The FA Cup winner later became a coach with Aston Villa after his playing career ended but had to stand down after suffering a bout of pneumonia.
After his football career ended, Garraty worked as a delivery driver for Ansell’s Brewery. He was also a pub landlord, in charge of Birmingham pub Lad in the Lane between 1912 and 1913. Also known as Ye Old Green Man, the 15th century Lad in the Lane is the city’s oldest public house. The building received a Grade 2 listed status in the 1980s.
The Lad in the Lane, Birmingham.
Diving into the 1921 Census revealed even more about William Garraty. He was aged 42 in 1921 and married to Annie Shufflebotham (aged 39). The couple had 8 children: Beatrice, Doris, Muriel, Marjorie, William, Eric, Lillian (Jack’s great-grandmother) and the youngest, Cecil.
William was out of work – prior to that, he’d been working as a general labourer. Garraty was also a delivery driver for Ansell’s Brewery before he became a pub landlord.
Ancestors in trouble with the law?...
We also found something unexpected when digging even further into William’s life story. In July 1904, William Garraty and two other men were sent to the police court for poaching on Lord Aylesford’s estate. He and others involved were fined 20 shillings each.
This find reveals the power of the newspaper archive for helping to uncover criminal ties within our family trees. Whether your ancestor was the perpetrator of a crime, its victim or just witnessed it, we’ve all got ties to the world of crime in years gone by. Discover your own criminal connections by searching our newspaper archive today.
Search for stories in our newspapers and publications
Explore millions of digitised pages of newspapers and other publications from our British and Irish collections, dating as far back as the 1700s.
William Garraty passed away at the age of 52 in May 1931, after contracting pneumonia again.
For more footballing family histories, find out what we discovered in Harry Kane’s family tree.
We also delved into the pasts of a host of other Scotland and Wales footballers in partnership with Migration Museum.
Related articles recommended for you
'Their hunger will not allow them to continue': the victorious London dockers' strike of 1889
History Hub
Irish genealogy deep-dive: Discover the remarkably rich Irish family history behind Irish diaspora through the centuries
Help Hub
The painstaking process of preserving old family records
Family Records
