The Sheffield Gang Wars is an umbrella term used to describe a large period between the 19th and 20th centuries in which the

City of Sheffield The City of Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Sheffield, the town of Stocksbridge and larger village of Chapeltown and part of the Peak Di ...

saw a rise in criminal gang activity. The notoriety of some gangs led to the formation of the 'Special Duties Squad' by

Percy Sillitoe Sir Percy Joseph Sillitoe KBE DL (22 May 1888 – 5 April 1962) was a chief constable of several police forces. He changed the role of radios, civilian staff, and women police officers within the police. He was later Director General of MI5, ...

. Though other UK cities have historically had more widespread violence, mostly concentrated in dense urban areas such as London,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and more notorious criminal gangs such as the

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1910s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to middle-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, rack ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

also exist. The sheer brutality of Sheffield's gangs earned the city the nickname 'Little Chicago', in reference to gang culture within Chicago in the United States during the same period.

References

{{Reflist History of Sheffield Crime in Sheffield Gangs in England Organised crime conflicts in the United Kingdom