Families have paid tribute to victims of the 1974 IRA Birmingham pub bombings, in the first day of evidence at the inquest into the atrocity.

Twenty-one people were killed and more than 200 injured when bombs were detonated in two Birmingham city centre pubs – the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town – on the evening of Thursday 21 November nearly 45 years ago.

The inquest into the deaths was initially opened in November 1974, but was adjourned to allow for a criminal investigation. In 1975, six men – who became known as the Birmingham Six – were convicted for the bombings, but were acquitted 16 years later, in 1991.

Paul Rowlands, the son of John Rowlands, 46 – who was one of a group of six friends who died together – told the inquest the Mulberry Bush had been his dad’s favourite pub. “My only consolation is that on the night of his death he died with his friends, as they stood around the bar,” he said.

“I know that he loved me and that he was always there to protect me,” he said. “I really do miss him and wish only that he had lived long enough to have seen his grandchildren and his great grandchildren grow up.”

Fresh inquests into the deaths were ordered in 2016 but were delayed by disputes over whether the hearings should examine who might be responsible for the bombings.

In January 2018, the high court overturned a ruling by the coroner Sir Peter Thornton that alleged perpetrators would not fall within the framework of the inquest. Thornton appealed against that decision the following July and the court of appeal ruled in his favour in September.

The inquest, at the Birmingham civil justice centre, is expected to last up to six weeks. The jury will hear “pen portraits” about the victims, read by their family, friends and lawyers, on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, jurors will be taken to view the sites where the targeted pubs used to be.

Speaking on Monday, Thornton said that as well as establishing how each of the victims died, the inquest would also hear evidence about IRA warnings before the bombings and the response of the emergency services on the night.

“In addition to the telephone warning which was made to the local paper, you will hear evidence about other possible forewarnings,” said Thornton. “By forewarning, I mean some evidence in advance of the bombings that something bad was going to happen in Birmingham which may have been notified to the police.”

He said that attributing blame for perpetrating the bombings was a job for “the police and prosecution through the criminal courts”.

On Tuesday, the jury heard tributes to 15 of the victims. Danielle Fairweather-Tipping, the cousin of Neil “Tommy” Marsh, at 16 the youngest of the victims, told the inquest he would have been 62 this November.

“He would have most likely lived a life close to his family and he probably would have got married and had children,” she said. “His mother would have had the joy of being part of his life, the joy of caring for grandchildren she never had.”

Paul Thrupp, son of Trevor Thrupp, 33, said that after his father’s death his sister thought she saw him wherever she went, hoping that perhaps he had not died and had just forgotten where he lived. “I gave my sisters away for their wedding, which was a privilege my dad should have enjoyed,” said Thrupp.

Michelle Sealey and Paul Bridgewater, the daughter and son of Paul Davies – who died aged 17 – told the inquest their father had been known for being handsome and charming. Bridgewater, who was not yet born when his father died, said: “I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to know him. Perhaps we would have gone to [Aston] Villa matches together as father and son.”

Lynn Bennett, 18, and Stephen Whalley, 21, both died at the Tavern in the Town while on a blind date, after meeting through a lonely hearts column in NME magazine.

Bennett’s sister Claire Luckman told the inquest her sister and father had been season ticket holders at Birmingham City football club and had always attended matches together. Her father never stepped foot inside the club’s stadium again after his daughter’s death.

In a statement from Whalley’s mother, who was too elderly and frail to attend the inquest, she said she and her husband had been overjoyed when Stephen was born because she had previously lost two children at birth.

“Whilst I would love the world to know about my son Steven and the lovely man he was, it is just too difficult and painful for me to recall any memories I have,” she said. “It is too traumatic to remember.”