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LIVERPOOL, EARLS OF
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See also:LIVERPOOL, EARLS OF . See also: Liverpool was twice married: firstly to Amelia (d. 1770), daughter of See also: The more See also:modern cottages and blocks of See also:artisan dwellings have tended to reduce the rate of mortality. Parks.—The earliest public See also:park, the Princes Park, was laid out in 1843 by private enterprise, and is owned by trustees, butthe reversion has been acquired by the See also:corporation. Sefton Park, the most extensive, containing 269 acres, was opened in 1872. A large portion of the See also:land See also:round the margin has been leased for the erection of villas. Wavertree, Newsham, See also:Sheil and See also:Stanley Parks have also been constructed at the public expense. Connected with Wavertree Park are the botanic gardens. A See also:palm house in Sefton Park was opened in 1896 and a conservatory in Stanley Park in 1900. Since 1882 several of the city churchyards and See also:burial grounds and many open spaces have been laid out as gardens and recreation grounds. A playground containing To8 acres in Wavertree was presented to the city in 1895 by an See also:anonymous donor, and in 1902 the grounds of a private See also:residence outside the city boundaries containing 94 acres were acquired and are now known as Calderstones Park. In Igoe, about Too acres of land in See also:Roby, also outside the boundaries, was presented to the city. The See also:total See also:area of the parks and gardens of the city, not including the two last named, is 8811 acres. A See also:boulevard about T m. in length, planted with trees in the centre, leads to the entrance of See also:Prince's Park. Public Buildings.—Scarcely any of the public buildings date from an earlier See also:period than the 19th century. One of the earliest, and in many respects the most interesting, is the town-See also:
pool is St George's Hall, completed in 1854.
The original intention was to erect a hall
suited for the triennial See also:music festivals which
had been held in the town. About the same
See also:time the corporation proposed to erect See also:law.
courts for the assizes, which had been trans.
ferred to Liverpool and See also:Manchester. In the
competitive designs, the first See also:prize was gained
in both cases by See also:Harvey See also:Lonsdale See also:Elmes.
He was employed to combine the two See also:objects
in a new See also:design, of which the See also:present building
is the outcome. It is fortunate in its situation, occupying
the most central position in the town, and surrounded by
an area sufficiently extensive to exhibit its proportions, an
See also:advantage which was accentuated in 1898 by the removal of
St John's See also: Externally the See also:east front is faced with a See also:fine portico of sixteen Corinthian columns about 6o ft. in height. An advanced portico of similar columns fronts the See also:south end crowned with a See also:pediment filled with See also:sculpture. The style is See also:Roman, but the refinement of tha details is suggestive of the best period of Grecian See also:art. The great hall is finished with polished See also:granite columns, See also:marble balustrades and pavements, polished See also:brass doors with foliated See also:tracery. The fine See also:organ was built by Messrs See also:Willis of London, from the See also:specification of Dr See also:Samuel See also:Wesley. Elmes having died in 1847 during the progress of the See also:work, the.,building was completed by C. R. See also:Cockerell, R.A. Next to the public buildings belonging to the city, the most important is the See also:exchange, forming three sides of a quadrangle on the north side of the town-hall. The town-hall was originally built to combine a See also:mercantile exchange with municipal offices, but the merchants preferred to meet in the open street adjoining. This, with other circumstances, led to the erection of a new exchange, a building of considerable merit, which was begun in 1803 and opened in 18o8. It had scarcely been in use for more than fifty years when it was found that the wants of See also:commerce had outstripped the accommodation, and the structure was taken down to make room for the present building. The See also:revenue buildings, begun in 1828 on the site of the original Liverpool See also:dock, formerly combined the customs, inland revenue, See also:post-See also:office and dock board departments but are now only used by the two first named. It is a heavy structure, with three advanced porticoes in the Ilyssus Ionic style. Near by stands the sailors' See also:home, a large building in the Elizabethan style. The Philharmonic Hall in See also:Hope Street, with not much pretension externally, is one of the finest music rooms in the See also:kingdom; it accommodates an See also:audience of about 2500.
The See also:group of buildings forming the See also:county sessions house, the See also:free public library, museum, central technical school and See also:gallery of art are finely situated on the slope to the north of St George's Hall. The library and gallery of art are See also:separate buildings, connected by the circular See also:reading-room in the See also:middle. The latter possesses some features in construction worthy of See also:note, having a circular See also:floor See also:loo ft. in See also:diameter without columns or any intermediate support, and a lecture-room underneath, amphitheatrical in See also:form, with grades or benches hewn out of the solid See also:rock. In 1884 the county sessions house just mentioned, adjoining the art gallery was opened for public business. In 1899 new post-office buildings in See also:Victoria Street were completed. In 1907 two important additions were made to the buildings of Liverpool, the new offices of the dock board, built on the site of a portion of the Old George's dock, and the new See also:cotton exchange in Oldhall street. The fine See also:mass of buildings which constitute the university and the Royal Infirmary, Lying between Brownlow See also: F. See also:Bodley and G. See also: The corporation had also, however, obtained power to impound the waters of the Conwy and Marchnant See also:rivers, and to bring them into See also:Lake Vyrnwy, the main See also:reservoir, by means of tunnels. This work was completed and opened by the prince of See also:Wales (George V.) in See also: The vice-chancellor holds sittings in Liverpool. There is a Liverpool district registry of the high court of justice with See also:common law, chancery, See also:probate and admiralty jurisdiction, under two district registrars. The Liverpool county court has the usual limited jurisdiction over a wide See also:local area, together with See also:bankruptcy jurisdiction over the county court districts of St Helens, See also:Widnes, See also:Ormskirk and Southport, and admiralty jurisdiction over the same districts with the addition of See also:Birkenhead, See also:Chester, See also:Runcorn and See also:Warrington. There are two See also:judges attached to the court. Ecclesiastical.—The see of Liverpool was created in 188o under the act of 1879, by the authority of the ecclesiastical commissioners, an endowment fund of about £1oo,000 having been subscribed for the purpose. The See also:parish, which was separated from See also:Walton-on-the-Hill in 1699, contained two churches, St See also:Nicholas, the ancient chapel, and St See also:Peter's, then built. There were two rectors, the living being held in medieties. Of See also:recent years changes have been sanctioned by parliament. The living is now held by a single See also:incumbent, and a large number of the churches which have since been built have been formed into parishes by the ecclesiastical commissioners. St Peter's has been constituted the See also:pro-cathedral, pending the erection of the cathedral. Besides the two original parish churches, there are 103 others belonging to the See also:establishment. The Roman Catholics form a very numerous and powerful See also:body in the city, and it is estimated that from a third to a See also:fourth of the entire population are Roman Catholics. A large part of these are Irish settlers or their descend-ants, but this district of Lancashire has always been a stronghold of Roman Catholicism, many of the landed gentry belonging to old Roman See also:Catholic families. Charities.—The earliest charitable foundation is the See also:Blue Coat See also:hospital, established in 1708, for orphans and fatherless See also:children born within the borough. The original building, opened in 1718, is a See also:quaint and characteristic specimen of the See also:architecture of the period. It now maintains two hundred and fifty boys and one hundred girls. In 1906 the school was removed to new buildings at Wavertree. There is an See also:orphan See also:asylum, established in 1840, for boys, girls and infants, and a See also:seamen's orphan asylum, begun in 1869, for boys and girls. The Roman Catholics have similar establishments. The Liverpool dispensaries founded in 1778 were among the pioneers of medical charity. The Royal Infirmary (opened in 1749) had a school of See also:medicine attached, which has been very successful, and is now merged in the university. The sailors' home, opened in 1852, designed to provide board, lodging and medical attendance at a moderate See also:charge for the seamen frequenting the See also:port, is one of Liverpool's best-known charities. The See also:David See also:Lewis Workmen's See also:Hostel is an effort to solve the difficulty of providing accommodation for unmarried men of the artizan class. Literature, Art and See also:Science.—The free library, museum and gallery of arts, established and managed by the city council, was originated in 185o. The first library building was erected by Sir William See also: There are several extensive See also:sugar refineries and See also:corn See also:mills. The See also:confectionery trade has See also:developed during recent years, several large works having been built, induced by the prospect of obtaining cheap sugar directly from the Liverpool quays. The cutting, blending and preparing of crude See also:tobacco have led to the erection of factories employing some thousands of hands. There are also large mills for oil-pressing and making See also:cattle-cake. Docks.—The docks of the port of Liverpool on both sides of the Mersey are owned and managed by the same public See also:trust, the Mersey Docks and See also:Harbour Board. On the Liverpool side they extend along the margin of the See also:estuary 62 m., of which It m. is in the borough of See also:Bootle. The Birkenhead docks have not such a frontage, but they extend a long way backward. The water area of the Liverpool docks and basins is 418 acres, with a lineal quayage of 27 M. The Birkenhead docks, including the great See also:float of 120 acres, contain a water area of 165 acres, with a lineal quayage of 91 m. The system of enclosed docks was begun by the corporation in 1709. They constituted from the first a public trust, the corporation never having derived any direct revenue from them, though the common council of the borough were the trustees, and in the first instance formed the See also:committee of management. Gradually the payers of dock rates on See also:ships and goods acquired See also:influence, and were introduced into the governing body, and ultimately, by an act of 1857, the corporation was superseded. The management is vested in the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, consisting of twenty-eight members, four of whom are nominated by the Mersey Conservancy commissioners, who consist of the first lord of the Admiralty, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster and the president of the Board of Trade, and the See also:rest elected by the payers of rates on ships and goods, of whom a See also:register is kept and annually revised. The revenue is derived from See also:tonnage rates on ships, dock rates on goods, town dues on goods, with various See also:minor See also:sources of income. Down to 1843 the docks were confined to the Liverpool side of the Mersey. Several attempts made to establish docks in Cheshire had been frustrated by the Liverpool corporation, who bought up the land and kept it in their own hands. In 1843, however, a See also:scheme for docks in Birkenhead was carried through which ultimately proved unsuccessful, and 'the enterprise was acquired in 1855 by Liverpool. The Birkenhead docks were for many years only partially used, but are now an important centre for corn-milling, the importation of See also:foreign cattle and export trade to the East. In addition to the wet docks, there are in Liverpool fourteen graving docks and three in Birkenhead, besides a gridiron on the Liverpool side. The first portion of the great landing stage, known as the Georges' stage, was constructed in 1847, from the plans of Mr (afterwards Sir) William See also:Cubitt, F.R.S. This was 500 ft. long. In 1857 the Prince's stage, See also:i000 ft. long, was built to the north of the Georges' stage and distant from it 500 ft. In 1874 the intervening space was filled up and the Georges' stage reconstructed. The fabric had just been completed, and was waiting to be inaugurated, when on the 28th of See also:July 1874 it was destroyed by fire. It was again constructed with improvements. In 1896 it was farther extended to the north, and its length is now 2478 ft. and its breadth 8o ft. It is supported on floating pontoons about 200 in number, connected with the river See also:wall by eight See also:bridges, besides a floating See also:bridge for heavy traffic 550 ft. in length and 35 ft. in width. The See also:southern half is devoted to the traffic of the Mersey ferries, of which there are seven—New See also:Brighton, See also:Egremont, Seacombe, Birkenhead, Rock See also:Ferry, New Ferry and Eastham. The northern half is used by ocean-going steamers and their tenders. The warehouses for storing produce form a prominent especially connected with marine See also:navigation, have grown up on a feature in the commercial part of the city. Down to 1841 See also:Italian art numbering altogether about 18o pictures, collected at the beginning of the 19th century by William See also:Roscoe, were deposited in the gallery. The See also:Picton circular reading-room, and the rotunda lecture-room were built by the corporation and opened in 1879. Alterations in the museum were completed in 1902 by which its See also:size was practically doubled. The See also:literary and philosophical society was established in 1812. The Royal Institution, established mainly through the efforts of Roscoe In 1817, possessed a fine gallery of early art in the Walker Art Gallery, and is the centre of the literary institutions of the town. See also:Education.—See also:Sunday See also:schools were founded for poor children in 1784, as the result of a town's See also:meeting. These were soon followed by See also:day-schools supplied by the various denominations. The first were the Old Church schools in Moorfields (1789), the Unitarian schools in See also:Mount Pleasant (1790) and Manesty See also:Lane (1792) and the Wesleyan See also:Brunswick school (1790). In 1826 the corporation founded two elementary schools, one of which, the North Corporation school, was erected in part substitution for the See also:grammar school founded by John Crosse, See also:rector of St Nicholas Fleshshambles, London, a native of Liverpool, in 1515, and carried on by the Corporation until 1815. From this date onward the number rapidly increased until the beginning of the School Board in 1870, and afterwards. Mention should be made of the training See also:ship " Indefatigable " moored in the Mersey for the sons and orphans of sailors, and the reformatory institution at Heswall, Co. Chester, which has recently replaced the training ship " See also:Akbar " formerly moored in the Mersey. Semi-private schools were founded by public subscription—the Royal Institution school (1819), the Liverpool See also:Institute (1825) and the Liverpool College (184o). The first has ceased to exist. The Institute was a development of the See also:Mechanics' Institute and was managed by a council of subscribers. It was divided into a high school and a commercial school. Under a scheme of the Board of Education under the Charitable See also:Trusts Act this school, together with the See also:Blackburne House high school for girls, became a public secondary school and was handed over to the corporation in 1905. Liverpool College was formerly divided into three schools, upper, middle and See also:lower, for different classes of the community. The middle and lower schools passed into the See also:control of the corporation in 1907. The Sefton Park elementary school and the See also:Pupil Teachers' College in See also:Clarence Street were transformed into municipal secondary schools for boys and girls in 1907 the corporation has also a secondary school for girls at Aigburth. There are several schools maintained by the Roman Catholics, two schools of the Girls' Public Day School Company and a large number of private schools. A See also:cadet ship, the " See also:Conway," for the training of boys intending to become See also:officers in the mercantile marine, is moored in the Mersey. There are two training colleges for women, one undenominational, and the other conducted by the sisters of Notre See also:Dame for Roman Catholic women. The central municipal technical school is in the Museum Buildings, and there are three See also:branch technical schools. There are also a nautical college, a school of See also:cookery and a school of art controlled by the Education Committee. Liverpool University, as University College, received its See also:charter of See also:incorporation in 1881, and in 1884 was admitted as a college of the Victoria University. In the same year the medical school of the Royal Infirmary became part of the University College. In 1900 a supplemental charter extended the powers of self-See also:government and brought the college into closer relations with the authorities of the city and with local institutions by providing for their See also:fuller See also:representation on the court of See also:governors. In 1903 the charter of incorporation of the university of Liverpool was received, thus constituting it an independent university. The university is governed by the king as visitor, by a chancellor, two pro-chancellors, a vice-chancellor and a treasurer, by a court of over 300 members representing donors and public bodies, a council, See also:senate, faculties and See also:convocation. The fine group of buildings is situated on Brownlow Hill.
Trade and Commerce.—In 'Soo the tonnage of ships entering the port was 45o,o60; in 1908 it reached 17,111,814 tons. In 1800 4746 vessels entered, averaging 94 tons; in 1908 there were 25,739, averaging 665 tons. The commerce of Liverpool extends to every part of the See also:world, but probably the intercourse with North See also:America stands pre-eminent, there being lines of steamers to New See also:York, See also:Philadelphia, See also:Boston, Baltimore, See also:Galveston, New See also: Attempts have been repeatedly made to establish cotton mills in and near the city, but have resulted in failure. See also:Engineering works, these were entirely in private hands, distributed as See also:chance might direct, but in that year a determined effort was made to construct docks with warehouses on the margin of the quays. This met with considerable opposition from those interested, and led to a municipal revolution, but the project was ultimately carried out in the construction of the See also:Albert dock and See also:ware-houses, which were opened by Prince Albert in 1845. For See also:general produce these warehouses are falling somewhat into disuse, but grain warehouses have been constructed by the dock board at Liverpool and Birkenhead, with machinery for discharging, elevating, distributing, drying and delivering. Warehouses for the storage of tobacco and See also:wool have also been built by the board. The Stanley tobacco warehouse is the largest of its See also:kind in the world, the area of its fourteen floors being some 36 acres. Dredging operations at the See also:bar of the See also:Queen's channel, in the channel itself and at the landing stage enables the largest ocean liners to enter the river and approach the stage at practically all states of the See also:tide. The dredging at the bar was begun as an experiment in See also:September 1890 by two of the board's See also:ordinary hopper See also:barges of 500 tons capacity each fitted with centrifugal pumps. The result was favourable, and larger vessels have been introduced. Before dredging was begun the See also:depth of water at dead See also:low water of See also:spring tides on the bar was only 11 ft.; now there is about 28 ft. under the same conditions. The space over which dredging has been carried on at the bar See also:measures about 7000 ft. by 1250 ft., the latter being the See also:average width of the buoyed cut or channel through the bar. Dredging has also taken place on shoals and projections of See also:sand-banks in the main sea channels. See also:Municipality.—Under the Municipal Reform Act of 1835, the boundaries of the original borough were extended by the See also:annexation of portions of the surrounding district, while further additions were made in 1895, 1902 and 1905. The city is divided into See also:thirty-five wards with 103 councillors and 34 aldermen. In 1893 the See also:title of mayor was raised to that of lord mayor. In 1885 the number of members of parliament was increased to nine by the creation of six new wards. The corporation of Liverpool has possessed from a very early period considerable landed property, the first See also: After the See also:Conquest, the site of Liverpool formed part of the See also:fief (inter Ripa.m et Mersham) granted by the Conqueror to See also:Roger de Poictou, one of the great family of See also:Montgomery. Although Liverpool is not named in Domesday it is believed to have been one of the six berewicks dependent on the See also:manor of West Derby therein mentioned. After various forfeitures and regrants from the crown, it was handed over by See also: The pool was admirably adapted as a harbour for the vessels of that period, being well protected, and the tide rising from 15 to 21 ft. King John repurchased the manor from Henry Fitzwarine, giving him other lands in exchange. Here he founded a borough, and by letters patent dated at Winchester, 28th of See also:August 1207, invited his subjects to take up burgages. From the patent rolls and the See also:sheriff's accounts it appears that considerable use was made of Liverpool in the 13th century for shipping stores and reinforcements to Ireland and Wales. In 1229 a charter was granted by Henry III., authorizing the formation of a merchants' gild, with hanse and other liberties and free customs, with freedom from See also:toll throughout the kingdom. Charters were subsequently granted by successive monarchs down to the reign of William and See also:Mary, which last was the governing charter to the date of the Municipal Reform Act (1835). In r88o when the See also:diocese of Liverpool was created, the borough was transformed into a city by royal charter. The crown revenues from the See also:burgage rents and the royal customs were leased in fee-farm from time to time, sometimes to the corporation, at other times to private persons. The first lease was from Henry III., in 1229, at £ro per annum. In the same year the borough, with all its See also:appurtenances, was bestowed with other lands on Ranulf, earl of Chester, from whom it passed to his See also:brother-in-law William de See also:Ferrers, earl of Derby, who seems to have built Liverpool castle between 1232 and 1237. His grandson, Robert de Ferrers, was implicated in the rising of See also:Simon de See also:Montfort and his lands were confiscated in 1266 when Liverpool passed into the hands of See also:Edmund, earl of Lancaster. Ultimately Liverpool again became the property of the crown, when Henry IV. inherited it from his See also:father John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. In 1628 Charles I., in great straits for means which were refused by parliament, offered for See also:sale about a thousand manors, among which Liverpool was included. The portion containing Liverpool was purchased by certain merchants of London, who, in 1635, reconveyed the crown rights, including the fee-farm See also:rent of £14, 6s. 8d., to Sir See also:Richard Molyneux, then recently created See also:Viscount Molyneux of Mary borough, for the sum of £450. In 1672 all these rights and interests were acquired by the corporation. Apart from the national objects for which Liverpool was founded, its trade developed slowly. From £io per annum, in the beginning of the 13th century, the crown revenues had increased towards the end of the 14th century, to £38; but then they underwent a decline. The See also:black See also:death passed over Liverpool about 1360, and carried off a large part of the population. The See also:Wars of the See also:Roses in the 15th century unsettled the north-western districts and retarded progress for at least a century. The crown revenues diminished from £38 to less than half that sum, and were finally leased at £14, 6s. 8d., at which they continued until the sale by Charles I. It is, however, not safe to conclude that the reduced fee-farm rent represents an See also:equivalent decline in prosperity; the privileges conferred by the various leases differed widely and may See also:account for much of the apparent discrepancy. Liverpool sent no representatives to Simon de Montfort's parliament in 1264, but to the first royal parliament, summoned in 1295, the borough sent two members, and again in 1307. The writs of See also:summons were then suspended for two centuries and a half. In 1547 Liverpool resumed the See also:privilege of returning members. In 1588 the borough was represented by See also:Francis See also: This dock was the first of its kind. The name of the engineer was Thomas Steers. About this date the merchants of Liverpool entered upon the slave trade, into which they were led by their connexion with the West Indies. In 1709 a single See also:vessel of 30 tons See also:burden made a venture from Liverpool and carried fifteen slaves across the See also:Atlantic. In 1730, encouraged by parliament, Liverpool went heartily into the new trade. In 1751, fifty-three ships sailed from Liverpool for See also:Africa, of 5334 tons in the aggregate. The ships sailed first to the west See also:coast of Africa, where they shipped the slaves, and thence to the West See also:India Islands, where the slaves were sold and the proceeds brought home in cargoes of sugar and rum. In 1765 the number of Liverpool slavers had in-creased to eighty-six, carrying 24,200 slaves. By the end of the century five-sixths of the See also:African trade centred in Liverpool. Just before its abolition in 1807 the number of Liverpool ships engaged in the traffic was 185, carrying 49,213 slaves in the year. Another branch of maritime enterprise which attracted the See also:attention of the merchants of Liverpool was privateering, which, during the latter half of the 18th century, was a favourite investment. After the outbreak of the Seven Years' War with France and Spain, in 1756, the commerce of Liverpool suffered severely, the See also:French having overrun the narrow seas with privateers, and the premiums for insurance against sea risks See also:rose to an amount almost prohibitive. The Liverpool merchants took a See also:lesson from the enemy, and armed and sent out their ships as privateers. Some of the early expeditions proving very successful, almost the whole community rushed into privateering, with results of a very chequered See also:character. When the War of See also:Independence See also:broke out in 1775 American privateers swarmed about the West India Islands, and See also:crossing the Atlantic intercepted See also:British commerce in the narrow seas. The Liverpool merchants again turned their attention to See also:retaliation. Between August 1778 and See also:April 1779, 120 privateers were fitted out in Liverpool, carrying 1986 guns and 8745 men. See W. See also:Enfield, Hist. of Leverpool (1773); J. See also:Aikin, See also:Forty Miles round Manchester (1795); T. See also:Troughton, Hist. of Liverpool (181o) ; M. Gregson, See also:Portfolio of Fragments See also:relating to Hist. of Lancashire (1817); H. Smithers, Liverpool, its Commerce, &c. (1825); R. Syers, Hist. of Everton (183o); E. See also:Baines, Hist. of County Palatine of Lancaster, vol. iv. (1836); T. Baines, Hist. of Commerce and Town of Liverpool (1852); R. See also:Brooke, Liverpool during the last quarter of 78th Century (1853); J. A. Picton, Memorials of Liverpool (2 vols., 1873); See also:Ramsay See also:Muir and Edith M. See also:Platt, A History of Municipal Government in Liverpool (1906); Ramsay Muir, A History of Liver-pool (1907). (W. F. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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