The clocks in the famous Royal Liver Building are the biggest in the United Kingdom, despite being over 100 years old. They also contain some other superlatives, firsts and oddities, including being used as a dining table.
With over 6,000 employees, the Royal Liver Assurance Company were in need of larger premises and commissioned the building of a new office block at George’s Dock in 1908. The foundation stone was laid in May of that year and it took just three years to build. The architect was Walter Aubrey Thomas and it was one of the first major structures in the world to be built of reinforced concrete, a concept that was used for many of the skyscrapers of New York and Chicago.
The two clock towers were the crowning point of the building,taking it to over 300 feet in height and allowing sailors from all over the River Mersey to see what time it was. The four clocks were easy enough to see, as their diameter of seven and a half metres made them the largest clock faces in the country, bigger than those on Big Ben in London, which are 6.9 metres.
The clocks were made by Gent & Co of Leicester, whose electric timepieces were on display in railway stations all over the world. They each consisted of 27 sections Before installation, forty Royal Liver executives and civic dignitaries held a special dinner, with one of the clock faces used as a dining table. The huge clock faces, whose hands alone weighed 5cwts, were then hoisted up to the towers in May 1911 in readiness for the big switch on, which would see the clocks being controlled electronically from the Greenwich Observatory.
The clocks were started on 22nd June 1911 at 1.40pm, the precise time George V was crowned. It was the Royal Liver Chairman Mark Lewis who started them off, telling the VIPs gathered that Liverpool had always been loyal to kings and queens and it was only right that the largest electrical timepieces in the world should be started at the time His Majesty was crowned. On turning the lever, Mr Lewis said ‘In the name of God I turn on this lever’ before his suggestion that they be known as he Great George Liver Clocks was greeted with warm applause. On the river ships’ sirens blew while on the ground several verses of the National Anthem were sung.
The building then opened officially on 19th July of that year by Lord Sheffield, on a day when over 2000 agents of the company were taken on board Mersey ferries to the entrance to the Manchester Ship Canal and then New Brighton. 270 delegates were given a tour of the building, being shown the innermost workings of the heating and ventilation systems, lifts and clocks, with some expressing surprise that they neither stroked nor chimed.
In 1953 electric chimes were added to the clocks in memory of Royal Liver staff who had been killed in the two world wars. They remain the largest clock faces in the United Kingdom today, but are a long way behind the largest in the world, which are a massive 43 metres and situated on the Abraj Al Bait Towers in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Peter Martyn says
Hello Steven,
Thanks for the useful and detailed information around the Liver Building clocks. I hope you won’t find this an impertinent question, but is the ‘photograph from the newspaper clipping subject to copyright tyrany. It’s so symbolic of the Edwardian spirit combined with the confidence of then Liverpudlian (Liverpolitan) ‘fathers’, I’d like to be able to include it in an article I’m currently piecing togather for a publication in Polish (100% non-commercial and they don’t pay a single zloty) on the city in the C20. I’ll be in Liverpool in June, so shall look out your publications then. Thanks again.
Steven Horton says
Hi Peter so sorry for the late reply have been away, as far as I know that photo isnt subject to copyright, as I wouldnt have put it on if I thought it was. There’s no harm using it and having the general disclaimer in there that you’ve tried to find copyright holders but if any come forward future editions will be credited
steve
Fiona says
Hi, where could I find a list of who was sat around the clock face?
Thank you
Steven Horton says
You’ve got me there Fiona, some further research has found the dinner was actually held in Leicester at the Free Trade Hall, but no record in the Leicester Chronicle.
There is some further info of Royal Liver in general here
http://www.friendsofroyallyver.co.uk/download/Centenarybooklet-lores.pdf
Shirley Walkden-Smith says
my Great Grand Father is one of the gentelmen sitting around the clock face he is sitting approx. 5 0,clock .. I have tried for a long time to try to find were the original photoe is but with no results can you help please His name was William Walkden and he worked for the Royal Liver Asurance co. thanking you
nina says
Hi Shirley
I am very interested in the photo of the 40 men having dinner around the Liver Building Clock face. It is amazing that your great grandfather was one of the men in the photo. How did the story come down to you? What was your great grandfathers place in all of this, what was his name and what did he do?
Thank you for posting, I am so pleased one of the guests at least has been identified.
Christine Perez says
Hello,
Our great-grandfather, William Field, would have most likely seated at the clock face as well. He was the Managing Director of the company and gave the speech that convinced the board members to construct the skyscraper which was considered a possible financial risk at the time. His name is on the building and his picture is in the commemorative book. I would love to know where he is seated at the clock.
The Field family history is intriguing as their lives began in Spitalfields via the mass migration from France as Huguenots and somehow made the transition to the Livers Friendly Society when the silk weaving industry became decimated by the import of silk weaving products from India.
William’s grand daughter, and our mother, June Rebecca Field, was born in Canada and was orphaned by the age of 4 and so we have reconnected through Ancestry.com. She always spoke of the family connection to this amazing building and even more amazing story.
Diane Exley says
My Great Uncle Alfred Gittins was also seated around the clock. He was the Clerk of Works for the construction of the Liver Building. I have a copy of a photograph of him standing on top of the dome prior to the Liver Birds being placed there. There is an article in the Liverpool Echo dated 29/10/2003 ‘Liver joy for birthday girl’, which tells some of the story relating to both of the photographs.
Louise Reilly says
One of the men is John Edmund Dunstan Hore, my great grandfather but I don’t know which on he is.
Katherin Richards-Rios says
Thanks for sharing this, I am a Colombian girl in love with Liverpool’s history and I really enjoy every bit of this page (and of course this article)
Przemysław Komar says
I’ve heard from one of Mersey River pilots / time ago, that his father-in-law was attending a dinner ( dinner number … – as of course not the first, very ceremoniał one, got his “minute” at the face of the clock table. I was also shown a photo picture, when about 7 – 7 men proudly hold a small hand of this clock. Very impressive and very interesting. Also, the Liver Birds had been removed from domes for WW2 time not to serve as landmark for german killer pilots.