A doctors surgery in Islington Square, on the corner of Islington and Shaw Street, was once a safe haven for children provided by a pioneering Liverpool charity. The Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed on 19th April 1883. In a time of great social deprivation and hardship local banker Thomas Agnew […]
LIVERPOOL AND MATTHEW ARNOLD
It may seem strange that a school in Liverpool is named after a Surrey born poet, but that is the case with Matthew Arnold Primary in Dingle. It is named in relation to the fact that Arnold died near there in 1888, but that was not his only Liverpool connection. Arnold was born in Laleham-on-Thames […]
LITTLE MOTHER OF LIVERPOOL MEETS MUSSOLINI
A former school in West Derby is named after one of the most influential women Liverpool has ever seen. Margaret Beavan, the unmarried ‘little mother of Liverpool’ who became the city’s first female Lord Mayor in 1928, had an eventful year in office. However she did make a misjudgement of character when she called Mussolini […]
GREEK ANONYMITY
A Grade I listed building that is described by English Heritage as ‘one of the purest monuments of Greek revival in England’ hardly gets a mention when the great buildings of Liverpool are talked about due to its more illustrious neighbour. Situated just to the north of Liverpool Cathedral is The Oratory, a chapel that […]
THE ARCHITECT WHO HATED HIS WORKPLACE
Situated between the wonderful Victoria Building and Metropolitan Cathedral is another marvellous place that goes largely unnoticed due to its illustrious neighbours. Born in London in 1874, Charles Reilly lectured at Kings College before becoming Professor of Architecture at the University of Liverpool in 1904. He held this position until his retirement in 1934, overseeing […]
BRITAIN’S FIRST JUVENILE COURT
The first Juvenile Court in Britain opened in Liverpool in 1925, situated in a former chapel that is now student accommodation. The Victoria Chapel, a Welsh Calvanistic chapel opened in 1880, being built to replace one in Pall Mall that was demolished to allow Exchange Station to be extended.It was in use for forty years […]
BRITAIN’S FIRST MOSQUE
Brougham Terrace may be synonymous with many Liverpudlians of a certain age as the place where non church weddings took place, but it also goes down in history as the site of Britain’s first mosque, which opened in 1889. Twelve Georgian terraces were built at the top of West Derby Road in 1830 and named […]
DOCTOR BORN IN A NIGHTCLUB
One of Liverpool’s most famous nightclubs is situated in a building that was the birthplace of a man who became the first Medical Officer for Health, saving thousands of lives with his analysis of where problems occurred. William Henry Duncan was born to Scottish parents at what is now the Blue Angel nightclub in Seel […]
GLORIOUS PAST OF FUTURIST
One of the buildings most desperately in need of renovation in Liverpool city centre is the old Futurist cinema in Lime Street, which has been derelict since the 1980s after being one of the top entertainment venues in town. The cinema was the first in Liverpool city centre, opening its doors on 16th September 1912 […]
LIVERPOOL CITY CENTRE’S LAST PUBLIC HANGING
Although public executions were a common event outside Kirkdale gaol after it opened in 1819 until they were stopped in 1864, there were very few in the centre of Liverpool. This was because capital crimes were tried in Lancaster, with any necessary executions taking place there. There were occasional exceptions though. In 1715 several Jacobite […]
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