The History of Liverpool
Written Christmas 1910 by Dorothy Wane



Privateering during the French was brought in its train much wealth to Liverpool. Almost everyone had an interest in vessels of this class. The gains were enormous. Prizes would arrive valued upwards of one hundred thousand pounds. Frequently a crew came ashore worth a thousand pounds a man. It must have been fearfully galling to a jolly Jack bent on pleasure, to be snatched by the press gang after but a few days ashore. It added insult to injury!

Hence a favourite resort of the wary tar was Mother Redcap's cottage at Egremont. This stood upon the bottom corner of what is now Caithness Drive, where it joins the Promenade. Mother Redcap's was a sort of foster-mother to scores of wild spirits who left their guineas with her and did not always turn up to claim them. A few days before her death a wealthy prize was brought into port, and a thousand pounds apiece was the amount of her crews share; much of this was deposited with Mother Redcap but was never found. Tradition says it is still buried in the neighbourhood. A few guineas have been found - which probably gave the name to Guinea Gap. Perhaps one day Mother Redcap's treasure will be unearthed.

Slowly and gradually Liverpool was becoming more and more civilized. In 1714 the first Charity school was erected and endowed and was the origin of the Blue Coat Hospital. It provided for forty boys and ten girls. George II passed an act in 1738 for the improvement and extension of the harbour, and in 1745 the building of an Infirmary was started but it's progress was impeded for some time owing to the last attempts of the exiled heir of the Stuarts to regain the crown. In the meanwhile the Liverpool citizens gave proof of their love for the House of Brunswick by raising a regiment called the "Liverpool Blues", who were at the taking of Carlisle.

The Infirmary was finished and opened in 1749, and the same year an act was passed for the lighting and cleansing of the streets, and in 1756, Robert Williamson published the first 'Courier' and the same year the post passed for the first time from Liverpool through Ormskirk to Preston. In 1760 a stage coach journeyed from Preston to London and took four days. Derrick, a tolerable poet, visited Liverpool in 1760, and he says:

"There are here three good inns. For ten pence a man dines elegantly at an ordinary, consisiting of ten or a dozen dishes. Indeed it must be said that in Lancashire and Cheshire they have plenty of the best and most luxurious food at a cheap rate. The great increase of their commerce is owing to the spirit and indefatigable industry of their inhabitants, the majority of whom are either native Irish or of Irish descent - a fresh proof that the Hibernian thrive best when transplanted. The merchants are hospitable, nay friendly, to strangers even to those whom they have the least knowledge, their tables are well furnished and their viands well served".

During the Eighteenth century the social condition of the citizens of Liverpool was greatly improved. The dress of the upper and middle classes was a sort of court-dress with gilt or silver buttons, very elaborate waistcoats with flaps, short breeches with smart buckles at the knees, and shoes with gold, silver or jewelled buckles. White socks and wrist ruffles were worn. Cocked hats were commonly used.

Young men wore their hair with large curls on each side of the face called cannon curls and with a short tail behind. Wigs were used by older persons and all powdered the hair. Stockings were usually silk. Ladies wore powdered hair, high heels of three or four inches, hooped skirts and very large fans in place of the modern parasol, to screen the face from the sun.

Dinner was at on o'clock and did not get much later for many years. Card parties assembled as early as five; the dances in use were the Minuet, Cotillions and Country dances. Archery was a favoured exercise, and the ground being in Cazneau Street was quite in the country.

The lower ranks amused themselves with tennis, skittles, bowls and cricket. Tobacco was in common use, but cigars were scarcely known. Drunkenness was common, cock-fighting frequent, and so were dog fights and bull-baiting. At election times, the debauchery and bribery were dreadful.

From the time of Elizabeth, Liverpool has steadily advanced in commerce, education and population. Schools have been founded, an extensive system of docks have been opened, the trade in sugar, cotton, tobacco and grain has increased and made Liverpool what she is today.

The first Mersey Steamer appeared in June 1815 and plied between Liverpool and Runcorn. The first steamer ferry boat to Birkenhead crossed the river on April 4th, 1819.

What a difference today! Look around and see. Compare what Liverpool was even a hundred years ago with what she is now. Then we counted her inhabitants by scores, now by thousands. Then we talked of her acres, now of her miles, of docks. She has become the main artery through which the imports and exports of the world increasingly flow. Old streets and old buildings have gone, and new ones occupy their places; streets, where not long since were fields; docks, where of old was strand and shore, and forts and baths; villages swallowed up by the insatiable and still growing city. Trees, gardens, meadows, cornlands, all yielding to the never ceasing spread of brick and mortar. So marvellous are all these things that as we wander through the transmitted scene we know not how to describe the feelings within us.

Dorothy Wane - Liverpool - Christmas 1910


Historic Places
History Links

Back to the Liverphile