WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



LIVERPOOL 



it entirely dependent upon sea-borne commerce, and 

 imposed upon it the specific social characteristics in- 

 volved in that fact. 



The growth of population in this period was very 

 rapid. About 20,000 in 1751, it was 60,000 in 

 1791, 77,000 in 1801, 94,000 in 181 1, 118,000 in 

 1 82 1. The last two figures do not fully represent 

 the actual growth, for the town had by this time 

 overpassed the limits of the old township, especially 

 on the south and on the north-east, and very popu- 

 lous suburbs had been created in Toxteth and 

 Everton, which contained in 1 83 1 a population of 

 40,000. 



The great inrush of new inhabitants represented by 

 these figures came from all parts of the United King- 

 dom. A writer of 1795 notes 'the great influx of 

 Irish and Welsh, of whom the majority of the inhabi- 

 tants at present consists.' "' There were also many 

 Scots, especially among the captains of ships and the 

 heads of great trading-houses. Irish immigration 

 became still more vigorous after the rising of 1 798, 

 though it was not to reach its height until the potato- 

 famine of 1846. Though the town was expanding 

 geographically with great rapidity, building did not 

 go on fast enough to accommodate the numerous im- 

 migrants. They were crowded together in the most 

 horrible way in the older part of the town ; in 1 790 

 it was calculated '" that over one-ninth of the popu- 

 lation lived in cellars, at the rate of four persons to 

 each cellar.''" In the new quarters built for the re- 

 ception of these immigrants the building was so shoddy 

 that a storm in 1823 blew many of the houses 

 down ; *'' there were no building regulations, and the 

 houses were erected back to back, without adequate 

 provision for air and light, and almost without any 

 sanitary arrangements ; it is with these slum areas 

 that the government of the city has been struggling 

 ever since. Most of the streets were unsewered. The 

 water supply was exceedingly scanty; before 1800 

 water was sold from carts ; ''' after the institution of 

 the two water companies in 1799"' and 1802,'" the 

 supply, being conducted for a commercial profit, was 

 naturally inadequate in the poorer quarters. Public- 

 houses were extraordinarily numerous ; as early as 

 1772 the Town Council had to urge the magistrates 

 to reduce the number,*^' and in 1795 it was calcu- 

 lated that one house in every seven was licensed for 

 the sale of strong drink.*"' 



Overcrowded, unhealthy, dirty and drunken, the 

 population of the town was also very turbulent, as 

 might be expected from the influence upon them of 

 the slave traders and the privateers-men. The police 

 arrangements were quite inadequate. Under an Act 



of 1 748,*" which established a commission, indepen- 

 dent of the Town Council, for the watching, lighting, 

 and cleansing of the town, the police force consisted 

 of sixty night watchmen ; the number was increased 

 under the Act of 1788,™ but no day police was pro- 

 vided until 181 1, when the Town Council divided 

 the borough into seven districts and allotted three 

 constables to each.'" 



Thus the evils which had followed the sudden 

 growth of wealth and population seemed to outweigh 

 its advantages. This was in part due to the fact that 

 the system of borough government had been in no 

 way adapted to the new conditions."" The self- 

 elected Town Council still continued in absolute con- 

 trol of the corporate estate, including the docks, and 

 still possessed the power of regulating the trade of the 

 port. It regarded itself merely as the trustee of the 

 body of freemen, which now formed only a small 

 part, and by no means the most important part, of 

 the population. Even the freemen's privileges, how- 

 ever, were limited to the right of voting in the elec- 

 tion of mayor, bailiffs, and members of Parliament, 

 and to exemption from the payment of town dues. 

 They were admitted to no further share in the 

 government of the borough, and hence arose, under 

 the influence of the French Revolution, a new chal- 

 lenge to the authority of the council, and a new 

 attempt to establish that of the assembly of burgesses. 

 Begun in 1 79 1,'" it was brought into the law courts, 

 where a verdict was three times given in favour of 

 the claims of the assembly. The council, however, 

 was always able to claim a new trial on technical 

 grounds, and in the end the attack on their position 

 was abandoned, partly because private resources were 

 unable to stand the conflict with public funds, partly 

 because the reaction against the French Revolution 

 distracted support from this quasi-democratic move- 

 ment. Liverpool had, indeed, by this time become 

 very firmly Tory, and the change in its politics from 

 the Whiggism of the previous age is one of the most 

 curious features of the period. It seems to have 

 begun in the early years of George III, when the 

 Town Council took the side of the king in the 

 Wilkes struggle, sending up addresses of support."' 

 The body of burgesses still, however, remained pre- 

 dominantly Whig, as is shown by the continual elec- 

 tion of Sir William Meredith as member until 1780. 

 At the outset of the American struggle addresses of 

 protest against the policy of government were sent 

 from Liverpool,"' but the Town Council and the 

 mass of the burgesses very loyally supported the war,"* 

 and in spite of the distress which it caused, its pro- 

 gress only made the town more Tory."' The first 



«5S [Wallace], Gneral Descr. 267. 



629 Ibid. 



™ Ibid. 69. 



^^ Smithers, Commerce of Liv, 227 ; 

 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii. 



«32 [Wallace], General Descr. 88. 



™' Bootle Company, instituted by 39 

 Geo. Ill, cap. 36, under the title of the 

 Company of Proprietors of the Liverpool 

 Waterworks, powers enlarged by 50 

 Geo. Ill, cap. 165, and 53 Geo. Ill, cap. 

 122; Brooke, Lro. m last Quarter of the 

 xwii Cent. 387. 



*»84 The Corporation obtained power to 



contract for the supply of water by 26 



■ Geo. Ill, cap. 12, A company was 



formed to carry out the work, which was 



incorporated as the Liverpool Corporation 



Waterworks Co. by 3 Geo. IV, cap. 77 ; 

 its powers were extended and its title 

 altered to the Liverpool and Harrington 

 Waterworks Co. by 7 & 8 Geo. IV, 

 cap. 36. 



«86 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 202. 



«86 [Wallace], General Descr. 185. 



6*7 21 Geo. II, cap. 24. 



ess 28 Geo. Ill, cap. 13. 



'" Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec, ii, 317 ; 

 see also 201-2. 



"" On the characteristics of the old 

 system of borough government in its 

 latest form, see Hist. Munic. Govt, in Liv. 

 118 ff. and 137 fF. 



•"1 Hist. Munic. Govt, in Liv. 129 ; 

 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 203 fF. ; Pro- 

 ceedings at an Action at Law brought by 



33 



the Mayor and Burgesses, &c. (1796) ; 

 Brooke, Liv. in the last Quarter of the xviii 

 Cent. 22-4 ff. 



''■'" Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 179. 

 For a summary of the political history of 

 the town, see Muir, Hist, of Liv. 162 ff. 

 215 ff. 



'* Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. ii, 178-9 ; 

 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. ix, 299. 

 Dartmouth received the freedom for hav- 

 ing supported the repeal of the Stamp 

 Act, Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. 

 *,47- 



"^ Brooke, op. cit. 326 ; Picton, Liv. 

 Munic. Rec. ii, 180; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 

 xiv, App. X, 380. 



"5 Cf. result of the election of 17 84 5 

 Poll-book and squibs. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



