WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



LIVERPOOL 



stration, was the friend and biographer of Burns. 

 Others also might be named if space allowed. '°^ 

 Under the encouragement of this group of friends 

 Liverpool became for a time a centre of fine printing 

 and of exquisite bookbinding ; *" Roscoe had his own 

 books printed in his own town. From this intel- 

 lectual revival proceeded a remarkable group of public 

 institutions. The Liverpool Library, founded as early 

 as 1758,**' became a thriving institution.'*' The 

 Athenaeum was founded in 1798 "» as a library for 

 scholars, and was later enriched by many of Roscoe's 

 books. The Botanic Gardens were instituted in 

 1803."' The Medical Library came to birth in 

 1775.6" Finally, the Royal Institution, meant to be 

 the focus for every kind of intellectual interest, was 

 projected in 181 3 and opened in 18 17.'" These 

 promising beginnings did not lead to any very striking 

 results ; partly, no doubt, because they were not 

 spontaneous, but were due to the accidental presence 

 in uncongenial surroundings of a group of fine spirits; 

 partly because they were swamped by the flood of 

 growing wealth ; partly because the coming of the 

 railway imposed, during the greater part of the 

 19th century, the intellectual dominance of the 

 metropolis upon the provincial towTis. 



The twenty years which followed the great war saw 

 a steady expansion of foreign trade — less swift, indeed, 

 than had been expected ; but more steady in Liver- 

 pool than in England at large. The course of this 

 expansion may be best indicated by the figures of 

 entrances and clearances °" of vessels engaged in the 

 foreign trade : — 



But the principal interest of these years is to be 

 found rather in the signs of coming political change 

 which they exhibited, and which resulted from the 

 expansion of the earlier period, than in the proof 

 that the earlier causes of prosperity were still at 

 work. Though Liverpool remained predominantly 



Tory in sentiment until the eve of the Reform Bill, 

 the twenty years which followed the war saw many 

 movements towards change, and an increasingly clear 

 realization of the necessity of recasting the traditional 

 system of administration. It was, indeed, with the 

 left or progressive wing of the Tory party that the 

 town was associated ; as is shown by the election of 

 Canning by large majorities from 1 8 1 z to 1822 and of 

 Huskisson from 1822 to 1830 — beyond comparison the 

 most distinguished politicians who have ever repre- 

 sented Liverpool.'"" The steady growth of the popu- 

 lation of the town, which, with its suburbs, had reached 

 the figure of 205,000 in 183 I, and the expansion of 

 trade, which has been already summarized, made the 

 earlier system of administration impossible. These 

 yiars witnessed an awakening on the part of the Town 

 Council to a keener sense of its responsibilities, as is 

 shown by the large schemes of public improvements 

 for which parliamentary authority was obtained ; "' by 

 the establishment in 1826 of two elementary schools 

 in the north and south of the borough,"' at the ex- 

 pense of the corporation, as a sort of compensation for 

 the old grammar school which had been suppressed in 

 1802 ;'" by the purchase of lands on a large scale in 

 Birkenhead "' with a view to preventing the creation 

 of a rival port, and providing for the possible future 

 requirements of Liverpool trade ; and by great activity 

 in the extension of the docks, which were increased 

 between 1815 and 1835 from 50 acres to 80 acres 

 of area. The rise of a demand for change is perhaps 

 most clearly seen in the discussions on the administra- 

 tion of the Dock Estate, hitherto under the absolute 

 control of the corporation, which led in 1825 to the 

 addition to the Dock Committee of representatives of 

 ratepayers using the docks.'" The same kind of dis- 

 content was shown in the attempt of a number of 

 non-freemen ratepayers to escape from the payment of 

 town dues, which led to long litigation extending 

 from 1830 to 1833.'*° But the most serious aspect 

 of the situation was the fact that the council, regard- 

 ing itself simply as the trustee for the property of the 

 body of freemen, had allowed many of the main 

 functions of urban government to slip, wholly or 

 partially, out of its hands. Thus the control of the 

 watching, lighting, and cleansing of the streets had 

 been since 1 748 under the control of a separate com- 

 mission "' consisting partly of the mayor and some of 

 the borough magistrates, partly of representatives 

 of the ratepayers elected at the annual Easter vestry ; 

 while the control of sewerage, except in the ' old 

 streets,' had recently been vested in another commis- 

 sion."' 



The corporation had since the 17th century 

 ceased to raise rates, and all public functions which 

 necessitated the raising of rates were performed by 



66' About 150 volumes printed or pub- 

 lished in Liverpool between 1770 and 

 1 800 are catalogued in the admirable Cat, 

 of tht Collection of Liv. Prints and DocU' 

 ments issued by the City Library, 1908. 

 These include nineteen volumes of poems, 

 fifteen of history and biography, an edition 

 of Burns in four volumes, many volumes 

 on politics, &c., &c. 



^^ Ibid. J. McCreery's printing in 

 this period has not since been surpassed. 



'68 Brooke, op. cit. 89-92 ; papers in 

 Trans, Hist. Soc, ix, xxii. This library 

 claims to be the oldest circulating library 

 in England. 



•69 [Wallace] General Dcscr., 171. 



670 Shaw, Hist, of the Athenaeum, Llv, 

 (1898). 



671 Life of Roscoe, i, 25 3 fF. ; Smithers, op. 

 cit. 367. 



672 Smithers, op. cit. 366 ; Bickerton, 

 Hist, of the Liv. Medical Inst. 



676 Life of Roscoe, ii, 151 fF. 



67'' Compiled from the Reports on 

 Trade and Navigation laid before the 

 Houses of Parliament, 1847. The figures 

 for the coasting trade which are omitted 

 would, of course, enormously increase 

 these totals ; but it is the foreign trade 

 that forms the best barometer of Liver- 

 pool's prosperity. 



«74a -pijj poll-books and squibs, espe- 



35 



cially for the hard-fought elections of 1 8 1 2, 

 1 818, 1820, provide exceUent illustrations 

 of the sentiments of the borough. 



675 I Geo. IV, cap. 13, and 7 Geo. IV, 

 cap. 57. 



676 Picton, Li-v. Munic. Rec. ii, 395. 



677 Ibid. 394. 678 Ibid. 3^3^ j^5_ 

 679 26 Geo. IV, cap. 43. For discussions 



see Munic. Corp, Com. : Rep. of Proc, in 

 Li-v., passim. 



68" Report of the resistance of payment 

 of town dues in Liverpool by Bolton and 

 others, 1835. 



681 Under 21 Geo. II, cap. 24. 



682 Under a special local Act, i Will. IV,. 

 cap. 15. 



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