Murder, Museums, Martyrs
We start at Lime St. Station which was the end of the line for the world’s first passenger railway (the steam engine only ran as far as Crown St. from where it ran downhill by gravity so that the fumes would not disturb the prosperous areas above.) The former station hotel opened in 1871, it is now student accommodation and also houses The Head of Steam pub with some interesting memorabilia.
Leave by the front exit of the Station, and opposite is the Grade l listed St.George’s Hall.JPG)
.“The finest building in the world.”according to Richard Norman Shaw. It was built between 1842-54 and has been described as the finest Greco-
Roman building in Europe. The doors are made from bronze and are inscribed with the letters SPQL which was adapted from the SPQR that appeared on Roman standards - “Senatus Populus Que Romanus” which means “To the Senate and People of Rome.”
Inside, the rooms are magnificent with marble floors and beautiful ceilings. The Great Hall is 169 feet long and 74 feet wide. The floor is covered with over 30,000 tiles in magnificent design. In 1839 there was a competition for a new concert hall which was to cost £30,000. The design which won has been called the “greatest classical monument of the 19th century”.
The architect Harvey Lonsdale Elmes was only 23 when he won the competition to design the Hall. He fell ill and sadly died at the age of 33 from consumption without seeing his work completed. St. George’s Hall is without doubt one of the most beautiful buildings, inside and out, in the country. The Heritage Centre and the Art Galleries are well worth a visit.
A grim reminder of the Hall’s role as law courts can be found in the cells, and the room where those condemned to death could say there farewells to their loved ones.
There have been a number of famous trials here- I’ll pick just 2 of the most notorious.
The first became known as the Black Widow Murderers-Catherine
Flanagan and Margaret Higgins were widowed sisters who took in lodgers to gain some income.
In 1880 Flanagan’s son died of consumption, and she collected £71.00 insurance. There was no suggestion that his death was anything but natural, but it may be that this planted the seed of an easy way to make money.
In the next 3 years, 3 lodgers died, and in each case the thoughtful sisters had taken out life assurance on them. The final murder aroused the suspicion of the victims’ brother, Patrick Higgins.
His brother Thomas had married Margaret Higgins in 1881, and she had taken £100.00 insurance on him. They might have got away with it but they tried to take out a further £50.00 on his life and he would not agree. He told his brother about the insurance and on his death Patrick roused the alarm.
A post-mortem showed Thomas had been poisoned with arsenic. The other victims were exhumed and arsenic was discovered in their corpses. The jury took just 40 minutes to convict them and they were hanged at Kirkdale Gaol.
A second murder trial concerned the activities of a ships captain and his view of appropriate discipline at sea. In April 1857 Captain Henry Rogers and Andrew Rose were both newcomers to the “Martha and Jane” joining her at Barbados.
For no obvious reason Captain Rogers took a dislike to Andrew- it was said that Andrew was a little slow thinking, and had claimed to be an experienced sailor when he might not have been.
Captain Rogers, a Scot, was 37 years old, and had 23 years at sea. The ship sailed on 11th May 1857, and Rose was whipped for the first time the following day. He was whipped on a daily basis thereafter. Rogers trained the ships’ dog to attack Rose on sight, and he imprisoned him in an empty water cask and left him rolling around the deck all day.
In early June, just a few days from landfall at Liverpool Rose seems to have despaired of his continuing torture, and died. On 9th of June the ship arrived at Liverpool, a crew member told the police what had happened, and Rogers, and his two mates were arrested for murder.
The nub of the defence was that the crew had been in a state of virtual mutiny and they had to take stern measures to maintain discipline. As the details of the cruelties heaped upon poor Andrew emerged however local people were scandalised- with much fellow feeling for Rose. During the trial some 20,000 people thronged the plateau of the Hall.
The 2 mates were gaoled, but Captain Rogers was sentenced to death, and was publicly executed in September 1857 in front of a crowd of 30,000.
A sea shanty recorded the ill-usage and sailors would use the song to remind captains that there was only so far they could take punishment.
"They whipped and mangled, gagged and strangled
The Orkney sailor, Andrew Rose
The mate and captain daily flogged him
With whips and ropes, I'll tell you true
While on Andrew Ross' bleeding body
Water mixed with salt they threw
For twenty days thus ill they used him
Oh think, what sorrow, grief and shame
Was suffered by this gallant sailor
On board the vessel Martha Jane
The captain trained his dogs to bite him
While Ross for mercy he did pray
And on the deck, his flesh in mouthfuls
Torn by the dogs they lay
Then in a water tank they put him
For twelve long hours they kept him there
While Ross for mercy he was pleading
The captain swore none should go near
The captain ordered him to swallow
A thing thereof I shall not name”
On a lighter note, the Hall had a cat, Mr Jinks who liked to settle near the organ to enjoy the warm draught from the pipes. He is buried in the Hall so he can continue to relax for eternity!
W.S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame was a lawyer who used to practice in these courts. It is quite appropriate, that their operattas are performed in the Courtrooms every Summer, with free admission.
In the Nineteenth Century the Prime Minister W.E. Gladstone was pelted with rotten eggs and flour as he gave a speech on the Plateau. With a scrupulous sense of political balance the crowd also pelted his Tory opponents. As most people were not allowed to vote, they may have felt this was the only way of making their point.
The plateau was the scene of 2 attacks by the authorities on locals.
The first came in August 1911 when thousands gathered peacefully here to listen to Tom Mann speak in support of the General Transport Strike. The strike had begun as a dispute about sailors wages, but dockers, railway workers and others came out in support.
The police baton charged the crowd, injuring many. People fled into the Hall itself but the police followed them in and beat them. This day became known as Red or Bloody Sunday.
Tom Mann was later arrested because he had read aloud a pamphlet written by Jim Bower urging troops not to fire on demonstrators. He was found guilty of sedition and sentenced to 6 months in prison. He was released after 7 weeks, after a public outcry.
The second incident was during the police strike of 1919.
930 of 2270 police were on strike and all sorts of unrest was feared. Tanks were deployed on the plateau of the Hall, and HMS Dreadnought and Valiant were anchored on the Mersey as the Government feared civil disorder.
Mobs formed on Scotland Road, and managed to steal a load of beer. This settled them down somewhat and a number of them started a good natured game of Bingo. This was ended when shots were fired by the troops and a man fell dead.
Opposite is Liverpool’s largest Theatre, the Empire.JPG)
.It opened in 1925 and was originally built without a bar, because it was modelled on an American theatre and this was at the time of Prohibition. Not a popular design until the omission was corrected. The Empire has a variety of shows from local charity nights to top West End Shows. The George Harrison memorial concert was held here which featured a host of stars from the 60’s and some of George’s interests like the Hare Krishna movement, sitar players and modern musicians paying tribute to George. The crowning moment was as the concert was being brought to a close, a surprise guest appeared, Paul McCartney walked on stage to pay his own tribute. He sang an unaccompanied version of “Yesterday” and substituted the normal words for “Why he had to go”, and brought the house down.
Behind the Empire, up London Road is the Odeon Cinema.
A little further up London Road by the Coach Station in 1850 there was a pub called The Liver Inn. 9 poor men met there and agreed to found a burial club.More and more people joined- and from these humble roots the Royal Liver Assurance Company grew.
In the same area, at 97 Islington was the distribution point for “Police Clothes”- from 1895 onwards the police would befriend the ragged children of the streets and arrange for them to collect clothes from here, helping 2000 children per year.
Cross the road to the grand buildings of William Brown St.
The first is the former Sessions House.JPG)
On your right is Commutation Row, formerly Gallows Hill. Rebels who supported the Old Pretender were executed here in 1715, They were hung ,drawn and quartered, and their heads were displayed on pikes. Another160 were sentenced to transportation as slaves to the West Indies. On one ship, the 30 prisoners overpowered the crew and escaped to France.
The Gallows saw similar use some 30 years later when followers of Bonnie Prince Charlie were executed here. The sentence was savage, after being dragged through the streets they were to be”...hanged by the neck, but not till they be dead, for they must be cut down alive; then their bowels must be taken out and burned before their faces; then their heads must be severed from their bodies”
Outside the Walker Art Gallery.JPG)
is the Steble Fountain of 1879
and the Wellington Column. This was erected in 1863 and is 132 feet high, and is cast from cannon captured at the Battle of Waterloo. The relief on the plinth show scenes from the Battle.
The Gallery is also known as the National Gallery of the North. It was built between1873-77, and was Britain’s first public art gallery. The two statues outside are of Michelangelo and Raphael, and the friezes show local scenes.
The origins of the Gallery were relatively modest. In 1819 Liverpool Royal Institution acquired William Roscoe’s collection of 37 paintings. These were exhibited in the first purpose-built Art Gallery next to the Royal Institution building. Liverpool Society of Fine Arts held annual exhibitions and also began to build the collection.
The present Gallery opened in 1860, and the Royal Institution’s collection was placed on permanent loan to the Gallery in 1893. The current collection consists of art from the 13th century to the present day .There is also a major sculpture collection. The Liverpool Biennial/John Moores Exhibition has been running for over 40 years, it An early winner of the prize was an unknown artist called David Hockney- his winning painting “Peter getting out of Nick’s pool “ is in the Walker.
The Gallery frequently has special exhibitions which are always worth a visit. During school holidays there are events to keep the children entertained. There is a café on the ground floor.
Next door to the Gallery is the Central Lending Library. The Library was built at the same time as the Museum. It’s worth popping in if only to see the magnificent round Picton Reading Room..JPG)
The Library will house one of the world largest virtual archives with millions of
documents on people who came to or left from this city, so it is invaluable in
genealogical research.
The Library owns one of the worlds most expensive books. The Audobon.JPG)
book was bought in 1860 for £160.00. When an edition was auctioned in New York in 2000 it sold for £$8.8 million. Single prints sell for over $100,000.It is appropriate that Liverpool has this book since as we see the Rathbone To family were crucial in establishing Audobon’s reputation.
The smallest book in the Library is a copy of the Koran, about the size of a postage stamp, which sits in a silver case, complete with a magnifying glass.
The Hornby Library, donated by the famous toy manufacturing family contains Dickens first editions (many in the serialised format), and over 8000 prints by artists like Rembrandt, Durer. Hogarth, Constable, and Turner. The original manuscript of Gladstone’s “Home Rule For Ireland Bill “is here
The Library also houses an interesting book by a Liverpool Quaker sailor, Thomas Lurting, who was captured by the Turks in the Seventeenth Century in the Mediterranean.
His captors were going to sell him into slavery but he and his companions managed to take control of the ship. He freed the Turkish crew, and on his return to Liverpool wrote a book about his adventures together with a plea to the Turkish king to show mercy to Christian captives “ “To the Great Turk And His King At Algiers 1680”
It is estimated that about a million Western Europeans were captured from ships and from coastal raids and taken into slavery in Africa and the Middle East..
You now come to the World Museum..JPG)
The museum was built 1859-60 and was designed as a Corinthian-styled Roman Temple approached by an expansive flight of stairs. To do the whole museum I would say you need days. . Ask any local “What’s the first thing you think about in the Museum?” and the answer will invariably be “The Giant Japanese Land Crab”. As kids we always checked first that it was still there, and then stimulated by the resulting heebiejeebies we’d look around the rest. It now has pride of place, on the left as you enter the Museum.
This is one of Europe’s foremost museums. It contains exhibits on:
- Archaeology and Ethnology - with over 15,000 items from Ancient Egypt, Africa, the Orient, the Near East, the Americas and Oceania, as well as British antiquities.
- Natural and Physical Sciences - Botany, Zoology, and Geology.
Natural History Centre - with video microscopes so you can view the exhibit in great detail.
- the Planetarium - a journey through the Universe. There is a small charge for this - £1-00 for adults and 50p for children and concessions.
- There are often visiting exhibitions as well e.g. Grossology, Vivienne Westwood collection, Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
- And of course the Giant Japanese Land Crab!
A much needed rest and refreshment can be had in the café on the top floor. There is a shop for souvenirs on the ground floor to the left of the entrance.
Cross to St. John’s Gardens behind St. George’s Hall . 
Let’s enjoy a stroll through the gardens. These were the cemetery of St. John’s Church which contained some 27,000 bodies. During the Napoleonic Wars some 4000 French prisoners of war were held in the old gaol in Liverpool Tower. Many prisoners died and were buried here. On the curved wall at the Hall end of the Gardens is a dedication to them
“To her sons who died in captivity in Liverpool in 1772-1803 and whose bodies lie here in the old cemetery of Saint John the Baptist ,France ever grateful”
As well as the garden display there are a number of statues which give a little insight into the history of the city.For example;
- William Gladstone. He was born in Rodney Street in 1809 and was Prime Minister of the UK four times. Under his leadership the Education Act 1870 was passed which widened the provision of education to the working class, and the Ballot Act 1872 which meant that voters could cast their votes in secret. Prior to this voters had had to publicly declare who they were voting for, with the obvious potential for manipulation Sadly with all that has happened since he failed to pass the Irish Home Rule Bill of 1892. He succeeded in passing it through the House of Commons but the House of Lords rejected it. He resigned in 1894
- William Rathbone M.P. and founder of the University of Liverpool and University of Wales. Florence Nightingale helped him start the Training School for Nurses which later spread throughout the country.
- Monsignor Nugent-worked to bring charitable relief to the victims of the Great Famine who managed to escape to Liverpool. He was born in Hunter Street (behind Liverpool Museum) in 1822 and set up Ragged Schools whose purpose was not education, but simply to provide shelter to the waifs during the day. At night they were turned out to fend for themselves. He was struggling against the odds, as over 60% of children died before the age of 9 of preventable causes.
- Canon Major Lester who also did a great deal for the poor, and worked closely with his friend Father Nugent, showing a tradition of ecumenism, and friendship that has been maintained to this day.
The large central statue is for members of the Kings Liverpool Regiment and the campaigns and battles it commemorates mark out British Victorian history: Afghanistan 1878-80, Burma 1885-87, South Africa 1899-1902, Blenheim,.JPG)
Ramilies, Malpaquet, Deltingen, Martinique, Niagra, Delhi, Lucknow, Peiwar- Kotal and Ladysmith.
This concludes this tour. If you want a drink, an excellent pub, Dr. Duncan’s is
over the road, towards the car park.