The most beloved Liverpudlians.
Liverpool is a delightful surprise. It is a vibrant port city with more galleries and national museums than any other city in the United Kingdom apart from London.
"Liverpool is one of the wonders of Britain... In a word, there is no town in England, London excepted, that can equal [it] for the fineness of the streets, and the beauty of the buildings." William Defoe, 1721
It has been estimated that between 1830 and 1930 over nine million emigrants sailed from Liverpool bound for a new life in the US, Canada and Australia -- including some of my ancestors!
Scandinavians, Russians and
Poles crossed the North Sea to Hull by steamer and then travelled to Liverpool
by train. Irish emigrants crossed to Liverpool by steamship. By 1851 it had
become the leading emigration port in Europe.
Until the early 1860s most emigrants left Liverpool on a sailing ship. The voyage
to the US and Canada took about
thirty-five days and to Australia ten to seventeen weeks. Most emigrants travelled in the cheapest accommodation,
known as the steerage which was a bit like a dormitory with bunks down the sides and tables in the center. It was
frequently overcrowded with poor
ventilation.
Liverpool was also a major slaving port and its ships and
merchants dominated the transatlantic slave trade creating the backbone of the town's wealth and
prosperity. The International Slave Museum and the Merseyside Maritime
Museum are fantastic museums dedicated to the history of the ports at Liverpool
and well worth a visit.
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