DEVELOPMENT OF MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT
After the Municipal Reform Act the Whig party
for a brief period enjoyed
control of the borough government. At the outset they
possessed an overwhelming majority, but by 1842 this
majority had disappeared. The main cause of this was
the unpopularity of the Whig attempt to abandon
compulsory Anglican religious teaching in the two
corporation schools, which was advocated on the
ground that the population served by these schools
was mainly Roman Catholic; but the proposal aroused
a fierce opposition. The Whigs, however, also initiated
a series of elaborate inquiries into the various departments of borough government, reconstituted the
corporation service and effected large economies by
reductions of salaries, and commenced a vigorous progressive policy in regard to the regulation of buildings
and the safeguarding of the health of the town. In
these respects the transference of power to the Tory
party led to little change; and the years from 1835
to 1870 witnessed a vigorous, sustained, and not unsuccessful campaign for the amelioration of the conditions of the borough. The powers of the Watching,
Lighting, and Cleansing Board had been taken over
by the corporation under the Act of 1835, and were
administered by a special Watch Committee; they were
now enlarged by a new local Act, (fn. 1) under which the
council took powers to impose numerous penalties for
neglect of civic duties. In regard to the regulation
of buildings the new régime was especially vigorous.
The council obtained powers by an Act of 1839 (fn. 2)
to appoint building surveyors who should be required
to certify before any new building was permitted to
be occupied that it fulfilled the numerous requirements laid down in the Act. These regulations were
made still more exacting by the important Act of
1842, (fn. 3) which forbade the erection of inadequately
lighted courts; the same Act also empowered the
magistrates to order the cleansing at the owner's expense of any 'filthy or unwholesome' house. The
most important clause of this epoch-making Act was
that which decreed the appointment of a Health
Committee to carry out its terms. Another Act of the
same year, (fn. 4) while providing for the widening of
certain main streets, provided (section 107) that on
the presentment of the grand jury or the complaint
of four or more householders the council might demolish a ruinous house. Meanwhile the Commissioners for Paving and Sewerage had continued to
perform their duties independently, being expressly
safeguarded from any interference by the growing
activity of the council; (fn. 5) but in 1842 it was provided that half of them should be elected by the
council. (fn. 6) Their authority extended only over
the old township, and in the same year a separate
commission was created for Toxteth Park. (fn. 7)
The new Health Committee found its work hampered by the existence of these independent and
unrelated authorities. Moreover, in 1843 a very
powerful pamphlet (fn. 8) published by Dr. Duncan, then a
lecturer in the Royal Infirmary School of Medicine,
awoke the town to a new sense of the horrors of its
slums. He showed that nearly half of the workingclass population lived in cellar-dwellings; that most of
the poorer streets were quite unprovided with sewers;
that the water supply was such as to render impossible
even ordinary personal cleanliness; in short, that the
condition of the poorer quarters of the town was
such as not only to degrade their inhabitants, but
also to form a grave menace to other residents. This
powerful statement came at a moment when the corporation was already awakening to the difficulty of
the problem, and the ineffectiveness of its weapons
for coping with it. The immediate result was that a
new Act was obtained in 1846, (fn. 9) which was of the
most far-reaching importance. It provided for the
first time for the appointment of a Medical Officer of
Health—an office to which, with singular appropriateness, Duncan was the first to be appointed. It
transferred the powers and properties of the Liverpool
and Toxteth Paving and Sewerage Boards to the
Health Committee of the Town Council, on which
it imposed the obligation to pave and sewer every
street and house. (fn. 10) It also imposed upon the council
a totally new obligation, namely that of laying down
pipes and supplying water throughout the borough;
for which purpose the Green Lane Waterworks were
transferred to the corporation.
Under Duncan's guidance the council now began
a systematic campaign against cellar-dwellings; in
1847 over 5,000 such dwellings were declared unfit
for human habitation, and absolutely closed, while
over 10,000 more were measured, registered, and in
some cases cleansed at the owners' expense. (fn. 11) But the
powers possessed by the council for carrying out such
reforms were as yet slight. By the Sanitary Amendment Act of 1864 (fn. 12) these powers were very largely
increased; so much so that under the terms of this
Act the facilities for the demolition of insanitary
property are in some respects more useful than any
conferred by the later national Acts for this purpose.
Even more important than the demolition of insanitary property was the provision of an adequate
water supply. The supply of water had hitherto been
in the hands of two companies—the Company of
Proprietors, and the Liverpool and Harrington Company, founded respectively in 1799 and 1802; both
drew their supply from wells, some of which are still
in use. These were now taken over; (fn. 13) but in
addition the corporation took powers to construct
a series of reservoirs on the Rivington moors, north
of Bolton. (fn. 14) The scheme produced much discussion, being one of the first of its kind, and several
additional Acts (fn. 15) were passed before it had been
finally settled. The Rivington Waterworks were not
completed till 1857; their completion for the first
time rendered possible a continuous supply of water
throughout the city. As population grew, it in turn
became inadequate; and in 1879 the Vyrnwy scheme
was entered upon. This involved the acquisition of
the valley of the River Vyrnwy in Merionethshire,
with its drainage area of 22,742 acres; the construction across the mouth of the valley of a masonry dam
1,172 ft. long, 161 ft. high, and 127 ft. thick, thus
creating a lake 4¾ miles long, capable of yielding a
supply of forty million gallons of water per diem;
and the construction of an aqueduct 68 miles long,
including tunnels of 4½ miles, one of which passes
under the Manchester Ship Canal and the Mersey.
The supply was first brought to Liverpool in 1891,
after eleven years' work. The value to the community of this magnificent achievement cannot be
exaggerated. (fn. 16)
Meanwhile the town had not been altogether neglectful of the amenities. St. George's Hall, (fn. 17) designed to serve the double purpose of a public hall
and assize courts, had been projected by private citizens in 1835, and was begun in 1838, and completed
by the corporation in 1854 at a cost of £238,000.
The design was by a young architect, H. L. Elmes,
who died before his work was completed, and much
of the interior was carried out by R. P. Cockerell.
The design was much criticized, but it is now agreed
that the building is one of the noblest modern classic
buildings in the world. It is enriched by a fine pediment by Alfred Stevens at the south end and by a
series of external bas-relief panels; it contains one of
the best organs in England, long played by W. T. Best;
and both the great hall and the plateau without are
used for the display of statuary.
Another fruitful new enterprise was begun in 1852.
As early as 1849—before the Free Libraries Act—
the establishment of a public library had been projected. In 1851 the thirteenth Earl of Derby had
bequeathed his large natural-history collection to
the town. At the same time the Liverpool Academy,
founded in 1810, had succeeded in stimulating artistic
interests in the town by its annual exhibitions. In
order to meet this triple need a private Act (fn. 18) was
obtained empowering the council to establish and
maintain a public library and museum with a gallery
of arts, to provide lecture rooms and arrange lectures. With this were at first linked the Botanic
Gardens, originally started as a private organization
by Roscoe, but taken over by the corporation in
1846. (fn. 19) A fine classic building for the library and
museum was provided by Sir William Brown, replacing the rather ragged houses at the north of
Shaw's Brow, and facing St. George's Hall. Thus
began a noble group of buildings devoted to knowledge and the arts, gradually extended by the erection
of the Picton Reading Room, a fine rotunda, in 1872,
the Walker Art Gallery (the gift of Sir A. B. Walker)
in 1877, and the Museum Extension and Technical
School in 1902; a proud adornment to the city,
later made still more attractive by the laying out of
gardens with statues in the centre of the great place.
The development of these institutions during the last
half-century can only be briefly summarized. The
Central Library, opened in 1852 with 8,296 volumes,
now contains close on 150,000 volumes; it is most
strongly equipped on local history and topography,
natural history, and the fine arts; the last-named section
has been greatly strengthened by the bequest of the
Hornby Library, now housed in a beautiful additional
room. There are also nine lending libraries in various
parts of the city, having among them nearly 140,000
volumes. (fn. 20) The Museums fall into two sections—
the Museum of Natural History, which has been built
up round the nucleus bequeathed by Lord Derby in
1852, and is now of great range, probably unsurpassed
out of London; and the Museum of Antiquities and
Anthropology, which includes some very valuable collections mainly provided by bequest of Mr. Joseph
Mayer in 1867. The large extension of the buildings effected in 1902 for the first time gives adequate
room for the display of these collections. (fn. 21) In the
Art Gallery a large permanent collection has been
accumulated by gift and purchase. It includes some
modern paintings of wide fame, also the Roscoe collection of Early Italian art, formerly housed at the
Royal Institution. The controlling committee has
wisely set itself to obtain as full a representation as
possible of the remarkable group of Liverpool painters
who flourished in the middle of the 19th century.
An exhibition of contemporary art has been held
annually since 1871, and many special exhibitions
have also been organized. (fn. 22)
Brown of Astrop, Bart. Gules a cheveron or between two bears' paws erased in chief argent and four hands conjoined in saltire of the second in base, on a chief engrailed gold an eagle displayed sable.
Walker of Osmaston, Bart. Or three pallets gules surmounted by a saltire argent charged with a hart's head erased proper, on a chief azure a garb between two stars of the first.
The increasing attention to the amenities which
the council were now showing was exhibited
especially in 1868. Up to that date the town had
possessed no public parks, except the small public
gardens in St. James's Mount; for though as early as
1848 the Newsham estate had been purchased, no use
had been made of it. In 1868 powers were obtained (fn. 23)
for the creation of three parks—Sefton Park, Newsham
Park, and Stanley Park—at a cost of £670,000. The
expenditure thus begun has been continued without
intermission, and supplemented by private munificence,
to which the city owes Wavertree Playground and
Bowring Park. The total area of parks and gardens
laid out in various parts of the city amounts to almost
1,100 acres.
The last twenty-five years of the 19th century were
largely engaged in a renewed attack on the problem
of the housing of the poor. In the earlier period
the council had been content with the demolition
of insanitary property, a work in which it had been
a pioneer; it now began to undertake the replacement of the demolished property by model
dwellings. The first block of cottages to be thus
erected was in 1869. (fn. 24) In 1885 a large group of
dwellings was erected, known as Victoria Square. By
1900 accommodation had been provided for over 700
families. More recently this work has been pushed on
with such vigour that in February 1907 over 2,200
dwellings were either in occupation or almost completed. The total cost has been more than £1,000,000,
the interest on which is almost met by the rents paid.
The elaborate and efficient tramway service, taken
over by the corporation in 1897, has also tended to
facilitate the solution of the housing problem.
Of other municipal activities no account can here
be given. But enough has been said to show that
the seventy years since the Municipal Reform Act
have been marked by a systematic attempt at the
reorganization and reconstruction of the city. In the
last part of the period the establishment of the separate diocese of Liverpool in 1880, the more recent
commencement of the erection of a cathedral, and
the foundation of a university, have added the dignities
of a cathedral, episcopal, and university city to those
of a great port. The advance thus made was recognized by the first charter of Queen Victoria in
1880, (fn. 25) whereby the title of 'City' became the
official designation of Liverpool, and by the queen's
second charter in 1893, (fn. 26) whereby the chief magistrate of the city was empowered to assume the style
of Lord Mayor of Liverpool.