Liverpool in the 1800s

By 1841, 31-year-old Thomas Parnell had moved from Totnes to Liverpool.  He married three times and raised four children with his first wife, Sarah.  He worked as a draper and then as a licenced victualler at handsome Georgian premises on Lord Nelson Street.  In his 60s he moved to the suburbs of West Derby where he died in 1889.  

What was Thomas's Liverpool like?

Liverpool was a thriving port city with a large volume of trade passing through. During the 19th century Liverpool's trade and its population expanded rapidly from 78,000 in 1801 to 376,000 in 1851. Growth in the cotton trade was accompanied by the development of strong trading links with India and the Far East, following the ending of the East India Company's monopoly in 1813. The port of Liverpool boomed in the 1800s and many new docks were built. By the middle of the century, the port of Liverpool was second only to London. 

​Following the start of the Great Irish Famine, two million Irish people migrated to Liverpool in the space of one decade, many of them subsequently departing for the United States. By 1851 approximately 25% of the city was Irish-born. Between 1851 and 1911, Liverpool attracted at least 20,000 people from Wales in each decade, peaking in the 1880s, and Welsh culture flourished. 

​Early regular scheduled Liverpool transatlantic passenger travel began in the 1810s with American lines such as Black Ball Line and Collins Line and in the 1840s with Liverpool based companies' lines, Cunard Line and White Star Line, continuing throughout the 19th Century and beyond.

​When the American Civil War broke out Liverpool became a hotbed of intrigue. The prevalence of cotton and slave interests in Liverpool ensured that the city was, in the words of the historian Sven Beckert, "the most pro-Confederate place in the world outside the Confederacy itself."

​As growth continued, the city became known as "the second city of the Empire", and was also called "the New York of Europe".

​During this boom period, Thomas worked as a licenced victualler (publican).  I don't imagine he was short of trade; Liverpool had more cases of drunkenness than in any seaport in the country!