Capturing the experiences of the people of Merseyside in the First World War in their own words, from life on the front line to entertainment at home

This fascinating volume documents the impact of the two world wars on the people of Merseyside, using a selection of primary sources and contemporary photographs.

‘Mersey Built’ chronicles the little-known commercial battle that raged between North and South during the American Civil War. The South relied on Europe for its military supplies, which the North tried to stop with a naval blockade of all Southern ports. The South retaliated by destroying Northern merchant ships on the high seas, using war ships, secretly procured from British shipyards and smuggled out of Britain by sympathetic British captains using British crews. The Charleston-based business empire headed by George Trenholm provided a conduit for Confederate finance with its Liverpool branch acting as bankers for the Confederacy’s procurement agents. Merseyside, with its extensive docks and numerous shipyards quickly became the epicenter of Confederate operations in Europe. Several British businessmen bought ships specifically to run supplies through the Union blockade, leaving relationships between the United States and Britain strained, close to breaking point. The book relates the history of Trenholm’s commercial empire, its pre-war expansion into Liverpool and the pivotal role it played in supporting the Confederate war effort. The involvement of other Liverpool-based entrepreneurs and their successes and failures in blockade-running is described. Background histories of the Merseyside ship builders who constructed warships and blockade runners for the Confederacy are included as well as several mini-biographies of the Liverpool-based captains who smuggled out warships and braved the Union blockade. Details of each ship built on Merseyside for involvement in the Civil War are listed. The role of the United States consular service and its extensive, Liverpool-based, spy ring is described, as are the efforts of the United States ambassador in London to influence British government policy on neutrality. The author, a direct descendant of a Liverpool ship builder, and a blockade-running captain, brings new insights and previously unpublished facts to light in this fascinating chapter of history.

The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain: Liverpool offers a detailed insight into this great city and its people facing the challenges of wartime. This highly accessible volume explores the city's regiments, and includes many individual stories of men on the frontline and the vital role of women against the background of the changing face of industry, attitudes to conscientious objectors, hospitals for the wounded and their rehabilitation, peace celebrations, the fallen heroes and how they are commemorated. Liverpool Central Library & Record Office have generously made available illustrative and other material from their extensive archives.

First Published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Based on extensive research, Cinderella Soldiers uncovers the experiences of the Liverpool Irish Battalion during the Great War. The ethnic core of the battalion represented more than mere shamrock sentimentality: they had been raised within the Catholic Irish enclaves of the north end of the city, where they had been inculcated and nurtured in Celtic culture, traditions and nationalist politics. Throughout the nineteenth century, the Irish in Liverpool were viewed as a violent, drunken, ill-disciplined and disloyal race. These racial perceptions of the Irish continued through the Home Rule Crisis which brought Ireland to the cusp of civil war in 1914. This book offers a different account of an infantry battalion at war. It is the story of how Liverpool's Irish sons, brothers, fathers and lovers fought on the Western Front and how their families in the slums of Liverpool's north end experienced and endured the war.

Merseyside: Culture and Place demonstrates how Liverpool and Merseyside have a rich, fascinating and sometimes controversial cultural history. The result of a conference held to mark Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture in 2008, this interdisciplinary volume contains chapters by scholars working in a variety of fields, including Geography, Art, English, Marketing and History. There are many facets to Merseyside’s cultural history, and the contributors to this publication bring their own perspective to bear on various features of the area’s rich heritage. Taking in examples from the early modern era to the present day, Merseyside: Culture and Place draws attention to often overlooked cultural forms, such as sketches of the Mersey by J. M. W. Turner and the fan culture exhibited on Liverpool FC’s Kop. Each chapter in the book is based on original research and the contributors set their findings in a local, national and, in some cases, an international context. Both academics and general readers will find much of interest in a book that reflects Merseyside’s distinctive and multi-faceted character.