Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Edward Chambre Hardman

Some time ago , I think there was mention of Edward Chambre Hardman and his house/photographic studio in Liverpool.

Stumbled across this by accident, but thought it may be of interest to some. They left as much as possible just the same as it was left when Mr E Chambre Hardman had lived there.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...50s-Britain-captured-Liverpool-home.html

Thanks for sharing, interesting article.

The Mail at its usual standard, the picture of the second HMS Ark Royal being built was in Cammell Laird BIRKENHEAD, not "a Liverpool shipyard".

The Hardman's House re-opens on the 18th March after its winter closure should anyone want to have a look.

I visited the Chambre Hardman house a few years ago, shortly after it opened to the public - it's an amazing place, really worth a look. However, when I bought a copy of that brilliant Birth of the Ark Royal picture at the nearby National Trust shop, I noticed that the accompanying leaflet referred to shipbuilding in Liverpool, not Birkenhead.

This was an absolute travesty and I contacted the National Trust (which runs the house) to point out the mistake and asked them to correct it. I don't know if they have since altered their literature, but I suspect not.

This is perhaps where the Mail obtained its wrong information. To say 'Liverpool was a major shipbuilding centre for 200 years' is a bit wide of the mark. Many ships were built on the Liverpool banks of the Mersey, but it was the Laird shipyard in Birkenhead that became famous worldwide.

The trouble is, it's easier for lazy journalists to say Liverpool because that's the place most people know. A couple of years ago, when Tony Robinson did his Time Team TV programme about the last resting place of the Great Eastern, he blithely placed it in Liverpool and not New Ferry, even though they were showing road signs saying New Ferry.

And, of course, the world-famous Mersey ferries are all to do with Liverpool, aren't they? Who cares that they stem from Birkenhead? In 1330, Edward III granted the monks of Birkenhead Priory the right of ferry for ever.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Don't be fooled into thinking that using 'Liverpool' as the place name for all success of anything from Wirral, is an accident.
Certainly it is not, as Wirral had been referred to as 'a suburb of Liverpool' approx. 2001 in their guide book.
The all encompassing Liverpool included Southport ,St Helens, Runcorn,and we all became 'suburbs of Liverpool'. I think there was a kick off about it, but not sure if it changed anything. They will claim anything they can lay their hands on.

This is interesting, with a few comments at the bottom. I have spotted two 'wrongs' in the list and a couple of distorted ones for the purpose of, maybe you can find more.
We should make our own list.
http://www.liverpoolhistorysociety.org.uk/liverpool-firsts/

I'd agree that Birkenhead was a suburb of Liverpool until 1877, I don't see the rest of The Wirral being a suburb of Liverpool at any time.

I still thing the regional authority should have been called Merseyside, calling it Liverpool just puts us one step away from becoming part of the City.

Considering Birkenhead very nearly became a City in its own right and that it is one of the largest Towns in the country (I believe it was the second largest Town at one time) it seems incredible that it is under threat of being taken over and for that to happen to the whole of Wirral is just plain madness.

The Confederate cruiser CSS Shenandoah (list of Liverpool firsts) actually surrendered to the captain of HMS Donegal, a Royal Navy ship which happened to be anchored in mid-river off Tranmere when the Shenandoah sailed into the Mersey in November 1865.

Her captain, James Waddell, later took a formal letter of surrender to the mayor of Liverpool. A few days afterwards, the Shenandoah's crewmen were paroled by the British government and taken off the ship, being landed at Rock Ferry.

The other great 'it came from Liverpool' myth of the American Civil War is, of course, the famous Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama. The ship was built at Laird's yard in Birkenhead, fitted out there, victualled in the Birkenhead docks and sailed away from near Seacombe in July 1862 without ever going to Liverpool.