LIVERPOOL FIRST in the world
The Liver Buildings is the first large scale
ferro-concrete building in the world
A selection of Firsts involving Liverpool and its
people.
1639 Jeremiah Horrocks of Toxteth: the first observation
of the transit of Venus
1648 The first recorded cargo from America lands in
Liverpool
1679 Liverpools mayor founds the first charity for
sailors
1715 Steers Old Dock in Canning Place is the worlds
first enclosed wet dock controlled by floodgates
1758 Building of the Lyceum, the first circulating
library
1763 The first lighthouses to use parabolic mirrors are
built by Liverpools dock Master at Hoylake and Bidston
1770 Work begins on the Leeds-Liverpool canal, the
longest and highest in Britain, finished in 1816
1770 St. Annes Church on St. Anne Street. The first use
of iron columns to hold up balconies.
1776 Ether is first used as an anaesthetic
1776 The World First Lifeboat Station at Formby Point
1786 Great Howard Street houses the first purpose built
prison
1790 Worlds first American consul, James Maury, is
posted to Liverpool
1791 The first school for the blind opens at Commutation
Row
1793 Liverpool becomes the first and only municipality
with the right to issue its own money
1803 Liverpool Underwriters Association is the worlds
first
1814 St Georges, in Everton, is the first all cast iron
framed church
1822 James Muspratt opens an alkali works in Vauxhall
the origins of ICI
1823 First mechanics lending library
1825 Worlds first school for deaf people
1830 Worlds first inter-city passenger railway line
built by Liverpool & Manchester Railway Company
1830 Worlds first tunnel bored under a Metropolis. The
Wapping Tunnel from Edge Hill to the south end docks.
1830 The worlds first train shed and large wooden
station roof are built at Crown Street station
1830 MP William Huskisson is the first railway fatality
1835 Lacys publishes the worlds first railway
timetable
1836 A tunnel bored from Edge Hill to Lime Street
station. The tunnel was made into a large open cutting
in the 1880s, however one very small section still
remains and is the oldest tunnel in use in the world
under streets.
1836 Edge Hill station was move from the head of the
Wapping Tunnel at Edge Hill to the head of the Lime
Street Tunnel. Today it is the worlds oldest used
station.
1838 The first travelling Post Office nets between
Liverpool and Birmingham
1839 Lairds shipyard built the worlds first screw
propelled steamer, Robert F. Stockton, a 63ft tug for
use on North American waterways.
1839 The start of the worlds greatest steeple chase at
Aintree race course
1840 Cunards wooden paddle-steamer Britannia is the
first scheduled transatlantic passenger service
1840 Liverpool appoints Britains first borough engineer
1840 Worlds first photograph developing and printing
service
1841 Brunswick Buildings: the first purpose-built office
block
1841 The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (later RSPCA) is founded
1842 First public baths and wash-houses in Upper
Frederick St.
1844 Blackburne House is the first girls day grammar
school
1845 Liverpool is the destination of the first package
tour
1847 Dr Duncan becomes the worlds first Medical Officer
1847 The worlds first purpose designed and built public
park, Birkenhead Park. Central Park in New York Is based
on it.
1848 First British trades council.
1848 Albert Dock, the first non-combustible warehousing
system in the world
1848 Albert Dock, the worlds first warehouses to use
hydraulic hoists.
1848 St. Georges Hall has the worlds first ever
air-conditioning system.
1848 Lime Street Station has the worlds largest single
span roof.
1850 Liverpool is the first borough to start a library
committee
1851 The first provincial Childrens Hospital opens in
the city
1856 The 21 ton Horsfall Gun the largest in the world
is built at the Mersey Forge in Sefton Street; it
could fire a 300lb cannon ball five miles
1857 Liverpool Rugby Club is the worlds first open
club.
1857 Liverpool starts Britains first chess club.
1857 Worlds largest water works to supply Liverpool
with water at Rivington Pike, piping water 27 miles.
1858 The worlds first steel ship, the Ma Roberts, built
for Dr. Livingstones African exploration by the Laird
shipyard.
1859 The first nurse paid to look after the poor.
1859 The first tramway in the UK at Liverpool Docks.
1860 First purpose built public library.
1860 The worlds first street railway at Woodside
Birkenhead
1861 Britains first ecumenical conference.
1861 A Liverpool made gun fires the first shot of the
American Civil War.
1862 The first street refuges for pedestrians built.
1862 First provincial school of nursing set up in
Liverpool
1862 Laird shipyard build the American Confederate CSS
Alabama commerce raider. This ship sunk 65 ships with a
predominately Liverpool crew. A total never been
equalled by any ship since.
1862 The Jones Quiggin shipyard built the first steel
ship to cross the Atlantic, the Banshee. Built for the
Confederate states of America as a fast blockade runner.
1864 The first slum clearance scheme gives the Medical
Officer power to demolish unsafe and unfit buildings
1864 The worlds first metal framed glass curtain walled
building Oriel Chambers, Water Street.
1865 The last act of the American Civil War was the
surrender to the Mayor of Liverpool of the Confederate
ship Shenandoah, by her captain James Waddell, at the
Town Hall.
1865 The last official lowering of the American
Confederate flag was in the River Mersey when the CSS
Shenandoah was handed over to Captain Payton of the
Royal Navy.
1867 Britains first steamroller is bought by Liverpool
1867 Liverpool Velocipedes is the countrys first
cycling club
1868 Liverpool is the first borough to secure an Act of
Parliament to establish a tram network
1869 St Martins Cottages are the first municipal housing
1875 The first disarmament campaign: Liverpool Peace
Society
1876 Britains first gorilla arrives at Liverpool Docks
1876 Landing stage at the Pier Head. The largest
floating structure in the world.
1877 The Walker Art Gallery is the first UK public art
gallery
1879 Worlds first mechanically propelled submarine,
Resurgam, built at Birkenhead
1880 Liverpool hosts the first Irish Nationalist MP in
England TP OConnor at the Liverpool Exchange.
1880 Liverpool starts work on the largest artificial
reservoir in Europe to supply Liverpool with water, at
Vyrnwy in Wales.
1883 The Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Children forerunner of the NSPCC is founded.
1884 Britains first female doctor opens a practice in
Liverpool
1886 The first major under-river tunnel is built under
the Mersey
1886 The worlds first cut into rock underground rail
station at James Street.
1886 Liverpool carried out and financed the first ever
Atlantic telegraph cable.
1886 Northern Hospital has the first purpose-built
ambulance
1887 Everton FC are one of the founding clubs of the
first football league competition
1889 Liverpool Gas Company installs the first
pre-payment gas meters
1889 Liverpools police force is the first to wear
rubber-soled boots for night duty
1891 John Brodie invents the goalnet, which is first
used by Everton FC
1892 Liverpool University opens the first Marine
Biological Station
1892 The worlds first purpose built football ground;
Goodison Park, Everton FC.
1893 The worlds first electric elevated urban railway,
the Liverpool Overhead Railway.
1893 The worlds first automatic signalling used on the
Overhead Railway.
1893 The worlds first all-electric colour light
signalling used on the Overhead Railway.
1894 First ever radio broadcast made by Oliver Lodge,
Liverpool University professor of physics
1895 First British school of architecture and applied
art
1896 The x-ray is used in medical diagnosis for the
first time
1897 Liverpool is the first to employ female health
visitors
1898 First city to employ a municipal bacteriologist
1898 School of Tropical Medicine is the first founded in
the UK
1899 Oliver Lodge invents the car engine ignition system
1901 Liverpool runs the first anti-tuberculosis campaign
in Britain
1901 Seaforth Sands on the Overhead Railway installs the
first escalator in a railway station
1901 The worlds first filmed crime re-enactment in
Bootle.
1901 The worlds largest brick building. Stanley Dock
Tobacco warehouse.
1902 The interconnected enclosed docks system is the
largest in the world.
1902 The School of Tropical medicine is the first
British medical institution to gain the Nobel Prize for
Medicine for connecting the mosquito with malaria.
1902 Hatton Garden fire station has the first motor fire
engine
1904 The University of Liverpool founds the first school
of veterinary science in the country.
1905 The worlds first pre-cast concrete building
Eldon Street apartments.
1907 The Liver Buildings has the worlds largest
clock-faces.
1907 The Liver Buildings is the first large scale
ferro-concrete building in the world.
1907 The Liver Buildings is Europes first skyscraper.
1908 Boy Scouts: Birkenhead was the home of the first
ever scouts group
1909 Eleanor Rathbone becomes the first woman councillor
1909 Woolworths opens its first British store on Church
Street
1912 First automatic telephone exchange
1913 New York World carries the first word cross, or
crossword, compiled by Liverpudlian Arthur Wynne
1913 Liverpool-born John Archer is elected Britains
first black mayor, in Battersea
1917 First public commercial library in the country
1919 Liverpools is the first and only police force
to strike
1919 The first flat slab reinforced concrete building in
the UK at Garston. The Bryant & May artdeco factory.
1919 The first department of oceanography opens at the
University
1920 The worlds first all welded hulled ship, Fullagar,
built by the Lairds shipyard.
1924 Lister Drive power station has the first hyperbolic
cooling tower
1925 Crosshall Street hosts the countrys first Juvenile
Court
1927 The Bluecoat is the first British Arts centre
1927 West Derby is the site of the first municipal
Jewish cemetery
1928 William (Dixie) Dean of Everton FC, scores a record
60 goals in a season in the leagues topflight division.
1932 The first purpose-built boxing stadium (Bixteth
Street)
1933 Dr Minnitt at Liverpools maternity hospital uses
gas and air in childbirth for the first time
1934 Liverpool Police are the first force to use two-way
radios
1934 Tatler, on Church Street, is first provincial news
theatre
1934 Mersey road tunnel, 2.3 mi (3.7 km) long, is the
longest subaqueous road tunnel in the world.
1935 Everton FC are the first football team to be
televised live; vs. Arsenal
1936 The Liverpool Corporation Act is the first giving
the council the right to buy, sell and develop land.
1936 Speke sees the first purpose-built municipal
industrial estate
1943 Richard Burton makes his theatrical debut at the
Royal Court
1944 Hua Chow Pao is Britains first Chinese newspaper
1946 Liverpool FCs Jack Balmer becomes the first player
to score three consecutive hat-tricks
1947 Worlds first radar lighthouse
1948 The Mersey Ferries were the first to have a radar
system for safe navigation in fog
1949 South Liverpool FC are the first club to
permanently install and play under floodlights.
1950 The first helicopter service flies from Liverpool
to Cardiff
1950 The worlds first purpose built angle flight deck
aircraft carrier, built at Lairds shipyard; HMS Ark
Royal.
1952 Hospital radio starts in Liverpool
1952 First package holiday flight departs from Liverpool
airport
1952 The Albert Dock complex is listed as is the largest
collection of grade 1 listed buildings in the UK.
1953 Liverpools Lita Roza is the first woman to top the
pop charts
1959 National Westminster opens the first drive-in bank
1958 Everton FC are the first English football club to
install undersoil pitch heating.
1959 First mass x-ray campaign
1960 Martins is the first bank to use a computer
1961 St. Georges School Wallasey is the UKs first
successful 100% solar heated building. Also the most
northerly substantial solar building.
1962 The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company is the first
port authority to use a computer.
1962 The worlds first hovercraft service from Wallasey
to North Wales.
1964 Liverpools police force is the first to use closed
circuit TV
1967 First seminar for orchestra conductors
1967 The largest panel of stained glass in the world at
the new Metropolitan Cathedral.
1968 Worlds best selling poetry book published by
Liverpool 8 Poets
1969 The Beatles are the only musicians to achieve five
Diamond albums, signifying U.S. sales of 10 million
copies or more.
1971 Knowsley Safari Park; the largest in Europe, with
the largest herd of African elephants outside Africa.
1971 Seaforth Dock opened. The largest in the UK with
the largest lock gates in the world.
1972 A small section of the original 1936 Lime Street
rail tunnel at Edge Hill station becomes the oldest used
rail tunnel in the world, after the closure of the Crown
Street Tunnel in Liverpool.
1979 Liverpool Anglican cathedral completed after 77
years of construction. Britains largest, with the
worlds largest Gothic arches, organ and the highest and
heaviest bells. Also the worlds longest nave and
largest tower.
1984 Liverpool FC becomes the first club to win three
major trophies in one season
1984 The first British International Garden Festival is
held in Liverpool
1991 Liverpool FC achieves a record 18 league titles.
1997 The Roy Castle Foundation for Lung Cancer Research
is the worlds first dedicated cancer research centre.
1999 Everton FC is the first English club to reach 6,000
goals in the top-flight division
2000 Worlds longest mural at Alder Hey hospital.
2001 Liverpool is named World Capital of Pop Music with
53 No. 1 chart hits since 1953.
2003 Everton FC are the first English football club to
play 100 seasons in the English top-flight division.
2003 Liverpool JM university installs the worlds
largest fully robotic telescope in the Canary Islands
for research.
2004 St. Georges Hall was voted, by the European
Architectural Commission, the finest public building
constructed in Europe in the past 200 years.
2004 Oldest timepiece maker in the world Sewills.
Established 1800.
2004 Liverpool named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
2005 Liverpool University discovered a new layer near
the Earths core.
2005 Liverpool FC achieves a British record of 5
European Cup wins.
2005 Liverpool was named IT and Telecommunications
Capital of Europe by Foreign Direct Investment magazine.
2006 Worlds first zoonosis research centre animal
borne diseases such as birdflue.
2006 The Beatles so far to date have achieved a record
20 US and 17 UK No 1 singles. They also hold the record
for the most No 1 albums of all time, with 15 albums on
the US Billboard. They have sold a record, of over a
billion worldwide. And still counting.
2007 Worlds first oscillating sculpture in Moorfields.
A section of a building wall rotates in three
dimensions.
Oldvolvoman wrote:
Get a life!
! what is that supposed to mean !
briace wrote:
! what is that supposed to mean !
i think he's having a pop at your civic pride? :roll:
so i'll join in:
Liverpool 1920: first use of housebricks to support a Model T... :?
meantime, lets try and think what other places are famous for... say Northamptonshire? Load of old Cobblers???
i'll get me coat...
actually an interesting post... what about beefing it up with photos? a project or possible book there?
I was borne in a village called Polegate and the only thing it is famous for is it had the worlds first Treacle Mine.---- SO THERE?????
85% of Liverpudlian males say they enjoy sex in the shower........ The other 15% haven't been to prison yet :lol:
bobbybob wrote:
85% of Liverpudlian males say they enjoy sex in the shower........ The other 15% haven't been to prison yet :lol:
And that 15% don't have to commit a crime to live, as they seem to manage on their Dole Cheque :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
I was based in Liverpool once. Got to be honest I was glad to get out.
Best thing that came from Liverpool---the Beatles.
briace wrote:
LIVERPOOL FIRST in the world
1776 Ether is first used as an anaesthetic - the villains had to stun their victims with something ?
1786 Great Howard Street houses the first purpose built prison - sort of follows on from the item above ?
1793 Liverpool becomes the first and only municipality with the right to issue its own money - cos the villains nicked all the original ?
1839 The start of the worlds greatest steeple chase at Aintree race course in Britain - and spent the money here ?
1901 The worlds first filmed crime re-enactment in Bootle. - well they had to practice ?
1919 Liverpools is the first and only police force to strike - nothing surprising there then ?
1925 Crosshall Street hosts the countrys first Juvenile Court - or here ?
1943 Richard Burton makes his theatrical debut at the Royal Court - what was his crime ?
1964 Liverpools police force is the first to use closed circuit TV - at least they're learning ?
.
LIVERPOOL FIRST in the world br br 1776 Ether is ... (
show quote)
ALL MY COMMENTS TO BE TAKEN AS A JOKE (LOL)
Hi Briace, holy crap, I'm feeling dizzy after absorbing all of that. It was very interesting and thanks for posting. Liverpool is a place to be proud of.
GWR100 wrote:
I was borne in a village called Polegate and the only thing it is famous for is it had the worlds first Treacle Mine.---- SO THERE?????
Polegate was also the first village to use frog feathers as
insulation, and the first successful recipient of a Foden truck fuel injector pump transplant was a young lady from Polegate.
WoW! What an opportunity to publish a photobook! ...and what a town! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
bigalw wrote:
ALL MY COMMENTS TO BE TAKEN AS A JOKE (LOL)
I'm not in Liverpool but what passed thru my liver pooled on the floor beneath my chair whilst reading this list of amazing facts. :oops:
One has no problem with these many historical postings on Liverpool but you might have mentioned your city's withstanding the 1940-41 blitz by the Nazi Luftwaffe.
There were many heroes to be found among the air raid wardens, fire fighters, ambulance drivers and rescue teams with more than a few of them severely burned, maimed or killed.
Is it fair for this yank to suggest that these heroes may have had more claim to an OBE than your Beatles?
The same might be said for their equals in more than a dozen other cities including, of course, London.
If you want to reply, then
register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.