Timeline of Liverpool

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Liverpool, England.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Prior to 18th century

• 4000 BCE - The Calderstones erected.
• 1089 – The West Derby Hundred is recorded in the Domesday Book.^[1]
• 1150 – Birkenhead Priory, the oldest surviving building on Merseyside and credited with establishing the Mersey Ferry.
• 1207 – 28 August: Liverpool and its market chartered by King John.^[2][3][4]
• 1229 – Charter granted by Henry III authorizing a merchants' guild.^[4]
• 1237 – Liverpool Castle (1237–1726).^[4]
• 1266 – Liverpool passed into the hands of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster.^[4]
• 1292 – John De More becomes Lord Mayor of Liverpool.
• 1295 – Borough sent two members to the first royal parliament.^[4]
• 1298 – Liverpool fair active.^[3]
• 1349 – The Black Death plague hits Liverpool.^[5]
• 1588 – Borough represented in Parliament by Francis Bacon.^[4]
• 1598 – Speke Hall (house) built.
• 1639 – Jeremiah Horrocks, astronomer, is one of the first to observe a Transit of Venus.
• 1662 – Population 775.^[6]
• 1644 – Town besieged by forces of Prince Rupert of the Rhine.^[7]
• 1674 – Town Hall rebuilt.^[6]
• 1684 – Richard Atherton becomes Lord Mayor of Liverpool and secures the surrender of the Liverpool Charter, which was delivered to George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, known as Judge Jeffreys, at Bewsey Old Hall in 1684. The notes on the Liverpool Charters refer to Atherton as the first modern Mayor of Liverpool.

18th century

• 1700
  • Liverpool Merchant slave ship begins operating.^[8]
  • Population: 5,714.^[6]
• 1702 – Croxteth Hall (house) built.
• 1704 – Woolton Hall (house) built.
• 1708 – Blue Coat School founded.^[6]
• 1715 – opening of the world’s first enclosed commercial wet dock Old Dock.^[9]
• 1717 – Bluecoat Chambers built.
• 1718 – Blue Coat hospital opens.^[4]
• 1720 – Population: 10,446.^[10]
• 1722 – Ranelagh Gardens open.
• 1724 – 25 August: Animal painter George Stubbs born.
• 1726
  • Liverpool Castle demolished.
  • Ye Hole in Ye Wall pub on Hackins Hey opens.^[11]
  • John Okill shipbuilder, on Nova Scotia Docks.
• 1730 - Black people in Liverpool is the oldest and longest established black community in UK.
• 1734 - Robert Morris (financier) born on Dale st
• 1737 Canning Dock built.
• 1740 - Jewish community established, the first in the North of England. Stanley Street also the location for Liverpools first Synagogue in 1751.
• 1742 - Rathbones in business.
• 1748 - John Newton workplace and later home for sixteen years from 1748 to 1764 later wrote Amazing Grace.
• 1749 – Royal Infirmary opens.^[4]
• 1752 - Richard Chaffers Liverpool porcelain manufacturer.
• 1753 – Salthouse Dock built.^[7]
• 1754 – Liverpool Town Hall built.^[4]
• 1756 – Liverpool Advertiser newspaper begins publication.^[12]
• 1757 - Sankey Canal opens Henry Berry appointed engineer.
• 1758 – Circulating library established.^[13]
• 1763 - Octagon Chapel, Liverpool built.
• 1766 – City directory published.^[14]
• 1770s – Scotland Road laid out.
• 1771
  • Bidston lighthouse built.^[7]
  • George's Dock opens.
• 1773 - Shipowner merchant brought commercialisation and mass production of Marsala wine to the British Empire.
• 1773 - Duke's Dock built.
• 1775 - Banastre Tarleton leads the British Legion in the American War of Independence.
• 1776- Robert Morris becomes one of Founding Fathers of the United States.
• 1776/7 - William Hutchinson established the world’s first recorded Lifeboat station on Formby beach.
• 1778/9 – 120 privateers were fitted out in Liverpool, carrying 1986 guns and 8745 men.^[4]
• 1779 – Medical Library founded.^[6]
• 1784 – Liverpool Musical Festival begins.^[15]
• 1785 – Liverpool Georgian Quarter constructed.
• 1785 - Kings Dock and Queens Dock built.
• 1787 - Greenbank House built, Shipowners Rathbone family lived here.
• 1788 – St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church built.
• 1790 - James Maury as the first Consulate of the United States, Liverpool serving the role for 40 years, the first consulate established by the United States.
  • Lime Street laid out.
• 1791 – School for the Blind founded.^[6]
• 1792 – Holy Trinity Church, Wavertree, consecrated
• 1797 – Liverpool Athenaeum founded.
• 1799 - Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby was born, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the longest serving party leader.

19th century

1800s–1840s

• 1801 – Population: 77,653.^[10]
• 1802 – The Lyceum, Liverpool built, housed England’s first subscription library.^[16]
• 1803 – Botanical Gardens open.^[17]
• 1805 – Extension to Liverpool Town Hall completed providing the main ballroom and council chamber
• 1807
  • 185 Liverpool ships were engaged in the slave trade, carrying 49,213 slaves in 1807.^[4]
  • March – Slave Trade Act in the United Kingdom and Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves in the United States outlaw the Atlantic slave trade. On 27 July Kitty's Amelia sails on the last legal British slaving voyage.
  • Liverpool Cricket Club formed.
  • Bibby Line shipping company in business.
• 1808 - Exchange Buildings (1803–08; demolished 1864).
• August : Exchange Buildings built.^[6]
• 1809 - William Ewart Gladstone Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was born.
• 1810 - Sir William Brown established Brown Shipley, as the eldest son of Alexander Brown who founded Alex. Brown & Sons the oldest investment banking firm in the US.

Expansions of Liverpool boundaries in 1835, 1895, 1902, 1905 and 1913

Map of Liverpool, 1836

• 1810 - the spire of Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas, Liverpool collapsed during morning service killing twenty one children from a local orphanage.
  • Williamson Tunnels started.
  • Prince's Half-Tide Dock built.
• 1815 – Manchester Dock built.
• 1815 - the first steamship Mersey Ferry.
• 1816 – Leeds and Liverpool Canal constructed.^[6]
• 1816- Swire is founded with John Samuel Swire taking the reins in 1847.
• 1817 – Liverpool Royal Institution established.^[4][18]
• 1819 – SS Savannah completes first steamship transatlantic sailing.
• 1820 - Hannah vessel wrecked located at Hannah Point, Liverpool Beach in Antarctica
• 1821 - Prince’s Dock built.
• 1822
  • City of Dublin Steam Packet Company operates Steamships between Liverpool and Dublin.
  • The old St John's Market was designed by John Foster Junior and built.
• 1823 – Marine Humane Society founded.^[17]
• 1824/28 — John Laird pioneer shipbuilder goes into business with is father William Laird establishing William Laird & Son.
• 1825 – Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts^[6] and Philomathic Society^[12] established.
• 1826
  • St James Cemetery laid out.^{[citation needed]}
  • Old Dock closed.
• 1827 – Law Society established.^[12]
• 1828 – Baths and wash houses in Britain first established in Liverpool.
• 1829 – Canning Dock opens.^[19]
• 1829 — Stephenson's Rocket wins Rainhill trials
• 1830
  • Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.^[6][20][4] the world’s first inter-city railway.
    • Crown Street railway station and the first ever train shed opened.
    • Broad Green railway station is the world’s oldest railway station in continuous use.
    • Wapping Tunnel opened.
    • The Liverpool Rubber Company was founded, credited with designing the first rubber-soled sports shoes, attaching canvas as uppers to rubber soles, Theses early shoes, sometimes “ called sand shoes “ are considered by many to be the first sneakers or British trainers.
  • Isle of Man Steam Packet Company is the world’s oldest continuously operating passenger shipping company.
  • Liverpool merchant James Atherton founder of New Brighton, Merseyside Seaside resort with the Uk longest Promenade.
• 1831 – Population: 165,175.^[6]
• 1831 - Bank of Liverpool in business.
• 1832 - Kitty Wilkinson public wash house pioneer during the 1826-1837 cholera pandemic.
  • Church of St Luke built.
• 1833 – William Fawcett (engineer) of the William Fawcett (paddle steamer) the earliest P&O ship and the SS Royal William credited with the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean almost entirely under steam power from the River Mersey.
• 1834 - Waterloo Dock built .
• 1835
  • City boundaries expand.^[4]
  • First elected Town Council replaces Common Council.
• 1836
  • Literary, Scientific and Commercial Institution^[6] and Liverpool Town Borough Police established.
  • Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance established.
  • The world’s oldest main line terminus Liverpool Lime Street railway station opens.
• 1837 – Liverpool Chess Club formed.^[21]
• 1838 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel SS Great Western the largest passenger ship in the world sails from Liverpool between 1838-1845.
• 1838 - Gustav Christian Schwabe moves to Liverpool financier of Bibby Line, Harland & Wolff and the White Star Line shipping line.
• 1839 - The first British ocean going iron war ship the Nemesis built by John Laird Sons & Company and George Forrester and Company.
• The Grand National was inaugurated at Aintree Racecourse.
  • Customs House Built.^[6]
  • Royal Insurance Building, Queen Avenue, Liverpool built for Royal Insurance in 1845.
• 1840
  • Liverpool College^[22] and Liverpool Philharmonic Society^[15] founded.
  • Cunard's steamship Britannia sails from Liverpool to Boston.^[23]
• 1842
  • St. Francis Xavier's College established.^[22]
  • Robertson Gladstone becomes mayor.
• 1843 – Princes Park laid out.^[4]
• 1844
  • Canning Half Tide Dock opens.^[19]
  • Royal Mersey Yacht Club established.
• 1845 – White Star Line was founded in Liverpool by John pilkington and Henry Wilson, it focused on the Uk-Australia trade, which increased following the Victorian gold rush in 1951.
• July 26; Isambard Kingdom Brunel pioneering SS Great Britain maiden voyage, the largest ship in the world and the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
• Lamport and Holt in business.
• 1846 – Royal Albert Dock opens.^[24][4]
• 1848
• First integrated sewerage system in the world, this new sewerage system prevented raw sewage from contaminating drinking water, life expectancy in Liverpool was 19 years old and doubled after appointed engineer James Newlands retired.
  • Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway opened.
  • Bramley-Moore Dock built.
  • Stanley Dock built.
  • Cope Bros & Co in business.
  • Church of Saint Francis Xavier consecrated.
• 1849 - Gustav Wilhelm Wolff settled in Liverpool at the age of 15 spending most working life in Liverpool co-founding Harland & Wolff ship yard in 1861.
• Edwin Waterhouse co-found account practice of Pricewaterhouse that now forms part of Pricewaterhouse Cooper opening its first office outside London in Liverpool in 1904.
  • Philharmonic Hall opens.
  • Victoria Tunnel (with largest iron wire rope ever manufactured) and Waterloo Tunnel opened connecting Edge Hill railway station to Liverpool Riverside railway station.

1850s–1890s

• 1850 – Catholic Institute established.^[22]
• The Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steamship and Company in business.
• 1851 - Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited Liverpool and St George’s Hall.
  • Derby Museum opens.
  • Balfour Williamson in business.
• 1852
  • African Steamship Company in business.
  • Wapping Dock built.
  • Huskisson Dock built.
  • Liverpool Free Public Library^[25] and Liverpool Sailors' Home^[4] open.
  • Hebrews' Educational Institution founded.^[12]
  • A quarter of the city's population is Irish, a legacy of the Great Irish Famine.
• 1853 - Population of Liverpool of 384,263 became the second largest in the British Empire after London and the 8th largest in Europe contributed from the migration of the Great Irish Famine.
• Port of Garston built.
• Harrison Line in business.
• 1854 – St George's Hall built.^[4]
• 1854 - RMS Tayleur Full-rigged ship sunk on its maiden voyage from Liverpool 370 lives were lost.
• 1854 - James Baines launches immigrant ships for Australia including
• Champion of the Seas
• Flying Cloud (clipper)
• James Baines (clipper)
• Lightning (clipper)
• Marco Polo (1851 ship)
• Sovereign of the Seas (clipper)
• 1855
  • February: Economic unrest.^[17]
  • Liverpool Daily Post begins publication.
• 1856 – Lewis's shop in business.
• 1857 – Mersey Docks & Harbour Board established.^[26]
• 1857 - Liverpool St Helens F.C. formed the world's oldest open rugby club.
• 1857 - John West Foods in business.
• 1858 - Liverpool, London and Globe Building built.
• 1859 – Thomas Royden & Sons in business.
• 1860 – William Brown Library and Museum building opens.^[25]
• 1860 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel ship SS Great Eastern made its maiden voyage in Liverpool held the title of being the world’s largest ship for forty years.
• 1861 - Old Swan Tramway opened.
• 1862 - William Rathbone VI founded the world's first District nursing and established the Queen's Nursing Institute.
• May 10; RMS Scotia maiden voyage, Blue Riband winner, the last ocean- going Paddle steamer.
• 1863 – British & Foreign Marine established.
• 1864
  • Garston and Liverpool Railway opened.
  • Oriel Chambers built.
• 1865 - James Iredell Waddell commander of the Liverpool ship CSS Shenandoah the vessel was surrendered in Liverpool marking the last official surrender of the American Civil War.
• 1866 – Chinatown, Liverpool is oldest Chinese community in Europe, , with the establishment of the Blue Funnel Line, part of the Ocean Group plc.
• 1867 – Welsh Presbyterian Church, Liverpool built Liverpools tallest building at that time. Exchange Buildings (1864–67; demolished 1939).
• 1868
  • Elder Dempster and Company in business.
  • Newsham Park opens.
  • Owen Owen opens his drapery business.
• 1869
  • First paternoster lift built in Liverpool.^[27]
  • West Coast Main Line connecting Liverpool to London bypassing Manchester completed.
  • The Conservative local authority builds the first council housing in Europe, St Martin's Cottages (tenement flats) in Ashfield Street, Vauxhall.^[28]
  • Fowler's Buildings constructed.
  • Municipal Buildings, Liverpool built.
  • Liverpool Tramways Company opened.^[4]
  • Royal Liverpool Golf Club was established.
  • September 6: Ocean Steam Navigation Company founded, by Thomas Henry Ismay after the purchase of the bankrupt White Star Line.
• 1870
  • Stanley Park opens.^[29]
  • Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas built.
  • Incorporated Society of Liverpool Accountants formed.
  • William Imrie joined White Star Line at Broughton Hall West Derby.
• 1871 – North Western Hotel built.
• 1872
  • Sefton Park opens.^[4]
  • Midland Railway Goods Warehouse built.
• 1873
  • Liverpool–Manchester lines opened by Cheshire Lines Committee.
  • Leyland Line in business.
  • SS Atlantic sailing from Liverpool to New York struck rocks and sank off Nova Scotia at least 535 lives were lost.
• 1874
  • Liverpool Central railway station opens.
  • Liverpool Institute High School for Girls established.
  • Princes Road Synagogue consecrated.
  • ARA Uruguay launched by Laird Brothers.
• 1877 – Walker Art Gallery opens.
• 1878 – Everton football club founded.
• 1879
  • Picton Reading Room built.^[25]
  • Liverpool Echo newspaper begins publication.^[30]
  • Salvation Army active.^[31]
  • North Liverpool Extension Line outer rail loop opens.
• 1880
  • Liverpool attains city status.
  • Aigburth Cricket Ground built.
  • Prince foods in business.
• 1881 – University College Liverpool chartered.^[4]
  • Liverpool Central High Level railway station introduced 40 minute journey services to Manchester Central.
  • SS Servia, made its maiden voyage from Liverpool, she was the first large ocean liner to be built of steal instead of iron, and the first Cunard Line ship to have electric lighting installed.
• 1884
  • Anfield (athletic space) opens.^[32]
  • County Sessions House, Gustav Adolf Church, and Picton Clock Tower built.
  • Everton Road drill hall completed.^[33]
• 1886
  • International Exhibition of Navigation, Commerce and Industry.
  • Mersey Railway Tunnel opens;^[4] James Street and Hamilton Square railway station opened at the same time, the first and oldest deep-level underground stations in the world.
  • Liverpool and Birkenhead Women's Peace and Arbitration Association organized.^[34]
• 1887 – Liverpool Muslim Institute founded.
  • Royal Jubilee Exhibition, Liverpool.
  • Vestey Brothers meat retail company in business.
• 1888 – Shakespeare Theatre opens.^[35]
• 1889
  • Florence Institute for Boys established in Dingle.
  • August 7; RMS Teutonic maiden voyage.
• 1890
  • Liverpool and North Wales Steamship Company began operating.
  • John Ball wins The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
  • Bowes Museum of Japanese Art Work opens.^[36]
  • April 2; RMS Majestic maiden voyage, Blue Riband winner.
• 1891 - Everton F.C. win the Football League First Division for the first time when Anfield was the home ground for the club.
• 8 February; RMS Empress of India maiden voyage. 11 April; RMS Empress of Japan maiden voyage. 15 July; RMS Empress of China maiden voyage.
• 1892
  • Goodison Park (athletic field) inaugurated.
  • Victoria Building, University of Liverpool constructed, designed by Alfred Waterhouse.
  • Robert Durning Holt becomes mayor.
  • Liverpool Football Club formed.
  • Harold Hilton wins the The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club
• 1893 – Liverpool Overhead Railway begins operating.
• April 22; RMS Campania maiden voyage, world’s largest ship and Blue Riband winner
• september 2; RMS Lucania maiden voyage, world’s largest ship and Blue Riband winner, the two sister ships made maritime history by exchanging the first Marconi Wireless transmission.
• 1894 - William Ewart Gladstone left office aged 84 as both the oldest person to serve as prime minister and the only prime minister to have served four non-consecutive terms.
• 1895 – City boundaries expand to include West Derby and others.^[4]
• 1896 - Auguste and Louis Lumière among the earliest Film of Liverpool Overhead Railway shot from a moving train as it moves past Liverpool docks.
• 1897 – Harold Hilton wins The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
• 1898
  • Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine founded.^[18]
  • White Star Building constructed.
  • Liverpool Tramways Company closed.^[4]
• 1899 – Liverpool University Press founded.
• September 6; RMS Oceanic maiden voyage, largest ship in the world.
• 1899–1900 – George's Dock closed and filled in.
• 1900 – Major alternations to Liverpool Town Hall.^[4]

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1901 – Population: 684,958.^[4]
• 1901- Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti founded Ferranti the British electrical company built and produced the Ferranti Mark 1 the first electrical commercial computer as well as the Ferranti Pegasus.
• Liverpool F.C. win the Football League First Division, first major honour for the club.
• Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse constructed.
• July 1901; RMS Celtic maiden voyage, the first ship larger than Isambard Kingdom Brunel Geat babe the SS Great Eastern.
• 1902
  • City boundaries expand to include Aigburth, Cressington and Grassendale.^[4]
  • Royal Insurance Building built.
• 1903 – Worlds first full conversion of steam to electric railway, Mersey Railway.
• February 11; RMS Cedric maiden voyage, world’s largest ship.
• May 5; RMS Carpathia maiden voyage, made famous for rescuing 712 survivors on the Titanic lifeboats.
• June 29; RMS Baltic maiden voyage, world’s largest ship.
• December 17; RMS Republic maiden voyage, transmitting the first-ever wireless CQD distress call, which led to the rescue of over 1,5000 people in 1909, it was the largest ship to sink in history at that time.
• 1904 – Foundation stone of the Anglican Cathedral is laid by King Edward VII.^[4]
• 1905 - Frank Mason wins the 1905 Grand National on Kirkland owned by Frank Bibby of the Bibby Line.
• Grand Central Hall built.
• 1906 – Liverpool Cotton Exchange Building constructed.
• Liverpool F.C. win the 1905–06 Football League
• Everton F.C. win the 1906 FA Cup final.
• June 29; RMS Empress of Ireland maiden voyage.
• 1907-
  • August: 700th anniversary of city founding.^[37]
  • May 8; RMS Adriatic maiden voyage, first ocean liner to have an indoor swimming pool and Victorian-style Turkish baths.
  • September 7, RMS Lusitania maiden voyage, Blue Riband winner.
  • November 16, RMS Mauretania maiden voyage, Blue Riband winner.
  • Dock Office built.^[38]
  • Sir William Bowring, 1st Baronet gave Liverpool the first municipal golf course in England in Bowring Park, Merseyside
• 1908
  • Meccano Ltd in business.
  • William Watson (motoring pioneer) racing driver, wins the RAC Tourist Trophy motor race.
  • Population: 753,203.^[4]
• 1909
  • June: Catholic-Protestant conflict.^[39]
  • The world's first Department of Civic Design, which later spawns the town planning movement, is set up at the University of Liverpool.
  • Bedford picture house opens first cinema in Walton.
• 1911
  • 1911 Liverpool general transport strike.
  • Royal Liver Building constructed, Europes tallest building between 1911-1940 and the UK tallest building between 1911-1961.
  • Blue Star Line shipping company established, by Vestey brothers.
  • Rodewald Concert Society founded.
• 1912 – Lime Street Picture House opens.^[40]
• 1912 - Sinking of the Titanic Frederick Fleet sights the iceberg, at least 115 crew members with close connections to Liverpool of only 28 Liverpool crew members survived and that figure is understated.
• 1913 – Crane's Music Hall opens.
• April 1; RMS Empress of Russia maiden voyage.
• 1914– World War I starts,
• The second largest mobilisation of men in Liverpool was for the Royal Navy, more than 12,000 Liverpool men signed up for to fight the war at sea, as a consequence of these large numbers, there were men from Liverpool on every single Battleship between 1914 and 1918, Cammell Laird built five light cruisers, six destroyers, two escorts and eight submarines for the Royal Navy including HMS Birkenhead and HMS Chester took part in the Battle of Jutland.
• 1914 - RMS Empress of Ireland sinks with the crew almost entirely from Merseyside.
  • 14 March: Reconstructed Adelphi Hotel is opened by the Midland Railway.^[41]
  • 30 May: RMS Aquitania, maiden voyage, only ship to serve in both World War I and World War II as an Auxiliary cruiser, Troopship and Hospital ship.
  • 27 August: Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, launches the Liverpool Pals battalions scheme.^[42]
• 1915 - RMS Lusitania sinks with captain William Thomas Turner and many of the crew from Liverpool.
• 1916 – 30 July: "Liverpool's blackest day" – 500 men in Liverpool Pals battalions are killed in an attack on Guillemont in the Battle of the Somme^[42] (following 200 deaths on the First day on the Somme).
• 1917
  • Cunard Building constructed.^[18]
  • Liverpool Commercial Reference Library opens.^[43]
• 1919
  • Racial conflict.^[44]
  • Cunard's luxury liner services moved to Southampton.
• 1922 – African Churches Mission, and African and West Indian Mission organized.^[45]
• 1922 - Cammell Laird built the world's first fully welded ship the SS Fullager.
• 1925 – Empire Theatre opens.
• 1927
  • A5058 road Queens Drive ring road completed.
  • Woolton Picture House cinema opens.
• 1928 – Everton F.C. win the league title, Dixie Dean scores 60 goals in that season.
• 1930 – Speke Airport, later Liverpool Airport, begins operating.
• June 28; MV Britannic maiden voyage, first major British motor-vessel (ship with diesel engines).
• 1931 – Population 855,688.^[46] This is the peak size of Liverpool's population.
• 1932 – Martins Bank Building built, the only English National bank to have its head offices outside London, ..India Buildings built, Liverpool Stadium built. June 25; MV Georgic maiden voyage, (Britain’s largest motor vessel)
• 1933 - Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club hosted the 1933 Ryder Cup.
• 1934
  • 18 July: Royal opening of Queensway Tunnel by King George V , A580 road (Liverpool–East Lancashire Road, the UK's first intercity highway) and Walton Hall Park.
  • Sir Percy Bates ship owner and chairman of the Cunard-White Star Line oversaw the launch of the Liverpool registered ocean liner the RMS Queen Mary. and the RMS Queen Elizabeth in 1938.
  • Atlantic Steam Navigation Company in business.
  • Paramount Theatre opens.^[40]
• 1937 - Dixie Dean plays his last game for Everton F.C. scoring 383 goals in 433 appearance's.
• June 24; Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club host the 1937 Ryder Cup.
• 1939 – Exchange Flags built. June 7; RMS Mauretania maiden voyage.
• 1940 – August: Liverpool Blitz: Aerial bombing by German forces begins, during the Liverpool blitz, approximately 70,000 people were made homeless due to widespread destruction of homes and buildings.
• 1940 - John Lennon born October 9
• 1940 - Western Approaches Command Centre for the campaign waged against the German submarine fleet during the Battle of the Atlantic became based at Exchange Flags.
• 1941- Cammell Laird built HMS Prince of Wales HMS Ark Royal and HMS Rodney played a major role in the sinking of the German battle ship Bismarck, during World War II alone the shipyard produced nearly 200 commercial and military vessels in support of the British war effort.
• 1942 – January: Liverpool Blitz: Aerial bombing by German forces ends.
• 1942 - Sir Paul McCartney born June 18
• 1943 - 1.2 million United States soldiers pass through Liverpool during World War Two- this figure represents a significant proportion of approximate 4.7 million who used the port to prepare for the invasion of Europe.
• 1944 – Captain Frederic John Walker the most successful anti-submarine commander of the Second World War, being credited with 20 U-boats destroyed from various ships including Cammell Lairds HMS Kite (U87)
• 1944 — Penicillin was tested on a child for the first time at Alder Hey Children's Hospital saving the child from Pneumonia.
• 1944 - July 17; Convoys to Liverpool during World War II typically consisted of 45 to 70 merchant ships some smaller and some larger Convoy HX 300 was the largest convoy of the war comprising of 166 ships, a total of 1,285 convoys arrived in Mersey during the war which was an average of four per-week putting a large amount of strain on Liverpool docks.
• 1945 - World War II ends, During the Liverpool Blitz approximately 2736 civilians were killed in Liverpool alone, the total number of deaths across Merseyside was around 4000.
• Liverpool shipowners lost over 3 million tons of shipping, with most losses occurring in the Atlantic Ocean, this equivalent to roughly 630 ships of 5000 tons each, representing about a quarter of all British merchant shipping losses during the war, the Port of Liverpool also handled a massive amount of cargo, over 75 million tons between 1939 and 1945, with significant portion being war materials.
• 1946 – Liverpool Corporation begins development of Kirkby Industrial Estate on a former ordnance factory site.
• 1947 - SS Ormonde the first ship to bring significant number of British African-Caribbean people to the Uk before the more famous HMT Empire Windrush
• 1948 – 31 May: Canada Dock Branch railway closed to intermediate passengers.
• 1948 - Frank Bustard shipping pioneer, Atlantic Steam Navigation Company starts the world’s first Roll-on/roll-off ferry service.
• 1948 - 18 September: a record attendance of 78,299 at Goodison Park watched Everton F.C. play Football League First Division champions Liverpool F.C. in the Merseyside derby.
• 1949 – 19 March: Cameo murder.

1950s–1990s

Merseyrail electrification

• 1950 - Otterspool Promenade built. May 3; HMS Ark Royal. launched by Cammell Laird.
• 1952 – City twinned with Cologne, Germany.
• 1953 – Liverpool Muslim Society founded.
• 1955 – Stirling Moss wins the British Grand Prix at Aintree Motor Racing Circuit
• 1956 – 30 December: Liverpool Overhead Railway urban rail transit system with fourteen stations last runs amid protest against closure.
• April 20; Empress of Britain maiden voyage.
• 1957
  • 15 January: The Cavern Club opens as a jazz club.
  • 6 July: John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles first meet at a garden fete at St. Peter's Church, Woolton, at which Lennon's skiffle group, The Quarrymen (formed 1956), is playing (and in the graveyard of which an Eleanor Rigby is buried).
  • 14 September: Liverpool Corporation Tramways close after the last tram runs in Liverpool, 88 years after the first.
  • Tate & Lyle Sugar Silo built.
  • April 18; RMS Empress of England maiden voyage.
• 1958 – Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral crypt completed to the design of Edwin Lutyens, but the remainder of his cathedral design is abandoned.
• 1959 - Bill Shankly becomes manager of Liverpool F.C.
• 1960
  • January: John Lennon's Liverpool College of Art friend Stu Sutcliffe joins his rock group and suggests they change their name to The Beatles.
  • 22 June: Fire in Henderson's department store kills eleven.^[47]
• 1961
  • 9 February (lunchtime): The Beatles at The Cavern Club: The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return from Hamburg, George Harrison's first appearance at the venue. On 21 March they play the first of nearly 300 regular performances at the club.
  • 6 July: Mersey Beat begins publication.
  • 9 November: Future manager Brian Epstein first sees The Beatles at The Cavern Club.
  • April 24; RMS Empress of Canada maiden voyage.
• 1962
  • 24 January: Brian Epstein signs a contract to manage The Beatles.
  • 16 September: Liverpool and North Wales Steamship Company makes its last sailings.
• 1963 – 3 August: The Beatles perform at The Cavern Club for the final time as they begin a run of chart success.
• 1964 - Liverpool F.C., or a significant part of the team, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show United States, Gerry and the Pacemakers performed You'll Never Walk Alone.
  • Liverpool F.C. win the Football League First Division championship and are on the first Match of the Day to be broadcast.
  • Everyman Theatre, Liverpool opened.
  • November 8 marks a monumental return for The Beatles as they arrived in their hometown amid the height of Beatlemania.
• 1965 – Liverpool F.C.. win the FA Cup for the first time.
• October 7; Royal Birkdale Golf Club host the 1965 Ryder Cup.
• 1966 – Goodison Park hosted five matches during the 1966 World Cup the most played outside Wembley, with intercontinental communications satellites it was the first tournament to gain widespread Live coverage, three group games involving world champions Brazil, quarterfinal between Portugal and North Korea and the semifinal between West Germany and the Soviet Union.
  • Liverpool F.C. win the 1965–66 Football League.
  • Everton F.C. win the 1966 FA Cup final, Lennon and McCartney attended the final at a time of Beatlemania.
• 1967
  • 14 May: Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (Roman Catholic) consecrated.
  • c. July–August: Liverpool Cotton Exchange Building partially demolished.
  • The Mersey Sound anthology of Liverpool poets published.^[48]
  • 22 November: BBC Radio Merseyside launched.
• 1968 – 30 January: RMS Franconia makes Cunard Line’s last scheduled voyage from Liverpool.^[49]
  • Fifteen Guinea Special last mainline passenger steam locomotive service.
• 1969
  • Radio City Tower built.
  • St. John's Shopping Centre and Clayton Square Shopping Centre in business.^{[citation needed]}
  • Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive begins operation.
  • November 15; The first Match of the Day broadcast in colour featured the match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield.
  • September 18; Royal Birkdale Golf Club hosts the 1969 Ryder Cup.
  • September 9; Freddie Mercury played in Liverpool with the band Ibex, which is notable because it was the first time he was joined on stage by future Queen band members Brian May and Rodger Taylor during a time he was living in Penny Lane.
• 1970
  • The last express services to Glasgow ran from Exchange on Sunday 3 May 1970.
  • Harrison Barnard & Co. headquartered in city.
  • The Beatles' break up
• 1971
  • Knowsley Safari Park opens for business.
  • Paul McCartney form Wings
  • Royal opening of Kingsway Tunnel by Queen Elizabeth II.
• 1972
  • Albert Dock closed. Seaforth Dock opens near city in the area of Seaforth, Lancashire.
  • North Liverpool Extension Line closed after a century's operation and track lifted.
  • Waterloo Tunnel/ Victoria Tunnel (Liverpool) (serving Waterloo branch from Edge Hill railway station to Liverpool Riverside railway station) and Wapping Tunnel closed, 123 years after opening.
  • Liverpool Central High Level railway station closed.
  • Canadian Pacific unit CP Ships are the last transatlantic line to operate from Liverpool.
• 1973 – Liverpool F.C. win the Football League First Division for a record eighth time a record it would hold for the next 40 years.
• 1974
  • City becomes a metropolitan borough within the newly created metropolitan county of Merseyside; Merseyside County Council established.
  • Post & Echo Building and New Hall Place constructed.
  • Al-Rahma Mosque established.
  • M57 motorway outer ring road completed and opened.
  • Church Street, Liverpool pedestrianised.
• 1976 – M62 motorway junctions 4 to 6 (Tarbock) connecting Leeds and Manchester to Liverpool completed and opened.^[50]
• Home and Bargain in business.
• 1977
  • 26 September: Fire at St. John's Shopping Centre.^[51]
  • Merseyrail formed and Liverpool Exchange railway station closed after 127 years and partially turned into a car park. Moorfields railway station opened on new loop Wirral line (3 January 1978) to replace Exchange. Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway branch line severed with buffer at Kirkby ending through trains to Manchester.
• 1978 – 25 October: Liverpool Cathedral is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II after 74 years construction.
  • Garston railway reopened. The Garston line formed the southern portion of Merseyrail's Northern Line.
  • Liverpool F.C. win the European Cup becoming the first English club to win back to back The European Cup wins after the victory in 1977 and 1978.
• 1979 - Michael Heseltine appointed Minister for Merseyside.
• 1979 – 17/18 December: Fire at St. John's Shopping Centre.^[51]
• 1980 – Merseyside Maritime Museum opens in the Albert Dock complex.^[52]
• 1980 - MV Derbyshire - Lost during Typhoon Orchard with all 44 hands onboard 17 of the crew from the city of Liverpool, Largest British vessel lost at sea.
• 1980- Murder of John Lennon in its aftermath 30,000 gathered in Liverpool to mourn the loss of the musician.
• 1981 – July: Toxteth riots.^[53] Chancellor Sir Geoffrey Howe circulates a cabinet memo arguing for "managed decline".
• 1982 – Visit by Pope John Paul ll to Liverpool where a million spectators lined the route of his journey of Speke Airport to Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.
• Mersey Television formed.
• 1983 – Militant in Liverpool win control of the council.
• 1984 - Liverpool F.C. win the fourth European Cup in eight years and become the first English club to win three major trophies in a single season.
• 1984 – Albert Dock reopened as a leisure attraction. International Garden Festival held.
• 1985
  • Militant in Liverpool set illegal council budget.
  • Everton F.C. win the League title and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
• 1986
  • Liverpool Airport Southern Terminal opens.
  • 1986 FA Cup final was a Merseyside derby, the match was played seven days after Liverpool F.C. secured the League Title completing the domestic double.
• 1987
  • Everton F.C. in the Football league championship.
  • Brookside begins broadcasting.
• 1988 – Tate Liverpool (modern art museum) opens in the Albert Dock.
• 1988 - Michael Jackson concluded the European leg of is Bad (tour) with a sold-out performance before 125.000 people at Aintree Racecourse and it remains one of the largest concerts by a solo artist ever held in the uk.
• 1989 - Everton Park opened.
• 1989 – 15 April: Hillsborough disaster: 97 Liverpool F.C. supporters are unlawfully killed as the result of a crush at a Sheffield stadium.
• 1991 – Population: 452,450 residents.^[54]
• 1992
  • Cream (nightclub) begins.
  • Africa Oyé music festival begins.
  • August 16; the first live televised Premier League.game between Liverpool FC and Nottingham Forest to be broadcast on Sky Sports, . May 9; Liverpool win the 1992 FA Cup final.
• 1993
  • Museum of Liverpool Life opens.
  • Liverpool Mathew Street Music Festival begins.^[55]
• 1995
• Everton F.C. win the 1995 FA Cup final
• Liverpool F.C.win the 1995 League Cup final
• 1996 – Anfield hosts a total of four matches during UEFA Euro 1996 including three group-stage fixtures and a quarter-final.
• 1997 - Liverpool twinned with Dublin Ireland
• 1999 – Liverpool twinned with Shanghai China a Chinese arch gifted from Shanghai is the largest in Europe, Liverpools Chinese community is the oldest in Europe.

21st century

• 2001
  • Liverpool Wall of Fame unveiled.
  • Liverpool Airport officially renamed after John Lennon.
  • Liverpool F.C. win a Cup winning treble of League Cup, FA Cup, UEFA cup.
• 2002 – Liverpool International Tennis Tournament begins.
• 2003 – 4 November: Brookside last broadcast.
• 2004
  • Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City registered as a World Heritage Site with UNESCO.
  • Homotopia (festival) begins.
• 2005 - Liverpool F.C. win Champions League for the fifth time.
• 2005 - Another Place (sculpture) at Crosby Beach.
• 2006
  • Royal Standard art gallery established on Mann St.^[56]
  • Liverpool South Parkway railway station opened.
• 2007
  • Liverpool Cruise Terminal opens.
  • International Slavery Museum opens.
  • West Tower built.
  • Liverpool Shakespeare Festival begins.
• 2008
  • City designated a European Capital of Culture.
  • Echo Arena Liverpool, BT Convention Centre and Liverpool One open.
  • One Park West and Alexandra Tower built.
• 2010 – National Oceanography Centre established.
• 2011 – Museum of Liverpool opens on the waterfront.
• 2012- Prime Minister David Cameron apologise for the cover-up and misinformation to those effected by Britains biggest sporting disaster in 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
• 2013
  • 19 December: Liverpool Post last published.
  • Cunard Line resume cruising from Liverpool with Queen Mary 2, the largest ocean liner ever built.
• 2014
  • Liverpool City Region Combined Authority established including Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral.
  • Liverpool TV launched.^[57]
• 2016 – Liverpool2 container shipping port opened at Seaforth.
• 2017
  • 8 May: Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region established including Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral. Steve Rotheram is the first person elected to the office.^[58]
  • Royal Institute of British Architects’ National Architecture Centre opened.
  • The Open Championship officially hosted for the 10th time to be played at Royal Birkdale Golf Club
• 2018 - Cammell Laird launched RRS Sir David Attenborough.
• 2019
  • First black Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Anna Rothery, appointed.^[59]
  • Liverpool F.C. win the Champions League for the sixth time.
• 2020
  • 23 March: Liverpool goes onto a nationwide lockdown with the rest of the UK due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 25 June: Liverpool F.C. win the 2019–20 Premier League, their first victory of the Premier League era.
  • 14 October: COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: Liverpool moves to the Tier 3 (very high) level of restriction.^[60]
  • 6 November: First UK covid mass testing piloted in Liverpool.^[61]
• 2021
  • 30 April: COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: Liverpool is the venue for a trial indoor music event.^[62]
  • 6 May: Joanne Anderson is elected city Mayor of Liverpool, the first directly elected black woman mayor of a major British city.^[63]
  • 21 July: Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City delisted as a World Heritage Site with UNESCO.^[64]
• 2022
  • 25 March: Yoko Ono Lennon Centre opened by Sean Lennon.
• 2023
  • 13 May: Liverpool hosts Eurovision Song Contest 2023.
  • June 16-23; The Open Championship officially the 13th to be played at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
• 2024
  • 14 June: Taylor Swift performs to sold out Anfield Stadium for 3 night residency on first UK dates in her The Eras Tour.
  • 26 June: Isle of Man Ferry terminal relocates to Princes Dock.^[65]
• 2025 - 11 February, the last Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, this 245th meeting in all competitions remains the most played fixture in English football history ( 211th in league)
• 2025 April 28; Liverpool F.C. secure the Premier League title, winning Englands top division 20 times in history.
• 2025- 24 August, Everton F.C.. officially opened Hill Dickinson Stadium.
• 2025 - September 4-14: 2025 World Boxing Championships held at Liverpool Arena.

See also

• History of Liverpool
• List of Lord Mayors of Liverpool