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Anniversary Day Talks
Adelphi Hotel, 16th June 2026
2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Liverpool History Society. But it is also the anniversary of other important events in the history of the city.
It will be sixty years since the visit of Bob Dylan to the Adelphi Hotel during his controversial 1966 tour of the UK. In the afternoon before his appearance, Dylan found time to be photographed with kids playing out in Dublin Street. The street was empty because Everton were at that moment winning a heroic match in the FA cup final on the telly.
1966 wasn’t just about men in music and sport. There is a largely undocumented history of Liverpool women on the music scene in the mid-sixties, complete with seasons in Hamburg by the Band the Liverbirds. The mid-sixties was a period when Liverpool was never off the TV. From the rants of Alf “You Scouse Git!” Garnett to the social realism of Z Victor One on Z Cars, Liverpool was not short of small screen presence in 1966.
ARTICLES
Why Not Drown Liverpool? Welsh water for an English city
Liverpool Firsts
800 Years of History
Reviews of Past Talks
The Social Survey of Merseyside 1929 – 1934
Robertson Gladstone: Demerara and Back 1828-1829
Key Events in Liverpool Newspaper History in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
MEMORIES OF WAR
Remembering those from Dingle Liverpool, who served and died in World War I and World War II.
Dig For Victory - Sheila Binks (nee Robinson)
Grandma's War - Brenda Murray (nee McElroy)
NOTICE BOARD
In the footsteps of Peter Ellis
Two Liverpool History Society members walk in the footsteps of Liverpool’s elusive architectural genius, Peter Ellis.
Written by Graham Jones and the late Rob Ainsworth, designed by Matthew Duddington and published by the Liverpool History Society, this book traces the life of a local architect from his birth in 1805 on Shaw’s Brow to his death in 1884 at Falkner Square.
Story of the month
Every month we offer a tantalising glimpse of just a few of the riveting tales that await the reader in Journals published each year since 2002.
HEROINE NURSES PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE TO SAVE LIVERPOOL
This year marks the 80th Anniversary of the 1946 Smallpox outbreak in the Liverpool City region
Written by Susan McGuire and based on the oral history of Hannah Heery, this article highlights the harrowing realities of the 1946 smallpox outbreak that spread from the tropics into Liverpool and the Wirral. The outbreak demanded immense dedication from nurses who put their lives at risk caring for highly infectious patients at the Port Health Hospital. The account paints a vivid picture of the fear, tragedy, and heroic medical efforts required to contain the deadly disease in the immediate post-war period.
Published in our 2024 Journal (No.23)
