Charles Dickens' Links to Liverpool

[marie]

Charles Dickens

1812/1870 Colin's Bridewell, Campbell Street, off Duke Street, Liverpool L1

He was born in Landport and moved with the family to London. At the age of 12 years old he was put to work in a blanking factory to assist the family income as his father was imprisoned in the Marshalsea for debt.

Next, from 1824 until 1827 Dickens studied at Wellington House Academy, London. From 1827 to 1828 he was a law office clerk, and then worked as a shorthand reporter at Doctor's Commons. In the 1840s Dickens founded Master Humphrey's Cloak and edited the London Daily News. Dickens's relationship with Maria Beadnell, the daughter of a banker, lasted for four years. Afterwards, he married the daughter of his friend George Hogarth, Catherine Hogart in 1836.

When Catherine's sisters, Georgiana, moved in with the Dickenses, he fell in love with her. Even though, Dickens had 10 children with Catherine, they were separated in 1858. Additionally, Dickens also had a long-lasting relation with the actress Ellen Ternan, whom he had met by the late 1850s.

From the 1840s Dickens spent much time traveling and campaigning against many of the social evils of his time. In addition he gave talks and reading, wrote pamphlets, plays, and letters. In 1844 to 1845 he lived in Italy, Switzerland and Paris. From 1858 to 1868, he gave lecturing tours in Britain and the United States. Afterwards, he moved to Gadshill Place, near Rochester, Kent. He died there on June 9, 1870.

Charles Dickens made numerous visits to Liverpool, specially from 1842/1869 when he read extracts from his novels often to large audiences in St. George's Hall and at former Masque Theatre in Duke Street. He salied to America from Liverpool on at least two occasions in 1860 was sworn in as a special constable in the Liverpool Police Force to aid his research in writing The Uncommercial Traveller. The time spent in Liverpool must have been very dear to him for he wrote Liverpool lies in my heart next only to London.

Maybe, he was not born in Liverpool and never lived here, but he spent part of his time in Pool in. I am thinking that he was a important person here with his books, his culture, and his audiences in St. George Hall and Masque Theatre.

[PhilipG]

There wasn't a Masque Theatre in Liverpool.

I'm interested in the reference to Colin's Bridewell.
Is there a connection with the Bridewell and Charles Dickens?

[marie]

There wasn't a Masque Theatre in Liverpool.

I'm interested in the reference to Colin's Bridewell.
Is there a connection with the Bridewell and Charles Dickens?

I am reading a book called PLAQUE BY PLAQUE, of John B. Fidler. Lets me somes minutes and I am looking for more info.

[PhilipG]

I am reading a book called PLAQUE BY PLAQUE, of John B. Fidler. Lets me somes minutes and I am looking for more info.

I've just found this, Marie.
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:iyLgwYIALWwJ:www.worlddj.com/venue/uk/england/liverpool/the_masque/+dickens+masque&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=25

[marie]

There wasn't a Masque Theatre in Liverpool.

I'm interested in the reference to Colin's Bridewell.
Is there a connection with the Bridewell and Charles Dickens?

Only I can found it in google, I am sorry.

Colin's Bridewell is a former Victorian police station where Charles Dickens was once a Special Constable.

[PhilipG]

90 Seel Street (the site of the Masque) was a Police Station in the 1930s.

[marie]

90 Seel Street (the site of the Masque) was a Police Station in the 1930s.

But Dickens died in 1870. Does the Police Station built in 1930?

[PhilipG]

Only I can found it in google, I am sorry.

Colin's Bridewell is a former Victorian police station where Charles Dickens was once a Special Constable.

Thank you.
Here's a photo of it in 1992.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44435674@N00/379105003/

[marie]

Thank you.
Here's a photo of it in 1992.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44435674@N00/379105003/

Thanx. Dickens is very famous out England. When I went to Secundary School, I was read a lot of books of him, for example, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, ... Plaque by Plaque its a good book coz u can find all famous people who born, died or lived in Pool someday. Now I like to go out, to walk, I come back later and i like looking for more info about Dickens n Pool. Thanx again!!

[PhilipG]

But Dickens died in 1870. Does the Police Station built in 1930?

I don't know when it was built, but it was a police station in 1936, and might have been a police station when Dickens was said to have given a reading there.
Perhaps it was called the Masque quite recently because of its connection with Dickens.
I'm not an expert on Charles Dickens, but I do know there never was a Masque Theatre in Liverpool.

[MarkA]

Page 3 of the following link...http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/tcm21-32267.pdf...shows that the station Dickens served as a policeman was at the junction of Argyle Street/York Street/Lydia Ann Street.

[ChrisGeorge]

Charles Dickens

1812/1870 Colin's Bridewell, Campbell Street, off Duke Street, Liverpool L1

He was born in Landport and moved with the family to London. At the age of 12 years old he was put to work in a blanking factory to assist the family income as his father was imprisoned in the Marshalsea for debt.

Next, from 1824 until 1827 Dickens studied at Wellington House Academy, London. From 1827 to 1828 he was a law office clerk, and then worked as a shorthand reporter at Doctor's Commons. In the 1840s Dickens founded Master Humphrey's Cloak and edited the London Daily News. Dickens's relationship with Maria Beadnell, the daughter of a banker, lasted for four years. Afterwards, he married the daughter of his friend George Hogarth, Catherine Hogart in 1836.

When Catherine's sisters, Georgiana, moved in with the Dickenses, he fell in love with her. Even though, Dickens had 10 children with Catherine, they were separated in 1858. Additionally, Dickens also had a long-lasting relation with the actress Ellen Ternan, whom he had met by the late 1850s.

From the 1840s Dickens spent much time traveling and campaigning against many of the social evils of his time. In addition he gave talks and reading, wrote pamphlets, plays, and letters. In 1844 to 1845 he lived in Italy, Switzerland and Paris. From 1858 to 1868, he gave lecturing tours in Britain and the United States. Afterwards, he moved to Gadshill Place, near Rochester, Kent. He died there on June 9, 1870.

Charles Dickens made numerous visits to Liverpool, specially from 1842/1869 when he read extracts from his novels often to large audiences in St. George's Hall and at former Masque Theatre in Duke Street. He salied to America from Liverpool on at least two occasions in 1860 was sworn in as a special constable in the Liverpool Police Force to aid his research in writing The Uncommercial Traveller. The time spent in Liverpool must have been very dear to him for he wrote Liverpool lies in my heart next only to London.

Maybe, he was not born in Liverpool and never lived here, but he spent part of his time in Pool in. I am thinking that he was a important person here with his books, his culture, and his audiences in St. George's Hall and Masque Theatre.

Hi Marie

No doubt Charles Dickens passed through Liverpool on numerous occasions in regard to his transatlantic travel and appearances on the lecture circuit. In fact, Liverpool undoubtedly was a major venue for him to make money as a lecturer. I am not totally certain of your statement that Liverpool was second only to London for him in terms of importance, because a number of British cities would have provided him with significant income as a lecturer which supplemented what he earned from the serialization of his novels and publisher royalties from his books. I am not sure what you are saying about "Colin's Bridewell" -- are you saying he was in prison there or lectured there?

All my best

Chris

[Walden]

Hi Marie

No doubt Charles Dickens passed through Liverpool on numerous occasions in regard to his transatlantic travel and appearances on the lecture circuit. In fact, Liverpool undoubtedly was a major venue for him to make money as a lecturer. I am not totally certain of your statement that Liverpool was second only to London for him in terms of importance, because a number of British cities would have provided him with significant income as a lecturer which supplemented what he earned from the serialization of his novels and publisher royalties from his books. I am not sure what you are saying about "Colin's Bridewell" -- are you saying he was in prison there or lectured there?

All my best

Chris

He was a special constable in what is now Colin's Bridewell here (http://www.liverpoolviews.co.uk/hanover/colins.jpg)

"...Colin's Bridewell is a former Victorian police station where Charles Dickens was once a Special Constable."

Source (http://www.itchyliverpool.co.uk/venue/196962/Colin)

[ChrisGeorge]

He was a special constable in what is now Colin's Bridewell here (http://www.liverpoolviews.co.uk/hanover/colins.jpg)

"...Colin's Bridewell is a former Victorian police station where Charles Dickens was once a Special Constable."

Source (http://www.itchyliverpool.co.uk/venue/196962/Colin)

Yes, okay, thanks for that valuable information. But is Colin's Bridewell the present-day name of the place or is that what it was called in Dickens' time? I assume the former is the case.

Chris

[marie]

Yes, okay, thanks for that valuable information. But is Colin's Bridewell the present-day name of the place or is that what it was called in Dickens' time? I assume the former is the case.

Chris

I am sorry but I have not got more info. Just read it on the morning, in a book called Plaque by plaque, and only r few words about he. I try to find more info in google.

[Walden]

Yes, okay, thanks for that valuable information. But is Colin's Bridewell the present-day name of the place or is that what it was called in Dickens' time? I assume the former is the case.

Chris

Hi I found this "the man behind this vision of down-to-earth gastronomy is none other than film and TV producer Colin McKeown (early Brookside, Liverpool One, Liam, Nice Guy Eddie)." Source (http://www.sugarvine.com/Liverpool/feature_stories/feature_stories.asp?story=133)

And this

"The Bridewell (Argyle/Campbell Street)

1861

Grade II

Located within the midst of the warehouses in the Duke Street area, the Bridewell, or Police Station, dates from c.1850. Although the Old Dock constructed nearby was redundant by this time, the Bridewell was constructed near the new docks and near the main lodging areas for the sailors. It is of brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. The building is of two storeys and three bays, with the centre bay projecting to form the base of a short tower. The ground floor windows have stone lintols, and all windows are vertically sliding sashes with glazing bars. The entrance has a rusticated architrave with a lion's head to the keystone and a stone plaque above. The roof is hipped, with that to the tower having a finial. A later ventilation tower to the rear was constructed to vent the ground floor cells, which are windowless and reached through an iron door. Closely surrounding the building is a wall of brick, approximately 12 feet in height with a rounded stone coping. The bevelled corner is surmounted by an iron lamp-holder above a plain doorway." Source (http://www.liverpoolworldheritage.com/lowerdukestreet.asp)

No mention of a name though.

[phredd]

For a short period of time Charles Dickens lived in No 11 Ordnance Terrace in Chatham Kent. The house has a plaque with the infor on it saying 'Charles Dickens Lived here'
We lived just up the road in Rochester Street and a house further up the road, No 11, also had a plaque on it saying 'Charles Dickens never ever lived here'. Tourists getting mixed up with street names and the fact that most of his work was in the city of 'Rochester'
There is a great show in Rochester every year = The Dickens Festival'. Well worth going to see if you are ever down that way = Nice Cathederal and Castle, well worth a vistit.
Phredd

[ChrisGeorge]

For a short period of time Charles Dickens lived in No 11 Ordnance Terrace in Chatham Kent. The house has a plaque with the infor on it saying 'Charles Dickens Lived here'
We lived just up the road in Rochester Street and a house further up the road, No 11, also had a plaque on it saying 'Charles Dickens never ever lived here'. Tourists getting mixed up with street names and the fact that most of his work was in the city of 'Rochester'
There is a great show in Rochester every year = The Dickens Festival'. Well worth going to see if you are ever down that way = Nice Cathederal and Castle, well worth a vistit.
Phredd

Hi Phredd

Thanks for this. Indeed, there's no doubt whatsoever that Charles Dickens' major identification is with Rochester and Chatham despite his globetrotting activities as a travelling lecturer. Thus, the sites associated with him in Rochester and the new Charles Dickens theme park (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6559197.stm) in Chatham.

Chris

[phredd]

Have not been back there for a few years now. All the wifes family have passed on so we have no need.
Nice to know they are giving somthing to the town. The theme park sounds a great idea
Phredd

[marky]

There still remains over half of the original 'Dickens' streets, between Upper Warwick Street and Upper Park Street...named in his honour.

[verdi]

Colins Bridewell, I beleive have or used to have a drama night, short plays storys, acting, monologues. Perhaps, they are doing a Dickens theme night?
Dingle Community Theatre are doing a number of short plays to commemorate Dickens association with Liverpool. I will post the plays and venues when I have more info! One is at Our Lady Mount Carmel Club, one at Windsor street Library, ( built by Carnegie, and opened by him) And a final night at Liverpool Community College Myrtle Street, where all the plays will be performed. :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[Walden]

Charles Dickens and Liverpool

• Dickens’ first visit to Liverpool was in 1842 when he stayed at the Adelphi Hotel.

• In 1844 he chaired the annual Christmas Soiree at Liverpool’s Mechanics Institute. During this visit he researched the characteristics of people living in Whitechapel.

• On his final visit to Liverpool in 1860 he was made an honorary member of the Literary and Philosophical Society. A public banquet was held in his honour at the Town Hall.

• Dickens’ inspiration for his novel The Uncommercial Traveller was based on his research at Liverpool Docks and his visits to the workhouse on Brownlow Hill.

• Dickens’ final words on stage were: “From these garish lights I vanish now for evermore.” Three months later, in 1870, he died.

Source (http://www.liv.ac.uk/newsroom/press_releases/2005/12/penny_readings.htm)

[Libertarian]

There is also the penny readings as well at the museum or art gallery (At Christmas) in William Brown St where tutors from the uni read Dicken's work live.

Entrance costs one penny!!!:002:

[PhilipG]

Charles Dickens and Liverpool


• On his final visit to Liverpool in 1860 he was made an honorary member of the Literary and Philosophical Society. A public banquet was held in his honour at the Town Hall.

Source (http://www.liv.ac.uk/newsroom/press_releases/2005/12/penny_readings.htm)

Joseph Sharples says the Bridewell (recently Colins Bridewell, but since renamed) was built in 1861.
Sharples is usually very reliable, although older sources have put the Bridewell as c1850.
I'd lay money that because Sharples is so precise about the date, that he's right, so if 1860 was Dickens last visit to Liverpool there can't be a connection to Colin's Bridewell.

[MarkA]

Page 3 of the following link...http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/tcm21-32267.pdf...shows that the station Dickens served as a policeman was at the junction of Argyle Street/York Street/Lydia Ann Street.

Colin's Bridewell is on Campbell Street. As I mentioned above, the station Dickens served is marked on page 3 (No.35) of the site that's linked.

[PhilipG]

Colin's Bridewell is on Campbell Street. As I mentioned above, the station Dickens served is marked on page 3 (No.35) of the site that's linked.

I've just had to download Adobe to see that map.
Personally, I think they've put the number on the wrong corner.
Campbell Street is only on the next corner, and there wouldn't have been two Police Stations so close together.
Besides, it would only have been some sort of honourary position for Dickens.

[marie]

Thanx all for look for info :PDT_Piratz_26:

[Ged]

For immediate release Thursday, June 7 2007

In the footsteps of Dickens



Armistead Maupin to visit Liverpool’s St George’s Hall

Renowned author will appear as part of Homotopia festival

Tickets on sale now


BRITAIN'S favourite gay author is set to make a rare appearance at St George’s Hall.

Armistead Maupin – who last year was voted the country’s most popular author in the Big Gay Read – will read from his new novel, ‘Michael Tolliver Lives’, and talk about his life and work, at a special event organised by Liverpool’s gay arts festival, Homotopia, on July 4.

Often compared to Charles Dickens, Maupin will appear in the newly refurbished Small Concert Room – the same venue where Dickens took part in the famed ‘Penny Readings’ in the mid-nineteenth century.

His Liverpool appearance is the first date in a national tour, and the only major event outside London. Best known for his series ‘Tales of the City’, which was adapted for television, Maupin is widely regarded as one of America’s greatest living gay writers.

Gary Everett, Homotopia Festival Director, said: “I am thrilled that such a high profile author has agreed to attend this special one-off event and give a reading at the festival.

“Armistead Maupin has also kindly agreed to attend several community events in the day, before taking part in what promises to be a glittering occasion in the grand surroundings of the Small Concert Room.”

Amongst the community projects that Maupin will visit while he is in Liverpool is the Armistead Centre – the gay health project that was named in his honour.

Homotopia, which is supported by the Liverpool Culture Company, celebrates its fourth birthday in 2007. Although it is responsible for events throughout the year, the main focus of the programme is in November. The festival celebrated a massively successful year in 2006, with audiences of more than 6,500 attending a wide selection of events in genres including theatre, film, art, and heritage.

Councillor Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool city council, said: “Homotopia is a fantastic example of a homegrown arts festival that has developed into a major event on Liverpool’s cultural calendar.

“It’s a great reflection of the vibrancy of the city’s arts sector.”

Tickets for the Armistead Maupin event are on sale now, priced at £6 each, available from Unity Theatre, (0151) 709 4988; or News From Nowhere, (0151) 708 7270. Doors open at 6pm, the event begins at 7pm.

ENDS



Notes to Editors:

Homotopia 2007 takes place from November 1 to 18. For more information visit www.homotopia.net

Armistead Maupin was born in Washington DC in 1944, but was brought up in North Carolina. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, he served as a naval officer in Vietnam before moving to California in 1971 as reporter for the Associated Press. In 1976 he launched his daily newspaper serial Tales of the City, in the San Francisco Chronicle. The first fiction to appear in an American daily for decades, Tales grew into an international sensation when compiled and rewritten as novels. Maupin's six volume series are now multi-million copy bestsellers published around the world. In 2006, Tales of the City won the coveted UK's Big Gay Read (the UK's favourite gay/lesbian novel) beating Sarah Waters, Alan Hollinghurst, Jeanette Winterson and Annie Proulx amongst others. www.armisteadmaupin.com.

St George’s Hall was re-opened on April 23 2007 (St George’s Day) following a £23m, five-year renovation programme, which included the restoration of the Small Concert Room.

Liverpool Culture Company is delivering Liverpool’s 800th anniversary celebrations in 2007 and co-ordinating the 2008 European Capital of Culture programme.


A high resolution image of Armistead Maupin is available on request.

For more information, please contact Helen Johnson, on (0151) 233 4032 or 07725 150 738.

For the latest news from Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008, visit www.liverpool.gov.uk or www.liverpool08.com.

[edwardo]

I thought all big police stations were called bridewells, if not what makes a police station a police station.and a bridewell a bridewell?the cop shop in dale street.(Where one pays ones fines)is I think a briewell.

[PhilipG]

I thought all big police stations were called bridewells, if not what makes a police station a police station.and a bridewell a bridewell?the cop shop in dale street.(Where one pays ones fines)is I think a briewell.

Bridewell means prison (also reformatory), so, presumably police stations with cells were called Bridewells.
Both the Everton and Wavertree lock-ups were Bridewells, but not police stations.

[neilsturrock]

Charles Dickens and Liverpool

• Dickens’ first visit to Liverpool was in 1842 when he stayed at the Adelphi Hotel.

• In 1844 he chaired the annual Christmas Soiree at Liverpool’s Mechanics Institute. During this visit he researched the characteristics of people living in Whitechapel.

• On his final visit to Liverpool in 1860 he was made an honorary member of the Literary and Philosophical Society. A public banquet was held in his honour at the Town Hall.

• Dickens’ inspiration for his novel The Uncommercial Traveller was based on his research at Liverpool Docks and his visits to the workhouse on Brownlow Hill.

• Dickens’ final words on stage were: “From these garish lights I vanish now for evermore.” Three months later, in 1870, he died.

Source (http://www.liv.ac.uk/newsroom/press_releases/2005/12/penny_readings.htm)

The Banquet for Charles Dickens was held in St George's Hall, not the Town Hall, although the Lord Mayor presided. It was on Saturday 10th April 1869 not in 1860. This was his final appearance in Liverpool since he died in 1870.

[neilsturrock]

Bridewell means prison (also reformatory), so, presumably police stations with cells were called Bridewells.
Both the Everton and Wavertree lock-ups were Bridewells, but not police stations.

The first Bridewell was a prison in London originating in the 16th century, the building had been a Royal Palace of Henry VIII. It was given to the city by Edward VI for the housing of homeless children and the punishment of ‘disorderly women’ (unmarried mothers!) but soon afterwards became a general prison.
The 'Bridewell Palace' was so named because of its location near to a well dedicated to St Bride.
It became common practice for a town-centre jail, especially one next to a court-house, to be known as a ‘Bridewell’, but the term was often used to indicate any Police Station which had cells.

[PhilipG]

Thanks NeilS.
There is a reference to a Masque Theatre in Duke Street in this thread.
I know there was never a theatre in Liverpool with that name, nor was there a theatre in Duke Street.
I think though there is an element of truth about Dickens in Duke Street.
Do you know anything about that?

[Waterways]

Thanks NeilS.
There is a reference to a Masque Theatre in Duke Street in this thread.
I know there was never a theatre in Liverpool with that name, nor was there a theatre in Duke Street.
I think though there is an element of truth about Dickens in Duke Street.
Do you know anything about that?

There was a coffee bar in Duke St called the Masque. I used to go there. It may have been named after what was there before. It was at the bottom on the right as you go down the hill.

[Libertarian]

On the evening of Sunday 9th December, at St George's Hall in Liverpool, The Reader Organisation is hosting its fourth annual Penny Readings event.

This year, the event features renowned UK poet Jenny Joseph; The Archers star Annabelle Dowler; and BBC Radio 4 and CBeebies presenter, David McFetridge; the 500-strong audience will hear readings from such famous classics as Bleak House, A Christmas Carol and A Winter's Tale. Other highlights of the evening include performances by the Liverpool African Youth Dance group, three community choirs, a Dickensian trumpet player and a string quartet.

The Reader exists to promote the good in literature, believing that reading can be fun, life-enhancing and creative for everyone, and this is why we host The Penny Readings. As in Dickens' day - when he would travel around the potteries and Liverpool, reading to thousands of people for only one penny - we too only charge one penny for this event, so that it is inclusive and available to all. We want everyone to benefit from the positive impact that literature can bring to people's lives and this is one thoroughly enjoyable way that we are able to do it.

You can read the full press release on the University of Liverpool's website. Tickets are now sold out for this year's event but you are can place your name on a list at Liverpool Central Library to ensure you are amongst the first to know when tickets go on sale for 2008.

Next year we are thinking of putting one hundred of the tickets on ebay in order to add excitement to the scramble for tickets and raise money to support the event. A penny for your thoughts, please.

www.thereader.co.uk

[beatlegirl]

Charles Dickens

1812/1870 Colin's Bridewell, Campbell Street, off Duke Street, Liverpool L1

He was born in Landport and moved with the family to London. At the age of 12 years old he was put to work in a blanking factory to assist the family income as his father was imprisoned in the Marshalsea for debt.

Next, from 1824 until 1827 Dickens studied at Wellington House Academy, London. From 1827 to 1828 he was a law office clerk, and then worked as a shorthand reporter at Doctor's Commons. In the 1840s Dickens founded Master Humphrey's Cloak and edited the London Daily News. Dickens's relationship with Maria Beadnell, the daughter of a banker, lasted for four years. Afterwards, he married the daughter of his friend George Hogarth, Catherine Hogart in 1836.

When Catherine's sisters, Georgiana, moved in with the Dickenses, he fell in love with her. Even though, Dickens had 10 children with Catherine, they were separated in 1858. Additionally, Dickens also had a long-lasting relation with the actress Ellen Ternan, whom he had met by the late 1850s.

From the 1840s Dickens spent much time traveling and campaigning against many of the social evils of his time. In addition he gave talks and reading, wrote pamphlets, plays, and letters. In 1844 to 1845 he lived in Italy, Switzerland and Paris. From 1858 to 1868, he gave lecturing tours in Britain and the United States. Afterwards, he moved to Gadshill Place, near Rochester, Kent. He died there on June 9, 1870.

Charles Dickens made numerous visits to Liverpool, specially from 1842/1869 when he read extracts from his novels often to large audiences in St. George's Hall and at former Masque Theatre in Duke Street. He salied to America from Liverpool on at least two occasions in 1860 was sworn in as a special constable in the Liverpool Police Force to aid his research in writing The Uncommercial Traveller. The time spent in Liverpool must have been very dear to him for he wrote Liverpool lies in my heart next only to London.

Maybe, he was not born in Liverpool and never lived here, but he spent part of his time in Pool in. I am thinking that he was a important person here with his books, his culture, and his audiences in St. George Hall and Masque Theatre.

Thanks for that! I've just learned something about Charles Dickens.

[marky]

Re: Barfly/Masque Theatre, 90, Seel Street. I suppose Seel Street is close enough to be mistaken for Duke Street. Look at this internet posting which concerns the buildings' owner, a rich slave transporter.
http://mhgt.moonfruit.com/

An interesting extract "Like so many business men of the day he liked to show his wealth and had his own theatre built within this building"

A paragraph here mentions Dickens at Masque 90, Seel Street, but adds..."or so the story goes"
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nylon/0608/index.php?startid=135

[PhilipG]

Re: Barfly/Masque Theatre, 90, Seel Street. I suppose Seel Street is close enough to be mistaken for Duke Street. Look at this internet posting which concerns the buildings' owner, a rich slave transporter.
http://mhgt.moonfruit.com/

An interesting extract "Like so many business men of the day he liked to show his wealth and had his own theatre built within this building"

A paragraph here mentions Dickens at Masque 90, Seel Street, but adds..."or so the story goes"
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nylon/0608/index.php?startid=135

Rather annoyingly, there are no dates there.
My initial interest was in the fact that Dickens was made a (Honarary) Special Constable in Liverpool due to his visits to a police station.
Recently, the Bridewell in Campbell Street has been said to be the place, but it didn't open until 1860.
Opinions differ on when Dickens last visited Liverpool, but he'd been coming here since the 1840s, when there was already a police station next to the back-to-back houses in Duke Street.
It's shown on an OS map of 1848.
Kelly's Directory of 1936 still lists this police station and it was listed next to 88 Seel Street.
Therefore the Masque name probably stems from Dickens' literary connections, and may be a comparitively recent name, IMHO after WW2 perhaps.
There certainly was never a Masque Theatre anywhere in Liverpool, and I've never heard of any private theatres (apart from Knowsley Hall), at least not private theatres where plays, etc., were put on.
There were lecture theatres, and the nearby Royal Institution had one.
It's stretching the imagination somewhat to think that a private theatre would become an operating theatre, but conceivable that a lecture theatre could be.

[Chris48]

test

[Ged]

Great flickr site Chris. :handclap:

[neilsturrock]

Rather annoyingly, there are no dates there.
My initial interest was in the fact that Dickens was made a (Honarary) Special Constable in Liverpool due to his visits to a police station.
Recently, the Bridewell in Campbell Street has been said to be the place, but it didn't open until 1860.
Opinions differ on when Dickens last visited Liverpool, but he'd been coming here since the 1840s, when there was already a police station next to the back-to-back houses in Duke Street.
It's shown on an OS map of 1848.
Kelly's Directory of 1936 still lists this police station and it was listed next to 88 Seel Street.
Therefore the Masque name probably stems from Dickens' literary connections, and may be a comparitively recent name, IMHO after WW2 perhaps.
There certainly was never a Masque Theatre anywhere in Liverpool, and I've never heard of any private theatres (apart from Knowsley Hall), at least not private theatres where plays, etc., were put on.
There were lecture theatres, and the nearby Royal Institution had one.
It's stretching the imagination somewhat to think that a private theatre would become an operating theatre, but conceivable that a lecture theatre could be.

I'd be interested to know how you came up with 1860 as the date for this Bridewell (incidentally early Kelly's Directories give its address as No 17 Argyle Street - not Campbell Street). The Watch Committee requested the building of a Bridewell ' near to Duke Street' in 1836.
The ventilation system used indicates that it predates Pentonville (1842). The system is similar to that in Perth Prison (1840) but an improvement on Eastern State Penitentiary (Philadelphia 1829). The Perth system is that favoured by Dr David Boswell Reid ('Ventilator' to St George's Hall and Houses of Parliament) in his book of 1844 and it could be that Reid had a hand in this building - that is something I am currently trying to establish. Cheapside Bridewell has a Pentonville ventilation system and that was built in 1859. The style of the cells at Argyle Street/Campbell Street would certainly indicate that this is a lot earlier.
A banquet was given in honour of Dickens in St George's Hall on 10th April 1869 and, since he died the next year, this may well have been his last visit.

[PhilipG]

I'd be interested to know how you came up with 1860 as the date for this Bridewell (incidentally early Kelly's Directories give its address as No 17 Argyle Street - not Campbell Street). The Watch Committee requested the building of a Bridewell ' near to Duke Street' in 1836.
The ventilation system used indicates that it predates Pentonville (1842). The system is similar to that in Perth Prison (1840) but an improvement on Eastern State Penitentiary (Philadelphia 1829). The Perth system is that favoured by Dr David Boswell Reid ('Ventilator' to St George's Hall and Houses of Parliament) in his book of 1844 and it could be that Reid had a hand in this building - that is something I am currently trying to establish. Cheapside Bridewell has a Pentonville ventilation system and that was built in 1859. The style of the cells at Argyle Street/Campbell Street would certainly indicate that this is a lot earlier.
A banquet was given in honour of Dickens in St George's Hall on 10th April 1869 and, since he died the next year, this may well have been his last visit.


Joseph Sharples says 1860, and I've found that he's invariably right.
Yes, the address was in Argyle Street, but I can be forgiven for saying Campbell Street because the side of the building is there.
(It's obviously nearer Campbell Street than Duke Street!)
What is the earliest street directory you've found that gives the address (of the Bridewell) as 17 Argyle Street?
The 1848 OS map shows that one of the three buildings on the site is built right up to the pavement, not set back behind a wall as the larger building appears on the 1890 and subsequent editions, so the current building did not exist until after 1848.
Nor is it identified, as other Police Stations and Bridewells are, which leads me to:

I see you don't comment on my remarks about the Police Station which did exist in the 1840s, in between Duke Street and Seel Street.
(Nearer to Duke Street than Campbell/Argyle Streets.)

I've managed to answer your post almost immediately.
I hope I don't have to wait another week for a reply.

[marky]

I did a quick search of Charles Dickens' letters at this site (a .pdf file, 602 pages)
http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/CD-Letters.pdf

I didn't spot any mention of the Bridewell or the Duke Street Theatre. There are many mentions of Liverpool.

[PhilipG]

I did a quick search of Charles Dickens' letters at this site (a .pdf file, 602 pages)
http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/CD-Letters.pdf

I didn't spot any mention of the Bridewell or the Duke Street Theatre. There are many mentions of Liverpool.

I did a search for "constable" and found this which shows that Dickens was already a special constable by 1848.
This doesn't prove that Liverpool had given him such a title so early, but it seems likely.

1848.
DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, 10th April, 1848, Monday Evening.
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.
MY DEAR BULWER LYTTON,
I confess to small faith in any American profits having international copyright for their aim. But I will carefully consider Blackwood’s letter (when I get it) and will call upon you and tell you what occurs to me in reference to it, before I communicate with that northern light.
I have been “going” to write to you for many a day past, to thank you for your kindness to the General Theatrical Fund people, and for your note to me; but I have waited until I should hear of your being stationary somewhere. What you said of the “Battle of Life” gave me great pleasure. I was thoroughly wretched at having to use the idea for so short a story. I did not see its full capacity until it was too late to think of another subject, and I have always felt that I might have done a great deal better if I had taken it for the groundwork of a more extended book. But for an insuperable aversion I have to trying back in such a case, I should certainly forge that bit of metal again, as you suggest—one of these days perhaps.
I have not been special constable myself to-day— thinking there was rather an epidemic in that wise abroad. I walked over and looked at the preparations, without any baggage of staff, warrant, or affidavit.
Very faithfully yours.

[marky]

A Flickr member has a very large pic. of the Dickens plaque at the Bridewell. The Masque Theatre gets mentioned, but not the Bridewell he's supposed to have visited.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indigogoat/158784265/in/set-72157594155130599/

This .pdf file mentions the site (on the map on page 3, item 35). Unfortunately the place on the map is at the junction of Argyle Street and Lydia Ann Street. But they obviously meant Campbell Street. I wonder where they got their information.
http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/tcm21-32267.pdf

[PhilipG]

I walked round Duke Street/Seel Street today, and see that the Barfly/Masque is part of the former Royal Institution, most likely in the lecture theatre.
Does anybody know if the Masque was somewhere else before the Royal Institution?
I remember when the Royal Institution was still educational, because I took evening classes there in the 1980s.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3049/2581131117_a4f87e6eef_o.jpg

[Kev]

Dickens Street, Toxteth, 1911: LRO

[marky]

Re: Argyle/Campbell Street Bridewell....Liverpool Corporation Accounts, "New lockup, Argyle-street ?120". (Liverpool Mercury Oct 30th 1860).

[dazza]

Re: Argyle/Campbell Street Bridewell....Liverpool Corporation Accounts, "New lockup, Argyle-street ?120". (Liverpool Mercury Oct 30th 1860). The Dickens and the Liverpool Bridewell - "New lockup, Argyle-street ?120" There's a question mark "?" in the quote. I'm assuming this is a reference to something illegible in the original, rather than a question on whether it was Agyle street or not? A "lockup" is not necessarly a 'Bridewell' [which is more a police station with cells]. Dicken's 'special constable' role was research for his character/ personae observations as The Uncommercial Traveller. Quoting from Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uncommercial_Traveller) here:

"Dickens began by writing seventeen episodes, which were printed in All the Year Round between 28 January and 13 October 1860.....He sporadically produced eleven more articles between 1863-65 and an expanded edition of the work was printed in 1866. Once more he returned to the persona with some more sketches written 1868-69"



The Uncommercial Traveller (http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/unctr10h.htm) is offered free by Project Gutenberg. Click the link then Type "Ctrl F" on your keyboard to bring up the search box. I typed in "Liverpool" and it came back with a "Chapter V, POOR MERCANTILE JACK" and a descrition of Liverpool's docks in the 1860's. Incidentially 'Chapter V' would have been in the first publication batch of 'seventeen episodes' published from 28 January and 13 October 1860. Here, Dicken's acknowledges his role as a Liverpool 'special constable' and helps us date his enrolement in the Liverpool force.

Writing almost autobiographically Dickens says..."I had entered the Liverpool police force, that I might have a look at the various unlawful traps which are every night set for Jack ['Jack' for Jack-Tar or sailor]..... I had taken, for purposes of identification, a photograph-likeness of a thief, in the portrait-room at our head police office (on the whole, he seemed rather complimented by the proceeding), and I had been on police parade, and the small hand of the clock was moving on to ten, when I took up my lantern to follow Mr. Superintendent to the traps that were set for Jack.

[DKL]

Fascinating thread. Has any new info. come to light?

[Ged]

Hello DKL, is that your book on your avatar, are you a friend of John Sudbury?

[marky]

Liverpool Mercury 26th June 1860.
Among the description for the sale of the "Blue House" 13 Argyle Street is the following line
...close to..."where the new Bridewell is to be erected".
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/south_liverpool/new_bridewell_26th_June_1860_LM.jpg

[Ronijayne]

Good thread. I grew up in Micawber Street with Nickleby Street to our left and Copperfield St. to our right. The cross street was Weller Street. I think there was a Charles Street and a Dickens Street but can't place them.

[hainesy]

Hello there, just read the post on Dickens' connection with Liverpool. I am not sure if you aware of this, but apparently, many people ask during the tour of Saint George's Hall, if Dickens really did stay up here for a spell for reasons other than boarding a ship or as part of a reading tour, and they give a firm no, and state that it is all based on a mis-quote, which was actually said by another big literary name. If he did come here for a short time to be part of the specials for research purposes, then the good folks at the Hall are very badly in need of correcting. Is there solid evidence that could be shown? It would be great if all such doubt and inconsistency was removed. Cheers. Hainesy.

[dot]

Hi Hainesy,
Gerald Dickens, Charles Dickens gg/grandson gave readings in St Georges Hall last December money went to age concern, he made comment about being in the same spot as his ancestor, Gerald D also spoke to Sean Styles on Radio Merseyside regarding Charles Dickens love of Liverpool, so a very strange negative answer from St Georges Hall staff.

[Mark R]

When I went to the Dickens Museum in Doughty Street London in 2004, there was memorabilia of Dickens' reading tours including those at St George's Hall.

[Ged]

Some of these tour guides eh pfft?

There's even one fella who swears the Nelson monument in Exchange Flags is a memorial to the slave trade :rolleyes:

[dazza]

When I went to the Dickens Museum in Doughty Street London in 2004, there was memorabilia of Dickens' reading tours including those at St George's Hall.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) appeared at St George's Hall to read "A Christmas Carol" on Thursday, 28th December 1854

More here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradford_timeline/5457595301/sizes/o/in/photostream/