Rodney Street, Liverpool: No. 62, Gladstone's birthplace

62 Rodney Street,

Liverpool

Birthplace of William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898)

Other Views and Other Related Material

Plaque, 62 Rodney Street

Plaque outside no. 80 for Lytton Strachey

No. 59, Edward C. Hardman's home and studio

Close-up of entrance to no. 59

Gladstone monument, Liverpool

Photograph, caption, and commentary below by Jaqueline Banerjee, 2009.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL.]

Rodney Street (named after Admiral Rodney who died in 1792) is part of an important conservation area in Liverpool. Lined with fine Georgian terraces, still looking very gracious with their attractive front doors, and sometimes with window-guards and other decorative ironwork (see no. 59), it is now known mainly for its many medical consultancies. In earlier times, not only the Gladstones but also many other notables lived here, including the Clough family (Arthur Clough was born at no. 9 in 1819), and later Lytton Strachey, who has a plaque at no. 80. Also resident in Rodney Street was the prominent physician Dr W. H. Duncan (1805-1863), remembered on a plaque at no. 54 for having been "Liverpool's first Medical Officer of Health (1847-1863), the first appointment of its kind in the country": in this as in so much else the city of Liverpool played a pioneering role. Rodney Street, like the work of the photographer Edward Chambré Hardman (1898-1988), who lived and had his studio at no. 59, tells of "a more prosperous time when Liverpool was the gateway to the British Empire and the world" (Peel 281).

Reference

Peel, Lucy, ed. Handbook for Members and Visitors, 2009. Warrington: The National Trust, 2009.

Last modified 2 February 2009