Liverpool
Liverpool lies on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, and historically lay within the ‘ancient hundred’ of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire. It became a borough in 1207 and a city in 1880. In 1889, it became a county borough independent of Lancashire. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with handling general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city merchants were involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In the 19th century, it was a major port of departure for Irish and English emigrants to North America. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic, the RMS Lusitania, RMS Queen Mary and RMS Olympic.
It was the TSS venue in 1982, the Society convening in the Liverpool Royal Infirmary on the first day of our host’s tenure as Dean of the Medical School. He was of course Professor Robert Shields – knighted in 1990 and subsequently President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and then President of the TSS – who himself gave the final paper, on injection sclerotherapy of oesophageal varices, after cases were presented and a wide variety of papers heard, ranging from gastro-intestinal motility to the Toxteth riots.
Images above show the waterfront with the Liver building and Port of Liverpool building (left) and the Victoria building (Right)