Editing Liverpool (section)

===19th century===
[[File:Opening Liverpool and Manchester Railway.jpg|thumb|left|Inaugural journey of the [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]] in 1830, the first-ever commercial railway line in the world]]
[[File:Liverpool1890s.jpg|thumb|left|[[Lime Street, Liverpool|Lime Street]], Liverpool, in the 1890s, [[St. George's Hall, Liverpool|St.George's Hall]] to the left, [[Great North Western Hotel]] to the right, [[Walker Art Gallery]] and [[sessions House, Liverpool|Sessions House]] in the background. Statues of [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]], [[Benjamin Disraeli|Disraeli]], [[Queen Victoria]] and [[Wellington's Column]] in the middle ground.]]
The 19th century saw Liverpool rise to global economic importance. Pioneering, [[History of Liverpool|world first]], technology and civic facilities launched in the city to serve the accelerating population which was fuelled by an influx of ethnic and religious communities from all around the world.

By the start of the 19th century, a large volume of trade was passing through Liverpool, and the construction of major buildings reflected this wealth. In 1830, Liverpool and [[Manchester]] became the first cities to have an intercity rail link, through the [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]]. The population continued to rise rapidly, especially during the 1840s when [[Irish diaspora|Irish]] migrants began arriving by the hundreds of thousands as a result of the [[Irish Potato Famine (1845–1849)|Great Famine]]. While many Irish people settled in the city at that time, a large percentage also emigrated to the United States or moved to the industrial centres of [[Lancashire]], Yorkshire and the [[Midlands]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Irish cultural expression in Liverpool|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/england/liverpool/article_1.shtml|access-date=20 September 2023|publisher=BBC|archive-date=13 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813020309/https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/england/liverpool/article_1.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>{{wikisource|Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833/Liverpool|'Liverpool', a poetical<br/>illustration by L. E. L.}}
In her poetical illustration "Liverpool" (1832), which celebrates the city's worldwide commerce, [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]] refers specifically to the [[Macgregor Laird]] expedition to the Niger River, at that time in progress.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cope|first=Jonas|date=May 2012|others=Dr. Noah Heringman, Dissertation Supervisor|title=The Dissolution of Character in Late Romantic British Literature 1816–1837|url=https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/14984/research.pdf?...2|access-date=4 April 2021|website=MOspace Institutional Repository|page=115|archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509230958/https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/14984/research.pdf?...2|url-status=live}}</ref> This is accompanied by a painting by [[Samuel Austin (artist)|Samuel Austin]], ''Liverpool, from the Mersey''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833|url=https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/annuals/id/9591|section=picture|year=1832|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.|access-date=14 November 2022|archive-date=14 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114184109/https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/annuals/id/9591|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833|url=https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/annuals/id/9592|section=poetical illustration|pages=14-15|year=1832|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.|access-date=14 November 2022|archive-date=14 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114184110/https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/annuals/id/9592|url-status=live}}</ref>

Britain was a major market for cotton imported from the [[Deep South]] of the United States, which fed the [[Textile manufacture during the British Industrial Revolution|textile industry]] in the country. Given the crucial place cotton held in the city's economy, during the [[American Civil War]] Liverpool was, in the words of historian [[Sven Beckert]], "the most pro-Confederate place in the world outside the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] itself".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Empire of Cotton: a Global History|last=Beckert|first=Sven|publisher=Knopf|year=2014|location=New York}}</ref> Liverpool merchants helped to bring out cotton from ports blockaded by the [[Union Navy]], built ships of war for the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], and supplied
the [[Southern United States|South]] with military equipment and credit.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Emancipation and Empire: Reconstructing the Worldwide Web of Cotton Production in the Age of the American Civil War|url=https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/3207344|website=dash.harvard.edu|access-date=23 September 2023|archive-date=17 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117123448/https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/3207344|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the war, the [[Confederate States Navy|Confederate Navy]] ship, the [[CSS Alabama|CSS ''Alabama'']], was built at [[Birkenhead]] on the Mersey, and the [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']] surrendered there (being the final surrender at the end of the war). The city was also the centre of Confederate purchases of war materiel, including arms and ammunition, uniforms, and naval supplies to be smuggled by [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|British blockade runners to the South]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/liverpools-abercromby-square/abercromby-southern-club/embassy-confederacy|title=Liverpool's Abercromby Square and the Confederacy During the U.S. Civil War|publisher=Lowcountry Digital History Initiative|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410173112/https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/liverpools-abercromby-square/abercromby-southern-club/embassy-confederacy|archive-date=10 April 2023}}</ref>

For periods during the 19th century, the wealth of Liverpool exceeded that of London,<ref name="Ten facts about Liverpool">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1431943/Ten-facts-about-Liverpool.html Ten facts about Liverpool] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509225622/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1431943/Ten-facts-about-Liverpool.html |date=9 May 2021 }} ''The Daily Telegraph'', 4 June 2003</ref> and Liverpool's [[Custom House, Liverpool|Custom House]] was the single largest contributor to the [[British Exchequer]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Hatton|first=Brian|title=Shifted tideways: Liverpool's changing fortunes|website=[[The Architectural Review]]|date=28 March 2011|url=http://www.architectural-review.com/essays/2008-january-shifted-tideway-liverpools-changing-fortunes-by-brian-hatton/8613231.article|access-date=21 November 2015|archive-date=8 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308080820/https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/2008-january-shifted-tideway-liverpools-changing-fortunes-by-brian-hatton/8613231.article|url-status=live}}</ref> Liverpool was the only British city ever to have its own [[Whitehall]] office.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Henderson|first=W.O.|title=The Liverpool office in London|publisher=[[London School of Economics]]|series=Economica xiii|pages=473–479|year=1933}}</ref> During this century, at least 40% of the world's entire trade passed through Liverpool.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A walk around maritime Livepool|url=https://www.discoveringbritain.org/activities/north-west-england/walks/liverpool-trade.html|access-date=20 September 2023|website=discoveringbritain.org|archive-date=2 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002185745/https://www.discoveringbritain.org/activities/north-west-england/walks/liverpool-trade.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the early 19th century, Liverpool played a major role in the [[Antarctic]] [[seal hunting|sealing]] industry, in recognition of which [[Liverpool Beach]] in the [[South Shetland Islands]] is named after the city.<ref>[http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=137191 Liverpool Beach.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425164150/http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=137191 |date=25 April 2012 }} [[Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica|SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica]].</ref>

As early as 1851, the city was described as "the New York of Europe".<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Bankers' Magazine|publisher=Groombridge & Sons|location=London|series=v.11|year=1851|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nC05AAAAMAAJ&q=new-york-of-europe&pg=PA783}}</ref> During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Liverpool was attracting immigrants from across Europe. This resulted in the construction of a diverse array of religious buildings in the city for the new ethnic and religious groups, many of which are still in use today. The [[German Church, Liverpool|Deutsche Kirche]], [[Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas]], [[Gustav Adolf Church, Liverpool|Gustav Adolf Church]] and [[Princes Road Synagogue]] were all established in the 1800s to serve Liverpool's growing German, Greek, Nordic and Jewish communities, respectively. One of Liverpool's oldest surviving churches, [[St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, Liverpool|St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church]], served the [[Poles in the United Kingdom|Polish community]] in its final years as a place of worship.