The Liverpool Sailors Home Gateway - Liverpool, UK - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

THE LIVERPOOL SAILOR'S HOME GATEWAY
A memorial to all merchant seamen who have passed through Liverpool

This ornamental gateway was located at the main entrance of the Liverpool Sailors' Home, which stood on the site of the current John Lewis Building. It was designed by the building's architect, John Cunningham, and the foundry owner Henry Pooley Junior and cast at Henry Pooley & Son's Albion Foundry, Liverpool.

The mermaids, anchors, dolphins and other nautical symbols indicated the building's link to the sea and would be familiar-to visiting merchant seamen from all over the world, with the Liver Bird above welcoming them to Liverpool! The gateway was removed from the Sailors' Home in 1951, in advance of repairs to bomb damage. It was presented to W &T Avery, who in the 1930's had merged with Pooley's, and taken to their headquarters in Smethwick, where it stood as an example of Pooley's craftsmanship. The gateway was returned to Liverpool in 2011 by Liverpool City Council, supported by Liverpool's retired merchant seamen It is dedicated as a memorial to all sailors who have passed through Liverpool during its long history as an international seaport. The City Council is grateful to Avery Weigh-Tronix for its careful stewardship of the gateway for 50 years and for returning them to Liverpool. The City Council is also grateful to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council for-allowing the gates to leave Smethwick and to be returned to their home.

By the middle of the 19th century, Liverpool had become one of the world's busiest seaports. Thousands of sailors passed through the city each year and often required lodgings'between voyages. In the absence of properly regulated accommodation, much of the accommodation which was available was sub-standard and did not foster the well-being of the sailors. The Liverpool Sailors' Home opened in 1850 "...to provide for seamen frequenting the Port of Liverpool, board, lodging and medical attendance, at a moderate charge; to protect them from imposition and extortion, and to encourage them to husband their hard-earned wages; to promote their moral, intellectual, and professional improvement; and to afford them the opportunity of receiving religious instruction." The Home provided an essential service for over 100 years but after World War II it struggled to keep up with modern requirements and its business declined. After a long and colourful history, it closed its doors to boarders in 1969 and was demolished in 1974. Liverpool was inscribed onto UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2004 as the supreme example of a commercial port at the time of Britain's greatest global influence.

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Liverpool Sailors' Home
CANNING PLACE.

BOARDING.

OFFICERS......................	2s 8d per Day,	or 17s 6d per Week
MEN ................................	2s 4d     "	or 16s   "
APPRENTICES ............		13s 6d "

In this Establishment every attention is paid to the comfort of the inmates by the committee and Manager, and the rations provided are always abundant, and of good quality.
In connection with the Home there is a Deposit Bank, es Library, Sitting Rooms, Dispensary, Clothing Store, Nautical School, &c.
As the Committee seek no pecuniary profit from the Home, but the benefit in all respects of the Seamen, it is hoped that many will avail themselves of the advantages offered.
            THOMAS HANDIER, Manager

ADVICE TO SEAMEN.

There are always persons awaiting your arrival in Port, in the neighbourhood of the Pierheads and Docks, who by false representations endeavour to entice you to go elsewhere. Pay no attention to them, but be determined to reach the Sailors' Home.