LIVERPOOL, England, a city, municipal, county, and parliamentary borough, and seaport, on the right bank of the Mersey, three miles from the sea, and extending about eight and a half miles along the east side of the river. It is the second seaport of the British Empire, and is fourth in population among the cities of the United Kingdom. The port of Liverpool ex tends from Hoylake, at the mouth of the river Dee, along the Cheshire coast of the river Mer sey to Ince Ferry, and from Dungeon Point on the Lancashire coast of the river to Formby Point at its mouth. Liverpool is (by rail) 201 miles northwest of London, 251 miles from Harwich (northwest), 92 miles from Birming ham (northwest), 34 miles from Manchester (west), 96 miles from York (southwest), 124 miles from Hull (southwest), and 227 miles southwest of Edinburgh.
The area of the city is 16,642 acres (23 square miles) ; the ratable value f4,470,837. The population in 1905 (officially estimated) was 730,143. The following statistics of population will show the comparatively rapid growth of the city : 11,833 ( 1720) ; 35,600 (1770) ; 77,708 (1801) ; 376,065 (1851) ; 517,980 (1891) ; 684. 958 (1901); 746,421 (1911). The great ad vance in the population in later years indicated by these figures is partly explained by the extension of the city boundaries so as to take in several adjoining townships.
The city is divided into nine parliamentary divisions returning nine members to Parliament; and into 35 wards, returning 137 members to the city council.
Public Down to the middle of the 19th century Liverpool contained very few public buildings; the streets were narrow and architecturally unattractive. During the last 60 years a complete change has taken place, and within a radius of half a mile from the town-hall the city has been rebuilt; new streets have been made, and old ones widened. The following are amongst the most important of the public buildings: Saint George's Hall, opened 1854, cost L328,500; town-hall, 1795, cost f170,490; munici pal offices, 1867, cost f141,170; post office, 1899, cost £400,000 (including site) ; Picton Reading Room, 1878, cost 1,20,000; Central Technical Schools, 1901, cost f110,000; University build ings, cost i220,000 (including sites). The Wil
liam Brown Library and Museum (1860) and the Walker Art Gallery (1877) were the gifts of the generbus citizens whose names they bear. The Anglican Cathedral, begun in 1904, will, when completed, be one of the most im posing ecclesiastical buildings in the British Empire. The Royal Infirmary, the Blue Coast Hospital and the Seamen's Orphanage are hand some buildings devoted to the cause of charity.
Many of the buildings associated with com merce have been designed by some of- the fore most architects of the day and must be ranked amongst the finest in the city.
With the completion of the three great buildings now in progress, viz.: the cathedral, the dock offices and the cotton exchange, Liverpool, from an architectural point of view, will be unsurpassed by any provincial city or town in the United Kingdom.
The free public libraries of the city consist of one large central reference library (already referred to) and 11 lending libraries and reading-rooms. An extension of the reference library has been made to receive the Hornby collection of art books, prints and autographs. Other important libraries in the city are the Athenaeum (founded 1798), The Liverpool Library (founded 1758), and The University (founded 1881). There are also special theological, legal and medical libraries.
Art Gallery and The famous collection of pictures in Walker Art Gallery is extremely valuable, and contains works by Burne-Jones, Herkomer, Holman Hunt, Leigh ton, Millais, Albert Moore, Poynter, Briton Riviere, D. G. Rossetti and others. Modern sculpture is also well represented. An autumn exhibition is held annually when the most im portant pictures of the year are placed on view. The public museums containing archaeological, ceramic and natural history collections (the latter including an aquarium) are amongst the most popular institutions in the city.