ABSTRACT

Most shipowners were indifferent or hostile to change and dock labourers born and bred into the system viewed any reform with suspicion believing that any alteration in working practices was to the advantage of employers. Liverpool's emergence as a major port in the nineteenth century derived from the impact of the industrial revolution the relaxation of the Navigation Laws in 1787. Following the pioneering work of Eric Hobsbawm in the 1940s and 1950s, there are now a number of secondary sources examining the development of trade unionism in most of the major British ports and analyses of casual labour. Most shipowners were indifferent or hostile to change and dock labourers born and bred into the system viewed any reform with suspicion believing that any alteration in working practices was to the advantage of employers. Waterfront workers sought accommodation within walking distance of the docks and housing estates developed at both the Toxteth and Bootle ends of the docks.