Product Description

Victorian Liverpool was a city of abundant wealth and abysmal poverty. By day the broad streets bustled with wealthy merchants making fortunes from the booming dock trade. By nightfall they were taken over by fearsome gangs from the foul courtyards and overcrowded tenemants. Shrieks and screams cut the air, while brawls and brutal muggings were commonplace.

The Gangs of Liverpool is a fascinating tour through a long-forgotten netherworld where armed ruffians fought for territory or pride and no man was safe after dark. From warring Catholic and Protestant mobs in the 1850's, with names like the Hibernians and the Dead Rabbits, emerged the Cornermen, whose wicked exploits made them feared throughout the city. The brutal Tithebarn Street Outrage of 1874, when a young man was kicked to death in front of his wife and brother, brought starkly to public attention the thugs who plagued one of the world's greatest seaports.

Previously hidden in the shadows of their inner-city slums, the gangs now took centre stage. Most notorious of all were the High Rip who announced themselves with the infamous Blackstone Street Murder and waged a vicious war against their sworn enemies, the Logwood Gang. Emulating them were juvenile mobs with names such as the Lemon Street Gang and the Housebreakers.

Dr Michael Macilwee has an MA in Victorian Literature and has a special interest in youth crime and disorder. He has conducted exhaustive research to portray the Merseyside underworld in one of its most colourful periods, replete with Dickensian cut-throats, iron-hard detectives, pitched battles and draconian punishments. From religious riots to bareknuckle brawls, The Gangs of Liverpool is a riveting journey into the dark but compelling criminal history of England's toughest city.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20407 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
'A fascinating tour through a long-forgotten netherworld.' (Liverpool Echo) --LIVERPOOL ECHO

Review
'Anecdote-filled and chilling.' (The Weekly News)

Customer Reviews

Brilliant Liverpool Author
A historic trip down memory lane to a place were the youth of the day ran amock through the city....the bad old days!! Great story line well written and researched. Excellent read.

Reality Check for the Moral Minority
If you are looking for a book to provide examples to refute the "wasn't the past wonderfully safe" brigade you should buy this book. I bought this book because my family history (mythology) includes a tale of my Grandad's Grandad or Dad regularly walking down the middle of the (Liverpool) Dock Road with a Shillelagh in one hand, a huge bunch of keys in the other (because he felt safe?) and the days takings for the firm in his pockets. I wanted to read about what it was really like, I wasn't disappointed. I particularly enjoyed the reference to the "penny dreadfuls" corrupting the youth of the day in the same way people banged on about video nasties in the 80's and computer games today. I was not surprised to find out that the boot boy and knife culture is nothing new and hoodies are just a different cap. Every politician and idyllic revisionist should be made to read something like this at best or eat it at worst, those who don't study history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Excellent book, recommended
It was refreshing to read a book where it was obvious that the author had spent alot of time researching the facts. Very well written, and I'm looking forward to his next title.