Royal Institution, Colquitt Street, Liverpool

The Liverpool Royal Institution was a

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership m ...

set up in 1814 for "the Promotion of Literature, Science and the Arts". William Corrie,

William Rathbone IV William Rathbone IV (10 June 1757 – 11 February 1809) was an English ship-owner and merchant involved in the organisation of American trade with Liverpool, England. He was a political radical, supporting the abolition of the slave trade and unive ...

Thomas Stewart Traill Thomas Stewart Traill (29 October 1781 – 30 July 1862) was a British physician, chemist, meteorologist, zoologist and scholar of medical jurisprudence. He was the grandfather of the physicist, meteorologist and geologist Robert Traill Omon ...

and

William Roscoe William Roscoe (8 March 175330 June 1831) was an English banker, lawyer, and briefly a Member of Parliament. He is best known as one of England's first abolitionists, and as the author of the poem for children ''The Butterfly's Ball, and the G ...

were among the founders. It was sometimes called the Royal Society of Liverpool. A

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

was granted in 1821. The institute purchased a building on Colquitt Street where a lecture program was started. It also included an art gallery which hosted John James Audubon's first European exhibition, in 1826. A new building to host the gallery was built in 1841 and its director was William John Swainson. A grammar school for boys, the Royal Institution School, ran until 1892. After the construction of the

William Brown Library and Museum The William Brown Library and Museum is a Grade II* listed building situated on the historic William Brown Street in Liverpool, England. The building currently houses part of the World Museum Liverpool and Liverpool Central Library. The Will ...

, and

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

the institute fell into decline, its collections were moved to the gallery and its archives moved to

University College Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

. The institute was dissolved in 1948.

Slave trade

The house was built for the slave trader Thomas Parr. Parr sold his house to the institution and was one of its founder members. Many of the people who set up the institution were former slave traders.

References

External links

* * Cultural organisations based in Liverpool Regional and local learned societies of the United Kingdom 1814 establishments in England Organizations established in 1814 * {{edu-org-stub