John Gladstone

Foundation stone laid by Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby K.G. (Rt. Hon. Lord Stanley MP), on 22/10/1840, the first patron of the college. The first building of the college, on Shaw St, was in a Tudor-Gothic style and cost £35,000. It was designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, also architect of St. George's Hall, Liverpool. The school was opened by William E. Gladstone on 6/1/1843. According to D. Wainwright, Liverpool Gentlemen, John and William Gladstone had made donations towards its construction. School closed in 1985. Now luxury apartments.

Public school established in 1840 by eminent Liverpool citizens to provide education and Christian instruction. Opening was contemporary with opening of other public (i.e. Not for profit) schools in 1840s and 1850s, such as Cheltenham College, Marlborough College, Rossall School, Radley College, Lancing College, Bradfield College, Wellington College and Malvern College. Divided into three schools - Upper, Middle and Lower - under one Principal, but functionally separate. Lower (or "Commercial") School prepared for boys to enter business houses at an early age; Middle (or "Modern") School combined literary and scientific training, with an emphasis on modern languages, for boys planning to enter business or the professions; the Upper School was a more elite institution with leaving exhibitions for Oxford and Cambridge. The Principal could nominate promising candidates for entrance to a higher school.

After becoming Liverpool College in 1863, the Upper School moved to Lodge Lane in 1884. The Lower and Middle Schools remained at Shaw Street, becoming united as Liverpool Collegiate School, eventually closing in 1985.

Source: David Wainwright, Liverpool Gentlemen: a history of Liverpool College, an independent day school, from 1840 (London, Faber & Faber, 1960).

LRO does not hold the College's early records [http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/tcm21-33442.pdf].