Our Society was formed in 1938 as the Liverpool Nautical Research Society, to encourage interest in Liverpool’s maritime history and to help preserve a ‘maritime epoch.’
In the early years society members wrote papers that they would share at the monthly meetings and were subsequently published under the title ‘Transactions’. The first of these was by Mr Arthur C Wardle entitled ‘Early Liverpool Vessels and Trade’ on the 11th May 1938. The Society President was the Earl of Derby. This and subsequent papers are available digitally in our archive’
In 1944 ‘Transactions’ was relaunched with an article on the ‘Marco Polo’ and interestingly an article by Mr Arthur C Wardle entitled ‘The Thomas of Liverpool’
In 1951 the Society’s Council were concerned that members overseas and in the country were unable to attend the monthly talks and so the additional publication ‘Notes, News and Queries’ was born. It began ‘During the last few years, your Council has become increasingly sensitive of the position of country and overseas members who are unable to attend meetings and thus take advantage of the opportunities for free discussion which form, or should form, the backbone of any literary or technical society.
These two publications ran until 1972, when the society launched ‘The Bulletin‘ Which has been distributed to all members quarterly since then. Although it is now also available online for those who choose to view them this way.
In 2022 we changed our name to the Liverpool Maritime Society, launched a new website and last year moved our talks from the Athenaeum to the Adephi Hotel. We are moving again this year and our future talks will be Held at the Quaker Meeting House, 22 School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BT.
