Most of us can probably imagine that life in the 1900s, no matter where you lived, was very different to modern-day life. Technology aside, the way they lived in the 1900s is completely different in a way that many of us could not even imagine. Families often squeezed into small houses because they couldn’t afford another one and often, especially in the North West families didn’t have enough food to feed everyone three meals a day. Of course, even in modern-day life we have our struggles but there is such much that the 1900s had that we’ll never experience and that is a very good thing!
Life in the Early 1900s
Although lots happened throughout the UK in the 20th Century, Liverpool really changed during this time and newsworthy events took place. In the 1939 many children in the city were forced to evacuate at the start of the Second World War, teachers often accompanied them to the railway station during this time. Then in 1941 Liverpool saw members of the Girl’s Training Corps march through Gambier Terrace as part of the Corps first Church Parade.
In 1945 there were large crowds gathered at Prince’s Pier in order to greet returning ex-prisoners from Japanese prisoner of war camps.
It might be hard to imagine but until 1955 all members of the Liverpool City Police Force had pedal bikes, some of which were replaced with motorcycles in late 1955.
Good news in 1959, the Royal Liverpool Babies Hospital opened – the very first mother and baby unit to open in the North West. This year also see the 3,000th person to be x-rayed in the city as part of the large vaccination campaign for TB that took place throughout the same year.
During the late 1960s there was talk of a local hospital being closed down, however The Good Samaritans organisation got together in 1969 and prevented this from happening, so the Garston hospital could remain open.
The Kellogg’s Cycle Race took to the streets of Liverpool in 1989 and the Larks in the Park music festival proved popular in 1985.
The 1990s were great for medical advances in Liverpool, with the Whiston Hospital Intensive care unit opening in 1982; a baby unit here was also opened in 1988. Princess Diana was famously photographed visiting Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in September 1990.
The Late 1990s
There is no denying that the 20th century bought about a lot of change – and the late 1900s is very different to the start. The 1980s and 1990s saw some massive advances in technology – the introduction of mobile phones and the internet for starters. For lots of people, they can’t picture a life without the technology but realistically even 30 years ago the way we communicated is very different to how we do now!
This is just a small snapshot of what happened in Liverpool throughout those 100 years, there is no denying that there were some fantastic achievements during that time.
If you look at the start of the 21st century to how life will be one hundred years later, there is no denying that there will be some drastic changes. Can you even imagine what life will look in the future with the advances in technology we’re already seeing?
