Historical Papers of Lawrence Hall

The papers listed below are mainly notes, extracts from documents and correspondence relating to articles written by Hall during his retirement. The articles combine Lawrence Hall's interests in local history and Unitarianism and they appeared in either the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire; the Transactions of the Unitarian Historical Society; or The Inquirer. At least one of Hall's articles was not printed - The Building of Hope Street Church, 1933 and it is possible that he intended further articles, or that the finished articles were not deposited in this library. A full list of his publications can be found in the Local History Catalogue, although details are given below.

It seems that Lawrence's father, Robert Cunningham Hall, (d. 1900) possessed an interest in local history, as some of the notes, extracts from documents, etc. relating to Jeremiah Horrocks (288 HAL 1 below) were made by him.

Few of Lawrence Hall's notes are dated, but the majority of them can be roughly dated from the date of publications of his articles. All can probably be dated between his retirement in 1927 and his death in 1940.

An appreciation of Lawrence Hall appears in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, v. 92, 1940, pp. 219-220.

1. Notes and extracts from documents relating to the life of Jeremiah Horrocks.

2. Notes and extracts from documents relating to Toxteth Park and the Ancient Chapel of Toxteth.

3. Notes relating to the Clough Fund.

4. Glimpses of Life in Liverpool During the Reign of George IV (typescript), 1 doc., n.d. [c. 1940].

5. Material relating to Hope Street Church.

6. Notes relating to Manesty Lane and Hope Street Schools, 65 docs., 1848-1938.

7. Notes relating to the Aspinwall family, 1 folder, n.d.

8. Notes relating to Richard Mather, 1 folder, n.d.

9. Notes relating to John Yates, 1 folder, n.d.

10. Notes relating to Peter Crompton, 1 folder, n.d.

11. Notes relating to the Johns and Hazlitt Families, 1 folder, n.d.

12. Notes relating to Thomas Dover, 1 folder, n.d.

13. Other notes and copies of documents, 5 folders, n.d.

14. Printed Items, 6 docs., 1 folder, 1 map, 1856-1900, 1908-1923, 1935.

15. Papers relating to the Congregation of Unitarian Christian worshipping in Great Crosshall Street ..., 1 vol., 1821-1823.

These papers were received in this library in January 1952 from an unknown source.

Lawrence Hall was born in Liverpool in 1864 and died in 1940. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute, and from leaving school until his retirement in 1927 he was actively engaged in cotton broking. Upon his retirement he turned to the study of local history. Lawrence Hall was a Unitarian, being closely involved with Hope Street Church and its allied causes.