In 1642 the civil war between king and parliament began. At first Liverpool was in royalist hands but in May 1643 Parliamentarian soldiers took the town. They dug ditches and erected earth ramparts around Liverpool to defend it from royalist attack. In June 1644 Prince Rupert led a royalist army to try and re-capture Liverpool. He described the town as a 'mere crows nest which a parcel of boys could take'.

At first attacks were repulsed but then the Parliamentary troops left by sea leaving the people of Liverpool to defend their town themselves. The royalists attacked Liverpool one night. The townspeople resisted fiercely but were overcome. Many of them were killed. The royalist troops then sacked the town.

However Liverpool only remained in royalist hands for a matter of weeks. In the summer of 1644 the royalists lost the battle of Marston Moor. Following the battle they lost the whole of the North of England, including Liverpool.

Liverpool began to grow rapidly in the late 17th century with the growth of English colonies in North America and the West Indies. Liverpool was, obviously, well placed to trade with colonies across the Atlantic. The town boomed. In 1673 a New Town Hall was built on pillars. Underneath them was an exchange where merchants could buy and sell goods.

At the end of the 17th century a writer named Celia Fiennes visited Liverpool and gave it a glowing report. She said: 'Liverpool is built on the river Mersey. It is mostly newly built, of brick and stone after the London fashion. The original (town) was a few fishermen's houses. It has now grown into a large, fine town. It is but one parish with one church though there be 24 streets in it, there is indeed a little chapel and there are a great many dissenters in the town (Protestants who did not belong to the Church of England). It's a very rich trading town, the houses are of brick and stone, built high and even so that a street looks very handsome. The streets are well paved. There is an abundance of persons who are well dressed and fashionable. The streets are fair and long. Its London in miniature as much as I ever saw anything. There is a very pretty exchange. It stands on 8 pillars, over which is a very handsome Town Hall.'

18th Century - In the early 18th century the writer Daniel Defoe also commented on Liverpool's booming trade. He said: 'Liverpool has an opulent, flourishing and increasing trade to Virginia and English colonies in America. They trade round the whole island (of Great Britain), send ships to Norway, to Hamburg and to the Baltic as also to Holland and Flanders (roughly modern Belgium).'

In 1708 the Bluecoat School for 50 poor boys was built. (It was called that because of their school uniforms). The Royal Infirmary was founded in 1749. In 1754 a New Town Hall was built.

Liverpool continued to grow rapidly. By the early 18th century it had probably reached a population of 5,000. By 1750 the population of Liverpool had reached 20,000 and by 1801 77,000.

Many of the inhabitants were immigrants. In 1795 a writer spoke about 'the great influx of Irish and Welsh of whom the majority of the inhabitants at present consists'.

From about 1730 the merchants of Liverpool made huge profits from the slave trade. The trade formed a triangle. Goods from Manchester were given to the Africans in return for slaves. The slaves were transported across the Atlantic to the West Indies and sugar was brought back from there to Liverpool. At the end of the century a famous actor visited Liverpool. When he was booed he told the audience that every brick of their town was 'cemented with the blood of an African'.

In the 18th century sugar refining became an important industry in Liverpool. Shipbuilding also became a flourishing industry. Rope making also prospered. (Rope was, obviously, needed in large amounts by ships). In Liverpool there was also some manufacturing industry such as iron working, watch making and pottery.

In the 18th century rivers were deepened to make it easier for ships to sail on them. The Mersey and Irwell were deepened in 1720 and the Sankey Brook in 1755.

The American War of Independence began in 1775. At first it disrupted Liverpool's trade. Obviously it ended trade with the colonies themselves but it also meant American ships attacked English merchant shipping trading with the West Indies. They captured the ships and tool their cargoes. This was called privateering. In 1778 France, Spain and Holland declared war on Britain. That meant ships from Liverpool could attack French, Spanish and Dutch ships and take their cargoes.

From 1748 night watchmen patrolled the streets of Liverpool at night. In 1778 a dispensary was opened in John Street were the poor could obtain free medicines.

19th Century - In 1801 the population of Liverpool was about 77,000. By 1821 the population had reached 118,000. In 1835 the boundaries of Liverpool were extended to include Kirkdale and parts of Toxteth and West Derby. By 1851 the population of Liverpool had reached 376,000. There were many Irish immigrants in the early 19th century. Their numbers reached a peak during the potato famine in the 1840s.

In 1802 Harthill Botanic Gardens were laid out.

At the end of the 18th century, sea bathing became fashionable among the upper and middle classes. They believed it was good for your health. In the early 19th century many people went sea bathing on the beach Northwest of Liverpool but in time newly built docks encroached on the beach.

The port boomed and many new docks were built. By the middle of the century Liverpool was second only to London. The Manchester ship canal was completed in 1894. Although the docks dominated Liverpool there were other industries such as shipbuilding, iron foundries, glass manufacture and soap making.

In 1799 and 1802 private companies began to supply piped water to the town. But it was expensive and poor people could not afford it. They relied on barrels or wells. A municipal water supply was begun in 1857.

The Philharmonic hall was built in 1849. It burned in 1933 and was rebuilt. The Central Library was built in 1852. St George's Hall was built in 1854. William Brown library was built in 1860. Picton Reading Room was built in 1879.

The Royal Southern Hospital opened in 1814. An eye hospital opened in 1820. The Northern Hospital followed in 1834. Stanley Hospital opened in 1867. The Walker Art Gallery opened in 1877. Stanley park was laid out in 1870 Sefton Park was opened in 1872. The Palm House was built in 1896.

From 1830 horse drawn buses ran in Liverpool and from 1865 horse drawn trams. The trams were converted to electricity in 1898-1901.

Liverpool officially became a city in 1880. By 1881 its population had reached 611,00. In 1895 the boundaries of the city were extended to include Wavertree, Walton and parts of Toxteth and West Derby.

20th Century - By 1901 the population of Liverpool had reached 685,000. In 1904 the boundaries of the city were extended again to include Fazakerly.

The Tower Building was built in 1908. In the 1910s three of Liverpool's most famous buildings were erected on the site of St George's dock, which had been filled in. The Liver Building was built in 1911. The Cunard Building was built in 1916. The Port of Liverpool building was also built at that time. The Lady Lever art gallery opened in 1922.

More than 13,000 Liverpudlians died in World War I. In 1921 a memorial was erected outside the Cunard building to all the Cunard employees who died in the war.

In 1928 a survey showed 14% of the city's population were living in poverty. This was, of course, much worse than what we would call poverty today. In those days poor people were living at bare survival level.

In 1934 the Queensway road tunnel was built. The Kingsway Road Tunnel followed in 1971.

In the early 20th century the city suffered a shortage of houses. Overcrowding was common, as was slum housing. The council built some council houses but nothing like enough to solve the problem. Furthermore Liverpool suffered severely in the depression of the 1930s and up to a third of men of working age were unemployed.

In 1974 the boundaries of the city were changed so it became part of an administrative area called Merseyside.  The Roman Catholic Cathedral was consecrated in 1967. The Anglican Cathedral was not completed until 1978.

In the later 20th century industries in Liverpool included engineering, cement manufacture, sugar refining and flour milling. For a time, in the 1950s and 1960s the local economy boomed but it turned sour in the late 1970s and 1980s as Liverpool, like the rest of the country suffered from recession. Liverpool became an unemployment black spot. One consequence of Liverpool's social problems were the Toxteth riots of 1981.

In the last years of the 20th century there were some hopeful signs. Liverpool remains a very important port. Because of its position in the Northwest it is the main port for trading with North America. In the 1980s Albert Dock was redeveloped and turned into an area of bars, shops and restaurants.

Liverpool is now trying to promote tourism using its heritage as an attraction. Merseyside Maritime Museum opened in 1980. The Tate Gallery of Modern Art opened in 1988.

The Museum of Liverpool Life opened in 1993. A Custom and Excise Museum opened in 1994. A Conservation Centre opened in Queens Square in 1996. Also in 1996 the Institute For Performing Arts opened.

21st Century

From 2.15-2.45pm visitors can take part in a hands on Samurai Armour demonstration suitable for all the family. Here you can find out about the history and traditions of the Samurai and see a volunteer get dressed up in replica armour. A BSL interpreter will explain how the armour was used 400 years ago.

Then from 3.30-4.00pm children aged 3-7 can join in our interactive story of a very brave whale! The story of Molly the Friendly Blue Whale will be British Sign Language assisted and audio described.

Best of all these activities are totally free, you just need to collect a free ticket from the information desk on the day.

The highlight for me was 'By Reservation Only' - a wonderful performance by a group of young refugees, whose acting skills were a talent worth seeing. What was even more impressive was the fact that they had learnt the script in English, which wasn?t even their first language. Truly inspirational, with such natural talent and ability on display, the show was hopefully an avenue for these young people to be like everybody else and have some normality and escapism. You can see photos from the performance in our Refugee Week 2010 set on Flickr.

There is so much negativity in the press in relation to refugees and asylum seekers, particularly in such economic uncertainty, and these groups are potentially at an even greater risk of intolerance and racism. Recent statistics actually show that the number of applications for asylum to the UK decreased by 47% compared with the same period last year. It is vitally important to be educated about the plight of our fellow citizens, and Refugee Week at the museum is just one way of doing this."

Yes, you have read the title correctly! Here in the Ethnology department we are busily packing lots of objects ready for them to have their photographs taken, before they go on display in the Global City gallery of the Museum of Liverpool.

This isn't always as easy as it sounds. One of the more tricky objects I've had today has been a large brightly decorated enamel horse, which is almost 1 metre long. The horse has a detachable mane (which looks a little bit like a toupe) and tail that all needed packing together to ensure it looks its best in front of the cameras. It turns out there is more than one way to pack a horse, but I decided on a nice simple solution of strapping the horse into a box, making sure it can't move about while its being transported. You could say, it will be travelling in its own handmade horsebox.

The horse once belonged to Sir Douglas Crawford a well known figure in Liverpool. Famous for the Crawford biscuit business and his work with the Scout Movement, he also in his spare time collected a very specific type of Chinese enamel called cloisonne. You'll be able to see a fantastic group of objects from Douglas Crawford's collection in the new gallery.

You can get quite attached to some of the objects you care for. I couldn't help naming this horse Biscuit, which seems to suit it.

Here's our Curator of Botany, Geraldine Reid, to tell us about a curious new arrival at the botany department...

Today started like any other and then suddenly a new acquisition arrived in the botany department. It was a costume from the performance piece 'Grains of Paradise' created by Adela Jones back in 2008. She used the botanical collections as inspiration for her costumes and piece, which was hosted by the Bluecoat and was part of 'Fragrant', which explored Liverpool?s Botanical Collection.

As you can see, after I unwrapped the costume I seemed to end up totally engulfed in it and almost turned into part of a living plant exhibit! I?m not quite sure what species I am meant to resemble, but as we?re celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010, maybe I?m morphing into a new species down in the basement of world museum...

Ever wondered what might happen if one of the animals in the museum escaped? To continue our celebration of the World Museum's 150th anniversary, we have asked Senior Education Manager of sciences, Mike Graham to tell us about one of his memories from working in the Aquarium in the 1970s...

We were once offered a large green Iguana which had out grown its owner?s home. It's owner told us that it was about 4.5 foot long - which we assumed was an exaggeration - and when she appeared with a tiny zipped shopping bag, we thought our assumptions were correct. I made the big mistake of opening it in the public gallery to have a quick look and this 4.5 foot monster poked its head and shoulders out of the bag. How she got it in there in the first place was beyond me! It scanned the area in a nonchalant sort of way and then leapt out and scuttled off down the gallery. We had a marble floor and it wasn't really able to run on this surface, so it made loads of noise which alerted the visitors and of course lead to absolute pandemonium. I rugby tackled it at the end of the corridors and managed to get back into the lab area.

In that job, no two days were the same and you had to expect the unexpected at all times!

This week in our celebration of the World Museum's 150th anniversary we have a blog from Curator of Antiquities, Gina Muskett. Gina is passionate about the objects in the museum's classical and European collections - here she is to tell us about one of her favourite pieces...

I was really pleased that the ?Kingston Brooch?, one of the objects I curate, was chosen to represent one of the ?big dates? in the 150 years since the museum was founded - 1867, when Joseph Mayer presented most of his collection to the museum. You can read more about Joseph Mayer here. 

So what is the Kingston Brooch and why is it so special? For a start, it?s the finest and largest (a whopping 8.5cm in diameter) brooch of its type. The brooch dates from the time of the Anglo-Saxons and is about 1400 years old. It?s made from gold and decorated with garnets (dark red stones), blue glass and shell. The person who made this used more than 830 separate pieces to decorate the brooch, and must have been very skilled indeed.

It?s also special that we know exactly where it was found ? in a grave at Kingston Down in Kent. It was one of the objects buried with a woman, and she must have loved the brooch, as it is quite worn and repaired, which suggests she wore it regularly.

But that?s not all! The grave which contained the Kingston Brooch was one of many excavated by a Kent clergyman, the Reverend Bryan Faussett, who lived in the middle of the 18th century. He kept very detailed records of his digs in notebooks and diaries and they came to Liverpool along with the rest of his collection.

You can see a photo of the pages of the diary recording the discovery of the Kingston Brooch ? with a lovely drawing! ? alongside the brooch itself in the museum. There is also a display of some of the other things buried with the brooch and many other fantastic Anglo-Saxon objects from the museum?s collection in the Ancient World gallery on the third floor of World Museum. 

The Volunteers Team would like to send out congratulations to several of our youth volunteers who each passed their Bronze Arts Award last week.

The group of 12 young people (aged 16-25) have all volunteered as part of our Discovery Volunteers project based at World Museum. During this time they met with visitors on gallery and chatted about handling objects, having received lots of prior training from curatorial and education staff.

Our volunteers also attended several Arts Award sessions run by the Volunteers team, including a visit to Plantastic and writing up a project about their Arts Hero or Heroine.

Arts Award aspires to support any young person to enjoy the arts and develop creative leadership skills and is run by Arts Council England and Trinity Guildhall.

We would like to say a big well done to them all!

You can find out more about youth volunteering from v, the national young volunteers? service.

Early this morning a team of staff were busy wrapping up showcases and sculptures in the Ancient Egypt gallery at World Museum . The ancient Egyptians had a fondness for wrapping things up and at times it felt like the mummies were looking on with approval. However, I imagine they could have done the job quicker than the 3 hours it took us. Although this was not of a ritual nature and despite having what must amount to several miles of mummy bandages in our collection we used polythene, bubble wrap and foam.

Over the next 5 days building contractors will be installing a new air circulation system in the gallery. For this reason we had to close the gallery and cover everything to protect from dust and potential knocks. Lately the low humidity on the gallery has not been ideal for the 100s of artefacts made from organic materials such as wood and papyrus. In order to preserve these ancient artefacts for future generations we need to lower the gallery temperature and raise the humidity level. Metal artefacts that need low humidity levels are kept within climate controlled cases and should remain unaffected. Protecting objects is a primary concern of a museum but this work will also improve conditions for our visitors.

The gallery will be open by the start of next week. We apologise for this closure but I'd also like to remind people that there are ancient artefacts on display in other areas of World Museum , such as the Weston Discovery Centre and the Ince Athena statue near the entrance. Also, the mummy of Pedeamun in the Reveal gallery at National Conservation Centre and a selection of antiquites from Greece and Rome at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

Special thanks for their wrapping skills go to staff of the estate management production team and the textiles & organics conservation department.

As you will probably know from the huge inflatable flowers outside the World Museum right now, our fantastic Plantastic! exhibition is still in full swing. If you haven't already been in to see this huge interactive exhibition then here is a taster to show you how cool it is!

This Look Out! game is in the exhibition, but you can now play it here online as well. So why not waste a few minutes of your day trying to protect a poor plant from being attacked by slithery snails and hungry aphids!

If you know a bit about plants then you'll know which defences are most useful to protect your plant against the various attackers which are trying to eat it! If you don't know much about plants, then this is a fun way to learn about them.

See how you get on and how healthy your plant is at the end...Good luck!

Play the game here!

Today we're looking back to 21 May 1957 for our celebration of the World Museum's 150th year. 

On this day in history, our Titanic model set off from the museum for Pinewood studios to star in the film 'A Night to Remember'.  The model is now on show at the Merseyside Maritime Museum where its label says:

This is the unique, full builder?s model of Olympic/Titanic.  It was built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast at the same time as the sister ships concerned.  Originally named Olympic, it was used by White Star to advertise both ships.  After the Titanic disaster the model was altered to represent Britannic, the third ship of the class, which was sunk while serving as a hospital ship during the First World War. 

The rearrangement of windows on the upper decks was the most lasting change made.  In the 1920s the model was altered again to represent the refitted Olympic. Having later been stored and displayed at Blackpool, the model was given to Liverpool Museums in 1951 (but not actually brought to Liverpool until a few years later).  In the early 1980s it was restored for display in the Maritime Museum as Titanic.

There is another interesting story from this week in history...the museum's planetarium opened for the first time! It was on 22 May 1970. You can find out more about our fascinating free planetarium shows here.

A few weeks back, during the Easter holidays, our wonderful team of Discovery Volunteers were on hand in the World Cultures Gallery at World Museum.

Each of the 24 youth volunteers underwent thorough training with curatorial and education teams and then put their knowledge to good use on gallery with interesting and engaging handling objects.

Our Discovery Volunteers had a brilliant time meeting with thousands of visitors and chatting to them about unusual objects, including Japanese netsuke and Arctic snow goggles. Volunteers provided information on what the object was used for and also the natural material it had been made from. This interest in natural resources is a key feature to reflect the Wild Wild World programme of events at World Museum to support the International Year of Biodiversity.

As Richard, one of the volunteers explains:

?The Go Wild! project has made visitors aware of the diversity within human cultures across the globe?raising topical issues that are relevant in today?s present?

Each of the volunteers gave over 50 hours volunteer work on this project and as a result achieved their v50 Award Certificate, a nationally recognised certificate supported by v, the national young volunteers? service.

If you are aged 16-25 and interested in becoming a future Discovery Volunteer please contact the Volunteer team.

Today we are looking back to 15 May 1898 in our scouring of the World Museum's archives for our 150th anniversary blog series. Unfortunately it is a sad tale involving an elephant called Don Pedro...

When Barnum and Bailey Circus was in Liverpool between 2 and 21 May 1898, James Bailey decided that Don Pedro, a male Indian elephant, must be ?euthanised? because he was aggressive.  The director of the Liverpool Museum attended the killing on 15 May.  The corpse of Don Pedro was transported to the museum where he remained on show until 1941 when the museum was bombed and Don Pedro?s body was destroyed. 

The Liverpool Echo told the story:

'Don, the second largest elephant of the Barnum and Bailey herd and a beautiful ?tusker?, was quietly put to death in the menagerie pavilion of the bug show at Newsham Park yesterday morning...

When the hour fixed for the execution arrived, everything was in readiness, with Secretary Burnham present to represent the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Professor Forbes, of the Liverpool Museum, to receive the body on behalf of the Corporation, Mr Bailey having refused an offer of �50 for it, in order that he might make a present of it to the Museum of Natural History, as he had previously done with the kangaroo that died on the grounds...

...a long manila rope was wound three times about Don?s neck, and one end made fast to a couple of stakes firmly driven into the ground.  The other end was fastened in a loop, into which was hooked a six strand pulley tackle.  The other end of the pulley was fastened to couple of stakes, and the free end was entrusted to the hands of ninety strong and sturdy canvasmen.  At half-past eight o?clock the command was given to ?take up the slack?.  As the cords began to draw taut the order was given; 'Now then, men, walk away with it'...

Don?s body was taken from under the canvas and loaded upon a low car that had been brought by Dr Forbes to receive it, and then started in tow of a traction engine for the Museum...

Professor Forbes said of the execution ...?It was perfect,? he said, ?and so quickly accomplished that the beast did not suffer at all.?'

Poor Don Pedro!!

The cutest animals on the planet (officially - just ask Lucy in the press office), meerkats were among the exotic animals who visited World Museum in March for a series of "Close Encounters... with live animals!" workshops as part of National Science Week, courtesy of Tropical Inc.

Now those lovely folks need a name for one of their baby female meerkats, and we want you to choose one! All you have to do is think of whatever name you think suits her best, and submit it in the comments below. Alternatively you can tweet your meerkat name on Twitter, adding the hashtag #namethemeerkat, or leave a comment on the World Museum Facebook Wall, also adding #namethemeerkat.

Not only will your name be given to the meerkat, but you will also win a goody bag of meerkat treats - DVDs, books, cuddly toys and more - and have your photo taken with your newly-named meerkat at World Museum in August.

I need a name!

We'll be listing all the names submitted so far on the Facebook competition page, so you can check out what names people have come up with. Our team at World Museum will pick their favourite unique name at the close of the competition on 30 July 2010, and the winner will be contacted soon after. (The competition is open to all. Only one name per person permitted - if you are submitting multiple names on behalf of others please add their names to your entry.)

Good luck!

I can't believe our Spring Public Lecture Series is concluding tomorrow, Thursday - the weeks have flown by and the talks have been fascinating.

Our topics this week are, at 2pm, Beautiful Toxteth - The Unusually Royal History of Toxteth Deer Park by Dr Clemency Fisher, who will be revealing the beauty of Toxteth and discussing a couple of Toxtethian zoological riddles, including the identity of some very rare cows. This is followed by, at 2.25pm, Prehistoric, Roman and Medieval excavations at the M62 Tarbock Interchange, 2007. As is the case of many in Liverpool, I travel regularly on the M62, so I'm sure future trips will take on added meaning after tomorrow!
The Public Lectures are held in the Treasure House Theatre, World Museum, from 2pm.

I have really enjoyed Thursday afternoons: what an impressive range of research, and a wealth of knowledge. Our curators' presentations have given great insight into our collections across National Museums Liverpool. I am already looking forward to our Autumn Lecture Series, which starts on Thursday 23 September. Put it in your diaries!

Thursday 6 May is the day people have been talking about all across Liverpool: it's the day our public lecture series features the history of World Museum Liverpool.

Liverpool's Museum - The First 150 Years is the first of three great talks lined up for this afternoon's session. Presented by our Executive Director of Collections, John Millard, the event starts at 2pm in the Treasure House Theatre, World Museum, and is part of our celebrations in the museum's 150th anniversary year.

John's talk will be followed by, at 2.25pm, Collecting Tibet: Objects, People and Places in early 20th-century British India - presented by Head of Ethnology Emma Martin; and at 2.50pm A Place Called Home: Liverpool Court Housing by archaeology curator Liz Stewart.

An impressive line-up for your Thursday afternoon!