James Atherton (founder of New Brighton)
[5][6] He was a cousin of cotton machinery manufacturer Peter Atherton, who had assisted Richard Arkwright and John Kay in developing the first working model of the Spinning Frame.
[7] As a younger son with limited prospects of inheritance, James Atherton sought his fortune in the thriving commercial town of Liverpool, initially establishing himself as a grocer on Pool Lane (later South Castle Street).
The arrival of their fourth child coincided with the family’s move to larger premises on Dale Street, Liverpool, which served as both their residence and business headquarters.
[15] Its elevated position provided fresh air and panoramic views spanning from the neighbouring city, across the River Mersey to the Cheshire Coast, and the distant hills of North Wales.
[11] In accordance with his reputation for fine taste, Atherton erected his own ‘extensive and beautiful villa’ on Lodge Lane (now Northumberland Terrace), strategically positioned near the summit of Everton hill.
[24] His influence was reflected in the 1813 Act of Parliament, which safeguarded his villa’s privacy by stipulating that ‘no funerals at the church, or persons attending them, shall enter or retire through the western gate of the churchyard without the express permission of James Atherton or his heirs’.
[27][28] Its pioneering architectural design served as an inspiration for subsequent cast iron structures, including Liverpool’s iconic Royal Liver Building and the towering skyscrapers of New York City.
Tragically, in the last decade of their stay in Everton, they mourned the loss of three sons: James Jnr., Charles, and Henry Regent, aged nineteen, twenty-one, and twenty respectively.
[32] During the early to mid-eighteenth century, the British practice of ‘taking the waters’, traditionally associated with inland mineral spas such as Harrogate and Bath, experienced a transformation, gaining popularity in coastal areas.
[33] From his villa on Everton Hill, Atherton observed the Cheshire Coast through a telescope and envisioned transforming the land near Black Rock sands, at the tip of the Wirral Peninsular, into an elegant seaside resort – a new Brighton, designed to serve as a retreat for the merchant class of Liverpool and the wider region.
[1] Retrospectively, A.B Granville, in his book The Spas of England (1841), acknowledged that ‘It must have required some courage to have planted the first dwelling-house on such a waste, and still more to have expected to attract others to follow the example.’[39] However, as Anthony M. Miller explained in his social history of New Brighton, although ‘…no basic platform existed from which to launch the resort…There was a plan, a pre-conceived and elaborate master-plan, based upon a purposeful and coherent programme which focussed its attention upon the area’s obvious natural advantages…’[40] In their October 1832 prospectus for New Brighton, Atherton and Rowson prioritised constructing a ‘handsome Hotel’, a dock, and initiating a steam packet service between the fledgling resort and Liverpool.
[44] Granville concluded that ‘New Brighton, in fine, is a curious and extraordinary settlement of its kind, worthy of being visited, and I doubt not answering, in the summer, every purpose for which it was intended.’ He further noted that it was ‘the sea-bathing rendezvous, par excellence, of the Lancashire people of note…’[37] The realisation of Atherton's ambitions echoed Syers's prophetic acknowledgement of his capabilities years earlier.
Syers had presciently observed of him that 'The united and congregated exertions of a score of such men could, at any time, convert an insignificant village into a town of consequence and renown...', concluding that 'Mr Atherton is not only a man of ten thousand, but of a million’.
[45] Atherton and Rowson, having constructed marine villas in the resort for their families, attracted notable citizens from Liverpool and the wider region to build homes on the sandstone cliffs facing the sea, known affectionately as the Red and Yellow Noses.
[50] Atherton’s legacy includes the development of Everton as a residential district, which would accelerate in the decades following his death, as the villas and pleasure grounds of the wealthy gave way to rows of terraced housing.
[56][57] In the 1950s and 1960s, the Tower Ballroom hosted both local acts and international stars, including The Beatles,who performed at the venue no less than twenty-seven times between 1961 and 1963 - more than at any other location in the United Kingdom, aside from the Cavern Club in Liverpool.
[58][59] The Tower Ballroom also held the distinction of accommodating the largest attendance for a Beatles concert on the British mainland, with the group playing to 4,500 people on 21 November 1961.
