The price of progress we must never forget: The true cost of a key moment in Liverpool's history

The story of the railway and its birth on Merseyside show the contradictions at the heart of 19th-century Britain, writes historian of activism and empire Dr Dean Clay

Dr Dean Clay, lecturer in history at the University of Hull(Image: University of Hull)

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was in the news late in 2025, as debate continues over the future of Northern Powerhouse Rail and investment in Britain’s transport network. It’s a reminder of how often we celebrate the city’s industrial heritage while overlooking the histories that made it possible.

When the world’s first intercity line opened in 1830, it was hailed as an icon of engineering progress. But the wealth that built it – and the cotton it carried – was deeply entangled with slavery.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company was established in 1824. Its promoters included Joseph Sandars, a Liverpool merchant, and John Kennedy, a Manchester mill owner. They argued for a direct rail connection to bypass the canal companies whose stranglehold on transport raised costs and slowed trade.

They noted that goods could be shipped from New York to Liverpool in less time than they could be carried the 35 miles inland to Manchester.

A railway would solve that problem, cutting journeys of up to twelve hours on the canals to less than two hours by steam. The link promised to transform commerce between Liverpool’s docks and Manchester’s mills, binding two cities whose fortunes were already tied to slave-grown cotton from the........

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