Historic Liverpool Dwellings - Carnatic Hall

The 2nd incarnation of Carnatic Hall

Samuel Ogden was a wealthy Liverpool merchant who lived on the site of Carnatic Hall at Mossley Hill House and had married the daughter of John Pemberton a burgess of Chester who gained much wealth by trading in Liverpool. Arthur Heywood, later to become the founder of the Heywood Banking House, came to Liverpool in 1731 and married Sarah Ogden in 1739 at the age of 22, the daughter of Samuel and Penelope Ogden, of Mossley Hill. Edmund Ogden was also born in Mossley Hill House about 1716 and married Miss Gildart about 1740 with Edmund, wife Martha and their children John and Mary all living at Mossley Hill. In May, 1760, the property of a Mr Russell was conveyed to Edmund Ogden and in August, 1770, the remainder of Russell's interest was conveyed to Edmund, with the exceptions of twelve acres of land in Great Woolton, In November of the same year Edmund mortgaged his property to John Tarleton, a Liverpool merchant, for £600 and from time to time this sum was increased, and in January, 1772, rose to the gross sum of £2,100, Edmund conveyed the whole of his interest to Mr John Tarleton, excepting only one-fourth part of a certain close, part of the Aigburth estate, called Pillard Hey. The property was described as consisting of the Manor of Allerton, with the appurtenances, and of 22 messuages, 4 cottages, 1 windmill, 1 dovehouse, 22 barns, 10 stables, 20 gardens, 20 orchards, 220 acres of land with acres of meadow, 220 acres of pasture, and 80 acres of heath and ling and common of  pasture for all cattle with the appurtenances in Allerton, Great Woolton, Garston, Aigburth otherwise Aigbirth, Grassendale, Childwall and Liverpool. This provided an addition of 5 messuages, 5 barns, 5 stables, 5 gardens, 6 orchards, 1 dovehouse, 86 acres of land, 24 acres of meadow, 55 acres of pasture, and 300 acres of heath and ling, with the appurtenances, in Aigburth, otherwise Aigbirth, and Garston.  Here the Ogden family had their country seat at Mossley Hall with commanding views over the River Mersey. 

 

In 1779, Carnatic Hall, an 18th-century mansion was built on the site for Peter Baker, who served as Mayor of Liverpool in 1795.  Baker and his son in law, Captain John Dawson, were the largest firm of slave traders in England and in 1784 their firm, Baker and Dawson, secured a contract with the Spanish government to supply slaves to Spanish America. Baker and Dawson in completing over 100 slave voyages by the early 1790s endorsed them as some of the biggest slave traders in Liverpool at that time. Baker used his fortune to build the country house that he renamed Carnatic Hall after the French East Indiaman Carnatic which his privateer ship Mentor had captured in October 1778. The Carnatic was said to be the richest prize ever taken and brought safely into port by a Liverpool adventurer. The cargo was worth £400,000, with £135,000 in diamonds alone, a fortune at that time.. Although the pair delivered more than 11,000 slaves worth more than £350,000, Dawson would go bankrupt in 1793 during a credit crisis. The Hall then came into the ownership of the Ewart family in the 1830s and in 1838, shorn of part of its acreage, was purchased by Charles Lawrence before, in 1886, it was sold to a syndicate and was purchased by Walter Holland. In 1891 it was almost completely destroyed by fire and the then owner, Walter Holland, had plans drawn up for the erection of a new princely Carnatic Hall, in Elmswood Road, Liverpool, in 1893. Clothes worn by three daughters of Walter Holland, George Holt's neighbour and business partner who lived at nearby Sudley Hall are on display there. The clothes date from the 1880s to the 1920s and were bought in Bold Street, Liverpool, and Paris. Following the death of Walter Holland in 1915, claims against his estate saw the house was owned by a private company Carnatic Hall Estate Ltd. In 1942 this company mortgaged the property to Liverpool University, until it was eventually bought by the University in 1946.

 

Between 1946 and 1964 the University made the Hall available to the Liverpool Museum, as during the Second World War the museum stored many of its artefacts to prevent them from damage during air raids. In the 1950s plans were drawn up to increase the number of halls of residence, with the Greenbank and Carnatic sites to be developed. Following the purchase of Carnatic Hall the University bought more land and by 1961 owned 21 acres. In 1964 the mansion was demolished and was replaced with student accommodation with the Carnatic Halls of Residence beginning its great tradition of residence for university students. This consisted of six residences: McNair Hall, Salisbury Hall, Rankin Hall, Morton House, Lady Mountford Hall and Dale Hall. In 2018, it was announced that the Carnatic Student Village would be closing as part of the University of Liverpool’s accommodation redevelopment programme.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/10/historic-liverpool-dwellings-formby-hall.html