Charles Horsfall (21 June 1776 – 18 June 1846) was a merchant and slave-owner who served as

Mayor of Liverpool From 2012 to 2023, the mayor of Liverpool was the executive mayor of the city of Liverpool in England. The office was abolished in 2023 and its functions were replaced with the leader of Liverpool City Council. The mayor of Liverpool was previ ...

1832–1833.

Life

Early life

Horsfall was born in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, the son of Joseph Horsfield and Anna Hodgson, and was baptised at

St Peter's Church, Huddersfield St Peter's Church, also known as Huddersfield Parish Church, is a Church of England parish church in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. There has been a church on the site since the 11th century, but the current building dates from 1836. It is ...

on 17 July 1776.

Jamaica

On 20 November 1792, aged 16, he sailed to Jamaica, where he established himself as a commodities trader.

Liverpool

He returned to England around 1803, and on 9 June 1803, he married Dorothy Hall Berry (7 October 1784 – 18 March 1846) at Trinity Church, Liverpool. Dorothy was born in Kingston, Jamaica as daughter of Thomas Berry and Dorothy Hall. They had seven sons and five daughters: Ann (1804-),

Thomas Berry Thomas Berry, CP (November 9, 1914 – June 1, 2009) was a Catholic priest, cultural historian, and scholar of the world's religions, especially Asian traditions. Later, as he studied Earth history and evolution, he called himself a "geologian ...

(1805-1878), Robert (1807-1881), Mary Sale (1808-), Charles Hodgson (1810-1847), Eliza Dorothy (1812-1876), Caroline (1814-), Ellen (1816-), Dorothy (1818-1899), Louisa (1818-), Sarah Sophia (1820-), William Joseph (1822-) and George Henry (1824-1900). In 1811 he constructed a mansion for himself and his family on Netherfield Road North, Everton. He was Bailiff of Liverpool in 1829 and then Mayor in 1832. He was an avid botanist, and his wife was a noted horticultural artist who contributed many plates to books and magazines of the time. His botanical passions were fuelled by his business trade connections with West Africa, the West Indies and the Americas. He was in partnership with another notable merchant family, the Tobins and also his cousins the

Hodgson Hodgson is a surname. In United Kingdom, Britain, the Hodgson surname was the 173rd most common (766 per million) in 1881 and the 206th most common (650 per million) in 1998. In the United States, United States of America, Hodgson was the 3753rd mo ...

s, Jamaican plantation owners. He was a leading member of the Liverpool West India Association.

Slave ownership

An 1823 slave register indicates that, at the time, Horsfall owned 69 slaves. After the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833, he was awarded compensation of just over £11,700 (), for slaves on the New Hope Estate in

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...

and the Knowsley estate in Jamaica in his own right, and three others as an executor.

Death and legacy

He died on 18 June 1846 in

Crosby Crosby may refer to: Places Canada *Crosby, Ontario, part of the township of Rideau Lakes, Ontario *Crosby, Ontario, a neighbourhood in the city of Markham, Ontario England *Crosby, Cumbria *Crosby, Lincolnshire *Crosby, Merseyside **Crosby (UK P ...

, Sefton, of "senile decline after paralysis". He is buried in

St George's Church, Everton St George's Church is in Everton, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is the earliest of three churches in Liverpool built by John Cragg, wh ...

. His estate was valued at £262,000 (). In his honour his family, led by his son Robert, built Christ Church on Great Homer Street in Everton. It was consecrated on 30 October 1848 (''Annals of Liverpool'', page 1903) by the Bishop of Chester. According to the ''

Liverpool Evening Express The ''Liverpool Evening Express'' was a local newspaper that circulated in Liverpool, England from 1870 to 1958. Originally published by Tinling C & Co. Ltd, the paper merged with the ''Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper pub ...

'' of 9 September 1948, the cost of building was borne by the Horsfall family of Liverpool. Its patronage was vested in Trustees. The church was destroyed by German bombing in the May blitz of 1941. His descendants, the Horsfall family, became notable for their building of churches in the Liverpool area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsfall, Charles Mayors of Liverpool 1846 deaths 1776 births