Childhood in the Liverpool Slums

The idea of childhood is a social construction. The word means different things to different people. To some it means happy memories, to others it is best forgotten. The childhoods identified here are set in the realms of poverty, bad housing, little material benefits and little prospects for the future. This is a description of fortitude, hope and survival against the odds, of those childhoods that took place in the Liverpool slums. The text contains a background history supported by photographic evidence, of childhood in Liverpool’s slum housing. It covers the culture, events and its music during the 1950s and 1960s. These are interspersed with and linked to, personal experiences of the author and some theoretical perspectives on childhood. To those from Liverpool, it is a reminder of how things used to be in an entirely different age and world. To those not from the area it is a window on a unique way of life that came and went. For researchers it is a supply of rich first-hand data and hopefully, for all, a good, interesting read.

Bob Dunn was born at 6 A.M. on 27 May 1947 at the Mill Road Maternity Hospital in Liverpool (closed 1993). He has two younger brothers, Graham and Trevor and they lived at the family home at 16 Louis Street, Everton, Liverpool 5, with their parents, William (Bill) and Ethel. It is worth noting that Trevor, the youngest brother, was actually born in this house.

After leaving school, he worked in one of Liverpool’s first small supermarkets situated on Granby Street (Scotts). He then worked for the Midland Bank (Dale Street) before joining the Liverpool City Council, first in their Children’s Homes and later as a Social Services Staff Training and Development Officer. His previous responsibilities included running a unit at the Cotswold Therapeutic Community for disturbed adolescent boys.

Before taking retirement, Bob was a senior lecturer in Childhood and Early Childhood Studies at Edge Hill University’s Faculty of Social and Psychological Science.

Bob and his partner have four sons and five grandchildren.