Folkie Booknerd

By Folkiebooknerd

Spiral Scratch

I work on the 3rd floor of a rather stylish 1930s art deco building in central Liverpool. Although we have a couple of lifts I prefer to use the staircase as often as possible - and why wouldn't I when it's as nice as this?

History buffs may be interested to know that the building stands on the site of the birthplace, in 1734, of Robert Morris, one of the signatories of the US Declaration of Independence. He emigrated to Maryland at the age of 13 and thence to Philadelphia where he became a wealthy merchant and - almost inevitably, I'm afraid - a slave owner (Liverpool's own history is, of course, deeply entwined with the slave trade and I shall doubtless return to this over the course of this year). He became a Pennsylvania Senator and although initially opposed to independence from Britain he was eventually swayed by the majority of his Pennsylvania peers and signed the Declaration on 2nd Aug 1776. He died in 1806 aged 72.

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