Williamson Art Gallery
Encyclopedia
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and houses the town's collection of art.
Opened on 1 December 1928, the single storey building is Neo Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
in style. Financial support for its establishment was provided by John Williamson, a Director of the Cunard Steamship Co. Ltd.
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
and his son Patrick Williamson.
Its collection includes Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
oil paintings including works by Philip Steer, English watercolours, Liverpool Porcelain
Liverpool porcelain
Liverpool porcelain is mostly of the soft-paste porcelain type and was produced between 1756 and 1804 in various factories in Liverpool. A portion of the output was exported, mainly to North America. Factories included those of Richard Chaffers, Philip Christian, William Reid, Samuel Gilbody and...
, and Della Robbia Pottery
Della Robbia Pottery
The Della Robbia Pottery was a ceramic factory founded in 1894 in Birkenhead, England.-Founders:The business was started by Harold Steward Rathbone and Conrad Gustave d'Huc Dressler...
. It also has a large collection of ship models, focusing on Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...
shipbuilders, the Mersey Ferries, and the vessels that used the River Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
.