WEST DERBY
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FREE Issue 80 West Derby & Croxteth Park February 2013
The monthly independent advertiser 15,000 copies 12,000 into Homes 3,000 into Businesses
For Advertising and Leaflet Drop Service See page 2
HOUSE OF SECRETS by Stephen Guy, West Derby Society Some people regarded the wealthy man as a murderer and the old house his family abandoned a monument to his cruelty. Bellefield on Sandforth Road was the home of the notorious shipowner Sir Edward Bates, known as Bully Bates because of his domineering character. He was one of the infamous Coffin Ship owners unmasked by shipping reformer Samuel Plimsoll.
Bates was among unscrupulous proprietors who sent old, overloaded ships to almost certain doom then put in inflated insurance claims when they sank. In 1874 three of his ships – the Tethys, Melbourne and Nora Graeme – went down with the loss of 87 lives. Plimsoll named Bates in the House of Commons but the shipowner denied the allegations. Plimsoll fought a long, hard
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battle to outlaw the Coffin Ships, resulting in the famous Plimsoll Line marked on ships’ hulls to show they are not overloaded. The law still applies today. Bellefield, built about 1820, was bought by Yorkshireman Bates in 1871 as his Liverpool home at the height of the Coffin Ships scandal. Who knows what secret plans were hatched under its roof? Bates also got up the noses of local people over a new carriage drive to his house leading through a gate into private Sandfield Park. However, he did not tell the park authorities about his plans. Bates was informed that if he used the gates he must pay charges to help with the upkeep of the park’s roads. He refused and the drive and gates, which had cost a great deal of money, were not used. The Cheshire Lines railway was cut through the park and this is thought to be one reason the Bates family abandoned the house in 1886. They did not sell it and the property stood empty for more than 40 years. It is pictured about 1924 with broken win-
dows and missing slates. By this time the owner was Bully Bates’ great-grandson, Sir Percy Bates of Cunard – it was used as a sports club for employees. Bellefield was pulled down in the early 1930s for housing. Some of the land was used as Everton’s training ground for many years before being sold
for development. All that remains are the gates into Sandfield Park, blocked by railings and a large tree. • Join the West Derby Society at its next meeting 7.30 pm on Wednesday 20 February at Lowlands, 13 Haymans Green, Liverpool L12 7JG.
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32 Almonds Green, West Derby L12 5HS Paul Crowley & Co is the trading name of Paul Crowley & Co Solicitors Limited, registered in England and Wales (registered number 07722715). Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority SRA No 566808