Huskisson Memorial

William Huskisson was born on the 11th March 1770.In 1783, William and his brother Richard were adopted by their mother's uncle, Dr Richard Gem and went to live with him in Paris. Dr Gem had been physician to the Duke of Bedford during his embassy to France in 1762. In 1790 he became private secretary to the British Ambassador, Earl Gower, until 1792 when Britain withdrew its Ambassador from Paris.

Huskisson gave his allegiance to George Canning, who was a demanding master though a generous friend, here was the tie which finally bound him to Liverpool. In 1824 the plans for the Manchester to Liverpool railway were first made known to him by John Gladstone. The canals were proving insufficient for this area, the railroad would be a means of relief. Huskisson was a shareholder in the canals which had done so much for the counties of his birth and family. For honourable reasons, he declined, as Minister, to sit on the Committees of the House which discussed the details of the Railroad Bill, but in the House itself, he supported it warmly on the general principle ‘of affording additional facility and accommodation to trade’.

When the Railroad neared completion in the summer of 1830, Huskisson was ill but he was determined to be present at the opening of the railway on the 15th September. During the ceremony, Huskisson, and some friends left their carriage during a halt, a warning was given that Stevenson's Rocket was approaching. Still feeble from illness Huskisson, attempting to board the carriage, fell across the line and was run over. At nine o'clock that night he died, in great agony, at Eccles Vicarage.