William Sutton was the landlord of the Black Bull Inn in Churchtown (now the Hesketh Arms). In the early 1790s he realised the importance of the newly created canal systems across the UK, he gambled with the idea of a hotel by the seaside just 4 miles (6 km) away from the newly constructed Leeds and Liverpool Canal. So in 1792 he built a bathing house in South Hawes, two miles south-west of Churchtown. William arranged transport links from the canal that ran through Scarisbrick, 4 miles from the hotel. At the time South Hawes was an almost uninhabited place that was riddled with sand dunes. The local people thought he was mad and so they called him The Mad Duke.

He quickly made a profit and others decided to open hotels nearby. Southport grew quickly in the 19th century as it gained a reputation for being a more refined seaside resort than its neighbour-up-the-coast Blackpool.

Southport Pier is referred to as the first true “pleasure pier”, being one of the earliest pier structures to be erected using iron. A design from James Brunlees was approved at a cost of £8,700 and on 4 August 1859 a large crowd witnessed the driving home of the first support pile. The opening of the pier was celebrated on 2 August 1860.

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte lived in exile on Lord Street, the main thoroughfare of Southport, between 1846 and 1848, before returning to France, where he became President and subsequently Emperor of the French. During his reign, he caused much of the medieval centre of Paris to be replaced with broad tree-lined boulevards, covered walkways and arcades, just like Lord Street. On the strength of this coincidence, it has been suggested that the redevelopment may have been inspired by memories of Southport’s town centre.

On the night of 9 December 1886, the worst lifeboat disaster in the history of the UK occurred off the shores of Southport. A cargo ship called the Mexico was on its way to South America when it found itself in difficulty. Lifeboats from Lytham, St. Annes and Southport set off in order to try and rescue those aboard the vessel. The crews battled against storm-force winds as they rowed towards the casualty. The entire crew from the St. Anne’s boat was lost and all but two of the Southport crew were too. In all, 28 lifeboatmen lost their lives on that night, leaving many widows and fatherless children. A memorial was erected in Duke Street Cemetery and a permanent exhibition can be seen in the Museum of the Botanic Gardens in Churchtown, Southport. Mexico was just one of many shipwrecks in the Southport area.