Sudley House Collections
George Holt, a partner in the shipping firm Lamport and Holt, bought Sudley House in 1883. He decorated the ground floor rooms much as you see them today. Like many wealthy merchants, he collected original paintings and displayed them around the house.
This is now the only house of a Victorian merchant that still has its original pictures. After George died in 1896 his only child Emma continued to live here. She never married and died in 1944.
There was a great contrast between the lifestyle of wealthy shipowners like the Holts and the poor in Victorian Liverpool. The poor lived in terrible conditions with bad housing, overcrowding and little sanitation. Many basic public services did not exist or depended on charities. George, and after him his daughter Emma, used their business knowledge, contacts and money to help others. Emma's final act of generosity was to leave the house, the pictures and the grounds to the people of Liverpool.