Devonport, Birkenhead and Northcote are beautifully situated on the north shore of the inlet, and are served by steam-ferries.
Upon Lord Birkenhead fell the difficult task of organizing the department and establishing regulations to deal with conditions altogether unprecedented.
Lord Birkenhead brought to the performance of his new duties the vigour which had always been characteristic of him; his judgments in the two final Courts of Appeal were weighty and lucid; and he quickly made himself a force in the Lords' debates.
It lies opposite Liverpool, on the east shore of the peninsula of Wirral, and is served by the Birkenhead (London & North-Western and Great Western joint) and the Wirral railways.
The rise of Birkenhead, from a hamlet of some 50 inhabitants in 1818 to its present importance, was due in the first place to the foresight and enterprise of William Laird, who purchased in 1824 a few acres of land on the banks of a marshy stream, known as Wallasey Pool, which flowed into the Mersey about 2 m.