A Liverpool Exemplar - Charles Pierre Melly

Charles Pierre Melly was born in Tuebrook, Liverpool on 25 May 1829, the son of Andre Melly of Geneva and Ellen Maria Melly whose family hailed from Wilmslow in Cheshire.The family cottage was then in the countryside, outside of the city centre, about 100 yards to the north of St. John the Baptist’s church on the corner of Ivy Lea. He was educated at the Royal Institute School, Liverpool, and at Rugby, which he entered at the same time as his brother George. On the 9th of October 1854 he married his cousin Louise Forget at the Cathedral of St Pierre, Geneva, where they had both been christened. They made their home at his parents' house, Riversley, Mossley Hill, Liverpool, and had seven sons and a daughter.
He became a cotton merchant and partner in the company of Melly, Forget & Co., a family business. In 1852 he established a night school in Beaufort Street, Liverpool. He was involved in the Domestic Mission in north Liverpool, whose work including the running of ragged schools. He frequently visited children in the ragged schools, and annually arranged for teachers and children to be brought to Riversley by cart for an afternoon of games and prizes, and a picnic.

At this time in Great Britain private water companies supplied water to those households who could afford it, leaving those who couldn't reliant on a few street pumps whose output was often contaminated with sewage and the source of outbreaks of typhoid and cholera. The passing in 1852 of the Metropolis Water Act marked the first step to improving the appalling quality of the water in London but despite concerns about the general state of the water in the capital, the first free public drinking fountains in England were erected in Liverpool rather than London.
Having seen stone drinking-water fountains in Geneva in 1852, Melly felt that the people of Liverpool would benefit from free drinking water in public places. Since water was only piped into the homes of those who paid water rates, emigrants arriving at the port, and those working in the docks, had no access to water, and were driven to public houses 'where they were expected to pay for a stronger and less refreshing drink than they required'. He paid £500 for the installation of fountains, providing a continuous flow of water, day and night and in March 1854, the first Fountain made of polished pink granite,was erected at the south end of Prince's Dock. Three months later the numbers drinking there in the course of a twelve hours period, were carefully counted, and found to be 2336. To drink the water from the fountain, two drinking cups were provided, one either side of the basin. The cups had long handles which resembled soup ladles and were secured to the wall by small lengths of chain. By 1858, when he described his initiative at the Liverpool meeting of the Social Science Association, forty-three had been put in place in Liverpool; he lobbied other towns and cities to follow the example, and funded drinking fountains in Norwich, Plymouth, Southampton and Douglas, Isle of Man. His work earned him the nickname 'Fountain Melly'.

Charles next turned to providing free public facilities for physical exercise, creating outdoor gymnasia at Smithfield Road in 1858, and later at Wavertree, Toxteth, and Kirkdale. Although not himself a strong sportsman he saw the value of sport, and in 1862 collaborated with John Hulley in founding the Liverpool Athletic Club ( see http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2020/09/a-liverpool-exemplar-john-hulley.html )  He also interested himself deeply in the question of providing public seats in various quarters of the town, and was in way the leader of a movement which has become very popular in other towns, and has been of great advantage to exhausted pedestrians and others. Mr. Melly, it may be said, had more to do with the inauguration of Sefton Park than anybody else. It was owing to his exertions that the park was bought. At the time Mr. Melly was the chairman of the Parks Committee, and it was he who was entrusted with the arrangements which were subsequently made with the artists who came over from France to make the landscape garden. In 1866 he was elected a member of the City Council for Abercromby Ward without a contest and in addition to his public duties he founded the North East Mission, and was actively engaged for a long time in the arrangements of various local charities. The foundation of the first night school, which was established in Beaufort Street, Liverpool, in 1852, was due to his exertions. Charles also introduced a system of lighting gas lamps in the street, having brought the idea of a long pole from Geneva, which superseded the step ladder apparatus. 

In November 1861 in the Council Chamber of Liverpool Town Hall, Charles was presented with this large silver epergne and candelabrum in recognition of his gift of water fountains, wayside benches and free playgrounds to the city 

Described as a timid child, Charles Melly was recorded as having shunned public offices. From the mid-1870s, when he retired from the family business, he suffered mental health problems, and in October 1883 became an inmate of Coton Hill asylum, Stafford. While visiting Riversley, accompanied by an attendant nurse, he obtained a pistol and committed suicide there on 10 November 1888 while his nurse was absent. He was interred in the family vault at the Ancient Chapel, Toxteth. 

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/04/a-liverpool-exemplar-dorothy-keeling.html