On the death of Mrs. Rickman, in 1808, he removed to Liverpool, and entered the office of an insurance broker. Here it was that his taste for æsthetic forms and methodical arrangements again overcame his sectarian prejudices, and directed his attention to the study of architecture, and especially Church Architecture. The business of his office, which commenced at ten and closed at four, gave him much leisure: this he employed in making excursions on foot into the country round Liverpool, and examining the details of all the churches which he could reach. He would start very early in the morning, and accomplish a good deal before his office opened; and on Saturday afternoons he would set off on a longer journey to more distant places, and spend the whole of Sunday, which had no special claims on his Quaker conscience, in pursuing his favourite researches. This course he pursued with untiring industry for several years, until he had made himself master of all the characteristics of Church Architecture which could be found in that part of the kingdom. He afterwards extended his journies to other counties, and examined and took notes of the special features of almost all the churches in the kingdom; making accurate measurements and drawings of all that he thought worthy of notice. In this laborious investigation he spent not only many years, but many thousand pounds; and he thereby accumulated a vast fund of architectural data, on which he founded the system of classification of styles which is now universally accepted. His maiden sister followed him to Liverpool, and opened business as a confectioner; and those who were conversant with that town some forty years ago may remember her very odd looking shop front, the design for which “is said to have been taken by Rickman from the Choragic monument of Thrasyllus, in Greece.” While in Liverpool, he married his second wife Christiana Horner, sister of Thomas Horner, who passed so much of his time on the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral, painting the Panorama of London, which was exhibited at the Colosseum in the Regent’s Park. The first result of Rickman’s architectural investigation appeared in the shape of an Essay in the Liverpool “Panorama of Science and Art,” bearing the same title under which he afterwards published it in an enlarged form, “An attempt to discriminate the styles of architecture in England.” {6a} This Essay, on its first appearance in 1817, attracted general attention and brought its author under the notice of many influential persons both in Liverpool and Chester, for whom he furnished designs for monuments and other buildings. The Church of St. Mary, at Birkenhead, was erected from his designs, and is one of the earliest efforts of his skill. The transepts now attached to this Church formed no part of Rickman’s design, but are the work of a later architect.