Hello : )
I'm trying to find some information about this old boat and carrying company but keep running into dead ends and I hate unsolved mysteries! I know there was a Whitehouse and co in West Bromwich but I'm guessing that that's a different company, or maybe related. I think this one must have been based around the London area, and it's from a postcard published in London. The only two leads I've found are a steam boat registered at Brentford by Whitehouse and son, and a photo in the British waterways archive, Gloucester (I can't see the photo but it sounds similar), captioned:
Barge 'Perseverance' loaded with reeds on the River Wey Black and white photograph showing the stern of the barge which is moored at a wharf, "W. Whitehouse & Son Brentford Carriers London No 132..." is written on the stern. There is a woman on the boat and men beside it, including a man stood on a wooden plank carrying reeds to the barge and a man sat on a horse. There are reeds piled on the barge and several visible near the canal.
From the Kodak museum, Lieutenant Colonel Gale.
It may even be the same photo without the oval crop. Any ideas or information gratefully recieved - especially since Whitehouse is my family name, so I'd like to adopt some boating ancestors! Being in France, it's internet or nothing for research.
Edited to add that it looks quite similar to a Wey style stern.