Jump to content

NB PUPPIS

gary&sue

By gary&sue
in History & Heritage

 Share

Featured Posts

gary&sue Engager

gary&sue

Posted
Posted (edited)

HI EVERYONE AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL .I HAVE JUST CAME ACROSS THE PHOTO'S OF OUR BUTTY ;A BIT DELAYED I KNOW .BUT I MUST ADMIT IT HAS BEEN SUCH A TASK JUST TO GET THE BOAT LIVEABLE [sTILL ISN,T REALLY BUT WE ARE GETTING THERE] ,JUST A QUERY ON THE THE COLOURS PORTRAYED ON SOME OF THE PHOTO'S OF PUPPIS , THEY SHOW OUR BOAT IN FMC COLOURS . THE FUNNY THING IS I CAN SEEM TO REMEMBER SOMEBODY MENTIONED THAT THE COLOURS WERE NOT IN OUR BUTTY'S WQRKING CAREER. CAN ANYBODY CLARIFY WHY IT WOULD BE PAINTED AS FMC. ANY HELP WOULD BE GRATEFULLY RECIEVED . AND ONE MORE THING DOES ANYONE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE WAIN FAMILY IN THE PHOTO'S IE;CONTACTABLE OR JUST SOME MEMORIES OR THE LIKE.

Edited by Grace & Favour
ChimneyChain Rising Star

ChimneyChain

Posted
Posted

No she means George Wain and his family. We looked at buying puppis when she was at W F B Co but although she was a lovely boat I for one could not stand up inside and that was standing on the base plate and with no lining on the ceiling. Good luck

 

Darren

gary&sue Engager

gary&sue

Posted
  • Author
Posted

No she means George Wain and his family. We looked at buying puppis when she was at W F B Co but although she was a lovely boat I for one could not stand up inside and that was standing on the base plate and with no lining on the ceiling. Good luck

 

Darren

I know what you mean... we have just enough headroom not to be a problem but so happy we bought her. atb gary
David Schweizer Veteran II

David Schweizer

Posted
Posted (edited)

I think Jeanette Smith Harrison may be distantly related to George Wain, and even if not some of her boating relatves will have known him. I sort of remember him from the 1960's when he worked for Willow Wren, there is a photo of him in Mike Webbs booklet "Braunston's Boats" taken in 1966 when he had Nuneaton and Alperton. The same photo was also issued as a postcard by Waterways World some years ago. There are also several photographs of members of the Wain family in Robert Wilsons booklet "epilogue"

 

Incidentally, back in the 1960's I used to work on Pisces which was originally the partner to Puppis.

Edited by David Schweizer
ChimneyChain Rising Star

ChimneyChain

Posted
Posted (edited)

Got to know George wain junior when he worked the gravel run from denham to stockley, a real nice bloke. George wain senior had the Nuneaton and Brighton in the braunston boats book. George wain junior has or did have the England in the photos that "fade to scarlet" linked to.

 

Darren

Edited by ChimneyChain
alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

Posted
Posted (edited)

Alice Lapworth, (widow of Les Lapworth), is a daughter of George and Anne Wain.

 

Her book "A Horse, A Boat, And You" tells the story of both the Wains and the Lapworths.

 

Alice Lapworth is a regular at the historic boat shows, and for the last year or two has been aboard the Narrow Boat Trust's boats "Nuneaton" and "Brighton" as they have attended those events at places like Braunston and Alvecote.

 

I don't know how you would contact Alice, but if you met her at one of those shows, I'm sure she could tell you loads. From memory one sister, (Anne?), was married to Ted Ward and another, (Vera?), to Ted's brother Ken Ward. I'd need to read the books to know if I have that completely right!

Edited by alan_fincher
Paul H Rising Star

Paul H

Posted
Posted

George Wain (junior) still owns the England and its has just gone back into the water at Brinklow after having some steelwork done. I'm sure he will be around the yard in the next week or two. I don't know where he moors but think its not far from Fradley.

 

Paul

archie57 Proficient

archie57

Posted
Posted

Not sure that the Wains ever had the "Puppis" in working days though (but never say never!) One who did have it was Joe Fitchford, and a picture of his boats "Antony" and "Puppis" is in the Arthur Watts collection at the Waterways Museum. His daughter may still live in Hillmorton

pete harrison Veteran

pete harrison

Posted
Posted

Not sure that the Wains ever had the "Puppis" in working days though (but never say never!) One who did have it was Joe Fitchford, and a picture of his boats "Antony" and "Puppis" is in the Arthur Watts collection at the Waterways Museum. His daughter may still live in Hillmorton

I can not connect PUPPIS with the Wain family, or at least not on the fleet lists I have.

 

On nationalisation PUPPIS was paired with VIRGO under the control of Mrs. Saxon but was soon after put to work on the day traffic between Paddington and Cowley Tip, and during this period it was not occupied. I suspect the condition of PUPPIS was pretty poor at this time as it was docked in October 1944 as a general traffic boat but not again until it came off the day boat traffic in the summer of 1955 when it was docked at Bulbourne Works. The only name I have on all subsequent fleet lists is J. Fitchford, although paired with a couple of different motors - initially ANTONY and then EDGWARE from 1957 to at least late 1960.

pete harrison Veteran

pete harrison

Posted
Posted

Shown on Manning List dated 14th Sept 1944 paired with "Otley", steerer F. Wenlock

Is this the only G.U.C.C.Co. Ltd. Fleet List / Manning List in circulation ? It is certainly the only one I have pre 08 June 1948.

BuckbyLocks Community Regular

BuckbyLocks

Posted
Posted

Is this the only G.U.C.C.Co. Ltd. Fleet List / Manning List in circulation ? It is certainly the only one I have pre 08 June 1948.

Can I second this enquiry please? The lists were produced quarterly but the September 44 edition seems to be the only wartime survivor, unless you know differently.

archie57 Proficient

archie57

Posted
Posted

This is the only GUCCCo one I've seen. With it's grading of the boatmen (I note the trainees were in a class of their own - I wonder why!) it created a lot of interest amongst the boaters I've shown it to who were around at the time!

pete harrison Veteran

pete harrison

Posted
Posted

This is the only GUCCCo one I've seen. With it's grading of the boatmen (I note the trainees were in a class of their own - I wonder why!) it created a lot of interest amongst the boaters I've shown it to who were around at the time!

My 14 September 1944 G.U.C.C.Co. Ltd. fleet list is a transcript and is missing the grading. The 'British Waterways' fleet list that I have dated 08 June 1948 is complete with steerer grading, and is the only one I have that shows this detail.

BuckbyLocks Community Regular

BuckbyLocks

Posted
Posted

This is the only GUCCCo one I've seen. With it's grading of the boatmen (I note the trainees were in a class of their own - I wonder why!) it created a lot of interest amongst the boaters I've shown it to who were around at the time!

Archie, I think it was done so a number of authors could seriously underestimate the number of Trainees actually working! (In September 44 there were at least 2 more pairs of GU boats being operated by Trainees on hire.) Do you have any ideas about Mrs Cox though. Must have been a Boater rather than a Trainee.

jeannette smith harrison Proficient

jeannette smith harrison

Posted
Posted

Cox is a common name & many different cox family's have been boaters throughout the years lots in the Wolverhampton boatpeople list ,Henry & Emma Cox & then Henry & his second wife Florence baptised @ least 7 of their Children @ Braunston iv just been told that Long Buckby have two seperate Cox family's one being ex boatmen & that some are buried in the church yard there. that's not to say one of these ladies is the mentioned mrs .Cox but that's part of our History always gaps to keep you searching.

Would life not be boring if we had all the answers??

BuckbyLocks Community Regular

BuckbyLocks

Posted
Posted

And Mrs Cox does not appear on subsequent 'British Waterways' fleet lists. I had assumed Mrs Cox to be one of the 'trainees'.

In the original 44 list Mrs Cox is not shown as a Trainee Pete. Your transcript leaves out that information, but no one is quite certain of her status. That is where another 42-45 list would be so helpful.
cath turpin Gongoozler

cath turpin

Posted
Posted

In the late 1970s and 1980s Puppis was moored at and on loan to the Boat Museum, Ellesmere Port.

It was after this that it went to George Wain & was awarded the Alfred Ritchie Cockeral for the best turned out working boat at the IWA rally..

I cannot remember the name of the owner, but will find out.

Light & dark blue GU colours.

Towed by the 1913 W&B tunnel tug, Worcester it attended the Gloucester Docks 400 anniversary in about 1980. A memorable trip.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.