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Canal Boatmen 1st World War


Lorna

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Hi everybody I am an avid reader of this Forum don't often post, but I wondered if anybody has any knowledge of the Boatmen who went to war.

I'm in the process of doing a project for The Friends of the Canal Museum Stoke Bruerne on this subject I have so far found 30 names are there any more?

 

William Allcott

Enoch Appleton

Abel Beechey

John Cheshire

Frederick Dakin

Frederick Charles Dale

William Faulkner

Harrold Fellows

Joseph George

Henry Grantham

William Grimes

John Allen Harrison

James Hollinshead

Thomas Jackson

Richard Jinks

James Meese

William Henry Millard

William Norton

Frederick Owen

John Samuel Pegg

William Postles

Albert John Powell

Samuel Pritchard

Tom Sibley

David Stokes

Herbert Matthew Townsend

George Walley

Michael Ward

Edward Westwood

Walter Joseph Withey

I have quite a lot of information on the above.

I'm related to a lot of them in one way or another as most boat families are.

Lorna York

Canal Boat Family Historian

 

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Lorna

 

There was something about researching canal related families on Heir Hunters this morning on BBC1 but I only caught a little bit of it. If you want help to look at iPlayer please knock on my door next time you are in Stoke Bruerne but within the next week I think (iPlayer restriction I believe) and we'll have a look at it.

Edited by Leo No2
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Leo No2, on 21 Mar 2014 - 3:27 PM, said:

Lorna

 

There was something about researching canal related families on Heir Hunters this morning on BBC1 but I only caught a little bit of it. If you want help to look at iPlayer please knock on my door next time you are in Stoke Bruerne but within the next week I think (iPlayer restriction I believe) and we'll have a look at it.

The programme was locating heirs of Harris & Harrison familys who were boatman on the Droitwitch Canal & River Severn, was a bit of a brain fader as the children had the same given names as their fathers so there were multiples of people with the same names, apparently at the time they had to have nicknames to know who was being spoken about

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Sounds interesting will have to try to watch it .

I as most know am from the Harrison line of canal boatmen & I know I had relatives on the Droitwich

My Nan's Line on her mums side had strong connections to the Harris line.

We all had pet names used by close family members I was named after a boat mentioned on here in the last 24 hours,

but that's another story & David Bladgrove can tell it a lot better than I can.

Lorna if you see Heir Hunters first & you think we might be worth a few bob start looking for a boat for us both !!boat.gifboat.gifclapping.gifclapping.gif

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  • 1 year later...

Hi everybody I am an avid reader of this Forum don't often post, but I wondered if anybody has any knowledge of the Boatmen who went to war.

I'm in the process of doing a project for The Friends of the Canal Museum Stoke Bruerne on this subject I have so far found 30 names are there any more?

 

William Allcott

Enoch Appleton

Abel Beechey

John Cheshire

Frederick Dakin

Frederick Charles Dale

William Faulkner

Harrold Fellows

Joseph George

Henry Grantham

William Grimes

John Allen Harrison

James Hollinshead

Thomas Jackson

Richard Jinks

James Meese

William Henry Millard

William Norton

Frederick Owen

John Samuel Pegg

William Postles

Albert John Powell

Samuel Pritchard

Tom Sibley

David Stokes

Herbert Matthew Townsend

George Walley

Michael Ward

Edward Westwood

Walter Joseph Withey

I have quite a lot of information on the above.

I'm related to a lot of them in one way or another as most boat families are.

Lorna York

Canal Boat Family Historian

 

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Hi everybody I am an avid reader of this Forum don't often post, but I wondered if anybody has any knowledge of the Boatmen who went to war.

I'm in the process of doing a project for The Friends of the Canal Museum Stoke Bruerne on this subject I have so far found 30 names are there any more?

 

William Allcott

Enoch Appleton

Abel Beechey

John Cheshire

Frederick Dakin

Frederick Charles Dale

William Faulkner

Harrold Fellows

Joseph George

Henry Grantham

William Grimes

John Allen Harrison

James Hollinshead

Thomas Jackson

Richard Jinks

James Meese

William Henry Millard

William Norton

Frederick Owen

John Samuel Pegg

William Postles

Albert John Powell

Samuel Pritchard

Tom Sibley

David Stokes

Herbert Matthew Townsend

George Walley

Michael Ward

Edward Westwood

Walter Joseph Withey

I have quite a lot of information on the above.

I'm related to a lot of them in one way or another as most boat families are.

Lorna York

Canal Boat Family Historian

 

Hi everybody I am an avid reader of this Forum don't often post, but I wondered if anybody has any knowledge of the Boatmen who went to war.

I'm in the process of doing a project for The Friends of the Canal Museum Stoke Bruerne on this subject I have so far found 30 names are there any more?

 

William Allcott

Enoch Appleton

Abel Beechey

John Cheshire

Frederick Dakin

Frederick Charles Dale

William Faulkner

Harrold Fellows

Joseph George

Henry Grantham

William Grimes

John Allen Harrison

James Hollinshead

Thomas Jackson

Richard Jinks

James Meese

William Henry Millard

William Norton

Frederick Owen

John Samuel Pegg

William Postles

Albert John Powell

Samuel Pritchard

Tom Sibley

David Stokes

Herbert Matthew Townsend

George Walley

Michael Ward

Edward Westwood

Walter Joseph Withey

I have quite a lot of information on the above.

I'm related to a lot of them in one way or another as most boat families are.

Lorna York

Canal Boat Family Historian

 

 

Hi

My grandad was Thomas Jackson and Enoch was my mother in laws uncle xx

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smiley_offtopic.gif

 

No help I'm afraid, Lorna, but interesting to see a Withey in there. Although everybody (of course!) is aware of Ron, I have not actually ever seen that surname myself in connection with any other boat people. I had often wondered if Ron was from a long term boating family, as I know quite a few of the Willow Wren people actually were more recent comers to the canals.

 

I presume that Ron has connections to the name you list, as it is not a particularly common surname?

As an aside, although I'm aware of several Finchers originating from the Tring area recorded as boatmen in the 19th century, I don't recall I have ever found evidence of any still on the boats by the 20th century, and certainly not as late as the Great War.

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smiley_offtopic.gif

 

No help I'm afraid, Lorna, but interesting to see a Withey in there. Although everybody (of course!) is aware of Ron, I have not actually ever seen that surname myself in connection with any other boat people. I had often wondered if Ron was from a long term boating family, as I know quite a few of the Willow Wren people actually were more recent comers to the canals.

 

I presume that Ron has connections to the name you list, as it is not a particularly common surname?

I have several health registrations where the name Withey is given as the master of a boat on initial registration:

 

1884 - William H.F. Handley horse boat ELLEN - registered as Birmingham 431 - James Withey.

1888 - Pelsall Coal & Iron Co. horse boat PROVIDENCE - registered as Birmingham 627 - Samuel Withey.

1903 - A. Landon & Co. horse boat GUILDFORD - registered as Berkhampstead 376 - George Withey.

1921 - Cadbury Bros. Ltd. motor BOURNVILLE 14 - registered as Birmingham 1408 - Harry Withey.

1928 - A. Wander Ltd. pair THOMAS and ELIZABETH ANNE - registered as Rickmansworth 11 and 12 - Samuel Withey.

1937 - Thomas Clayton (Oldbury) Ltd. motor SOAR - registered as Birmingham 1604 - William Withey.

 

Whether any of these are related to Ron Withey I do not know as I do not research boat families captain.gif

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If you have the name of the soldier you can look them up in the Medal Index Cards, digitized and available on the National Archives website.

 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/medal-index-cards-ww1.htm

 

A good website for leads on research is this one

 

http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/research.html

 

also try posting on the Great War Forum, lots of researchers on there with their own areas of specialisation

 

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php

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  • 2 years later...

I have started to research my family history, all I have is my grandfathers name which is Samuel Withey. and the knowledge that he worked the canals around Stoke Bruerne with my grandmother and their children which would be my father and my auntie. After finding this site imagine my excitement when I found all these Witheys! Any history would be greatly appreciated as I start to delve. His history as a boatman would be around the 1920s and onwards. I'm wondering whether Walter Joseph Withey was a family member?

Edited by Jill Withey
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20 minutes ago, Jill Withey said:

I have started to research my family history, all I have is my grandfathers name which is Samuel Withey. and the knowledge that he worked the canals around Stoke Bruerne with my grandmother and their children which would be my father and my auntie. After finding this site imagine my excitement when I found all these Witheys! Any history would be greatly appreciated as I start to delve. His history as a boatman would be around the 1920s and onwards. I'm wondering whether Walter Joseph Withey was a family member?

I don't actually know anything about the family origins of Ron Withey, who is a well known former canal boatman.

However he is very much still with us, and regularly attends historic boat events, often seen at the tiller of somebody else's boat.  (Indeed  he was a former steerer of our boat "Flamingo" in 1970).

I think it would be well worth you trying to seek out Ron, and quiz him about his family background.  I don't have contact details for him, but turn up at the Braunston historic boat gathering in the last weekend of July, and, unless in ill health, is likely to be there.

Here he is, (left hand).....

IMG_2223.JPG
 

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Thank you very much, that would be a starting point most certainly and I shall do my best to follow up by attending that meeting. I have to say that perhaps my excitement is overtaking me as I can see a family resemblance in that picture or is it just my hope and excitement? Again thank you very much.

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27 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

... the Braunston historic boat gathering in the last weekend of July...

You probably all know this, but it's worth me saying it's 23-24 June.

I'll be there on Nuneaton and Brighton if any forum members want to say hello.
 

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On ‎21‎/‎03‎/‎2014 at 13:27, Lorna said:

Hi everybody I am an avid reader of this Forum don't often post, but I wondered if anybody has any knowledge of the Boatmen who went to war.

I'm in the process of doing a project for The Friends of the Canal Museum Stoke Bruerne on this subject I have so far found 30 names are there any more?

 

William Allcott

Enoch Appleton

Abel Beechey

John Cheshire

Frederick Dakin

Frederick Charles Dale

William Faulkner

Harrold Fellows

Joseph George

Henry Grantham

William Grimes

John Allen Harrison

James Hollinshead

Thomas Jackson

Richard Jinks

James Meese

William Henry Millard

William Norton

Frederick Owen

John Samuel Pegg

William Postles

Albert John Powell

Samuel Pritchard

Tom Sibley

David Stokes

Herbert Matthew Townsend

George Walley

Michael Ward

Edward Westwood

Walter Joseph Withey

I have quite a lot of information on the above.

I'm related to a lot of them in one way or another as most boat families are.

Lorna York

Canal Boat Family Historian

 

Regarding the original post of four years ago (!) I could add 

Jack Brookes - lost an arm in the First War, later worked for the GUCCC and had the "Tyseley" new. ( He must have found boating hard work) . Later became Lock Keeper at Buckby, sadly drowning there.

Joe Pearsall - also lost an arm. Later worked for Toovey's with a wide boat. I believe he was brother of Arthur and Tom - although Jeanette may correct me!

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10 hours ago, Jill Withey said:

I have started to research my family history, all I have is my grandfathers name which is Samuel Withey. and the knowledge that he worked the canals around Stoke Bruerne with my grandmother and their children which would be my father and my auntie. After finding this site imagine my excitement when I found all these Witheys! Any history would be greatly appreciated as I start to delve. His history as a boatman would be around the 1920s and onwards. I'm wondering whether Walter Joseph Withey was a family member?

Samuel Withey born 20/8/1904 married Emma Priddey born 1/6/1908 7/4/1928 St Lawrence Long Buckby Northamptonshire 

Son Christopher Withey born 1929

 

Daughter Joyce M Withey born 1931

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I have record of five sons of boating families who were killed in France during WW1; a couple of them I believe are covered in the original list.

David Garrett - son of William Garrett and Harriet Neal

William Humphreys - son of Richard Humphreys and Ellen (maiden name unknown)

William Millard - son of Henry Millard and Caroline Bland

David Neal - son of David Neal and Rebecca Thompson - he was a cousin of David Garrett above

George Walley - son of Alfred Walley and Hannah Hickson

The records I have show them as assisting one or both parents on family boats. In general they were too young to be captains in their own right. Although in the case of William Millard I have no direct record of him ever having been on board a boat.

I can also confirm that I believe archie57 is correct abut Joe Pearsall being the brother of Arthur and Tom.

Intriguing to see a near namesake - John Samuel Pegg - on the original list. I doubt he's any relation though.

JP

Edited by Captain Pegg
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Thank you Captain Pegg and Archie 57 for the extra Boatmen. Since I wrote the original list it has grown to 62 boatmen. I can now add Jack Brookes, Joe Pearsall, David Garrett, David Neal and William Humphreys. I already had William Millard and George Walley.

Captain Pegg you didn't know the name of William Humphreys Mother Ellen she was born Ellen Bailey  5/1/1858 Middlewich Cheshire daughter of Joseph Bailey and Mary Ann Broadhurst. Ellen Married Henry Theobald 15/10/1876 at Middlewich their daughter Mary Jane born 28/9/1878 Middlewich Cheshire. Henry Theobald was sentenced to 10years hard labour in 1879. Ellen went onto have a whole new family with Richard Humphries. My grandmother Mary Jane Theobald was bought up by Richard Humphries as his daughter because when she married my grandfather William Yarnall 19/9/1902 at Daventry Register Office she married under the name of Humphries so William Humhreys would have been her half brother and Ellen Bailey was my Great Grandmother. 

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Lorna said:

Thank you Captain Pegg and Archie 57 for the extra Boatmen. Since I wrote the original list it has grown to 62 boatmen. I can now add Jack Brookes, Joe Pearsall, David Garrett, David Neal and William Humphreys. I already had William Millard and George Walley.

Captain Pegg you didn't know the name of William Humphreys Mother Ellen she was born Ellen Bailey  5/1/1858 Middlewich Cheshire daughter of Joseph Bailey and Mary Ann Broadhurst. Ellen Married Henry Theobald 15/10/1876 at Middlewich their daughter Mary Jane born 28/9/1878 Middlewich Cheshire. Henry Theobald was sentenced to 10years hard labour in 1879. Ellen went onto have a whole new family with Richard Humphries. My grandmother Mary Jane Theobald was bought up by Richard Humphries as his daughter because when she married my grandfather William Yarnall 19/9/1902 at Daventry Register Office she married under the name of Humphries so William Humhreys would have been her half brother and Ellen Bailey was my Great Grandmother. 

 

 

 

Thank you.

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  • 5 months later...

Arthur Brooks used to help my grandfather (William Preston) on board Alice (J&G Meakin). He signed his short service attestation papers at Middlewich on 11 December 1915 as service number 3/59037 in the Cheshire Regiment. In 1916 he was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (service number 83149).  He was killed on 16 August 1917 aged 22 and is remembered on the Tyne Cot memorial, near Ypres.

  • Greenie 1
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  • 1 month later...

Another possible new addition to the list.

 

Charles Hoare, son of Charles Hoare and Sarah Ann Neal. Died 4 May 1918 in France at the age of 19. Born in Banbury (parents address listed as 8 Lower Cherwell Street on baptism record) to a working boat family. They were recorded in the 1901 census at Shackerstone and in the 1911 census working horseboats Victory and Dart at Cropredy engaged in the carriage of stone.

 

Charles Hoare was a cousin of David Neal and David Garrett referenced in my list above.

 

JP

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On 16/09/2018 at 15:38, Mary K said:

Arthur Brooks used to help my grandfather (William Preston) on board Alice (J&G Meakin). He signed his short service attestation papers at Middlewich on 11 December 1915 as service number 3/59037 in the Cheshire Regiment. In 1916 he was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (service number 83149).  He was killed on 16 August 1917 aged 22 and is remembered on the Tyne Cot memorial, near Ypres.

Correction: After looking at Alice's registration papers, it probably wasn't Alice that Arthur worked on. Alice was registered 27th May 1926. I don't know which boat Grandad had before Alice.

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  • 1 month later...

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