The Mill Job

For over a century the paper manufacturer John Dickinson & Co Ltd on the Grand Junction Canal used independent boatmen-contractors to transport coal to its mills, making them the largest single employer of these men and women.

Established by John Dickinson in 1809, the company operated four main mills during the 19th and 20th centuries – Apsley, Nash, Home Park and Croxley – although other mills were employed or leased over the course of time. The first mill he bought was Apsley in 1809 and his first steam plant was established there in 1815. Dickinson’s use of canal transport for coal supply probably dates from this time. The three mills north of Croxley were known collectively as the ‘upper mills’.

Nash Mill was bought in 1811 and Home Park started production early in 1826. All these mills were altered over time due to the changing nature of the business and upgrading of equipment and machinery. The workers in these mills were said to be largely populated by local country folk, Home Park especially being noted as a cosy, old-fashioned mill that even shut down on occasion to let workers help with the harvest. 

Construction of Croxley Mill began in 1828 and papermaking started in 1830. The mill remained largely unchanged until a comprehensive enlargement scheme was undertaken in 1886, the year Dickinson’s was incorporated as John Dickinson & Co Ltd. In the remaining years of 19th century, the supply of coal to Croxley was about 35,000 tons per year. The total amount carried by water to its four main mills was around 40,000 tons per annum but fluctuated quite considerably from year to year.

Delivery of coal

These busy steam plants were hungry for coal. In London and the surrounding districts, coal was typically imported by sea from North-East England. Sea-coal was loaded directly overside into barges from sailing colliers moored in the Pool of London, then delivered via canals such as the Regent’s and Grand Junction.

In 1853, Dickinson was operating five mills situated on the River Gade within 8 miles of one another. His two mills nearest London – Croxley and Home Park – rarely used inland coal, only sea-coal, whichever was more economical. Sea-coal was occasionally taken up to his mills furthest from London, namely Apsley and Two Waters near Boxmoor, but inland coal was more common.

 His decision would be influenced by the London Corporation coal tax. When Dickinson’s started using steam power, any southbound coal cargoes that had loaded at inland collieries were subject to tax if taken beyond a duty marker erected beside the canal between Home Park and Croxley Mill. The boundary marker was moved in 1861 to south of Croxley Mill, so coal brought from the Midlands collieries was no longer taxable. The coal duty was abolished altogether in 1890 but sea-coal was still brought down from London. In September 1892, boatman Harry King loaded 57 tons of coal aboard his narrowboats at Brentford for Croxley Mills, after transportation upriver by a local barge owner.

Although the London & Birmingham Railway opened via Boxmoor in 1837, Dickinson did not use it until the 1850s. By 1868, however, the company was bringing coals from the Warwickshire collieries in by rail due to excessive tolls on the Oxford and Coventry canals. Over the years, Dickinson’s used various coal merchants and factors to purchase its coal supply, which annually amounted to many thousands of pounds. Any change in coal price, canal tolls or railway rates had a dramatic effect on their costs.

Confronted with this loss of toll revenue, the Oxford Canal Co altered its tolls, so on a 30-ton load of coal only 28½ tons were charged, giving the trader 1½ tons toll free. This artificial adjustment in charging was known as longweight, as opposed to the imperial measure known as shortweight. This change brought OCC in line with many other canal and railway companies and came into force early in 1869. However, although the bulk of the company’s traffic was by water, Dickinson’s never gave up railway transport and continued to use it together with the canals. In 1898 a branch line was built into Croxley by the London & North Western Railway, which succeeded the London & Birmingham, and a small locomotive was bought.

Dickinson’s coal traffic was organised through its own traffic office, and it seems for much of the 19th century it was based at Nash Mill, as was the company’s headquarters. From January 1887, this all moved to Croxley Mill; then, after World War I, the traffic office was relocated again, this time to Apsley Mill, where it would remain.

Up until 1885, Dickinson’s tolls were paid in cash by its contract-boatmen when passing the toll stop. This meant Dickinson’s had to supply the right amount of cash to its men for each trip. But, with so much coal coming from the south Midlands coalfield, Dickinson’s decided to apply for a monthly toll credit account with OCC, which started on 14th January 1885. The following year Dickinson’s entered into a toll agreement with the Grand Junction Canal Co, whereby, under certain conditions, it was entitled to a refund of 25% on the tolls.

Christopher M. Jones Collection

Christopher M. Jones Collection

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A pair owned by Henry Wiles of Tusses Bridge entering Iron Bridge Lock 77 at Watford. Florence was bought in 1896 and butty Alice May, following behind, was bought in 1903. Both craft remained with the family until 1932. Henry Wiles bought an old boat and had it converted to a motor by Nurser Brothers in October 1932 named Sidney. It was worked using various hired boats until a new butty Florence was built for him by Lees & Atkins of Polesworth in 1935. Throughout the 1930s until the boats were sold off in 1939, he had boatmen steering his boats for him to Croxley Mills while he retired from boating and worked locally at a coalmine near his home in Alderman's Green, near Tusses Bridge.

The boatmen

Dickinson’s had a long association with independent boatmen-contractors and one can speculate how it came about. In the 19th century, it was common for many of these men to be coal retailers as well as carriers. Some even stored their coals in canal company’s rented warehouses, then speculated on the retail price. In 1874, it was said that many boats loading coal at the Midland pits were owned by their steerers, who paid cash money for coal at the pit head. John Dickinson himself said in 1854 that a passing trader selling a boatload of coals was “hitherto a very ordinary occurrence”. It is not difficult to imagine Dickinson initially buying inland coal from men like these, and eventually employing them full time as carriers, offering regular and dependable work in uncertain times.

In the middle years of the 19th century, a significant number of owner-boatmen were based in the Black Country and, to a lesser degree, in Birmingham. Some were working regularly up to London carrying coal, iron, bricks and fire-clay products from the Black Country, returning with grain, timber and other bulk cargoes. At the time, Dickinson’s inland coal was also drawn from the south Staffordshire coalfield, so there were owners available to transport it by canal to the mills. But with the railways making inroads into this London-bound iron traffic during the 1870s and the decline of the south Staffordshire coal supply, many took advantage of the growing importance of the Warwickshire and Leicestershire coalfields, and some of those contractors migrated towards the districts to the north and east of Coventry, as these collieries had become the focus of coal supplies for Dickinson’s mills.

The main family of owners working to the mills in the mid-19th century was the Simpsons. Originally based at Oldbury in the Black Country, they worked boats owned by a variety of carriers and manufacturers of iron, fire clay and salt. They were evidently successful and bought their own boats to work alongside them. By the late 1850s the Simpsons had moved to Sowe on the northern end of the Oxford Canal at Foleshill. This put them close to the pits around Bedworth on the Coventry Canal and those further north at Moira and north Warwickshire, and it’s probably about this period they started working to the mills. Coal was also drawn from the Derbyshire pits, as many firms on the Grand Junction found it to be the cheapest source due to reduced tolls. Thomas Simpson worked regularly into Derbyshire for coal during the 1860s. Also, the area was a centre for several boatyards owned by members of the Sephton family; they took full advantage of not only building and docking boats but also for supplying boats for hire when needed.

The Simpson boatmen and owners included Thomas, Alfred, Henry and Enoch Simpson. Enoch worked for around 30 years for Dickinson’s before retiring in the mid-1890s, but it was Henry Simpson of Sowe who continued the longest while other boaters stepped in as contractors replacing the Simpsons.

Others, like Henry Chatten of Brierley Hill and Joseph Taylor of Tipton, worked their own boats to the mills in the 1890s. William Lamsden was from a boating family in Oxford, but moved to the Coventry area and steered his horse-boats for Dickinson’s well into the mid-1920s. Another was Charles Lane of Ashleworth near Gloucester. In the 1870s and 1880s, he was carrying coal from the Cannock pits to places along the River Severn, and onto the Stroudwater Navigation and Thames & Severn Canal. By the early- to mid-1890s, he was living at Brierley Hill and working up the Grand Junction, then a few years later based himself at Ansty near Coventry. Shortly after, he was operating several pairs of horse-boats to Croxley Mill, with his other boats steered by members of the family and employees.

Before World War I, it was not uncommon for boatmen-contractors to own several pairs of boats – sometimes to accommodate their growing families, but also to allow their teenage sons to work independently from their parents. This generated income from the extra work undertaken. Perhaps, one day, their sons might buy these boats and set up as independent contractors themselves.

These craft might also be let out on hire to other contractors, providing the owners with an extra income from boat hire fees. Not all contractors owned boats, and boat hiring from owners, boat-builders and carriers was quite commonplace. During the first decade of the 20th century, Alfred Simpson and his wife owned five pairs, most of which were used on Dickinson’s coal traffic with some let out on hire to other contractors. Likewise, another contractor, Joseph Phipkin Snr, owned several pairs that he hired out to other boatmen.

Horse-drawn boats were the norm for most boatmen-owners but there were early attempts at powered transport. Alfred Simpson of Tusses Bridge acquired the steamer Teaser, fitted with a compound steam engine and steel boiler from engineer and boilermaker George Langton Bignell of Stoney Stratford in 1890. On its first trip to Apsley Mill, loaded and towing a butty, it arrived on 12th June 1890 and caused great interest with the hope that its use would reduce trip times from three-and-a-half days by horse to 30 hours by steam. It seems this optimism was misplaced and Teaser was sold around Christmas 1893. There is some evidence that owner-boatman Henry Simpson had a steamer about the same time but little more is known.

Boatmen-owners working to the mills did not start using motor-powered boats until James Hambridge bought his We’ll Try early in 1927. At the same time, his nephew David Hambridge had his horse-boat Fair Trader motorised at Banbury Dock by George Tooley; both then started carrying coal to Apsley Mill. The reason for this introduction of motors might be an economic response to the upheavals caused by the general strike from 1st to 12th March 1926 and the subsequent long drawn-out coal strike. Dickinson’s was hit hard by these events which also affected their boatmen-contractors. Initially the company relied on existing coal stocks, then in June it had to import coal from Eastern Europe via Brentford. Some coal was brought by boat from Staffordshire and Warwickshire pits later in 1926 as some collieries went back to work. The coal strike was over by November and production and transport started to return to normal.

Other boatmen-owners followed the Hambridges' example in the following years, with many conversions done in 1931/32. All the boats working to the mills were owned by men with one exception: James Hambridge’s wife Rosa owned the butty Little Wonder, which was paired with her husband’s motor.

The carriers

Although a select group of boatmen-contractors regularly transported the bulk of Dickinson’s coal traffic, any extra trips were also handled by contractors hired on a casual basis. Various carrying firms, some of whom were organising deliveries, were also engaged from time to time during the first two decades of the 20th century, to supply boats for carrying. The most notable of these was L.B. Faulkner of Leighton Buzzard. Other companies included John Griffiths of Bedworth, Samuel Barlow (Tamworth) Ltd, and many smaller firms which operated as carriers or merchants with boats and men available for hire. Emanuel Smith & Sons Ltd of Brentford, Sidney Strong of Hillmorton and S.E. Barlow of Glascote were also involved, as was Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd in the 1920s. The latter also used its motor and butty pairs, perhaps the first carrier to do so, and these were sometimes passed on to the account of S.E. Barlow, which was subcontracting the work out, as he had only a few long-distance cabin boats in his fleet then.

Working the boats

In 1909, the canal companies agreed that Dickinson’s could pay its tolls based on colliery weight – the weight of coal as determined by the colliery companies after weighing into their coal wagons. The boatmen were also paid on colliery weight, which led to arguments when boats were gauged with more coal onboard than the declared weight, putting them out of pocket.

Dickinson’s contractors were notorious for complaining about weights of coal. Abusive language and (as one toll clerk put it) “rough blackguardism”, even threats of violence, were reported. Dickinson’s would reprimand them if an official complaint came from the canal company clerk or secretary.

It was not just a question of money but also of time. Boatmen were invariably in a hurry and resented any delay, including stopping to be gauged. This was often a problem at Braunston toll stop, when southbound coal-boats hurried to catch the Braunston tunnel tug at a particular time – or face a two-hour delay waiting for the next pull. The location of the narrow stop just a short distance from the bottom of Braunston Locks was unfortunate, because boats descending the flight sent down flushes of water making the level higher one side of the stop than the other. This not only made gauging boats awkward and inaccurate, but also created difficult and even dangerous conditions when a boat horse tried to start a pair out of the narrows. There were occasions when, after a horse had taken up the weight of its tow, a flush took hold of the boats, dragging the animal backwards towards the water’s edge. The desperate boatman would quickly attempt to release the towline to prevent his horse being pulled into the water and drowned.

The coal supply for Croxley Mill was accommodated in a large 200ft by 50ft coal shed, with a capacity of some 4,000 tons. To unload, a portable mechanical conveyor system would be lowered into the boat’s hold, then small buckets on an endless belt would be fed with coal by unloaders. The coal was then transported along a chain conveyor into the top of the coal shed, then a second and third conveyor transported it into the boiler house. Ashes and clinker were removed by the returning conveyor. At some point after the L&NWR siding into Croxley was completed, Dickinson’s installed a mechanical coal unloading elevator system for railway wagons.

Although most boats returned empty to the collieries, backloads such as timber and limestone were available from time to time. Other cargoes included the paper product itself, or raw materials used in its manufacture. Before the widespread use of Spanish grass or esparto as the basic material of papermaking, rags were mostly used. In about 1837 John Dickinson established his own mill in Manchester to purchase, clean and process waste linen before forwarding it on to the mills in Hertfordshire, some in boats worked by the Simpson family.

End of carrying by contractors

The last full year contractors carried to the mills was 1937, and their regulars numbered 15 men and women operating 14 pairs of motors and butties. There were no horse-drawn boats left working on the mill traffic by then. The contract for the mills was handled by Samuel Barlow Coal Co Ltd of Birmingham, with other coal suppliers also involved.

Coal to the upper mills at Apsley, Nash and Home Park was carried by ten owners: Edward Charles Lane (one pair), David Hambridge (one pair), James and Rosa Hambridge (one pair), Joseph Bray (one pair), Alfred Buckler (one pair), Michael Ward (one pair) and Ernest Carter (one pair). Coal to Home Park Mill was handled by Evesons (Coal) Ltd of Birmingham and carried by John Thomas Coles and his son Thomas Coles working two pairs. Coal to Croxley Mill was subcontracted to L.B. Faulkner of Linslade using approximately six pairs when steerers could be found; in addition, five pairs were operated by owners: Joseph Hale, Daniel Doughty, Thomas Phipps,  Henry Wiles and George Wood, each with a single pair.

Extra traffic was carried by Samuel Barlow with other additional loads taken to Home Park by the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co Ltd for coal factors Brentnall & Cleland Ltd of Brentford. Occasionally other subcontractors were used to make up the weight: Joseph Grantham (one pair) to Apsley or Nash, and John George Grantham (one pair) to Croxley. Coal from Measham on the Ashby Canal for Croxley was bought through coal factors, Spencer, Abbott & Co Ltd of Birmingham and arranged by S.E. Barlow of Tamworth for carriers L.B. Faulkner.

The story of canal carrying mainly by contractors to Dickinson’s mills came to an end on 1st March 1938 and the traffic was taken over by GUCCC, with a certain amount still expected to be carried by L.B. Faulkner and probably Samuel Barlow fleets, due to GUCCC not having enough crews for its boats. This arrangement threw all of the contractors out of work and they had to seek employment elsewhere, although evidence shows that some continued carrying to the mills as subcontractors, almost certainly for Barlow Ltd.

After losing their main source of employment, many owners were soon forced to sell up, mainly to the Samuel Barlow Coal Co Ltd.