Early Barlow Boats
Historical Profiles: NarrowBoat, Winter 2024
Christopher M Jones
Chris M. Jones looks at a series of images showing some of the first Barlow boats
This is our free-access sample article from the Winter 2024 NarrowBoat
Phil Garrett/King Family Collection
World War I and the post-war years were a time of decline and birth for canal carriers. The decline was fuelled by the government control of the canals and investment in favour of rail and road transport, together with an increased cost of living making boat-building and repairs expensive. But as longer-established businesses struggled, new opportunities arose. This image of Barlow boats Galera & Charles is a picture of new hope in the midst of adversity. Dissatisfaction and militancy among the industrial working population were at an all-time high after the war, particularly among miners, which led to a coal strike in 1921. This image was taken during that strike at Main Road Bridge 73, on the Coventry Canal above Glascote Top Lock.
The lane behind, indicated by several tank carts, led to the newly acquired Anchor Works on the off-side where Samuel Edwin Barlow had set up business as a coal merchant and carrier with the help of his father John Barlow, who was still working for Barlow’s at the time. The Garrett family are aboard Galera with Rose Garrett (née King) on the left, her son Joseph Garrett Jnr in the middle and Joseph Snr holding the tiller. Galera was built in 1905 for owner-boatman Samuel Phipkin, which he paired with his Aconite, both being later sold to Barlow’s Ltd in 1916 and shown in another image with Nil Desperandum. Boat Charles originally entered the fleet of Price & Son of Brierley Hill in the late 1890s and was probably built by Price’s at its own dock. The company gave up long-distance carrying after WWI and Charles passed to Barlow’s in June 1920, subsequently entering the S.E. Barlow fleet in 1921. To indicate its recent purchase, the cabin is still unregistered which was rectified on 19th December 1921. Henry and Annie Grantham and children are aboard the newly docked Charles posing for the camera.
After World War I, the newly created Samuel Barlow (Tamworth) Ltd became the main carrier for the supply of coal to the Coles, Shadbolt Branch of the British Portland Cement Manufacturers (BPCM) Ltd’s works at Harefield. Situated alongside the Grand Junction Canal at St Anne’s Dock, Harefield, Coles, Shadbolt & Co Ltd amalgamated with BPCM in March 1912 along with many other cement companies around the country (see NB Winter 2017).
The coal factor for the BPCM’s Harefield works was W.H. Bowater Ltd, which was Barlow’s main shareholder. Bowater’s had a large fleet of its own boats already but most of these were day-boats working on the Birmingham Canal Navigations, so Barlow’s acted as Bowater’s long-distance canal-carrying arm in the south Midlands. In these post-WWI years, Bowater’s was quickly expanding and taking over many coal contracts with existing businesses, including a number on the lower Grand Junction alongside the canal, and so it was necessary to increase the company’s coal-carrying capacity to supply those works by using carriers like Barlow’s. At the same time, Bowater’s was also expanding its canal-carrying activities in the North West at Manchester and in the North East at Wakefield.
Based in Birmingham, William Henry Bowater’s business grew rapidly as colliery proprietors, coal contractors and shippers, at first supplying firms in England and Wales, then setting up a multitude of agencies and companies abroad in the coal-exporting trade for bunkering merchant shipping. It became so large and dependent on the mining industry that when the extended coal strike of 1926 occurred the company was soon in financial trouble and subsequently went into liquidation. Barlow’s was already trading as a coal merchant as well as a carrier and so, following the demise of Bowater’s, it used its close connection with the Bowater family to buy the goodwill of the Bowater’s business and expand its own trade as a coal contractor.
The Harefield cement works was closely linked to the output from Bells United Asbestos works at Coppermill, 1 mile away, for the creation of asbestos cement products. In 1929 asbestos manufacturing ceased following a takeover by another such manufacturer and production was transferred to Trafford Park, Manchester. This was the death blow for the Harefield cement works and BPCM ceased operations there shortly after. This meant the end of coal-carrying to Harefield and some of the BPCM’s boats passed to Barlow’s in December 1929.
Canal and River Trust Waterway Archive
Two early acquisitions into the Barlow’s fleet were Nil Desperandum and Aconite, pictured at Glascote in 1920. Nil Desperandum was built for Barlow’s in June 1915 and became number 43 in their fleet, while Aconite was a second-hand craft bought as a pair with Galera, formerly owned and steered by Samuel Phipkin of Hawkesbury Lane on the Oxford Canal near Tusses Bridge. Both his boats were used in the coal trade with Aconite being built about 1909 to replace an earlier boat of the same name. Aconite entered the Barlow fleet on 23rd November 1916 with his Galera, probably due to Phipkin’s retirement. The family are Ernest and Sarah Ann Carter (née Ward) with their rapidly growing offspring of Ernie, Tom, Martha, Charlie, Sarah Ann and Violet. Later in the 1920s, Ernest bought his own boats to work on his own account. The first was Three Sisters from his wife’s father in 1927, and Kate second-hand in 1929. Kate was later converted into a motor boat and renamed Apsley in August 1931, and for many years he worked them, carrying coal to John Dickinson’s Apsley papermills near Hemel Hempstead. He sold them to Barlow’s in December 1939, and went back to being an employee during WWII, still working his former boats only under Barlow’s colours.
Laurence Hogg Collection
One of BPCM’s boaters was William Kempster and his family, shown here aboard the company’s motor Lion & butty Bear, both carrying the firm’s livery. Bear was built for Coles, Shadbolt in 1903 and registered on 27th October. The location appears to be at the entrance of St Anne’s Dock, the short branch canal leading to the cement works, with the towpath on the main line opposite. William’s parents, Joseph and Sophie Kempster, worked for Coles, Shadbolt & Co and William followed them in becoming a boater for the cement company.
Laurence Hogg Collection
William Kempster and his wife Violet on Lion & Two Sisters sometime after the British Portland Cement Manufacturers’ two boats were sold to Barlow’s. Lion was built by W.H. Walker & Brothers of Frogmoor Wharf, Rickmansworth, for BPCM in November 1915 and launched in December. It was the first motor of the BPCM fleet with William Kempster as its first captain. Like all the other boats, it was intended to carry the firm’s products such as bricks, lime and cement. It was sold to Barlow’s on 24th December 1929 along with the other cement company boats bought by the company and was given the fleet number 78. Lion was one of three ex-BPCM motors bought by Barlow’s, the other two being Hilda and Otter, and ironically it was not only the first BPCM motor, but it was also one of the first motors in Barlow’s fleet too, which had hitherto been exclusively horse-drawn. Lion’s National engine was later scrapped and replaced with a new 12hp Petter.
Laurence Hogg Collection
Lion & Two Sisters in Barlow’s ownership. The man on the left is William Kempster Snr sitting on the cabin, and to the right is most likely his son William Kempster Jnr in his late teens. Butty Two Sisters was constructed by boat-builders F.W. & A. Sephton of Sutton Stop for one of its sons, Hugh Edward Sephton, in April 1915. He had sold it to the British Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd by January 1919; it passed into Barlow’s fleet ten years later and was given the fleet number 79.
Laurence Hogg Collection
Boatman Jack Skinner on Otter shortly after the British Portland Cement Manufacturers ceased activities at its Harefield works and it was sold to Barlow’s. The company’s boats became famous for their traditional paintwork, adorned with flowers and landscape decoration by Nurser Brothers of Braunston Wharf, but this close-up view of Otter’s cabin side shows a more masculine scrollwork decoration seen more often on general cargo boats such as Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. Otter was the second motor boat in the BPCM fleet built by W.H. Walker & Brothers of Rickmansworth, but originally intended to be named Tiger. The company changed its mind and the boat was renamed Otter on launching in June 1916. Like the others, it was sold to Barlow’s in 1929 with 42 as its fleet number. After the takeover Otter was paired with Barlow’s butty Dorothy, for many years steered by the Skinner family. Otter had a Kromhaut engine which was replaced with a 12hp Petter in January 1936. These images were taken when Barlow’s first motor boats were painted in the Samuel Barlow (Tamworth) Ltd livery, but within months the company was officially renamed Samuel Barlow Coal Co Ltd.
Edward James Jones’s family aboard Samuel Barlow (Tamworth) Ltd’s boat Violet. Left to right are sons James and Thomas, his wife Mercy, daughter Emma and son George with another daughter Nellie on the right. Violet was originally named Joseph and built in the spring of 1904 for the trading partnership of boat-owner Joseph Phipkin and beer retailer William Palmer, both based in Yiewsley. Phipkin retired some years later and ownership of Joseph passed solely to William Palmer. He used the boat until the spring of 1917 when it was sold to boat-builders Bushell Brothers of Tring Wharf, which renamed it Violet. Four years later it was bought by Barlow’s with Edward James Jones and family as captain and crew when it was inspected for registration on 28th July 1921. Barlow’s only kept the boat for just over three years before selling it on to Harold Charles Southall of Wolverhampton, who traded as a steerage contractor for the south Staffordshire coal and mineral traffics.
Laurence Hogg Collection
Acknowledgement
Thank you to canal families historian Lorna York.
