My Wartime Boating Ancestors

Tracing Family History: NarrowBoat, Spring 2026

Daniel Agee looks at how two branches of his family kept canal traffic moving during WWII

On a handful of key routes, the canals became vital arteries during World War II, moving millions of tons of supplies at a time when railways and roads were under immense strain. Among the boating families employed on the network was my great-grand- uncle, William Allcott. Born in 1884, William, or ‘Bill’, was the eldest son of my great-great-grandparents, Albert and Elizabeth Allcott, themselves working boaters on the Shropshire Union Canal. According to a manning list of paired boats for September 1944, William was skipper of the motor-butty pair Arcas & Malus. Arcas was built by Harland & Wolff in November 1935 and registered at Brentford. It was gauged for the Grand Union Canal on 20th October 1936. Butty Malus was built by W. J. Yarwood & Sons of Northwich in September 1935. Both boats were part of the expansion of the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co’s Southern Division during the mid-1930s.Friendship with female recruits In 1943, women aged between …