T&S Element

Famous Fleets: NarrowBoat, Spring 2014

Alan Faulkner

Alan Faulkner looks at a fleet of narrowboats that operated mainly around Birmingham and the Black Country but also travelled further afield

At the end of the 1890s two brothers, Thomas and Samuel Element, entered into a canal carrying partnership. Thomas, born in 1881, was the second son of George and Jane Element; Samuel, born in 1889, was their fourth son. George was based at Oldbury where he was actively involved in carrying and operated a small number of craft on the canal. It seems certain that he helped his young sons in setting up the new partnership. George remained in business well into the 1920s; the Birmingham Canal registers record what was probably a new boat with fleet number 26, appropriately named George, being weighed for him in August 1914. At first, most of the new partnership’s boats were acquired second-hand, but in March 1899 Speedwell, with fleet number 2, was gauged for them, suggesting it could have been a new boat. The brothers traded as general carriers and were initially based at Springfields, Rowley Regis, handling roadstone quarried close by, destined for local authorities, and coal for…