Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead.
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Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead. |
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A promoter of the Manchester Ship Canal.
Author, Literary Agent and founder of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA). His previous mild interest in canals was rekindled by L T C Rolt's book Narrow Boat published in 1944. Robert and his wife Ray first met Tom and Angela Rolt on their narrowboat Cressy in August 1945. This led to the inaugral meeting of the IWA on the 15th February 1946 at the Aickman's home at Gower Street in London.
He became the first IWA Chairman and held the post until he resigned on 26 October 1951. After that the post of chairman was held briefly by two others and was vacant for five years before Robert became Chaiman again at the end of 1957 and continued until October 1964 when he resigned and was succeeded by Lionel Munk. From 1965 until his death he held the post of Founder and Vice-President.
Robert Aickman will always be remembered for his leadership in the early difficult years when many of our best loved waterways were threated with closure. His great intellect, hard work and devotion to the cause were without equal but many people found him difficult to deal with, especially when he was opposed. In 1950 a disagreement on policy between him and Tom Rolt caused a major split in the IWA and lead to the departure of Rolt and others from the Association.
Superintendent or Manager and receiver of tolls for the Thames Commissioners.
Inventor of textile machinery, a leading industrialist. He had factories at Nottingham and Cromford and took a leading part in promoting the Cromford Canal.
Improver of the Lark and Great Ouse. Son of Henry, Senior Ashley.
A Huntingdon Tanner who leased the Great Ouse. Father of Henry, Junior Ashley.
Promoter of the St Helen's Canal. A Liverpool merchant and owner of Dungeon Salt Works.
Landscape and figure painter. Born at Corsham, Wiltshire, son of Field-Marshal Lord Methuen. Educated at New College, Oxford, taking a Degree in Natural Science 1910. Studied under Sir Charles Holmes at Oxford and later under Sickert. Assistant at the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, 1910-14; served in the Scots Guards 1914-19; First one-man show at the Warren Gallery 1928. Trustee of the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery 1938-45; Monuments and Fine Arts Officer 1944-5. Exhibited with the N.E.A.C. from 1931 (member 1943) and with the R.B.A. from 1936 (member 1939). President of the Royal West of England Academy since 1939. He joined the Inland Waterways Association and became their first member in either house of parliament. As such he asked questions on the obstruction at Lifford Bridge on the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal.
Canal carrier with a wharf at Middleport in the Potteries around 1850.
Clerk of Works assisting Thomas Dadford senior on the construction of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal.
1766 | Clerk of Works assisting Thomas Dadford senior on the construction of the canal. |
Clerk to the Hereford & Gloucestershire Canal Company in 1859
Contractor who built part of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
November 1826 | Advised the City of London about building a short canal in the area at the time of a dispute between the city and the canal company. |
Was trading on the lower part of the Montgomery Canal until 1938.
Potter, partner of Josiah Wedgwood, and canal promoter.
Promoter of the Birmingham Canal
He was born, near Highgate, London, a founder of the British Victorian Society, a well-known broadcaster and leading authority on architecture. He became Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association in 1967 a position he held for the rest of his life. He took an active interest in the IWA and wrote a poem for the opening of the Upper Avon navigation. In 1972 he was appointed Poet Laureate. He died at his home in Trebetherick, Cornwall.
Owner of a Limestone Quarry at Caldon Low.
Navigation from the Trent to the Mersey - Owner of a Limestone Quarry at Caldon Low who contracted to supply Limestone to the company.
In 1952 Captain R M Bilton, Rn, DSO, MSc became Chairman of the Inland Waterways Association. Later in the year he was found to be plain Mr R M Bilton and was forced to resign.
Author of several waterways books, an early member of the Inland Waterways Association and someone with great practical experience of working boats. Appointed IWA Vice-President in 2001.
Canal Promoter
Early 1766 | Subscribed to the canal |
Viscount Boyle, of Bandon and Baron of Castle Martyr, co Cork in Ireland; Baron Carlton, of Carlton, co York in Great Britain. Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association since 1975.
Became legal agent for the Duke of Bridgewater in 1800.
Of Burslem, brother of the famous James and shareholder in the Trent & Mersey Canal.
1766 | Shareholder in the canal |
Lessee of the Don in 1751 Joint lessee with Joseph 1 Atkinson and joint lessee with Thomas Smith.
1751 | Became a lessee of the river, with Joseph Atkinson and Thomas Smith, at £3,500 a year plus 6.25% interest on new capital expenditure that they requested. |
In 1884 he was appointed the first inspector under the Canal Boats Act.
Honorary Treasurer of the Inland Waterwways Association from 1952 to 1957.
Co-founder of Bushell Bros after buying the Tring yard, where his father had built boats, from Fred Mead who had a canal carrying company there.
Co-founder of Bushell Bros after buying the Tring yard, where his father had built boats, from Fred Mead who had a canal carrying company there.
Owner of the Basingstoke Canal until 1923.
He was Director, Architecture for the Festival of Britain and was knighted 1952. A lecturer at the Royal College of Art from 1953 to 1975 and elected to the Royal Academy in 1970, serving for 12 years as its President. Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association from 1971.
Politician, South Shields' first Labour MP, Home Secretary 1945-51. Was made Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association in the last year of his life.
Owner of the William Clayton of Saltley canal carrying company in 1889, and co-founder of the Fellows Morton & Clayton Company.
A canal carrier, founder of the William Clayton of Saltley company.
Wrote in Rural Rides, of the canal at Cricklade " ..while the poor creatures that raise the wheat and the barley and cheese and the mutton and the beef are living upon potatoes, an accursed canal comes kindly through the parish to convey away the wheat and all the good food to the tax-eaters and their attendants in the Wen"
A waterway campaigner well known for his sea-going voyages in his narrowboat Progress supporting many causes including the Litchfield & Hatherton Canals. Was made Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association in 2001.
Owner of a Limestone Quarry at Caldon Low.
Navigation from the Trent to the Mersey - Owner of a Limestone Quarry at Caldon Low who contracted to supply Limestone to the company.
Elected Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association in 1996. Was awarded the OBE in 1997. Anglo-Welsh Group plc Chairman.
Lived at Cyfartha and London but originally from Normanton, Yorkshire. Iron works owner and canal promoter and shareholder. Father of William, Senior Crawshay and associate of William Stevens.
Chairman of the Glamorganshire Canal Co. from 1867. Son of William, Junior Crawshay.
Chairman of the Glamorganshire Canal Co. from 1822 untill his death. Son of William, Senior Crawshay and father of Robert Crawshay.
On the committee of the Glamorganshire Canal 1798 - 1814 and after 1818. Son of Richard Crawshay and father of William, Junior Crawshay.
Part of the Darbys of Coalbrookdale family (ironmasters). Appointed first Treasurer of the Shropshire Canal Company.
The Right Honourable Sir Geoffrey de Freitas MP KCMG, one of IWA's key influential friends in parliament during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He was elected an IWA Vice President in 1966 and became President of the Association in 1978. In 1938 he married Helen and they started boating with their family on the Fens in the early 1950s, with a cabin cruiser rented from Ely. They maintained their waterway links with East Anglia from that time, later acquiring a holiday home on Wroxham.
Author and a director of Fellows Morton & Clayton
Was British Waterway's Chief Executive until 1996. Elected Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association in 1998.
Clerk of works on the Grand Surrey canal working with Ralph and George Dodd. Worked with George Dodd and worked with Ralph Dodd.
1801 | Was appointed clerk of works. | |
1802 | Was dissmissed. |
Inland Waterways Association Chairman from 1999 to 2002.
Chairman of the Kennet & Avon Canal Company
Of Kerse. A owner of land at the eastern end of the Forth & Clyde Canal and a supporter of the project.
Also known as Teddy
Early member of the Inland Waterways Association (number 14) and its second secretary (from 1950). Author of Inland Waterways of Great Britian. Vice-President of the IWA from 1993.
Also known as 3rd Duke
Promoter of the Bridgewater Canal Brother-in-law of Earl of Gower Granville Levesen-Gower.
1766 | Shareholder in the canal |
Also known as 1st Earl
Born Lord Francis Leveson-Gower, 2nd son of the Maquess of Stafford and inheritor of the Bridgewater Canal and estates in 1833.
The Right Honourable Gerald A Ellison, Bishop of Chester then Bishop of London from 1973 to 1981. Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association from 1975.
Promoter of the Glan-y-wern canal.
Born in Cuba, educated in Delaware and England, studied medicine at King's College, London, and latter at Clare College, Cambridge. Acquired his first camera in 1882 and went on to become a well known photographer of the Norfolk Broads.
He was appointed as the first salaried general secretary of the Inland Waterways Association in 1952.
Surveyed the Kymer Canal in 1766
1766 | Surveyed the route for the proposed canal. |
Co-author of "English Rivers and Canals" with Charles Hadfield. He had also written "The Fire Service Today" with Hadfield. On 15 February 1946 at the first meeting of the Inland Waterways Association at Gower Street he was appointed as Treasurer but departed for Australia later in the year.
A ship and boat builder, particularly of iron hulled and steam powered boats. Became a Baronet in 1869.
A Litchfield man on the committee of the Trent & Mersey Canal.
Mid 1766 | On the committee of the canal company. |
Founder of the carrying company that was later to become Fellows Morton & Clayton
Canal carrier and a founder of Fellows Morton & Clayton.
Appointed Chairman of the Inland Waterways Association in 2003.
Owner of Wet Earth Colliery at Clifton near Salford and the developer of Fletcher's Canal.
John C Fletcher writes of his relation in the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society magazine:-
"Matthew Fletcher (1729-1808) is best known in MB&B Canal circles as the colliery manager who made the first survey of the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal and he also built Fletcher's Canal as described in the last edition of this magazine. We know that one of his descendants is a life member of the MB&BC Society (Robert Cornish) for the family tree is well researched, and that family tree provides a possible blood connection to the writer in that a descendant of Matthew Fletcher was a family of Fletchers - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Squire - in Stand, and the author had a great great grandfather (following the paternal line throughout) who was a John in a family of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Squire, also in Stand at the same period. However, there have been a lot of Matthew and John Fletchers around over the years to confuse the picture!
The 1729 born Matthew Fletcher was active in and later to chair meetings of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation Company which had been incorporated on March 28th 1794 , giving a second family connection with the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, and the first connection with the MB&B Canal. By 1795 Aikin describes the M&IN company as 'at present being managed in a spirited and intelligent manner' . Amongst our treasured possessions is a copy of the first act of that company , bound with interleaved blank pages; inscribed with Matthew's signature (compared with that on his will, courtesy Robert Cornish!) and calculating voting rights and his chances of securing success in a bid to build the Runcorn and Latchford Canal, bypassing the tidal Mersey between Runcorn and Warrington. He was, of course, successful and it was opened in July 1804 and this was the last major improvement to that route until it was mainly subsumed in the route of the Manchester Ship Canal ninety years later." Uncle of John Nightingale.
A director of the Thames & Medway Canal.
Responsible for the building of a weir across the river Exe in the 13th century.
Improver of the Fossdyke between 1672 and 1675.
1675 | He was appointed engineer. |
Owned the Ferry at Wilden on the Trent and leased the wharf and warehouses there. With his partner Hayne operated a monopoly of trade on the Trent until 1762. Partner of Hayne.
1748 | Blocked the river at Wilden with his ferry rope, then built a bridge of boats and defended it with hired men, to stop a group of Nottingham merchants from using the river. |
A solicitor and member of the Inland Waterways Association Council. In the autumn of 1957 Ted Fowler became Chairman of the IWA - a post that had been vacant for five years. He resigned shortly afterwards following the rejection of his plans to turn the IWA into a limited company.
Trainer of women narrow boaters during the Second World War, featured in "Troubled Waters"
Ironmaster of Mells. Built the world's first successful (patented) Balance Lock boat lift on the Dorset & Somerset Canal.
1800 | Tests on his vertical boat lift were made and proved successful. |
Promoter of the Birmingham Canal.
Mid 1766 | On the committee of the canal company. |
Also known as Kit
Trained women for narrowboat crews during the Second World War and author of "The Amateur Boatwoman".
The Duke of Bridgewater's Land Agent who took a leading role in building the Bridgewater canal.
Land Agent to Lord Gower and canal promoter. Elder brother of John.
Navigation from the Trent to the Mersey After September 1775 - Owner of a Limestone Quarry at Caldon Low contracting to supply Limestone to the company.
18 February 1766 | On this date the Bill was presented and after the second reading was referred to a committee which he chaired. He was also a shareholder in the canal. |
Honourary treasurer of the Inland Waterways Association from 1973 to 1982 and Chairman from 1982 until 1989. He was later elected Vice-President.
He was a noted pilot in the Royal Air Force, and one time Deputy Speaker in the House of Commons. Robert Grant Ferris, M.P., was knighted in 1969 and in 1974 was created a life peer as Lord Harvington of Nantwich in Cheshire. He was elected Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association in 1966 and was chairman of the original All-party Waterways Committee.
Clerk of the Lancaster Canal following his father Samuel's death. Manager of the Edinbugh & Glasgow Railway and carrying manager of the Grand Junction. Son of Samuel Gregson.
June 1826 | He took over the role of engineer following the departure of William Crossley. | |
1831 | He makes four positive suggestions to deal with the treats posed by the proposed Wigan & Preston Railway. 1 - Convert the tramroad into a railway, to speed up transhipment. 2 - The same but in addition to make suitable changes to permit locomotive working. 3 - Seek amalgamation with the railway and abolish the tramroad. 4 - Abolish the tramroad so forcing the railway to make branches to the pits. | |
1844 | In recognition of his work in negotiating with railway companies his salary was fixed as a minimum of £1,000 a year for the rest of his time with the company. | |
October 1846 | On the death of his father, Samual aged 83, he succeeded to the role of clerk. | |
3 December 1872 | He died still with the company after 60 years service. |
Clerk of Lancaster Canal. Father of Bryan Padgett Gregson.
Colliery owner of Newcastle-under-Lyme and canal promoter. Father of Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley and father-in-law of Sir John Edensor Heathcote.
Colliery owner of Newcastle-under-Lyme and canal promoter. Son of Sir Nigel Gresley and father of Sir Roger Gresley.
Owner of the Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal from 1808 until about 1827. Son of Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley and cousin of Richard Edensor Heathcote.
Also known as Crick
With his family an early pleasure boater and activist for the Inland Waterways Association. He took part in many IWA campaigns including a trip through Dudley Tunnel in a very small boat to prove the tunnel was not blocked as was claimed. Son of Reginald Grundy and brother of Martin Grundy.
A retired District Judge and Recorder. With his family an early pleasure boater and activist for the Inland Waterways Association. He went with his family in their cruiser Heron with Tom Rolt to Llangollen in 1949. In 1950 he made the trip across the Mersey with Aickman in Peter Scotts narrowboat Beatrice. He was made IWA Vice-President in 2001. Son of Reginald Grundy and brother of Christopher Grundy.
Author and Secretary to the River Tyne Commission.
Born in South Africa he is best remembered as a canal historian and author. In May 1945 he (like Robert Aickman) wrote a letter to LTC Rolt suggesting that the forming of some sort of society to encourage interest in waterways. In February 1946 he was elected Vice-chairman of the newly formed Inland Waterways Association (IWA) although he only held the post until September when he resigned as he and Aickman could not work together. In June 1951 he was expelled from membership of the IWA with Rolt and the other dissidents as they had not replied to a letter to appeal against the decision. Hadfield was in South Africa at the time and did not know what was happening.
His first published book was English Rivers and Canalsa 48 page volume in the Britain in Pictures series written with Frank Eyre. In 1950 his classic work British Canals published by Phoenix House. Over the succeeding years he worked on the Canals of the British Isles as both author and publisher.
In 1954 He suggested that "Canal" should be added to the name of the proposed "Railway History Society" and thus on 4 September became a founder member of the new "Railway & Canal Historical Society". On the 1 April 1960 he founded David & Charles (Publishers) Ltd with David St John Thomas. He was appointed to the new British Waterways Board in 1963 leaving in 1967.
In 1971 the IWA invited him to rejoin and from 1983 to his death in 1996 he was one of their Vice-Presidents.
Capenter on the Basingstoke canal, carter, bargeman on the canal and Thames. In 1923 he bought the Basingstoke Canal.
Former deputy chairman of the Greater London Council with an interest in waterways dating back to the 1960s. Elected Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association in 1993
Leased the Trent Navigation from Lord Paget, working with his partner Leonard Fosbrooke, and imposed a monopoly on the navigation. Partner of Leonard Fosbrooke.
After 1699 | Leased the navigation from Nottingham to Burton, the lease ending in 1762. | |
1749 | Sank a barge in King's Mill Lock, where it remained for 8 years, as part of his plans to preserve a monopoly of trade on the river. |
Vice-Chairman and Honourary treasurer of the Inland Waterways Association from 1971 to 1972 and Chairman between 1973 and 1981.Vice-President from 1983.
Promoter of the Manchester, Bolton & Bury and the Newcastle-under-Lyme Junction canals and having mining interests in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Father of Richard Edensor Heathcote and son-in-law of Sir Nigel Gresley.
Owner of the Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal from about 1827. Cousin of Sir Roger Gresley and son of Sir John Edensor Heathcote.
Sir Mark Henig was the Lord Mayor of Leicester and from 1975 was Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association.
Alan Patrick Herbert was born in Elstead, Surrey. He studied law at Oxford University before serveing in the Royal Navy during the First World War. After the war he published the novel The Secret Battle (1919). In 1924 Herbert joined Punch Magazine and two years later had his first theatrical success with the production of Riverside Nights. He also wrote the lyrics for Tantivy Towers (1930) and Helen (1932) and published the novels The Water Gipsies (1930) set on River Thames and the Grand Union Canal. In 1935 he published Holy Deadlock and What a Word.
Herbert became the Independent MP for Oxford University in 1935. A campaigner for reform of the marriage and divorce laws, played an important role in the passing of the Matrimonial Causes Act in 1938. He was also a strong supporter of Neville Chamberlain and his Appeasement Policy.
Herbert retired from the House of Commons in 1950. Other books by Herbert included two volumes of autobiography, Independent Member (1950) and My Life and Times (1970). He became the President of the Inland Waterways Association early in 1947. His other waterways books are No Boats on the River (1932) and The Thames (1966).
Appointed Honourary Treasurer of the Inland Waterways Association in 1973.
Retired senior geography lecturer. Former Chairman of the Inland Waterways Association's Inland Shipping Group. Appointed Vice-President of the IWA in 2001.
Formerly Director of the Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port. Appointed Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association in 2001.
From 1928 the joint owner of the Nurser Boatyard at Braunston when it was reformed as Nurser Bros by Charles and Frank Nurser following their brother's (William the younger) retirement in 1927.
Until 1771 the joint treasurer of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
Of Welsh and Yorkshire descent. An ironmaster at Broseley, near Coalbrookdale, and went to Merthyr in 1782. Promoter of the Glamorganshire Canal Asked by him to S.Wales John Guest and father of Samuel Homfray.
Elected Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association in 1996. He and his family were best known as holiday boat hire agents. The family business, founded in 1944 by James' father, has now been sold.
A committee member of the Glasgow, Paisley & Johnstone Canal living at Johnstone Castle, Renfrew.
Author and well known literary figure. In 1942 she married her first husband Peter Scott. They divorced in 1951 and in 1965 she married her third husband Kingsley Amis. For a short time she played a significant part in the forming of the Inland Waterways Association and accompanied Robert Aickman on cruises as well as colaborating with him on We Are for the Dark: Six Ghost Stories (1951).
Chairman of the Inland Waterways Association from 1970 until early 1972 when he resigned to take up the post of advisor to the Ministry of the Environment on canal matters. Vice-President from 1973.
A Bradford Quaker and wool merchant. Treasurer of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and promoter of the Bradford Canal.
In 1969 the Inland Waterways Association awarded him the Cyril Styring Trophy for his work on the restoration of the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal and the Upper Avon. He was elected Vice-President of the IWA in 1998.
Member of Parliament and Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association from 1975 to 1993
Advocated improvements to the Nene and Ouse and improved the Dee from Chester to the estuary in 1737.
1721 | Work started on the new cut he proposed to straighten the river between Peterbough and Wisbech. Although nearly all the work was done a change of mind by the Wisbech corporation delayed its openning until 1773. | |
1748 | About this date he, his son and William Elstobb proposed cutting off the great bend near King's Lynn. |
Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead.