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Birmingham Canal Boatmen: struggle for improved working conditions.

Pedrocut

Pedrocut

Master Barmmie
There are other threads concerning Birmingham boatmen, but not a general one about the conditions of work.

This picture from the British Waterways Board and featuring in the book “The great days of the canals” by Burton, Anthony (1995) shows a group of Birmingham boatmen in 1895 who were either on reduced or no pay when the canal froze. Sometimes they were reduced to collecting on the streets.

The Birmingham Daily Post, 9th February 1895…

“During yesterday a number of frozen out boatmen paraded the streets with a boat upon a cart. They were sent out from the Boatmen's Hall, and all money collected is distributed by the officials.”

5627B9A2-5439-4F3B-B05F-96C8068FE12A.jpeg
 
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Pedrocut said:
There are other thread concerning Birmingham boatmen, but not a general one about the conditions of work.

This picture from the British Waterways Board and featuring in the book “The great days of the canals” by Burton, Anthony (1995) shows a group of Birmingham boatmen in 1895 who were either on reduced or no pay when the canal froze. Sometimes they were reduced to collecting on the streets.

The Birmingham Daily Post, 9th February 1895…

“During yesterday a number of frozen out boatmen paraded the streets with a boat upon a cart. They were sent out from the Boatmen's Hall, and all money collected is distributed by the officials.”

View attachment 176251
Click to expand...
Where and what was 'boatmen's hall'?
 
Daily Herald 15 August 1923

“(Strike) Started on 13 August 1923 and became general throughout the whole waterways affected by wages reductions. Birmingham strikers have now been augmented by lorry drivers employed by the firm. The reductions demanded by the firm vary from a penny to 4 pence per ton,the general effect of the reductions being a loss of 4s to 10s per man per trip according to the nature of employment.”

During the previous twelve months Fellows Morton and Clayton (FMC), the largest canal firm in the country, had reduced wages without consulation with union or men and it was believed that they were acting in concert with other canal employers, with a view to effecting other reductions.

The Ministry of Labour was asked to convene a conference to discuss proposals but FMC refused to enter the conference and posted notices of a further reduction. F. Potter head of southern section of canal workers group in the TGWU said the wage conditions of canal workers were scandalous and general conditions on the boats had been subject to many questions in the Commons. Boats are sometimes tied up for two or three weeks during which time men receive no unemployment benefit.

The women and children who assist in working have no legal status, and as fatal and minor accidents are frequent, further hardship is imposed.
 
9 Nov 1923 Birmingham Gazette…The Fellows Morton and Clayton (FMC) strike has lasted over three months, and has held up 500 boats between London and Liverpool….Writ served on TGWU to obtain possession of property.

6 October reported that when the Ministry of Labour suggested arbitration, FMC replied "I am my own arbitrator!"

Around 13 November 1923, FMC argreed to Arbitration

Around 6 December 1923, the Arbritator reduced the workers wages by an average of 5%.
 
It seems that the Chairman of FMC, who died in 1925, was Alfred James Ash. He lived at Packworth House, Lapworth.
He was a breeder of racehorses and left fortune of £100,087 with net personalty £81,906.
 
Working on the waterways is a subject that is complicated. Taking the example of Fellows, Morton & Clayton and extracting certain elements of the action is also a subject that deserves a balanced reply.

Those who worked on the waterways were either employed by the canal companies or those that carried items along the canals and river navigations. Fellows, Morton & Clayton had become an important carrier of merchandise principally along routes to London, East Midlands, and the North West. The strike of their canal boatmen came at a time after the First World War when the canals deserved improvement, but" scheme after scheme" had failed. The canals had been subject to Government Control a couple of years previous and now the canal carriers were facing a new challenge as road transport started to compete with their trade and that of the railways.

Fellows Morton & Clayton were not the only waterways carrier of merchandise and it would be for a more balanced discussion to investigate the trade of firms such as the Severn Carrying Company who were contemporaries of FMC or the traders who used the Trent at this time.

The river Trent was improved soon afterward with new locks and then came the Grand Union Canal improvements in the 1930s when a fleet of new canal boats was brought into service to work between London and Birmingham and the East Midlands. Standards of comfort for boatmen did improve on their new craft.

But then, as stated, working on the waterways in the 1920s had staff employed by the Birmingham Canal Navigations, The Sharpness Canal then owned the Worcester & Birmingham, and the Great Western Railway owned the Stratford upon Avon Canal. In addition to merchandise, there was the important coal traffic where the independent haulier, or No 1, competed with commercial companies such as Leonard Leigh. Such a firm might use tugs to tow a train of coal boats. Then there were those engaged in maintenance and keeping the canal working in the winter. The Birmingham Canal Navigations had an important maintenance depot at Ocker Hill where there was a pumping establishment and where engines, bridges, and boats were repaired. There was still an important trade in railway boats then either worked for the LMS or the GWR that went beyond local boundaries and headed on down the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal with staff paid by the LMS or Bantock, the GWR carrier.

In these years between the two great wars, the local waterways still had a role and that role continued throughout the 1939-45 war until the Docks & Inland Waterways Executive was formed. The Docks & Inland Waterways set about acquiring the principal local carrying fleets and there was employment for boatmen even then. So it is a much more complicated picture than suggested in this thread,
 
The thread title tries to limit the discussion to the Birmingham boatmen in their struggle to improve their conditions of work.

The first few post are not a thesis and do not suggest that the subject is not complicated. It is open to anyone who can add any information. In fact the more expert input it receives the more we can learn on the subject.
 
Pedrocut said:
It seems that the Chairman of FMC, who died in 1925, was Alfred James Ash. He lived at Packworth House, Lapworth.
He was a breeder of racehorses and left fortune of £100,087 with net personalty £81,906.
Click to expand...
Details of the Ash family are available on this link. They also owned Ash & Lacy and Joseph Ash Galvanizers that started in Charles Henry Street and now have seven sites throughout the country

(199) Ash of Packwood House

Ash of Packwood In the early 20th century the genealogy of this family was traced back to Richard Ash of Ashby-de-la-Zouch (Leics), who...
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It is hard to limit an action to Birmingham Boatmen for 1923. The facts as published in the newspapers do tackle some aspects of the strike which do have some parallels today with one particular group of workers. Working conditions on the boats were highlighted as harsh and the poor education the children received was also noted.

It was a Braunston where various images of the dispute have been captured during the summer and autumn of 1923. Eventually, the owners of the boats tried to reclaim them but the boatmen locked the craft together so that they could not be moved. The union representing the boatmen was the Transport & General Workers Union and it was through their efforts that arbitration was achieved. FMC lost trade later to the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co.

This image shows the boat children at Braunston

boat children at Braunston.jpg


Whilst this view shows the Speedwell at Braunston with police in attendance

Speedwell at Braunston 1923.jpg

Both these images are available on the Waterways Archive website. Strikes have affected waterways operations previous to this date and the General Strike of 1926 also deserves further attention.
 
Thanks Mike for the reference to the Thesis “Canal Boat people.” (1840-1970). It would make interesting reading for anyone wanting an in-depth look into life on the canals.

The part that would be relavent to this thread would be Chapter 6, Labour Movement and the canal Boat community (v2 page 339-388). It refers to a wider range of worker than the small canal boatmen, but they do get a mention. As far as Birmingham is concerned there seems little organisation until the formation of the Transport Workers’ Federation in 1910, which was eventually absorbed into the TGWU.

In 1919 the Federation launched a National Programme for Canal Workers with a deputation to the Government. An inquiry was set up and chaired by (Brummie) Neville Chamberlain, but this foundered.

Also mentioned is the biggest dispute organised by a trade union and concerning only canal boatmen, being the strike of 1923. This strike broke out on August 13th, 1923 and lasted for fourteen weeks involving 684 men working mainly for Fellows Morton and Clayton Ltd., but The Chester and Liverpool Lighterage Company, and The Midlands and Coast Canal Carrying Company also became involved
 
The Chester & Liverpool Lighterage had taken over parts of the Shropshire Union Railway & Canal Co trade and Midland & Coast took over another part and the LMS boatage service also took over a part.

As to Neville Chamberlain he did persist and become involved with waterways improvement

Neville was associated with industries in Birmingham including Hoskins Bedsteads.
 
Post 8 suggests an investigation into the trade of firms such as the Severn Carrying Company, being contempories of FMC.

It is interesting to note that Joshua Fellows, whose father had founded FMC, died in 1900. At that time he was Managing Director of FMC, Chairman of Sandwell Park Colliery, and a director of the Severn and Canal Carrying Co. He also had directorships in John Bagnell and Sons and W Roberts Ltd of Tipton. He took part in founding the Birmingham Conservative Club, and lived greater part of his life at Churchields House, West Bromwich.

[Added later…. The Gloucester Steamship Co. was formed and among first Directors in 1874 was Joshua Fellows.
In 1877 the Company Lydney and Lydbrook Steel and Tin-plate was formed A Director being Joshua Fellows.]
 
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An interesting aside from Lock Keeper's daughter by Pat Warner (1998)

The Severners (boats of the Severn & Canal Carrying Company) were referred to as "towrags", a nickname that came about from the process known as "bow hauling" Bow-hauliers were a band of men, generally ill-paid casual labourers, who towed the boats from the bank, digging the toes of their boots into the lockside cobblestones. In time, their boots and socks also would become worn and ragged: hence the name "towrags".
 
188E36D3-E44D-4CE3-B13A-280F39AF01BF.jpeg


Narrow boats at work, by Ware, Michael E, Publication date 1985

“In the past, the author has been accused of glamorising the way of life of the boat people, but it is very difficult to glamorise the life of the traditional Midlands boatmen, as portrayed in this picture, taken at Tipton. It was taken around 1905 and shows Charlie Flimpey and family beside their Shropshire Union Railway and Canal Company boat. Though the boat appears to be fully loaded with boxes and barrels they cannot contain much weight, as the boat is still riding high in the water. The dirty appearance of the boating family is much more typical of everyday life than many of the posed groups of photographs which survive. After the Canal Boat Acts of 1877 the minimum amount of air space per person was stipulated for the cabins, which normally meant that only a husband and wife and two children could live in a back cabin. Some boats were then fitted with a very small fore cabin to take one or two other children. Was Charlie Flimpey breaking the rules, or did he have a pair of boats?”
 
The comment about Severners needs a response

The River Severn, Warwickshire Avon, and Wye like other waterways had people who were paid to assist craft upstream they were called halliers (bow haulers). Such a practice became less familiar with the introduction of towing paths. While bow hauling was a practice itself that was used often whereas locks intervened boatmen might haul the craft into the lock or between locks especially when two boats operated at the same time, as one horse could only do so much.

In the first days of the BCN, November 1769, people were paid to bow haul the early coal boats and there are records of payments being made then.

The Shropshire Union image is a picture that has been reproduced in various publications and was taken at Owen Street, Tipton and it shows a loaded boat. The Shropshire Union was then an important carrier between the West Midlands, Potteries, and Ellesmere Port at this time. They also handled the LNWR boatage depot traffic which extended as far as Stourport. They were owned by the LNWR and were their official carrier.
 
6E89CE9C-9839-47CB-B5B3-1FA18F313DD7.jpeg

Another picture from Narrow boats at work by Ware, Michael E, Publication date 1985.

“Canal boatmen were not known for industrial unrest, and there were very few strikes. Perhaps the best known is the one which took place in 1923 when those boatmen who normally worked the London to Braunston run for Fellows Morton & Clayton went on strike. The strike was over the company's proposal to take away a special bonus awarded to them during World War I. The strike seriously disrupted traffic on the southern part of the Grand Union for seventeen weeks. In this picture, the striking boatmen, their wives and families pose outside the company's dock at Braunston. The gentleman in the trilby hat at the back centre was Mr Brookes of the Transport and General Workers' Union. While the boatmen look peaceful in this photograph, the police were called to the dock to keep order on more than on occasion during the strike.”
 
George Smith, the “Children’s Friend” is mentioned in the above post, and in July 1884 he appeared before the Select Committee to enquire into the Canal Boats Amendment Act 1877. The proceedings were recorded in the Birmingham Daily Post which can be read in the thumbnails. There are references to Birmingham.

George is grilled over his estimation of 100,000 people being employed on canal boats, and the number of children of school age being 30,000. He refers to boats that do not come within the Act, and are without inspection, saying that between Birmingham and Wolverhampton you meet them almost every few yards.

He is queried on the question of overwork of children, having stated that a boy had told him he had driven between Birmingham and Worcester many a time. The distance of the boy’s walk being about 30 miles.

He had heard of school managers who objected to receiving boat children, and when asked about the school at Birmingham for the education of boat dhildren he stated that the children are not all boat children. There were about a dozen there on average. The children are town's children. He had been several times and never seen more than 14 out of about 40 at the school.


BD99FDEE-7C6B-4A96-84A0-8E9D3B800A8F.jpeg7E4F1241-AC54-4AC3-8563-41AD160E6576.jpeg4335B660-D918-4322-A02E-E6A0C78CAA9D.jpeg001D87E1-1DE4-4C2C-BEB9-77A782FB70B8.jpeg861624CD-B73F-4B6F-B358-9A970F6850B5.jpeg
 
Pedrocut said:
George Smith, the “Children’s Friend” is mentioned in the above post, and in July 1884 he appeared before the Select Committee to enquire into the Canal Boats Amendment Act 1877. The proceedings were recorded in the Birmingham Daily Post which can be read in the thumbnails. There are references to Birmingham.

George is grilled over his estimation of 100,000 people being employed on canal boats, and the number of children of school age being 30,000. He refers to boats that do not come within the Act, and are without inspection, saying that between Birmingham and Wolverhampton you meet them almost every few yards.

He is queried on the question of overwork of children, having stated that a boy had told him he had driven between Birmingham and Worcester many a time. The distance of the boy’s walk being about 30 miles.

He had heard of school managers who objected to receiving boat children, and when asked about the school at Birmingham for the education of boat dhildren he stated that the children are not all boat children. There were about a dozen there on average. The children are town's children. He had been several times and never seen more than 14 out of about 40 at the school.


View attachment 176383View attachment 176384View attachment 176385View attachment 176386View attachment 176387
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This is the result of a casualised, unregulated labour force.
 
The employers were able to take advantage of this workforce due to many agricultural and workers in small industries in small towns and villages who left to work in cities where they believed the "grass was greener". Sometimes it was, other times less so. Often the BHF searches for family history refer many times to people from other parts of the uĸ and Ireland.
 
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Pedrocut said:
There are other threads concerning Birmingham boatmen, but not a general one about the conditions of work.

This picture from the British Waterways Board and featuring in the book “The great days of the canals” by Burton, Anthony (1995) shows a group of Birmingham boatmen in 1895 who were either on reduced or no pay when the canal froze. Sometimes they were reduced to collecting on the streets.

The Birmingham Daily Post, 9th February 1895…

“During yesterday a number of frozen out boatmen paraded the streets with a boat upon a cart. They were sent out from the Boatmen's Hall, and all money collected is distributed by the officials.”

View attachment 176251
Click to expand...

The first picture in the thread looks to be outside the Boatman's Hall, which was opened in 1879 on Worcester Wharf, near Bridge Street. It is described as three stories high and contains on the ground floor a large coffee room for men, with lavatory and drying room. Also a coffee room for women with lavatories and kitchen.

As Tinpot informs in Post 14 there were philanthropic families who contributed to the improvement of the conditions of the Boatmen and their families. The Boatman's Hall was opened by Miss Ryland.

en.wikipedia.org

Louisa Ryland - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Pedrocut said:
The first picture in the thread looks to be outside the Boatman's Hall, which was opened in 1879 on Worcester Wharf, near Bridge Street. It is described as three stories high and contains on the ground floor a large coffee room for men, with lavatory and drying room. Also a coffee room for women with lavatories and kitchen.

As Tinpot informs in Post 14 there were philanthropic families who contributed to the improvement of the conditions of the Boatmen and their families. The Boatman's Hall was opened by Miss Ryland.

en.wikipedia.org

Louisa Ryland - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...
Louisa Ryland deserves a thread of her own.
barfordheritage website sets out a lot of detail about her family and philanthropy.
 
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