ENG-THAMESWATERMEN-L Archives

From:
Subject: LAYTON - watermen with two occupations
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 18:02:52 EDT

Hello Listers, Trevor Reeves has kindly given permission to reproduce on this
list the following which may interest some of you ( Please do not reproduce
the article , which is Trevor's copyright , without prior reference to him -
see the website below for further details).

No other family is known to have had as long an unbroken association with the
Company of Watermen as the Laytons. There has always been a Layton waterman
since the Great Fire; a fact commemorated by the Beadle Staff presented to the
Company in 1965 by the late Dudley Edward Layton, whose son, James Layton, is
the current Layton waterman. Some seem to have had other occupations
concurrently with that of watermen, or perhaps after they had ceased to be active
watermen. The first Michael was also a merchant; his grandson Thomas, who was
waterman (along with his brother, Nathaniel) to Caroline of Ansrach, is referred to
in the Indenture dated 1745, as a "gardner". (the produce gardens in and near
Kew helped provision London - we would today probably call Thomas a 'market
gardener'). John William Layton was a waterman (lighterman) and coal merchant.
Perhaps there were mainly merchants who found it profitable to own their own
water transport subsidiary, and for this purpose had to become licensed
watermen. Recent Laytons, though retaining the association with the Worshipful
Company, have not been involved in Thames traffic: William Layton (1845-1918) was a
press correspondent; his son, Edward Scott Stacy Layton (1880-1954) was a
businessman in the City; the late Dudley Edward Layton was an insurance
underwriter at Lloyds, as was his son, James Michael Layton.There is an early, if
tenuous link with Australia in the family. In 1798, the great naturalist, Sir Joseph
Banks, despatched to Australia a consignment of plants. He put them in the
care of a horticulturalist, Mr George Suttar, who was emigrating with his bride
to the colony. Suttar recorded his diary that the plants were transported on
the first stage of their journey, from Kew to Greenhithe "by a decked sailing
ship in charge of Mr Layton, the King's waterman". In 1798 there were two
Layton watermen, the brothers John and Thomas, but neither were "King's watermen.
Their father certainly had been; and their grandfather and great uncle had both
been royal watermen; Mr Suttar was evidently mistaken about the precise royal
appointments.

A family tree of Layton watermen, starting in about 1630 , appears on this
webpage:

http://www.book.co.nz/laysur.htm

Thanks to Trevor Reeves for the above.
Best wishes to all Listers,
Robert Hillier

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