WARWICK-L Archives

Archiver > WARWICK > 2005-02 > 1107814100


From: "Ann Gardner" <>
Subject: Re: Fw: [WAR] History of B'ham/Worcester canals
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 22:08:34 -0000
References: <002001c50b7f$58318680$0bdd0252@intelp3600> <Prayer.1.0.10.0502051312220.9454@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk> <00b301c50b87$a452d6b0$0302a8c0@HP> <Prayer.1.0.10.0502051706040.24539@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk>


> If anyone has evidence (advertisements for passenger carrying, etc.) in
Warwickshire (or the midlands generally), this would be very interesting.
The accounts of the midland canals do not disclose evidence for passenger
carrying (although that isn't conclusive, as the income might have been
contained in some more general head). Someone might, however, come across
such advertisements when browsing local newspapers.

Hi All

Some time ago, I was kindly sent a copy of an article relating to "packet"
boats in the Midlands during my research into MONKs. There was also a
poster of "The Euphrates Packet" which I am happy to send to anyone off list
if they are interested. The article is reproduced below.

Ann


Passengers and Parcels

Generally speaking, we tend to associate the activity of narrow boats -
especially in the Black Country - with the business of cargo carrying,
usually of coal, iron and other bulk materials. So it is surprising to
learn that there were in places regular passenger (plus parcels) carrying
craft, known as packets. C.S. Forester, in one of his novels about the
fictitious seafaring character of Horatio Hornblower, sets at least one
chapter to such a journey during the year of Nelson's death (1805).

In the Midlands though we had a larger than life character, by the name of
Thomas Monk, who ran among other ventures, a regular packet service on the
Birmingham Canal Navigation's. Thomas Monk, born in 1765, was only a
teenager when the canal age was in full swing, but he was quick to grasp the
potential of this new technology. His predecessors had been barge builders,
in the rapidly expanding town on the Severn at Stourport. Thomas however
became much more interested in the narrow boats that were coming down into
Stourport along the Staffs and Worcestershire canal. This interest was to
take him into the boat building and carrying businesses, and Thomas is
credited with the development of cabins at the rear of the narrow boat.
These cabins were, over time, to evolve from a crude shelter and storage
area for animal feed, into living quarters (albeit tiny) for a man and his
wife, and in many cases, several children.

Thomas had eight sons (only one daughter) who he trained in the boat
building trade, and this enterprising man ultimately became responsible for
running a fleet of 130 boats. His great-grandson, a Mr John Mills, gives us
some interesting insights into his great-grandfather's character, relating
an event when some of his boats were detained in London due to a labour
dispute. Without waiting for any more details, Thomas - a man of action -
was off along the towpath (a distance of around 140 miles) to sort things
out. Thomas was a doer, not just a talker. A hard worker himself, he
expected his men to also work hard, but equally, when work was short, he
wouldn't see any of his employees go without, he would assist them
financially and even feed them. The business grew, and his boats were so
identifiable that they came to be called "Monkey boats", a term that stuck
with the canal people for many years.

But, returning to our theme of passenger transport boats, we read in an
advertisement from a Midlands newspaper, of Thomas Monk's boat "The
Euphrates Packet" and its three day a week run, from Tipton to Birmingham.
This service, starting in the early 1820s was to run for the next twenty
five years. When it started, the short-cut of Thomas Telford's Island Line,
from Tipton to West Bromwich, hadn't been built, and the route was therefore
along the old main line, with stops at Tipton Green, Dudley Port (Dudley
Port has of recent years moved from its original location, to where the rail
station now stands), Tividale, Oldbury, Spon Lane, Smethwick and Winson
Green, with its terminus at the Waggon & Horses - Friday Bridge, Birmingham.
A ticket was one shilling and sixpence (first class).

This journey, of nine and a half miles, was scheduled to take two hours,
which by all accounts was pretty quick. There were three locks encountered
on the way, and if you allow ten minutes per lock, which is itself fast,
then this alone consumes half an hour. And even though the "Euphrates" had
a sleek hull, and was pulled by a team of horses, they must have been
travelling at six miles an hour at least. I have no doubts that it was
quite an exciting journey into work and back. Nevertheless, with four hours
of travel in one day, it does seem to point a finger at the poor state of
road transport at that time, even between these two well-developed towns in
the mid 1800s.

The "Euphrates" extended its journey twice, first as far as Coseley, when
the start point was Wallbrook, and a newly established inn was named "The
Packet Inn". Perhaps that is where the Black Country phrase "I wish yode
packet in" comes from. Ten years later the complete route went all the way
from Wolverhampton and on into Birmingham.

Thomas died at the age of seventy-nine, in 1843, and was suitably buried in
St Thomas's churchyard, Dudley. The Black Country lost a notable character,
and only a few years later the work of the packet boats came to an end with
the opening of the Stour Valley rail link in 1852.

This thread: