GLOUCESTER DOCKS - Key Persons
Son of Thomas Priday, moved from Sims Bridge and served for 50 years, making a total of 57 years with the Canal Company.
Formerly under-foreman in the Dock Company's stevedore section, he served as bridgeman for over 30 years.
Alfred Tudor (right) followed William Boulton jnr at Cambridge Arms Bridge and remained there for twenty years.
Succeeded his father Charles and retired at age 70 after serving for almost 50 years. As well opening the bridge, he also looked after the nearby dry dock and carbide store.
Job Titles:
- Became Dock Master at Gloucester
Charles Boulton and his son Bernard (pictured right) served Hempsted Bridge for almost 85 years. For other members of the Boulton family, see Purton to Fretherne.
Son of William Boulton of Cambridge Arms Bridge. He died in service after serving 35 years.
Charles Edwards was in charge when the lock was modified in 1892 to accommodate larger barges. Previously, vessels had passed through two locks separated by an intermediate set of gates, the recesses of which can still be seen. As part of a larger scheme to improve the Severn navigation, the lower chamber and part of the upper chamber was deepened so that larger barges could be passed through. In the same year, the lock house was enlarged by adding a second storey to the rear part of the house. Evidently inspired by the sight of the vessels that visited the docks, Charles Edwards bought the schooner Flying Dutchman, 47 tons reg, but sadly she was lost with all hands on a voyage from Liverpool to Bridgwater in February 1902. Later, after 35 years as lock keeper, he died in service aged 63.
Soon after Colin Turner took over, the lock and lock house were threatened by the biggest river flood since the canal was constructed. The stop gates at the river end of the lock were closed to prevent the dock being flooded, and as the water level continued to rise, additional planks were fitted on top of the gates and sandbags were laid on top of the stonework. In the event, the level peaked just below the top of the stonework and the flood-water was just kept out of the dock. Colin Turner became a manager in the Dock Office.
Served for 30 years until he was considered unsafe to employ after having had a fit.
Job Titles:
- Dismissed for Lending His Bridge Key
Customs and Excise officer Harry Baker and his family lived at No 12 Dock Row, Sharpness, from 1937 to 1946. This page highlights some of his son's memories of that period.
Henry Long had been bridgeman at Hempsted. In his first year a new office was built at the north end of the lock house, replacing a former office at the south end. In 1880, the Canal Company management became concerned about some irregularities in Henry Long's accounts, and he immediately admitted that he had not recorded all the money he had received. He was taken before the magistrates on a token charge of retaining £6 paid when the Severn Commission's dredger had passed through the lock after repairs in the dry dock, and he was sentenced to three months hard labour.
Henry Smith (right) was a canal pilot for forty years. His father died when he was a baby, and his mother married her cousin Thomas Woodward, a canal pilot who also established the Pilot Inn at Purton. In his early twenties, Henry became the mate of the passenger steamer Wave, but he soon joined his step-father in piloting ships along the canal. He later moved to Gloucester and continued as a pilot whilst also running various public houses in Gloucester. Meanwhile, his step-father's son James Woodward also became a canal pilot and later inherited the Pilot Inn at Purton.
Job Titles:
- Owner of Coasting Vessels
James Herbert rose from humble beginnings to become a leading figure in the dying days of the Severn Vale shipping community that was based around the villages of Frampton, Saul and Arlingham. This community of sailing vessel owners and crews had developed during the nineteenth century near to the junction of the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal and the Stroudwater Canal.
James's father Thomas was an agricultural labourer who moved to the area shortly before James was born in 1850, but James followed many local young men in choosing a life afloat, and other members of his family followed his example.
James Herbert evidently prospered with his busy life, and in 1891 he was able to purchase his first vessel. The barge John of 72 tons register, with successive local men as master, traded across the Bristol Channel, sailing between Newport, Bristol, Cardiff and Weston super Mare. Two years later James purchased the barge Volunteer, and with his eldest son Benjamin as master, this carried Forest coal from the railway tip at Sharpness to Stroud gas works. Three years later Volunteer was replaced by the barge Wherry Packet, which continued the same traffic. During this period, James's younger brother Charles was also afloat, as master of barges owned by the Field family carrying coal from Bullo Pill to wharves along the Stroudwater Canal.
James Herbert replaced the John with the smaller trow Victory, 37 tons register, and this he used to trade between Newport, Bristol, Chepstow and Bridgwater. On some of these trips, he was accompanied by one or more of his younger sons, Arthur, John and James jnr, until he handed over command to his son-in-law William Halling in 1910. By this time, he had also purchased vessels for other members of his family. His son Joseph became master of the Bridgwater registered ketch Two Brothers (pictured right at Bridgwater), his son William became master of the barge Perseverance, trading between Bristol, Lydney, Chepstow and Newport, and the Wherry Packet was replaced by the Endeavour taking coal from the Sharpness tip to Stroud gas works. Meanwhile his eldest son Benjamin continued as master of the Reliance, still taking coal from Newport to Stroud gas works.
Wife Maria drowned while opening the bridge one night while he was away. After over 30 years service, he died after falling into the hold of a vessel.
During the 1960s, there was a dramatic run-down in the transport of goods by water due to strong competition from rail and road transport, and daily life for John Jones became much easier than for his predecessors. The decline in commercial traffic was to some extent offset by an increasing use of the lock by pleasure craft, and this set the pattern for the future.
Reg Hunt and Lil Hunt
Son of Thomas Hunt. When he took another job on the canal, his wife became bridge-keeper.
Richard Goscombe had been sergeant in charge of the Canal Company's watchmen. He served as lock keeper for over 30 years before retiring with a pension, aged 75.
Job Titles:
- Formerly at Parkend Bridge. Total Service 35 Years
During Sidney Eades's time as lock keeper, the number of tanker and dry-cargo barges passing though each day was so great that delays became significant. To ease the bottleneck, a new road bridge was built across the lock, only the second aluminium bridge in the country, and hydraulic equipment was installed to speed up operation of the lock. With a further increase in traffic expected, plans were drawn up for a second lock which would have required pulling down part of the North Warehouse, but in the event this was not required.
Job Titles:
- Became Deputy Harbour Master at Sharpness
Son of Isaac Boulton of Sandfield Bridge, served for almost 50 years and retired on pension.
Thomas Cox was the first resident of the house beside the lock which was built in 1826. As well as collecting tolls on traffic through the lock, he was also responsible for collecting wharfage dues on goods left on the public wharves around the basin. Due to ill health, he retired with a small pension, aged 73.
Thomas Dowell probably began work on the small sailing craft that brought coal to his home town of Berkeley, but in November 1853 he set off on his big adventure. He signed on as an ordinary seaman on the Gloucester based barque Rory Brown, on which his uncle William Smith was cook. When the ship reached Melbourne the following March, he and two other men ‘jumped ship', leaving his seaman's chest on board. His mother Sarah later wrote that William Smith had 'sold your chest for 5s and brought the money for me. He told us the Captain did not say very much about your leaving - only [that he] was in a fine way when he first found it out'. Thomas was evidently owed money by a pilot when he left, but the port went through a bad time during the early 1850s as the Crimean War reduced trade, and his aunt Elizabeth Smith wrote ‘Your mother cannot get the money from J Pick that was owing to you [as] there is no work for the pilots at the port, I suppose owing to this War'.
Thomas Pilkington was toll clerk at Gloucester before being promoted to lock keeper. During his time, there was a huge growth in traffic on the river from 139,518 tons of cargo in 1925 to 435,934 tons in 1945, mainly due to the dramatic development of the transport of petroleum products. By the time of his retirement, he had been lock keeper for almost 30 years.
Son of Albert Priday. By the time of his retirement, three generations of Pridays had served the bridge for 122 years.
Walter Davis of Purton was a canal pilot for over twenty years, but his licence was withdrawn after a couple of incidents. First he was fined ten shillings for a breach of regulations, and then after a ship in his charge was badly damaged, his licence was permanently withdrawn. In spite of this experience, five of his sons followed him as canal pilots, giving a cumulative service of over 160 years. Walter's eldest son Henry was in trouble when he allowed a tug to tow a vessel too fast and without ropes ashore, but there was no actual damage, and he was just suspended for a fortnight.
William Boulton was the first occupant of Cambridge Arms bridge house (picture right), and he was followed by his son William. Between them, they looked after the bridge for 75 years, and the bridge became firmly associated with the family name. Five other members of the family, spanning four generations, also served at other bridges. William senior's father Isaac was at Sandfield Bridge and may well have been one of the navvies who dug the canal - as Isaac's brother Edward certainly was. William senior's brothers Edward and Thomas were at Pegthorne and Parkend Bridges respectively, and his son Charles and grandson Bernard were at Hempsted Bridge.
William Reece snr died of cholera in July 1832 when there was an epidemic in the shanty town in nearby High Orchard.
William Reece jnr & Charlotte Reece
William Reece jnr succeeded his father, but as he was also assistant to the Dock Master, his mother usually attended to the bridge until she was removed due to her "improper management of the bridge".