Occupation - 'Waterman' in 1851

[CarolA3]

Hello

Charles WRIGHT, aged 60, was living in Crompton Street in St Mary's parish, Warwick in 1851.  The census gives his occupation as 'waterman'.  (HO107/2073/382/26)  I can't find him in 1841.

He witnessed a marriage at St Paul's in 1858 (occup. box maker), and then was buried there in 1859.  The address on those records is also Crompton Street so apparently he was there for some years.

What would a waterman do in Warwick at that time?  Might he have operated a ferry over the river?  If there was such a thing, would there be any records?

Any ideas gratefully received

Carol

[iluleah]

Worked on the canals and waterways..... if he is anything like my watermen they are missing in most census....as they are away on their boat working

[CarolA3]

Thanks iluleah, and apologies for the delay

I'll probably never know for sure, but it just struck me as unlikely that he'd have an address in town if he was away on a boat.  I was entertaining vague hopes of a ferry licence with personal details including place/date of birth

Carol

[iluleah]

.......... but it just struck me as unlikely that he'd have an address in town if he was away on a boat.  I was entertaining vague hopes of a ferry licence with personal details including place/date of birth

Carol

Hey nothing wrong with being confident and hoping to find records...... if you don't look you will never know. Some watermen lived on their boats along with their family full time and baptised their children at churches en route.
I was told when I was looking for mine that a particular church was well known for baptising water boatmans children.
Mine, their wife/children lived in a home, men went off to work but I 'lost' the men I could never find out where they died or were buried just that their wife declared on the census they were a widow  although that can be a lie of course as I did find one set up with another family in another town.

A couple of links which might help
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=12557.0
http://www.henleynews.co.uk/WCC/RINGsJan07.pdf

[CarolA3]

Thanks for the links, it's stupidly late here so I'll look at them tomorrow

Carol

[keyboard86]

Hi at present cannot locate Charles but at Crompton Street, St Mary Warwick in 1841 were a William 70 and Mary Wright 65 with a Joseph & Alice King?
Census Ref HO107/1155/ 2/13 / 19
Keyboard86

[CarolA3]

Thanks Keyboard86, I'd noticed them but can't link them to my family at the moment.  There's also a Mary, widow age 84, in that street in 1861 but she's a former schoolmistress born Worcs - again no apparent link.

I knew rowing boats and punts were used as foot ferries on the Thames etc in Oxfordshire/Berkshire (I seem to remember using one near my high school!), and assumed the same sort of thing happened on the Avon.

Carol

[jim1]

Most watermen/bargemen lived on land being away a number of nights depending on distance to port. Sometimes wives & children travelled but more often than not stayed at home.
If he'd been a ferryman he would have been described as such.
My barge owner families are all described as watermen.
It could be quite labour intensive as on rivers there wasn't always a towpath & boats had to be pulled by hewers.
To answer your question Warwick is pretty much on the canal system which joined the Severn & the Avon to B'ham.
Take a look at the 13 locks at Hatton to give you an idea why he probably became a box maker.

[CarolA3]

Thanks Jim, I've come round to the idea that he was indeed a waterman, in the sense of moving goods around on the rivers and canals.

In the meantime I've been making good use of my new Ancestry sub to check out some other details about this family, and the most unexpected thing has turned up.  Charles senr. had a son, Charles jnr., who married his first wife Martha in Cirencester in 1844 - I knew that (thanks to RootsChat!) and found the PR last week.

But tonight I looked for the marriage of Charles senr. and Mary, his wife in 1851.  All I had was her approximate birth year and a birthplace of Devoran, Cornwall (again, thanks to RootsChat!).  I decided to start with Cornwall, then Devon, then Somerset - no Charles Wright marriages anywhere - not surprised.  Next came Gloucestershire - and there he was, marrying Mary Clements as a widower

How can I be so sure it's him?  Because on the facing page in the Cirencester register, on the same day in 1844 and with the same witnesses, there's Charles junr. marrying Martha

So now I know that Charles senr. was married before, I've found a probable death for his first wife Harriet who was the mother of Charles junr.  That part all happened in Oxford.

And what connects Warwick, Oxford, and Cirencester?  Canals and rivers

(Sorry to bang on about it, but OH is watching a movie with headphones on and there's no-one else to share this amazing breakthrough with.  I'll stop now.)

Thanks heaps to all of you for your good guidance

Carol