I forwarded the information on boat owners George Webb etc. and I believe it was taken from the Canal Boat Inspection Registers. After the introduction of the Canal Boats Act, all canal boats had to be registered with the local authority, e.g. Banbury, and spot checks were carried out to ensure conditions were adequate for those living and working aboard. During the 19th century there was considerable public concern about health and education issues regarding the canal families, especially the children.
This a useful link for people researching canal families and provides more info on the registers, as well as other sources:
http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/collection/family-history.htmRe: the Skinners and Humphries. These are both well known boatmen' families on the Oxford canal and partial family trees have been published in Mary Prior's book, "Fisher Row". Unfortunately, the name Webb is not mentioned in this book, other than a Mr. H. L. Webb, who contributed his recollections of growing up in Fisher Row. His letter was dated 1977, and refers to 6 Fisher Row. I don't know if he had any connection to Webbs working on the canal in earlier years.
I'll look around in my notes to see what I can dig up.
