shropshire union railway carrying co records

[ann.pitts]

i have tried numerous places looking for these records of boatmen.
does anyone know where i can find these records ive tried ellesmere port gloucester waterways
ann

[Jan1954]

It looks like the National Archives has something:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=B12485

I hope that this helps,

[Alan Welsford]

Ann,

I think it's exact title is probably

"Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Co" although Access to Archives has some stuff indexed under "Shropshire Union Railway & Canal Co", (i.e. no "s" on Railway), so if you are searching online, it's worth trying both.

A2A looks like it might turn up a tiny bit of staff related stuff, but only for a 2 year span, and probably only for engineers.

Ellesmere Port has archived minutes of SURCC proceedings, but no sign of much else, (but I think you have already found that).

It rather looks like no staff records survive.

However, do you know your boatmen actually worked for the SURCC, please ?

I don't know to what extent that company would have operated it's own boats, if at all.

Also I thought I recalled that your lot were from the Kidderminster area, (i.e. on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal). I don't think, (but may be wrong), that was ever under the ownership of SURCC, (although perhaps they operated a wharf or depot there?).

I'd be interested what links Kidderminster based boatmen, (if I've got that right), to employment by Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Co.

I'm always happy to learn about the canals, so if I've made some wrong assumptions, please say!

Alan

[Alan Welsford]

It looks like the National Archives has something:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=B12485

I hope that this helps,
Jan,

I think the only one that might contain staff records is listed thus...

"1855-1857: abstract of journal of mechanics time (list of employees, days worked and wages received)"

and that only covers a 3 year period, and on the face of it, only for engineers, not other staff.

But then catalogue descriptions don't always tell the whole story....

[Jan1954]

Alan - yes, you're probably right, but it was worth a shot. :(

[ann.pitts]

alan
the info i had back from ellesmere port was that william and ellen daughter born august 1899 were on surcc no name of boat given.
so i then had a link to which boat company he was on even though they are from kidderminster three of their children were born at moxley and elsie may was christened at st marys wolverhampton so it is difficult to track his whereabouts
i find the national archives site the most difficult site to find my way round.
i am aware that there are such records kept of logs registers of boatmen and their families but as yet been unable to find any
in 1881 william was on boat mary 1881 census
ann

[Alan Welsford]

OK fair enough.

Are you sure they were in a SURCC owned or operated boat, (as opposed to a boat which was operating on the Shropshire Union Canal, and which might have been for any company) ?

As far as SURCC staff records go, if somewhere like Ellesmere Port can't advise you where records might be, and nothing appears in the A2A catalogue, I rather fear there may be none.

If any inspiration strikes, I'll post again.

(If you happen to find anywhere that may have records of boatmen that seemed to be based in Aylesbury, Bucks, perhaps you would be good enough to pass it on :o)

Alan

[Alan Welsford]

This looks more promising.

If the link works, please look at first 3 items listed, but also some more further down the results

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/search/quick_search.aspx?search_text=%22shropshire+union% 22+staff

It's not obvious if these are the records of railway employees, canal employees, or both.

These records are at the National Archives, Kew

Note that as well as a Staff Register 1862 - 1897, there is also an index to the same, so for those dates, at least, your chances of easily locating a name might be considerably enhanced over having to scan an entire collection to see if it has what you want.

Alan

[water fairy]

Have you tried stoke bruerne. Think they have records. I have connections to Diggory, Humphries/Ralph/Ward/Wilson/Carter/tilley boat families, Birmingham, Oxford and everywhere in between. Particularly hunting Diggorys at the moment - any of you out there?!!