Annie Murray, author

Scrapbook

A Boatman’s Family

A couple of years ago, when I was speaking in a library in Walsall, I was approached by a couple from the audience, a Mr and Mrs Jones. They said they had enjoyed my two stories set on the canals in and around Birmingham, The Narrowboat Girl and Water Gypsies.

Right, Ellen Beechy (nee Humphries) – Graham Jones' Nan. Click image to enlarge.

Graham Jones went on to tell me that he had been the child of a boatman’s family, who had been forced to leave it for a life on the bank when trade dried up in the 1950s. Graham was kind enough not only to send me some photographs of his family who worked ‘the cut’ for Fellows, Morton and Clayton, but also to give me permission to include these lovely and interesting pictures in this website.

Above left: David Jones, Boatman – Graham's Dad; Above right: Clara Jones (nee Beechy) - Graham’s Mom. Click the images to enlarge.

He also sent me copies of his mother Clara’s birth certificate. Clara’s birth in 1917 was registered at Banbury and her father is recorded as ‘Driver. Royal Garrison Artillery, and Canal Boatman,’ And Graham’s own birth certificate from Birmingham in 1946 records his father’s profession as: Canal Boat ‘Spain,’ Fellows Morton and Clayton, Fazeley Street, Birmingham. The mothers’ ‘rank or profession’ is of course not recorded!

Above, a detail from Clara's birth certificate.
Click the image to see the whole certificate.