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The Story of Arthur and Annie Atkins

Annie Bickerton and Arthur Atkins were married on 6th June 1939 at Acton St Mary Church, Nantwich. They were both from local boating families and began their married life working the canals.

Arthur and Annie’s first daughter Phyllis was born on the Thomas Clayton (Oldbury) Ltd. horse boat ‘Leam’ at Ellesmere Port on 7th May 1940. This company specialised in the transport of gas tar, other liquid by-products from the manufacture of gas from coal. They supplied Midland Tar Distillers at both Oldbury and Banbury on the Oxford Canal, although the bulk of their traffic was in the Midlands. Another important contract was the transport of fuel oil and gas oil from Shell Mex at Stanlow, Ellesmere Port to Langley Green, near Oldbury. The boats were specially built tank boats, with decked over holds, fitted with hatches for loading and unloading.

Annie remembers that the boat was tied up next to the narrow locks during the birth. Arthur was despatched to the Toll House Offices to telephone for the local nurse to attend the birth. The family were tied up for a week before returning to work transporting fuel oil for the Stanlow Oil Refinery.

Annie was proud to gain certificates and prizes for having the cleanest boats in the Clayton fleet. This gave her the nickname ‘Flashy’. While Arthur was awarded the Royal Humane Society certificate for resuscitation for saving the life of a child on 20th February 1943.

Royal Humane Society Certificate presented to Arthur Atkins, 1943.

The Journals of Health Inspections support Annie’s memory that the family worked on many different boats during the 1940’s. They are listed on the ‘Bannon’ in April 1940 and the ‘Leam’ in July 1942. By1944, the expanding family were on board ‘Kama’, two further girls Joyce and Isabella (Bella) had been born.

The family came off the boats in 1945 and moved to a house in Ellesmere Port, so that the children could go to school. Arthur worked for Burnells, who had an iron galvanising business. Founded in 1883, they were one of the largest employers in the town and situated alongside the Shropshire Union Canal. Arthur died on 24th May 1992. Annie still enjoys reminiscing about her “life on the cut”, particularly her childhood.

Annie & Phyllis at the exact spot where the boat ‘Leam’
was moored during the birth.

Annie’s Family

Annie was born in Wolverhampton on 6th January 1919. Her parents Annie and William Bickerton worked for a number of different canal companies and Annie remembers the mixed cargoes they carried.

Annie (nee Evans) and William R (Rayner) Bickerton married on the 9th June 1908 at the Church of St Thomas, Kidsgrove, Staffordshire. Both the Evans and Bicketons were long-standing boating families. Annie and William had three children: Annie, her sister Emily and brother Edward (Ted), all of whom worked with their families on the canal. Boatmen and their families formed a close knit community and different generations of the same family would often work together. The Bickertons were known as the ‘Becks’ by other boaters.

A detailed study of company records, load lists, permits, cargo notes and toll tickets has helped piece together their life working. Annie and William were onboard ‘Ganges’ in 1935 and ‘Adder’ in 1936. By 1944 their main home was the motor-narrowboat ‘Towy‘ which was paired with the ‘Erne‘ in 1944, ‘Glen‘ in 1945, ‘Jardine‘ in 1946 and ‘Hebble‘ in 1949. This regular change of boats was common.

Cargo note for the ‘Erne’, October 1934.

Arthur’s Family

According to his birth certificate Arthur was born on 23rd September 1917, on the Canal Boat ‘Celtic’ at Ellesmere Port. This was an Anderton Company boat - registered at Runcorn No 851 on 22 April 1887. His parents were
William Atkins and Isabella Alice Clowes.

William and Isabella had at least eight children, the eldest, Joseph was born in 1896. Arthur was their youngest son. When Arthur’s siblings George (born 7th April 1909), Eliza Ann (born 24th November 1911) and Hannah (born 3rd July 1914) were admitted to John Street Infants School in Ellesmere Port, the
family was living on the Shropshire Union Canal Carrying Company boat, ‘Dee’. Their education was intermittent as the School Admission Register shows that they were re-admitted a number of times. By the time Arthur attended the school in October 1922, the family had moved to 1, Sunnyside. He was re-admitted in September 1924 but his father was still boating as Arthur had ‘gone to live on boats’ earlier that year.

Copy of Arthur Atkins’ birth certificate, 1917.

 William Atkins died when Arthur was about 15. Isabella soon remarried and became Mrs Keats, but Arthur did not get on with his step father and left home. After sleeping rough for a while, he found work on the boats before marrying Annie in 1939.

For at least four generations of boatmen and boatwomen, the Atkins, Clowes, Bickertons, and Evans worked the canals for over 100 years. Their story is a good example of how families survived “on the cut” during the 19th and 20th centuries.