Hello list Can anyone tell me if there is a register of boatmen? I am particularly interested in the Leeds & Liverpool canal and the surnames BLUNDELL and ROTHWELL. If anyone has any information about any of these I would be very grateful. Barbara Brick

Barbara I'm only just beginning this line of enquiry, but ... Aside from the census data being reported to this list, you might want to try: Boat Museum, Ellesmere Port www.boatmuseum.org.uk National Waterways Museum, Gloucester www.nwm.org.uk Mike Stevens' Inland Waterways Page www.mike-stevens.co.uk Mike Stevens of the latter site sent me the following: "The Canal Boats Acts of 1874 and 1880 (if I remember the dates correstly) compelled all canal boats which contained living accomodation to register with a local authority in order to enforce the standards for such accomodation laid down in the Acts. One source of information is therefore these registers, which are likely still to be in the archives of the Local Authority concerned. "Boats were also registered with canal companies for purposes of tolls. These registrations generated two sets of data. Each canal company would have had a central register of boats trading regularly on its waters, with a list of the tonnages it carried at various depths of loading. Also individual toll offices kept daily logs of what boats they dealt with. These would usually give the boat name, the steere's name and the owner's name. I don't think that either source of data survived fully, but the best places to start asking questionms about them is the National Waterways Museum in Gloucester or the Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port, each of whiuch has extensive archives. There's no need to approach them both, as they collaborate on their archives. I think that the central base for this is now at Ellesmere Port." Ellesmere port have just helped mw with a search. Depending on which bit of the canal you're after you might also want to try the Leeds and Liverpool lists. Regards Craig PS If it's the Liverpool end you want I crossed it twice a day on the way to and from school. Also might be able to help on the Blundell front. -----Original Message----- From: BarbaraBrick@aol.com [mailto:BarbaraBrick@aol.com] Sent: 28 November 2001 17:18 To: CANAL-PEOPLE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [CANAL-PEOPLE] Register of boat people Hello list Can anyone tell me if there is a register of boatmen? I am particularly interested in the Leeds & Liverpool canal and the surnames BLUNDELL and ROTHWELL. If anyone has any information about any of these I would be very grateful. Barbara Brick ==== CANAL-PEOPLE Mailing List ==== Have you used Tree Tops? The Free FAMILY TREE & WE'LL MEET AGAIN SERVICE http://freespace.virgin.net/tree.tops ============================== Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 Source for Family History Online. Go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=702&sourceid=1237