David, I also have an interest in Canal Workers, in particular Stephen WALKER, who was born about 1771. I have no history for him before 1805 when he appears in the Baptism Register for St Nicholas, Deptford baptising a child. In the same year he also first appears in the Taxation Schedule for Deptford. In the Baptism Register he is shown as a Navigator and therefore my line of enquiry would be to investigate where he might have worked on canal construction prior to 1805. Would you be able to give me any leads? I know that many of the construction camps would have been in quite remote areas. Would they have been expected to go to the local church for baptisms, weddings and funerals or would the local clergy have come out to the camps? Would such workers have been the focus of attention of non-conformist clergy or did they confine their activities to middle class families? Would you have any ideas about what he might have been working on in Deptford in 1805? I was wondering if the Dockyard was being extended to cope with the demands of the Napoleonic War. Many thanks, Gerry Sent from my iPad > On 4 Apr 2014, at 15:35, David Beakhust <dave@beakhust.com> wrote: > > A difficult area to research, as the gangs were mobile, progressing along > .....

I think this coincides in date with the beginning of the grand surrey canal, authorised by parliament in 1803 according to wikipedia. Like a lot of canal schemes, this one petered out after a few years and never made money. Later railway schemes put the last nail in the coffin. Not sure about posting links on here so i have stripped off the hotel tango tango papa prefix! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Surrey_Canal You will note there is a little map there, showing the canal heading from a dock at rotherhithe towards and through deptford then turning sharp right to head west. The canal did not come to much, and the dock was more lucrative. The dock was modified in 1804, affecting one of the locks, so i guess work would have started in 1803 and continued through 1804 and on until at least 1807. Your man may well have been involved in digging or extending the dock, though it is a fair walk from deptford! If you google "canal deptford" you will find another link where traces of the canal can be followed on the ground, including a bollard on top of a road cutting! If he was in a taxation register, is he shown as a proprietor/property owner, or just as someone elses tenant? It suggests either way that he was resident, rather than living in a camp. Indeed in that area there may have been enough local manpower not to import many (although i think it was primarily market gardening that side of the thames). If born in 1771, did he live long enough to appear in the 41 census? He would be 70, so not very likely. Also post 37 death registers did not initially put age in the index. Grrr! Can you follow the child(ren) in the census, esp in the 51 census, where place of birth should be given? Maybe that is how you got to him.... As a general rule no canal building took place after 1830, the croydon canal being one of the very last, but that was swiftly taken over by a railway (west croydon station is more or less in a canal basin and some walls are original!) Canals started after 1800 or so were not generally profitable, never finished, or were closed and their routes taken by railways from Victoria's accession onwards. Not sure about the navvies religious practices. I think in some areas missions went out to navvy camps, but this may have been where they were seen as heathens in need of saving, and a bad influence on the area, best kept in the camps and out of town. In the deptford area they would have been right on top of the town (unlike the situation in some northern and midland areas where the canal went through open country,and tiny villages grew to towns on the back of the canal).Catholic worship was lawful then, and if they had time, maybe Irish navvies would have attended now and again, but nobody had much time off, so this would be confined to major events (i would think) rather than weekly worship. Look up the books listed in the bibliography. I am slightly familiar with the hadfield book but not the other. If in the south east, your library may have it, or you should be able to get titles on inter library loan. This kind of research is likely to involve a degree of legwork! Generally, googling "canal" with a place name usually reveals links to canal(s) to or through or near those places, including the many canal schemes that never (or hardly) got out of the ground. Happy navigating! Dave Beakhust On 4 April 2014 16:35:33 Gerry <gerrynuk@gmail.com> wrote: > David, > > I also have an interest in Canal Workers, in particular Stephen WALKER, who was born about 1771. I have no history for him before 1805 when he appears in the Baptism Register for St Nicholas, Deptford baptising a child. In the same year he also first appears in the Taxation Schedule for Deptford. > > In the Baptism Register he is shown as a Navigator and therefore my line of enquiry would be to investigate where he might have worked on canal construction prior to 1805. Would you be able to give me any leads? > > I know that many of the construction camps would have been in quite remote areas. Would they have been expected to go to the local church for baptisms, weddings and funerals or would the local clergy have come out to the camps? Would such workers have been the focus of attention of non-conformist clergy or did they confine their activities to middle class families? > > Would you have any ideas about what he might have been working on in Deptford in 1805? I was wondering if the Dockyard was being extended to cope with the demands of the Napoleonic War. > > Many thanks, > > Gerry > > Sent from my iPad > > > On 4 Apr 2014, at 15:35, David Beakhust <dave@beakhust.com> wrote: > > > > A difficult area to research, as the gangs were mobile, progressing along > > ..... > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOG-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

David, Thank you very much for your very informative reply. I think it very possible that Stephen WALKER was working on the Grand Surrey Canal. He is just shown as tenant in the Taxation Schedule but interestingly, when he died in 1833, the person taking over the letting was a John WALKER. He may, of course, have been unrelated but I suspect he was Stephen's oldest son although he is not one of the 6 children baptised in Deptford. I've not found John Walker in the 1841 Census yet, nor his mother Elizabeth, although I have managed to trace most of the children baptised in Deptford. Unfortunately that hasn't been much help to tracking down Stephen, his wife, Elizabeth or his possible first son, John. Vivien, Thank you for your information. This has given me a possible clue to where John WALKER may have been born and perhaps where his parents married. Does anyone have information about any canals or sections of canals that were finished in or around 1805? Regards, Gerry gerrynuk@gmail.com On 4 Apr 2014, at 18:39, David Beakhust <dave@beakhust.com> wrote: > I think this coincides in date with the beginning of the grand surrey > canal, authorised by parliament in 1803 according to wikipedia. Like a lot > of canal schemes, this one petered out after a few years and never made > money. Later railway schemes put the last nail in the coffin. > Not sure about posting links on here so i have stripped off the hotel tango > tango papa prefix! > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Surrey_Canal > You will note there is a little map there, showing the canal heading from a > dock at rotherhithe towards and through deptford then turning sharp right > to head west. > The canal did not come to much, and the dock was more lucrative. The dock > was modified in 1804, affecting one of the locks, so i guess work would > have started in 1803 and continued through 1804 and on until at least 1807. > Your man may well have been involved in digging or extending the dock, > though it is a fair walk from deptford! If you google "canal deptford" you > will find another link where traces of the canal can be followed on the > ground, including a bollard on top of a road cutting! > If he was in a taxation register, is he shown as a proprietor/property > owner, or just as someone elses tenant? It suggests either way that he was > resident, rather than living in a camp. Indeed in that area there may have > been enough local manpower not to import many (although i think it was > primarily market gardening that side of the thames). > If born in 1771, did he live long enough to appear in the 41 census? He > would be 70, so not very likely. Also post 37 death registers did not > initially put age in the index. Grrr! Can you follow the child(ren) in the > census, esp in the 51 census, where place of birth should be given? Maybe > that is how you got to him.... > As a general rule no canal building took place after 1830, the croydon > canal being one of the very last, but that was swiftly taken over by a > railway (west croydon station is more or less in a canal basin and some > walls are original!) Canals started after 1800 or so were not generally > profitable, never finished, or were closed and their routes taken by > railways from Victoria's accession onwards. > > Not sure about the navvies religious practices. > I think in some areas missions went out to navvy camps, but this may have > been where they were seen as heathens in need of saving, and a bad > influence on the area, best kept in the camps and out of town. In the > deptford area they would have been right on top of the town (unlike the > situation in some northern and midland areas where the canal went through > open country,and tiny villages grew to towns on the back of the > canal).Catholic worship was lawful then, and if they had time, maybe Irish > navvies would have attended now and again, but nobody had much time off, so > this would be confined to major events (i would think) rather than weekly > worship. > Look up the books listed in the bibliography. I am slightly familiar with > the hadfield book but not the other. If in the south east, your library may > have it, or you should be able to get titles on inter library loan. > This kind of research is likely to involve a degree of legwork! > Generally, googling "canal" with a place name usually reveals links to > canal(s) to or through or near those places, including the many canal > schemes that never (or hardly) got out of the ground. > Happy navigating! > > Dave Beakhust > > > > > On 4 April 2014 16:35:33 Gerry <gerrynuk@gmail.com> wrote: > >> David, >> >> I also have an interest in Canal Workers, in particular Stephen WALKER, > who was born about 1771. I have no history for him before 1805 when he > appears in the Baptism Register for St Nicholas, Deptford baptising a > child. In the same year he also first appears in the Taxation Schedule for > Deptford. >> >> In the Baptism Register he is shown as a Navigator and therefore my line > of enquiry would be to investigate where he might have worked on canal > construction prior to 1805. Would you be able to give me any leads? >> >> I know that many of the construction camps would have been in quite > remote areas. Would they have been expected to go to the local church for > baptisms, weddings and funerals or would the local clergy have come out to > the camps? Would such workers have been the focus of attention of > non-conformist clergy or did they confine their activities to middle class > families? >> >> Would you have any ideas about what he might have been working on in > Deptford in 1805? I was wondering if the Dockyard was being extended to > cope with the demands of the Napoleonic War. >> >> Many thanks, >> >> Gerry >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >>> On 4 Apr 2014, at 15:35, David Beakhust <dave@beakhust.com> wrote: >>> >>> A difficult area to research, as the gangs were mobile, progressing along >>> ..... >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SOG-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOG-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message