That 1948 Date
As it says in our brochure and in most of the files on President’s history – ‘President’ was bought/transferred to/ taken over by British Waterways/Docks and Inland Waterways in late 1948 – but it appears not….
I confess I have never liked that date, because it is much too close to the Nationalisation. At the beginning, British Waterways must have been overwhelmed by old working boats. Why should they take over yet another one, in not terribly good condition, from the coal transport firm of George and Matthews (1924) Ltd, who were quite happily using it to carry coal down the Staffs and Worcs from Otherton Colliery to Stourport. A number of load tickets survive dated 1947. There is also a regauging of ‘President’ altering the owner to George & Matthews on 1.9.1948. Gauging sheets were often altered retrospectively, but this shows that the craft was still with G & M as late as September 1948.
There was a suggestion that George & Matthews were in financial trouble and owed British Waterways fees that they couldn’t pay, so BW took over the boat in lieu of payment. This was discounted, because there simply wasn’t time for it all to happen in the last three months of 1948.
Mr Alf Smith puts the final touches on the
cabin doors of the “President”, while
Mr J. T. Challinor brightens the lettering”
Our evidence for 1948 was based on a photograph of ‘President’ in Gorton Yard, Manchester “reliably” dated 1948, showing her being painted into British Waterways livery and said to have been published in the new Docks and Inland Waterways Magazine in that year. I have learnt from Robert Holmes that the picture came from a local Manchester paper in the 1950’s. A search of local papers at the Manchester Central Library led me to the Gorton & Openshaw Reporter (including the Droylsden and Clayton Herald) and finally to the issue of 18th September 1953.
There was the picture and an article entitled “Ruin hides a dry-dock at Openshaw”. The article included the information that “…Moored outside the dry dock this week is the 70ft motor barge “President” now undergoing the final stages of a complete overhaul. Forty years old, the vessel is powered by a single-cylinder diesel engine of a type seldom seen nowadays. Developing 18 h.p., the engine is primed by a device resembling a huge blow-lamp which raises the cylinder temperature to the required ignition point for starting. The boat, formerly a trading vessel, was built in the Midlands and now operates from Marple on maintenance work”
Although there is a slight doubt implied by the “now operates”, I am convinced that the boat had only recently been taken into BW’s ownership. This now allows not only the time for George and Matthews to get into difficulties (thus validating that report) but also makes sense of BW acquiring a craft for the maintenance fleet, five years having passed since the mass acquisition in 1948. I think also that it makes sense of the use of the British Waterways name being painted on the boat, instead of Docks and Inland Waterways.
Perhaps the last bit of evidence is the existence of a photograph of a boat (almost certainly an ex-steamer) being rebuilt in Gorton Yard in the early 1950’s. The photo is in the late Jim Peden’s collection and is reproduced below. I am sure it is President.
Last edited:- 06-Aug-2008