Pairings - The Butty & The Steerers

The butty was the unpowered narrow boat, which was pulled along by the motorboat ahead. Motorboat ‘Dover’ was intended to be paired with butty number 270, called ‘Downham’ but there is no evidence to show they actually worked together. It is likely that ‘Dover’ was a change boat, as our narrow boat had many butties in its carrying time. A change boat is a back up boat in case any narrow boats broke down or needed maintenance.

Downham was a ‘large Ricky’, one of 62 wooden butties built by W.H. Walker & Bros of Rickmansworth, delivered like ‘Dover’ in February 1937 and registered (no. 173 Rickmansworth) on July 20th 1937. ‘Downham’ remained in carrying service until at least May 1958. British Waterways sold ‘Downham’ in 1961 to Floating Homes Ltd and became a houseboat. Only two of the dozen sold survived – ‘Downham’ wasn’t one of them.
According to our research, Fred Rice was a steerer on ‘Dover’ between 1944 and 1945. Between this time he had two butties – one called Chipstead and the other Denton. He regularly took the route from Brentford to Birmingham, Leamington or Digbeth. Grand Union traffic to Birmingham between 1944 and 1945 were for HP Sauce. They also carried tomato puree and other spices to this company.

Steerer T. Docherty worked Dover with the butty Gretna in the early 50s. Other butty narrow boats include Beverley 236, Barnes 227 (skipper T Lapworth), and Southam 360 (skipper William Morris). Also in 1950, Dover was stopped for a random safety check called the Journal of Inspector of Canal Boats. According to Dover’s check on the 9th February 1950, the master’s name was Alec Purcell. There is a picture of Alec Purcell in ‘Life Afloat’ by Robert Wilson – one was Alec giving a brass ornament to Sister Mary Ward because apparently Alec’s wife Lily was very sickly, and he wanted to show his appreciation.

In Alec’s keep, Dover was deemed in good condition as regards to cleanliness, was in good condition in terms of repairs, had good ventilation and there was no infectious disease on board. Alec was married to Lily (maiden name Wallington). The Wallingtons were a strong boating family, but Purcell was not. Alec’s wife, Lily Purcell and Jim Wallington were brother and sister. Jim Wallington was a steerer on ‘Fulbourne’, another Town Class narrow boat.