Site of Whichellos Wharf looking towards Leighton Road October 2008

The following references to canal workers come from the 1891 Census return for Linslade. Clearly some canal workers on the Linslade stretch would live elsewhere but these figures show the impact on Linslade.

Linslade Lock lies just off the northernmost point of Bossington Lane. Watkins Wharf was also known as Whichellos Wharf and lay on the west bank of the canal behind 24 Leighton Road, opposite the modern Tesco supermarket and car park.

Canal Wharf

• Joseph Shepherd, 34, carter at corn wharf, Saint Pancras [Middlesex]

Linslade Lock

• William John Grace, 39, lock keeper and gardener, Whitchurch [Buckinghamshire]

New Road

• 16 - John Hampden Brooke, 46, boat builder and proprietor, Holborn [Middlesex]

Old Road

• 10 - George Thomas King, 56, foreman in canal wharf, Linslade

Rothschild Road

• Charles Turney, 56, canal labourer, Slapton [Buckinghamshire]

Southcott

• Charles Page, 28, coal wharf labourer, Wing [Buckinghamshire]

Canal Boats - all at Watkins Wharf

• Amiable and Frugality - Albert Bourne, 37, boat captain, Droitwich [Worcestershire]
• Amiable and Frugality - Augustine Bourne, 12, driver of boat horse, Leicester
• Annie and Welt[?] - Henry Higgins, 37, boat captain, Heath & Reach
• Annie and Welt[?] - Thomas Higgins, 16, driver of boat horse, Leighton Buzzard
• [unreadable] and Blue Bell - Charles Albridge, 36, boat captain, Wolverhampton [Staffordshire]
• Cedar and China - George Gardner, 37, boat captain, Hitchington [Warwickshire]
• Cedar and China - Ada Sophia Simmonds, 17, steerer's assistant, Smethwick [Warwickshire]
• Chatsworth - Joseph Sutton, 26, boat captain, Rookery Bridge [Cheshire]
• Chatsworth - William Sutton, 12, driver of boat horse, Tipton [Staffordshire]
• Chatsworth - Thomas Stevens, 32, boat captain, Tipton [Staffordshire]
• Chatsworth - Arthur Mills, 20, driver of boat horse, Tipton [Staffordshire]
• City of London - John Johns, 61, boat captain, Droitwich [Worcestershire]
• City of London - Edwin Darby, 20, assistant on boat, Oldbury [Worcestershire]
• Dorothy - John Meager, 57 boat captain, Long Buckby [Northamptonshire]
• Dorothy - William Webb, 16, driver of boat horse, Oxford
• Eland and Stoat - George Morris, 35, boat captain, Stockton [Warwickshire]
• Eland and Stoat - William Morris, 13, driver of boat horse, Road Heath [Cheshire]
• Eliza - John Higgins, 29, boat captain, Tipton [Staffordshire]
• Ernest - William Simpson, 16, driver of boat horse, Boxmoor [Hertfordshire]
• Ernest - James Simpson, 12, driver of boat horse, Leicester
• Ethel - William Redhead, 82, boat captain, Nottingham
• Fir - Charles Court, 20, boat captain, Tipton [Staffordshire]
• Fir - John Smith, 20, boat steerer, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• Fir - John Bannister, 14, driver of boat horse, Stafford
• Leighton - Joseph Rice, 21, boat captain, Chalford [Gloucestershire]
• Three Brothers and Harriet - John Kent, 56, boat captain, Watford [Hertfordshire]  

Total: 32, 26 on boats and 6 on shore
14 boat captains
9 drivers of boat horse
1 assistant on boat
1 boat steerer
1 boat steerer's assistant
1 boat builder
1 canal labourer
1 canal wharf foreman
1 carter at corn wharf
1 coal wharf labourer
1 lock keeper