Samuel Barlow of Glascote

I have found so much information on Samuel Barlow, hs son John, and his grandson Samuel Edwin Barlow that it would fill a book – indeed it has done, albeit a very small one! There is much more research to be done, but in the meantime here is a brief account of the family and their significance on the Coventry Canal and beyond.

Samuel Barlow was born on 28th August 1848, the eldest son of John and Mary Barlow. Samuel grew up in Bedworth Heath, a tiny hamlet scattered around present-day Heath Road. His father was a boatman, and Samuel took up the same profession. In 1867 Samuel married Mary Ann Compton and they moved to Bulkington Lane, Bedworth. It was soon after this, about 1870, that Samuel Barlow acquired his first pair of narrowboats. He concentrated on delivering cargoes of coal, chiefly for the local coal mines. When the compulsory registration of canal boats was introduced in 1879, his fleet had grown to four boats – their names were recorded as Ellen, Mary Ann, Live and Learn, and Friendship.

In September 1879 Samuel moved to Glascote. At that time it was an important coal mining area, and Samuel could see the potential to expand his business. In 1890 he built a house in John Street, Glascote, where three generations of the family lived together.

Samuel died in 1894 at the young age of 47. Samuel and his wife Mary Ann are buried just up the canal from my house, at Glascote Cemetery, which overlooks the canal. Several other members of the family are buried alongside them.

The coal carrying business continued in the hands of Samuel's son John. John's son, Samuel Edwin Barlow, was born in Glascote on 27 Feb 1897. Samuel grew up in the family home at 41 John Street. He began his working life as a baker's apprentice, but later continued in his grandfather's and father's footsteps as a boatman. The business was incorporated in 1916 as the Samuel Barlow Coal Co Ltd.

During WW1 Samuel Edwin Barlow served as a Sapper in the Inland Water Transport division of the Royal Engineers WR/338050. Alan Faulkner asserted that Samuel served on the canals in France in his 1986 booklet, 'Barlows', and as he interviewed Samuel, it is likely to be true. However, I have found no evidence to confirm this, and there were certainly many boatmen who undertook their Inland Water Transport duties on the canals in England. Samuel did not receive a 1914 or 1914-1915 Star for serving abroad in the first years of the war, and there is no information about service abroad on his Medal Index Card.

The 1921 census tells us that after the war Samuel returned to 41 John Street, and he and his father operated their coal carrying business from the Anchor Works, a wharf opposite the Anchor Inn (now Glascote Co-op). I have found no evidence that they used Glascote Basin, although they may have delivered coal there.

Samuel married Nelle Ursula Foslett in 1922 and they left John Street to set up their own home and office at 71 Glascote Main Road. They were still living there during WW2, when besides working as a coal carier, Samuel was also volunteering as an Ambulance Driver. Nelle died in 1979 in the area she had been brought up, Newport, Wales. In later life Samuel retired to Teignmouth, Devon, where he died in 1988. Samuel's house in Glascote Road no longer exists, but it stood opposite the end of Basin Lane, which leads to my own road, Barlow Avenue, by Glascote Locks. My road is, of course, named after Samuel Barlow.

The final company associated with Samuel Barlow was Blue Line. The Anchor Docks were eventually closed and there is no obvious evidence that it was ever there.

Surviving narrowboats built or operated by Samuel Barlow

The following list includes boats below built, or owned and operated, or both, by Barlows or their successor company, Blue Line, which still exist. This represents only a fraction of the boats built and operated by the Barlows. In alphabetical order:

• Admiral - built by Fellows Morton and Clayton in 1905, iron composite hull, reg 1157, index 520257, owned by Samuel Barlow 1942-1955 then renamed Diamond, restored 2009-2012.
• Beatty - built by Yarwoods in 1937, iron composite hull, reg 163, index 60147.
• Daphne - built by Nursers in 1938, wooden hull, bought by her present owners in 2014, currently undergoing a rebuild and improvements. Reg 491, index 72622.
• Forget-me-not - built as a horse boat by Sephton, Coventry, in 1928, wooden hull, 2nd reg 510, index 68424, reduced to a bare hull by 2017, For Sale in 2024.
• Forget-me-not - built by Lees and Atkins Polesworth in 1927 and named Forget-me-not, wooden hull; bought by Barlows in 1941 and renamed Sarah; sold on in 1959; name restored to Forget-me-not in 1994. 2nd reg 393, index 73363. See also the Wooden Canal Boat Trust, and their Flickr album.
• Gort - built by Nursers in 1939, wooden hull, reg 499, was For Sale in 2024.
• Hardy - built by Nursers in 1940, wooden hull, restoration started in 2024 by Tooley's Boatyard Trust. Reg 512, index 53001.
• Hazel - built by Barlows in 1957, wooden hull, reg 553, index 514608.
• Hood - built by S E Barlow in 1943 and named Hood to replace an older motor bearing the same name and after the battlecruiser HMS Hood, wooden hull, reg 190, index 78467, restored in 2004, in private ownership, still cruising in 2024,
• Hyperion - built by Harland and Wolff in 1935, iron composite hull. Purchased by the current owner in 2022 and operating commercially in Staffordshire. Reg 514.
• Ian - built by Samuel Barlow Coal Carrying Company in 1948 (possibly the last wooden motor narrowboat to be built in England), later owned by Blue Line. Reg 545, index 60562.
• Kent - built by Samuel Barlow Coal Carrying Co in 1942, wooden hull. Briefly renamed Peter Pan in the 1960s. Reg 527, index 60660.
• Lady Barlow (wooden hull, index 65487, built by Samuel Barlow, later shortened in length),
• Lucy - built by Nursers 1951-1953, wooden hull, later owned by Blue Line. Reg 548, index 52452. Entirely rebuilt by Nurser in 2013.
• Mud Lark - built by Samuel Barlow, wooden hull, later shortened in length. Index 501778.
• Raymond - built by Nursers in 1958, the last wooden hulled butty built in the UK, reg 559, index 504831, later owned by Blue Line, restored 1999-2000.
• Roger - built by Bushell Bros in 1936, wooden hull, later owned by Blue Line. Restored as a floating classroom 1997-2001. Reg 128, index 65070.
• The Saucy Mrs Flobster - built by Samuel Barlow Coal Carrying Co in 1944, wooden hull. Originally named Olive, renamed Carol-Anne in 1960, and finally The Saucy Mrs Flobster in 1992. Reg 1422, index 79390.