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PEOPLE OF THE THAMES

Countless thousands have contributed to make the Thames what it is. Most of them are now forgotten. But rather than accept that, here is the start of an unworthy attempt to recall just a few of those whose names are still known. In general these may not be the real characters of the Thames – but the engineers who made it what it is today, and the authors and artists who wrote about it and painted it. The real characters were (and still are) the lock keepers and river workers and boatmen, professional & amateur, and fishermen.

If you can contribute an account of a Thames character please do so!

CLICK ANY LINE IN THIS INDEX

Adams, Anna editor

Alice in Wonderland: Edith, Lorina and Alice Liddell

Ashby-Sterry, Joseph, poet

Atkinson, Mary, author

Bacon, Roger, scientist, philosopher

Ball, E & PW, boaters

Ballantyne, R M, author

Belloc, Hilaire, author & poet

Binnie, Sir Alexander, engineer

Boney, Revd Prof, author

Bonthron, P, boater

Boydell, engraver

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, engineer

Brunel, Marc Isambard (Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s father) 1769-1849

Bryant, Ashley, painter

Burstall, Patricia, author

Cleaver, Hylton, author

Cooke, W B & G, engravers

Conrad, Joseph, author

Cornish, C.J., naturalist

Cove-Smith, author

Curtis, Roy, author

De Maré, Eric, author & photographer

Defoe, Daniel, traveller & author

Dickens, Charles junior, author

Dodd, Christopher, author

Dodgson, Charles aka Lewis Carroll, author, mathematician, photographer

Doerflinger, Frederic, boater, author

Duckworth, Robinson (Charles Dodgson’s friend)

Dunbar, William, poet

Eade, Brian, author

Eddy, Clyde, boater, author

Fidler, Kathleen, editor

Forester, C S, author

Fox Smith, C, author

Frith, Francis, photographer, 1822-1898

Gedge, Paul, boater & author

Gibbings, Robert, author, engraver

Goldsack, Paul, author

Gordon, Colin, author

Greathead, James Henry, Engineer

Hadfield, Charles, author

Harris, Mollie

Hall, Mr & Mrs, boaters and authors

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, author

Holinshed, author

Hughes T, author

Irwin, John & Herbert, Jocelyn editors

Jerome, Jerome K, author

Jones, Sir Horace, engineer

Jones, Sydney R, artist

Kipling, Rudyard, poet

Leslie, George, painter & author

LETTS Guides to the Thames Valley

Lewis, C S, author

Liddell, see Alice in Wonderland

MacColl, D

Mempes, Mortimer, watercolourist

Mitton, Miss G E, author

Moller, F Campbell, M.D. Author

Morris, William, author etc

Myers, Doug, painter

NICHOLSON Guides & Maps

Ollier, Edmund, author

Owens, see Westall & Owens, engravers

Peacock, Thomas Love, poet

Peel, J H B, author

Penderell-Brodhurst, author

PHILLIPS (BONHAMS) auctioneers

Pilkington, Roger, author

Pitt, John William, poet

Prichard, Mari & Humphrey Carpenter

Ravenstein, E G

Reade, Charles, author

Rivington, R T, punter, author

Roberts, Brian author

Runciman, J

Sampson, Aylwin, author

Senior, W, author

Sharp, David, author

Schutz, Wilson H, author

Smith, W H, Thames resident

Taylor, Julia Isham, author

Thacker, Fred S, author

Tomalin, Harry, author

Tubbs, Joseph, poet

Turner, Godfrey Worsdworth author

Turner, J M W, artist

Turner, W H, (lock keeper at Boulter’s)

Vincent, J E, author

Wack, Henry Wellington

Wallington, Mark, author

Warren, Adrian / Dae Sasitorn, Aerial Photography

Waters, Brian, author

Watson, Aaron, author

Westall & Owens, engravers

Whistler, painter

Williams, Nigel, author

Wilson, David Gordon, author

Wood, Revd J G, author

Worsley, Jenyth, poet

Wykeham-Martin, Captain R.F, punt designer

Wykes, Alan, author

Wyllie, William Lionel, Painter

Adams, Anna editor

  • 1999: An Anthology of River Poems

Alice in Wonderland: Edith, Lorina and Alice Liddell

Ashby-Sterry, Joseph,poet

  • 1886: Thames Lays from The Lazy Minstrel J. Ashby-Sterry

Atkinson, Mary, author

  • 1973: The Thames-side Book

Bacon, Roger, scientist, philosopher

Ball, E & PW, boaters

  • 1970: Holiday Cruising on the Thames

Ballantyne, R M, author

  • 1874: The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands

Belloc, Hilaire, author & poet

  • 1914: Historic Thames

1903:London on Thames in Bygone Days

Binnie, Sir Alexander,engineer

  • Blackwall Tunnel

Boney, Revd Prof, author

  • 1885: Contributor to RoyalRiver(Henley to MaidenheadRichmond to Battersea)

Bonthron, P,boater

  • My Holidays on Inland Waterways 1916

Boydell, engraver

  • History of the Thames Boydell 1794-96

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, engineer

  • TowerBridge,helped Sir Horace Jones

Brunel, Marc Isambard (IsambardKingdom Brunel’s father) 1769-1849

  • Wapping to Rotherhithe Tunnel

Bryant, Ashley,painter

  • Thames Pictures, Ashley Bryant

Burstall, Patricia, author

  • 1981: Golden Age of the Thames

Cleaver, Hylton, author

  • 1959: History of Rowing

Cooke,W B & G, engravers

  • 1822: Cooke's Views of the Thames, W.B Cooke & G.Cooke

Conrad, Joseph, author

  • The Mirror of the Sea – Descriptions of the Thames estuary

Cornish,C.J., naturalist

  • 1902: The Naturalist on the Thames, full text

Cove-Smith, author

  • River Thames Book

Curtis, Roy, author

  • 1970: Thames Passport

De Maré, Eric, author & photographer

  • 1952: Time on the Thames

Defoe, Daniel, traveller & author

  • I shall speak of the river as occasion presents, as it really is …

Dickens, Charles junior, author

Son of the great Charles Dickens, Friend of George Leslie.

  • 1885: Dickens’s Dictionary of the Thames

Dodd, Christopher, author

  • 1989: Henley Royal Regatta

Dodgson, Charles aka Lewis Carroll, author, mathematician, photographer

Doerflinger, Frederic, boater, author

  • 1970: Slow Boat through England. Exploring the Inland Waterways

Duckworth, Robinson (Charles Dodgson’s friend)

Dunbar, William, poet

  • To the City of London, William Dunbar.

Eade, Brian, author

  • 1997: Along the Thames

Eddy, Clyde, boater, author

  • 1938:Voyaging down the Thames

Fidler, Kathleen, editor

  • 1971: The Thames in Story

Forester, C S, author

  • 1953: Hornblower and the Atropos (Fiction! Hornblower steers a horse drawn narrow boat (at 11mph!) down the Thames & SevernCanal and then Flash weirs on the Thames.)

Fox Smith, C, author

  • 1931: Thames

Frith, Francis, photographer, 1822-1898

Gedge, Paul,boater & author

  • 1949: Thames Journey (A book for boat-campers and lovers of the river. 67 photos and 2 maps)

Gibbings, Robert,author, engraver

  • 1940: Sweet Thames Run Softly
  • 1957: Till I End My Song

Goldsack, Paul, author

  • 2002: River Thames in the footsteps of the famous

Gordon, Colin, author

  • 1944: Beyond the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll Books)

Greathead, James Henry, Engineer

  • Tower Subway, 1870

Hadfield, Charles, author

  • 1952:British Canals

Harris, Mollie

  • 1994: Stripling Thames (Source to Oxford)

Hall, Mr & Mrs,boaters and authors

  • 1859: The Book of the Thames (reprinted 1976)

Hawthorne, Nathaniel,author

  • 1863: American tourist near Oxford

Holinshed, author

Holinshed’s Chronicles of England

Hughes T,author

  • 1861/1879: River excerpts from Tom Brown at Oxford

Irwin, John & Herbert, Jocelyn editors

  • 1951: Sweete Themmes

Jerome, Jerome K,author

  • 1889: Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K Jerome, full text
  • 1889: The Log of Three Men in a Boat, journey (no funny bits - sad!)

Jones, Sir Horace, engineer

  • Designer of TowerBridge (& IsambardKingdom Brunel)

Jones, Sydney R, artist

  • 1943: Thames Triumphant

Kipling, Rudyard, poet

  • 1911: The River's Tale

Leslie, George,painter & author

  • 1881: Our River, George Leslie

LETTSGuides to the ThamesValley

Lewis, C S,author

Liddell, see Alice in Wonderland

MacColl, D

  • 1885: Contributor to RoyalRiver(Oxfordto Abingdon)

Mempes, Mortimer,watercolourist

  • Thames (& G E Mitton)

Mitton, Miss G E,author

  • Thames (& E W Hazlehurst)

Moller,F Campbell, M.D. Author

  • 1891: Boating Life on the Upper Thames

Morris, William,author etc

Myers, Doug, painter

Doug Myers punting at Henley Regatta

Every Thames mainstream bridge!

  • Thames Bridges 1996 - 2005 Doug Myers' new site

NICHOLSON Guides & Maps

Ollier, Edmund, author

  • 1885: Contributor to RoyalRiver (Battersea to LondonBridge)

Owens, see Westall & Owens, engravers

Peacock, Thomas Love, poet

  • The Genius of the Thames

Peel, J H B, author

  • 1976: Portrait of the Thames

Penderell-Brodhurst, author

  • 1885: Contributor to RoyalRiver (Abingdon to Streatley)

PHILLIPS (BONHAMS) auctioneers

  • 1997-2002: Catalogues: Traditional Rivercraft & Ephemera

Pilkington, Roger, author

  • 1966: Small Boat on the Thames

Pitt, John William, poet

  • 1936: River Thames A Descriptive Poem

Prichard, Mari & Humphrey Carpenter

  • 1975:A Thames Companion

Ravenstein, E G

  • 1893: Oarsman's & Angler's Map Of The River Thames From Its Source To LondonBridge. One Inch To AMile.

Reade, Charles,author

  • 1868: Rowing excerpts (Henley Regatta)from Hard Cash

Rivington, R T, punter, author

  • 1982: Punts & Punting (booklet)
  • 1983: Punting (book)

Roberts, Brian author

  • Britain's Waterways

Runciman, J

  • 1885: Contributor to RoyalRiver (Gravesend to the Nore)

Sampson, Aylwin, author

  • 1986: Winning Waters, the homes of Rowing

Senior, W, author

  • 1885: Contributor to RoyalRiver (above Oxford & Streatley to Henley)

Sharp, David, author

  • 1981: Thames Path

Schutz, Wilson H, author

  • 1885: Contributor to RoyalRiver (Maidenhead to Windsor)

Smith, W H,Thames resident

Taylor, Julia Isham, author

  • 1939 Account of trip in 1886: Down the Thames in Victorian Days

Thacker, Fred S,author

  • 1914: Thames Highway Volume I
  • 1920: Thames Highway Volume II, History of locks and weirs

Tomalin, Harry, author

  • 1975: The Book of Henley-on-Thames

Tubbs, Joseph,poet

Turner, Godfrey Worsdworth author

  • 1885: Contributor to RoyalRiver (Windsor to Hampton)

Turner, J M W, artist

Turner, W H, (lock keeper at Boulter’s)

Vincent, J E, author

  • 1909: Story of the Thames

Wack, Henry Wellington

  • 1906: In Thamesland . Cruises and Rambles through England from the Sources of the Thames to the Sea. An American on the Thames. Photos by Frith and Taunt.

Wallington, Mark,author

  • 1990: Boogie up the River. One Man and his Dog to the Source of the Thames.

Warren, Adrian / Dae Sasitorn, Aerial Photography

  • Last Refuge Ltd
  • Photos: QEII Bridge,

Waters, Brian, author

  • 1964:Thirteen Rivers to the Thames(tributaries)

Watson, Aaron, author

  • 1885: Contributor to RoyalRiver (LondonBridge to Gravesend)

Westall & Owens, engravers

  • 1828: Picturesque Tour of the Thames, Westall & Owens

Whistler, painter

Portrait of Whistler by Mortimer Menpes

Williams, Nigel, author

  • 1993: Two and a half men in a Boat

Wilson, David Gordon, author

  • 1977: Making of the Middle Thames

Wood, Revd J G,author

  • 1919: River Boating 1850s - The Art of Rowing - (before slides) types of boats, terms, style etc

Worsley, Jenyth, poet

  • Tamasá Reaches

Wykeham-Martin, Captain R.F,punt designer

  • 1919: How to Build a Thames Punt
  • (plan in Punts by R T Rivington)

Wykes, Alan, author

  • 1966: An Eye on the Thames

Wyllie, William Lionel, Painter

  • Opening of Tower Bridge, 1894 (Two pictures)