Part of a series of posts in which I explore some of the fascinating travel journals which have lain previously unread in the archives as well as my own travel journals which reflect those of my fellow travellers of times gone by. Come with me as I travel beyond the stores and out into the wilds...
I am very grateful that the author of the Log of the Gnat left a clear record of who he and the other crew members were. William Egerton Garnett-Botfield carefully recorded his full name and address on the first page of the notebook, as well as naming all the other family members joining him on their trip as he begins his journal.
With the wonders of the internet I was soon able to fill in further details about William and the rest of the crew. Being able to build a picture of the people involved has really added to the sense of connection with them and made them seem more real and three-dimensional. Even just finding details of their birth, marriage and death gave new perspectives on the trip that I couldn’t have got from the log book alone.
So let me introduce our main characters, the “crew”:
The Crew
William Egerton Garnett-Botfield (WEGB)
Captain of the “Gnat”, author of our canoe log, aged 18.
I saw from his date of birth (16th August 1849) that they were setting off just three days after William had celebrated his eighteenth birthday. Maybe this was part of the celebrations, although nothing is mentioned of this in the log. William was born in Findon, Sussex, was later to get married to Elizabeth Clulow Howard-Mclean (in 1881) and sadly died at the young age of 56 years, in 1906. By that time he was living at a place called "The Hut" in Bishop's Castle, Shropshire.
Reverend William Bishton Garnett-Botfield (WBGB) Commodore of the “Butterfly”, the father, aged 51.
Reverend William was born in 1816 in Nantwich, Cheshire. I noted that was one of the places they were going to visit on their canoe trip. He died in 1903 at the age of 86, only three years before his son, William. He died at Decker Hill, Shifnal, the same address they were all living at when the log was written.
Alfred Stanton Garnett-Botfield (ASGB) Captain of the “Bee”, younger brother to William, aged 16.
Alfred was born in 1850, also in Findon, Sussex. He sadly died at an even younger age than William, at just 40 years old, in 1891. On further research I was quite excited to discover reference to two photographs of Alfred, taken during his time at Brasenose College, Oxford. These are in the collection of a Cuthbert Ottaway, held in the college archives. I am very tempted to try and get hold of copies. Okay, he's not our main character but he was one of the crew nevertheless and William's younger brother. The photographs are apparently undated but as Alfred went to Oxford in 1869, at the same time as Ottaway, they are likely to have been taken very shortly after the trip, when he would have been a similar age to that of William when he wrote his journal. William also went to Brasenose, as did their father. In fact, he would presumably have been heading there as soon as the summer holidays were over.
Walter Dutton Garnett-Botfield (WDGB) Captain of the “Gadfly”, another younger brother of William, aged 13.
Walter was born in 1854, not in Shifnal but in Bunbury, Nantwich, Cheshire. That meant they must have moved to Bunbury sometime between September 1850 and June 1854. Walter later married Susan Katherine McConnel (in 1894) and died in 1933, aged 79.
So this was the crew who set out on the holiday adventure in 1867.
Who did they leave behind at home though? That was also of interest to me. It turns out that William had four younger siblings, making a total of seven children altogether.
So why hadn’t any of the others joined them? Were they too young or was it simply their sex which precluded them from what was perhaps considered an exclusively male pursuit at that time? After all, Swallows and Amazons was not to enter the public imagination until over sixty years later.
Well it seems like a bit of both, although we can only guess at what those left behind at home thought about it. Perhaps they didn’t want to go at all or were not given a choice? As it was, they were taking four separate canoes, with each of the three brothers as well as their father paddling their own canoe.
Rest of the Family
William in fact had three sisters, two of them twins. Grace Catharine and Lucy Sophia were both born in 1853, so were aged 14 years at the time. That meant that they were a year older than 13 year old Walter, who did get to go on the trip. Just for the record, Grace lived until 1930 (aged 76) but Lucy died aged 46 (in 1899). Lucy married Thomas Newman Frederick Bardwell in 1880 and died in Wilberfoss, Yorkshire but Grace seems to have remained single.
Perhaps they had to stay behind to help look after their younger siblings. To complete the family there was Annie Augusta, age 10 (born Bunbury 1857, married Thomas Aldersey in 1887 and died in 1931, age 74) and Charles Ramsey, age 9 (born Bunbury 7 May 1858, married Ida Mary Aldersey in 1886 and died in 1932, age 74).
There is one more dimension to add into the mix for the family of our intrepid crew which certainly did throw a new light on their adventures. I discovered that their mother, Sarah Dutton, had died on 18 Feb 1867, just six months before William's eighteenth birthday and their trip.
Sarah had married William Bishton Garnett-Botfield in Birkenhead in 1848, aged 25. She was only 43 years old when she died, leaving William and their seven children. That certainly put a new perspective on their expedition. I couldn't help wondering whether their father was making an extra effort to give them some quality time after what must have been a quite devastating loss for them, to give them something positive to focus on in the summer holidays.
Timeline
Here's a timeline of the key family events to help put the trip in context (but mostly as a handy guide for my research!):
1816 (27 Jun) Birth of William Bishton (the father) in Nantwich, Cheshire to William Garnett
1848 (2 Nov) Marriage of William Bishton Garnett to Sarah Dutton in Birkenhead
1849 (16 Aug) Birth of William Egerton in Findon, Sussex
1850 (25 Sep) Birth of Alfred Stanton in Findon, Sussex
1853 Birth of Grace Catharine and Lucy Sophia in Findon, Sussex
1854 (16 Jun) Birth of Walter Dutton in Bunbury, Nantwich
1857 Birth of Annie Augusta in Bunbury, Nantwich
1858 (7 May) Birth of Charles Ramsey in Bunbury, Nantwich
1863 Reverend William Garnett assumes the additional surname of Botfield
1867 (18 Feb) Death of Sarah Garnett Botfield (aged 43)
*** 19-24 Aug 1867 CANOE TRIP from Decker Hill to Haughton ***
1880 Marriage of Lucy Sophia to Thomas Newman Frederick Bardwell
1881 (24 Feb) Marriage of William Egerton G-B to Elizabeth Clulow Howard-Mclean
1886 Marriage of Charles Ramsey G-B to Ida Mary Aldersey
1887 Marriage of Annie Augusta G-B to Thomas Aldersey
1891 (15 Jan) Death of Alfred Stanton G-B (aged 40)
1894 (Aug) Marriage of Walter Dutton G-B to Susan Katherine McConnel
1899 Death of Lucy Sophia (aged 46) in Wilberfoss, Yorkshire
1903 (11 Jan) Death of William Bishton G-B (aged 86) of Decker Hill, Shifnal
1906 (3 Apr) Death of William Egerton G-B (aged 56)
1930 Death of Grace Catharine (aged 76)
1931 (8 Mar) Death of Annie Augusta (aged 74)
1932 (19 Sep) Death of Charles Ramsey G-B (aged 74)
1933 (6 Dec) Death of Walter Dutton G-B (aged 79)
Before we move on, I'll just leave you with the words recorded in an obituary to our young author William Egerton which gives us a picture of him later on in life. We are told that
As a landlord, he was one of the most considerate, and was held in much regard and esteem by all his tenants... His services... were marked by that tact and sweetness which endeared him to all whose privilege it was to know him. He had travelled a good deal, especially in countries round the Eastern Mediterranean, Switzerland and Norway. Mr. Garnett-Botfield was fond of shooting, an ardent angler, and some years ago hunted a pack of beagles. Scientifically, his strong point was geology. He was a keen lover of nature in all her aspects; and found supreme delight in observing the common things of his own pretty country side.
[Bye-Gones, April 11, 1906, pages 223-224].
How and Why: Canoeing in the 1860s
The other burning question I had is what were their canoes like? I was very keen to find out more about canoeing in Victorian times. How popular was it? Where might they have got their boats from? What had inspired them to undertake the trip? Having put their trip into the context of their family and location, this was the other dimension to add - what was the world of canoeing like in 1867?
What I soon discovered was that 1866, just a year before their trip, appears to be universally recognised as a pivotal moment in the history of canoeing in this country. There seems little doubt that there was one man in particular who must have inspired them to take to the water in their four canoes that summer.
That man was John ‘Rob Roy’ MacGregor. In 1866 he published his travel journal “A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe on Rivers and Lakes of Europe”. He had already gained quite a following by publishing instalments about his trip in the newspapers of the time. His book was an instant hit, selling 2,000 copies within five days. Apparently “the craze exploded almost immediately among the upper reaches of Victorian society: converts to canoeing included Edward VII, the Duchess of Sutherland and Robert Louis Stevenson” [John Rob Roy MacGregor: the man who invented the sport of kayaking - Classic Boat Magazine].
So what was John MacGregor’s canoe like and how likely is it that the vessels which our intrepid crew set off in from Gnosall were modelled on a similar design?
What soon became apparent from transcribing the Log of the Gnat is that they all had sails, the use of which appear to be the default, only resorting exclusively to paddle power when the wind was either too gentle or too strong for the sails. I guess they must have bought the four canoes from someone who was taking advantage of the surge of interest following John MacGregor's account. I can only assume they were likely to have been modelled on the design of the Rob Roy Canoe he'd had made especially for the trip, a design that was very quickly to become a popular style of recreational boat. I was delighted to discover a picture of the original boat used by John Rob Roy MacGregor himself on his famous trip, which turns out to be on display as part of the River Thames collection in the River and Rowing Museum at Henley on Thames.
The Rob Roy canoe was 15 foot long and weighed 80 pounds. It was built of oak and covered with cedar and had a lug sail and a jib. The paddle was seven foot long with a blade at each end.
For the canoe journey of 1867 they had no less than four canoes, all of which were transported to the canal by carriage. How amazing it would be to see a sketch or photograph as to what the set up was for that!
Paddle Your Own Canoe!
The Rob Roy expedition was not the only publication of 1866 which was of significance to our canoeists. Our young author quotes a verse from the song "Paddle Your Own Canoe", which they sang as they drove back to Haughton in high spirits after their day at the coast. Apparently this had become a popular music hall song, written by a performer called Harry Clifton. It was first published in 1866.
It seems canoes and paddling had become popular themes in 1866 and had made their way into the popular imagination, including that of our Shropshire canoeists. William took it upon himself to make up some further verses for the song "Paddle Your Own Canoe", inspired no doubt by their trip. See Canoe Voyage Take Two for more about this and the other verses he wrote around this time.
More posts from Adventures of an Archivist:
Log of the Gnat - full transcript: travel back in time and read first hand the account of eighteen year old William as he records his excitement at undertaking his first canoe trip, back in the summer of 1867.
Log of the Gnat - where (let's go!): discover more about the places our Victorian canoeists visited on their journey and be inspired to follow in their wake...
Journeys past and present: musings of an archivist: find out about how I came to discover the "Log of the Gnat", as well as other travel journals, and how they have intertwined with my own travel adventures.
Loch Shiel Loop by Canoe: read about my recent six day trip in our Old Town Discovery Canoe that inspired me to research the "Log of the Gnat".
Canoe Voyage - take two: find out about my surprise discovery which opened up a whole new perspective on the canoe trip of 1867.
Discovery Log - where it all began: join me as I travel back to 2006 when our canoeing adventures began - and we had five to a boat!
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