Genealogy Chat

Hi there! Do you have any ancestors who were Thames Fishermen? I'm part of a group of volunteers researching the history of Thames Smelt Fishermen. The Smelt is a small fish that smells of cucumber. It is a project by the Zoological Society of London and Discovery Greenwich supported by Heritage Lottery funding. We have uncovered quite a lot already, but what we really want are more photos of fishermen and their Peter Boats and any records of their catches, but any anecdotes would be good too. What was life like as a fisherman? The fishermen we have found so far seem to be congregated in certain distinct places and it is mostly a family affair. We have already been given some family history research on the Pearce family from Strand on the Green, Chiswick. I am also aware of the Gibson family in Putney, the Odell family in Chiswick and the Cobb family in Greenwich. Are these your relations? The largest concentration of fishermen I have found was in Lambeth (where the Albert Embankment now stands) and I'm very interested in this area - Lower Fore Street and Cockills Alley. I have over 30 fishermen working in that area alone. The idea is for the ZSL to publish the information gathered in the form of a booklet as part of a larger Smelt conservation project taking place. I am also studying Local History (online) with Oxford University and I may use some of the information for a final assignment, but it would only be seen by my tutor and examiners and would not be published.

Although I've London Pearce' in my tree, none of them were fishermen or in the right area.

If you've some names + year of birth, you could try searching all members trees to see if anyone has the names listed.

Hope it works out for you.

Thanks, yes I have full names and DOB from census and birth registrations, but this was easier and as I'm not a relation I'm unsure how GR is about doing that. I don't want to get banned because I value it for my own family history research. Someone on Facebook suggested this as an approach and the research we were given on the Strand on the Green Pearce family would have taken many years to compile - something we just don't have time for because we have a deadline next month.

You're not advertising a product for sale, or charging for a 'service'. GR would have no problem with your post :-)

No doubt someone who is related to the fisherman will spot your thread sometime in the future, but as you have a deadline and can fit it in to with your daily commitments, contacting descendents might be quicker.

I wondered why the name Odell seemed familiar , it cropped up several times when i was googling my own family ( Fishlock from Chiswick) :-)

here
Victorian Thames at Chiswick - Thames Explorer Trust
www.thames-explorer.org.uk/.../Victorian+Thames+classroom+activities....
Thomas Odell at 9 Fisherman's Place. 6. William Fishlock at 3 Church Street. Choose the census entry for one family. Make up as many different questions about ...

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hoddy/My/malcolm.htm

Thanks so much. Your reply was truncated but that school's activity sheet is correct: Thomas Odell is one of the last fisherman I can find making a lving from fishing in the Thames. It wasn't just the sewage but the gas manufacturing. Chiswick seems to have always been a good place to fish and somehow protected, despite the gasworks in Brentford. By 1861 most of the, previously large, community in Lambeth was gone. I just walked along the Albert Embankment yesterday and there are boats there made into seats at White Hart Dock. This is a place I'm very interested in.

I have all the fisherman I can find from the censuses (though still looking.) Others in the group are looking for older records - fisherman apprenticeships, water baliffs - fishermen had to be protected from the Press otherwise the Navy would have taken them all, so there must have been some register.

What I'm really looking for is descriptions or pictures of men, boats and nets. How did they fish for Smelt? Was it two boats with a net strung between them, or fish traps or a single net? How did they live? it is difficult because men did not ideitfy themselves as Smelt Fishermen. It was seasonal so they would have fished for other fish at different times of the year. They were sold in Billingsgate but the city guilds were not interested in Smelt, it was too plentiful and most likely only eaten by the poor. Then, within 30 years, it was gone from the tidal Thames almost completely.

This historical project is part of a much larger Smelt conservation project by ZSL. Smelt are returning to the Thames and are used by the EU as a pollution monitor because they are so susceptible to water quality.

For goodness sake Rose! What's with the 'White Space'? Did the cat jump on the key-board! :-D :-D

Yes! lol he did and I didn't notice :-) I am just so glad to see him jump anywhere after his ordeal by washing machine ( accidental I hasten to add!) , will remove white space lol.

At least I 'would' remove the white space if I could!

will delete and post again :-D

My gt gt grandfather, gt gt uncles etc were Watermen/ Lightermen and Gt grandfather William Fishlock rowed the ferry from the slip way in Church St.

I'm sure you've already seen this David but I'll add it anyway for anyone else reading the thread,

http://brentfordandchiswicklhs.org.uk/local-history/industries-and-crafts/riverside-crafts-industries/

Just a note about "Bommer" Pearce - that website says his name comes from his "Bum" boat, however "Bommer" was a strange shaped hat that fish porters wore at Billingsgate and he more likely wore such a hat. Also, according to Wikipedia "Peter Boats" are so called because they were used to ferry people along the Thames from St Peters to St Pauls. This seems unlikely since Peter Boats were in use all over the country. Also, they are clearly fishing boats (because of the water filled compartment to keep fish alive and fresh) not ferry boats. We think a better explanation for the name is St Peter, the patron saint of fishermen, and a fisherman himself like the other disciples. However, I'd like to know if anyone else has a view on either of these things or any references.

The mind boggles :-D
You ought to start a 'Tales of my cat' thread on General. ;-)