Details
Construction
Dimensions
History
Built 1896, 36grt, 80ft, 149 passengers. London: sailings from Westminster to Kew and Hampton Court. Source; Hamer, Geoffrey 1995. Original steam engine at Kew Bridge Steam Museum. Built in 1896 by Edwin Clark of Hope Mill Yard and Canal Ironworks at Port Brimscombe, near Stroud in Gloucestershire. LOA 85ft, 37 ton. At present has a Leyland Thornycroft engine. orks May to Spetmber up-river from Westminster pier to Kew and Hampton Court Source; Owner.
HENLEY was built for John Salter of Folly Bridge, Oxford, in 1896. She was designed by William Sissons of Gloucester. Based at Westminster Pier.
She was the sixth new vessel that had been purpose built for the growing fleet. Salters had started the five day return service from Oxford to Kingston in 1886 with a second-hand craft the Alaska, they also acquired the Thames and a smaller boat the Isis for local work. Salters looked further afield for new boats and commissioned Edwin Clark of Hope Mill Yard and Canal Ironworks at Port Brimscombe, near Stroud in Gloucestershire to undertake the work. It is probable that Salter knew the young Clark, for he had been apprenticed to Davis a boat builder at Abingdon before seeking premises of his own. The new boats were to be designed by William Sissons of Gloucester, the specification demanded that they had to have a good capacity, be fast yet reliable and produce little wash. Sissons was also to supply the engines, a contract that was to last until 1931. Craft were built in quick succession, the first was the Oxford, followed by the Kingston then a small boat the Swan. Windsor and the first Cliveden came next. It was then that Salter asked for a bigger boat, so in 1896 the sixth vessel to be constructed by Edwin Clark, the Henley was built, sadly it was to be his last for he died at the very young age of 36 in the same year.
HENLEY was a beautiful steam powered vessel. She had a steel, riveted hull together with the Victorian elegance of teak decks and well appointed saloon. She was 79.93 feet (24.38 m) in length and had a registered tonnage 36 tons. The location of Edwin Clark’s yard on the canal had dictated that a number of larger vessels had to be built in sections which would have been bolted together for trials then dismantled and carried by barge to Sharpness in preparation for shipping to their final destination. There they would be reassembled and riveted and commissioned for the customer. This constructional skill was to prove invaluable with HENLEY. She was too long to come down the Kennet and Avon Canal but she did nevertheless come under her own power. It was reported by local press that the strange sight of a steamer coming down the canal with the bow section on the deck bemused spectators! Clark realised that if he removed the bow section she would just fit through the locks. She would have been towed from Sharpness down the Severn to Bristol and there she would enter the canal for the journey to Reading. The long trip probably about five days in all gave the crew the chance to test the engine although without the bow section they would not have been able to go very fast. HENLEY was fitted with a high-speed triple expansion engine for which Sissons were famed, in fact every Salter boat had the same engine although the larger ones ran a higher pressure to produce more power. On arrival at Oxford, she was commissioned and put into service; a test run to Nuneham with the proud owners on board allowed them to show off the vessel. One more boat the Henley’s sister vessel the Nuneham was to be completed at Clark’s yard after his death by the foreman who it is believed was then taken on by Salters and built many more craft at Oxford until the 1930s.
HENLEY was used on the famous service along the upper reaches of the Thames for over 70 years, becoming one of the famous ‘black steamers’. During the second world war she played her part, not at Dunkirk, something that has become a popular myth, but in another equally important way. The Thames steamers were fitted with non-condensing engines and these were not suitable for operation in the salt water of the English Channel. However, HENLEY continued to operate throughout the war, as Salters were allocated a regular supply of coal for their fleet. The steamers were considered to offer an essential opportunity for relaxation and leisure in such dark times, and perhaps more importantly they were often to be seen with crowds of servicemen on board either on leave from active service or recuperating after injury. So, the little steamer HENLEY remained in continuous service on the Oxford to Kingston route as she had done since 1896.
After the war, things gradually returned to normal. HENLEY had had a new saloon put on in the 1920s and the top deck lost its Victorian central raised roof in order to accommodate more passengers by the mid-1950s this to needed refurbishment. In 1958 she was modernised, the steam engine was taken out and a four-cylinder high-quality Dorman diesel was fitted to her. At the same time she received a new saloon and re-entered service ready to work for many years to come.
Her steam engine was to find its way into the Kew Bridge Museum where it was admired by visitors for several years. Today it remains in existence owned privately. It is perhaps a tribute to the engine builder himself that it lasted for so long and was so reliable.
As the 1970s dawned the famous service was cut back, it became impossible to keep to the timetable and the boats found themselves being used more and more for private hires and group bookings. HENLEY was found to be surplus to the company’s needs and was sold in 1975 to Bill Jackson and taken off to the Tideway. Here she started her new life in London on the Thames running on the WPSA service from Westminster to Kew, Richmond and Hampton Court. In the late 1970s she was to venture upstream again to have a new Thornycroft engine fitted by Bushnells at Wargrave, the return journey downstream in floodwater was to prove an eventful one for the crew. HENLEY then re-entered service and has plied her trade from Westminster ever since. In 1979 J.J.Shearing (later to become J&R Shearing) acquired the vessel. In the mid-1990s HENLEY was taken to Hampton Marine Services slipways at Platts Ait, where she had her ageing saloon replaced by a new modern steel structure. She carried on running on the service for J&R Shearing till 2002 when she was sold again to her third owner, a great enthusiast of the old steamers, the late Edward Langley, of Complete Pleasure Cruises. HENLEY continued to work for WPSA (Thames River Boats) to Hampton Court. From 2005 HENLEY started doing a commuter service each morning and evening from Blackfriars pier to Putney, as well as her daily service to Hampton Court and back.
HENLEY was added to the National Register of Historic Ships in 2006.
On the 3rd of June 2012, HENLEY participated in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's diamond Jubilee. celebrated her diamond Jubilee. 670 vessels took part, including military, commercial, and pleasure craft. According to Guinness World Records, this was the largest ever parade of boats, surpassing the previous record of 327 boats set in Bremerhaven in Germany, in 2011. Sailing vessels and others too tall to pass under the bridges were moored as an “Avenue of Sail” downstream of London Bridge with smaller craft in St Katherine Docks. The Queen, Prince Philip and most of the Royal Family all took part in the event, travelling on different vessels sailing down the Thames from Chelsea to Tower Bridge.
HENLEY was bought by her fourth owner, River Boat Charters in April 2019, and continues to operate a service to Hampton Court. In 2021, this historic vessel will celebrate her 125th birthday, becoming the oldest working commercial vessel on the tidal Thames.
Source: current owner, January 2021
In May 2021, she was sold to a private owner. HENLEY is now used as a houseboat and was recently moored on the Thames near Weybridge.
Key dates
-
2012
Vessel selected for Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June 2012.
Sources
Hamer, Geoffrey, Trip Out 1995/6 - A Guide to the Passenger Boat Services of the British Isles, G P Hamer, 1995
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