The Canal Story The Harmsworth Connection

It was in 1923 that Alec J.Harmsworth bought the Basingstoke Canal and set up a successful road and water transport service. But long before that, he worked on the canal as a carpenter, carter and bargeman. He became a registered lighterman and was eventually made a Freeman of the River Thames. Marrying in 1890, he made a home on board a houseboat at Ash Vale, and started building pleasure boats for hire, establishing a boathouse at Ash Vale which was run by his brother Frederick Thomas, while his youngest brother, Archibald William Ducket, ran another one at Frimley.     Harmsworth's boathouse, Frimley, below King's Head Bridge     A.J. Harmsworth started trading on the canal in the early 1900s with his first barge Mabel bought from the Nately brickworks company. He purchased more barges and commissioned new ones.     By the time he acquired the canal in 1923, Alec Harmsworth had established a thriving commercial carrying business with a fleet of 20 or more barges and narrow boats, five of which including the tug Shamrock he designed and built on the canal at Ash Vale. He went on to build a new barge each year until 1935. By the 1920s the business had become a family concern. A.J. Harmsworth's second eldest son became responsible for lighterage and wharfage, while his youngest son, Wilfred Henry, became a carpenter and concentrated on the barge building and repair side of the business with his brother.

It was in 1969 that Wilfred H. Harmsworth, with his son Tony, built the Canal Society's first pair of lock gates at Ash Vale barge yard.     For some years until he retired in June 2001, Tony Harmsworth, grandson of A.J. Harmsworth, was the Basingstoke Canal Authority's Waterway Manager.   (Based on text by Dieter Jebens) BACK

Last updated July 2001