Images Index> Matlock Bath, 20th and 21st Century Images> This page
Matlock Bath: Boats For Hire, 1950s
Matlock Bath : Twentieth Century Photographs, Postcards, Engravings & Etchings
 
Rowing boats tied up at the landing stage
20th & 21st C Images
Next image
Previous Image
More Matlock Bath Pictures
18th & 19thC
"Just" Images
Matlock Bath
General Info
About Matlock Bath
Find a Name


Charlotte Farnsworth, Poetess (1889-1971)
- Walter is tending his boats at the landing stage


The rowing boats were tied up at the landing stage behind the Grand Pavilion. The man in charge was Walter Bird, who also operated the ferry across the river[1]. Walter Bird was born in Matlock Bath on 2 Feb 1904, one of the children of Walter (Senior) and Lizzie Bird, nee Bemrose[2]; Walter senior was employed by the New Bath Hotel Company to quarry tufa for a time. Walter's grandfather was William Edward Bird, the marble mason, and his great grandfather was Edward Bird, the artist and engraver on black marble[3].

Walter Bird junior married Edith Brown in 1929 and they lived at West Bank[1].

He was first employed by Matlock Urban District Council on 5th April 1938 although his Council work was shortly afterwards interrupted by war service. When he applied for the post of Motor Boat Man with Matlock Urban District Council his work entailed "work at the Landing, Bowling Green and Tennis Courts and Pleasure Grounds generally and when required." If he proved satisfactory, Winter Work would be found during the closed season[5].



Walter Bird, WW2
He joined the Royal Signals and was at a posting in Gibraltar in 1941.
He was still serving there the following year and received a postcard from home[6].


On his return home Walter was again employed by the Council as a motor boat man, also working at the pleasure grounds when necessary. Winter work was still found for employees in the winter months, all important in a tourist industry with a very limited season. Walter repaired the rowing boats in the old Pierrot shed which used to be behind the Grand Pavilion. Later on he was a handyman and also served as a caretaker at the Pavilion. Mr. Gregory, who lived at the lodge at the Heights with his brother Arthur, also worked on the boats[4].



Walter Bird on the river


In 1958 he and Tommy Loundes were awarded resuscitation certificates by the Humane Society for pulling a local ten year old girl out of the Derwent, which was in flood. She had fallen in, but the current was described as both swift and dangerous, and several attempts were needed to rescue her. She had drifted about 200 yards downstream and they eventually pulled her out with the branch of a tree[7].

During the 1960s Walter was involved with the Illuminations and Venetian Nights Committee[8]. He died in 1998, aged 94.
Original photographs and O'Dowda postcard in the collection of and provided by and © Ken Smith.
Images scanned for this website and information researched and written by and © Ann Andrews.
Intended for personal use only.

References:

[1] Walter Bird is also mentioned on Matlock Bath: The Ferry and the River Derwent, 1905.

[2] See the family in the 1901 census, before Walter was born.

[3] The artist Edward Bird advertised in several nineteenth century trade directories.

[4] Additional information from conversations with Ken Smith, who checked his records to provide dates and other information, including a postcard sent to Walter by Mrs. O'Dowda in late 1941.

[5] Letter from W. Turner of Matlock Urban District Council dated 5th April 1938.

[6] From a postcard sent to him in January 1942 by Mrs. O'Dowda of Matlock Bath

[7] "Derby Daily Telegraph", 23 April 1958.

[8] Programme of the Illuminations and Venetian Nights, 1968.