Thomas Bantock

Thomas Bantock was born in 1823 in the village of Golspie, near Inverness, the son of Benjamin Bantock a gamekeeper (his mother was born in Suffolk). Though a prize-winning schoolboy, he left school at 16 to be employed by the Trustees of the Duke of Bridgwater who had large interests in canals and collieries. It is possible that he worked on the Caledonian Canal near his home as, although opened in 1822, it had proved troublesome to operate. At the age of 26 he was sent to Wolverhampton to take charge of the Company’s interests there. Here he soon saw the potential for the transport of goods by railway rather than by canal and river. He married a local woman, Mary Dickinson, in 1852. They were to have ten children.

In 1853 he became boatage agent to the recently completed Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway and then to the Great Western Railway in 1855 dealing with canal wharf to rail transfers. In 1858 he set up a business as Thomas Bantock and Company with offices within the Great Western Railway station at Wolverhampton. He was appointed as ‘carrier’ for the Wolverhampton District. The agency was for: ‘carriage of rail-borne goods by road less than 40 miles along a route taken between places within a 25 mile radius of Wolverhampton Low Level Station’. He was paid a percentage of the GWRGreat Western Railway charge to customers. The cartage agents, as later referred to, were required to provide suitable vehicles, in an approved livery, horses and harness and employ civil, energetic men to the GWRGreat Western Railway Company’s satisfaction.

In 1860 Bantock owned 51 canal boats working from GW/OWWOxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway transfer wharves on the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN). In 1861 he was still the Duke of Bridgwater’s Trustees District agent too. Bantock boats were based throughout the Black Country including 5 boats at Stourbridge (1858 to 1956) and 3 at Stourport. The Great Western had its own narrow boats working on the BCN and in 1866 Bantock hired 16 boats from the GWRGreat Western Railway at £15 per month. Thomas Bantock and Company expanded their interests becoming an ironmaster, coal mining (Ettingshall Lodge Colliery, Springvale 1865-90), and boat builder at Ettingshall Dock, Millfields. They built for themselves and the GWRGreat Western Railway completing 116 boats by 1895. They were said to have built their own railway wagons at the same works. The Company offices were now based at the rear of Albion Wharf at Herbert Street, Wolverhampton.

Bantock was a liberal supporter who was elected to the Wolverhampton Town Council in 1861 for St Marys Ward (a poor community).He was one of a group of men from Queen Street Congregational Church who were concerned with their children’s education and started Tettenhall College in 1862 for those of tender means. He moved with his family to Merridale House, a former 18th century farmhouse, one mile west of Wolverhampton town centre in 1864, making big improvements. He never forgot his Scottish routes keeping a small herd of Highland cattle in the grounds. He was made mayor of Wolverhampton in 1869 where he was instrumental in the building of the Free Library in Garrick Street.

Thomas Bantock expanded his cartage agreements with the GWRGreat Western Railway to include most of the Black Country goods yards and also Bewdley, Kidderminster and Stourport. Haulage was, of course, all by horse with stables and, sometimes, offices for Bantock’s staff at the busier yards. In 1878 various horse drawn vehicles were bought by the GWRGreat Western Railway from Bantocks for £150. These included 1 open dray and 1 covered dray at Bewdley, 2 open drays and I covered van from Stourport and 18 open drays, 2 covered wagons, 1 parcel van and 1 float from Kidderminster. No horses or harnesses were acquired as the GWRGreat Western Railway had their own. However, Bantocks continued to operate their own horses and vehicles at most of these places.

Kelly’s Directories records the names of the agent’s representatives (the LMSLondon Midland & Scottish Railway Railway also had a presence at Kidderminster but did not handle parcels) as follows:

• 1884

Bewdley – now Mrs SE Woodward of The George Hotel, Load Street. She also operated a horse and trap to meet passenger services.
Kidderminster –Thomas Bantock (Thomas WebbFrancis Webb, Locomotive Superintendant/Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Western Railway 1871-1903, manager)+ Samuel Partridge Hunt goods agent for GWRGreat Western Railway.
Stourport - Thomas Bantock

• 1904

Bewdley – Mrs SE Woodward, George Hotel. She became first lady MP for town
Kidderminster - Thomas Bantock (Thomas WebbFrancis Webb, Locomotive Superintendant/Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Western Railway 1871-1903, manager) + Samuel Partridge Hunt goods agent for GWRGreat Western Railway
Stourport - Thomas Bantock and Hodges and Sons (Albert Parker for GWRGreat Western Railway)

• 1924

Bewdley – none recorded (via Station master Ernest N Carter)
Kidderminster – Thomas Bantock (Henry Charles Carter, manager) + Thomas Squires goods agent for GWRGreat Western Railway
Stourport – Thomas Bantock (Harold Edward Pool, Minster Road) + Charles and Frederick Hodges

• 1940

Bewdley – none recorded (superseded by Country Lorry Service)
Kidderminster- Thomas Bantock (Robert Taft, manager, Marlborough Street)
Stourport – Thomas Bantock + Charles and Frederick Hodges, 4 Bridge Street.

Thomas Bantock’s second son, Albert Baldwin Bantock, became a partner in 1886. He had been born in 1862 and was to become mayor of Wolverhampton three times. He ran the Company after his father’s death on 20th July 1895 at Merridale House. He himself died in 1938 but the Company was to continue until after nationalisation. By then it was almost fully motorised although they were still using horses and wagons to move carpets from the manufacturers at Kidderminster to the Goods Warehouse at Kidderminster Goods Yard into the early 1950s. They were finally bought out by the Western Region of British Railways on 13th December 1953. 140 vehicles were acquired mostly Fordsons and Scammels. Merridale House and grounds were left to the people of Wolverhampton and it is now known as Bantock House which includes a museum featuring the family. There are a number of canal boats which survive (including those owned by the GWRGreat Western Railway) and a few cartage vehicles.

==References

• The People of Bantock House by Peter Hickman
• Darley’s Daily Dawdle 18 March 2012 (canal boats)
• Tony Atkins GWRGreat Western Railway Cartage Services