It is thought that the series of “official” photographs which have come to be known as the “Buckby Photographs” were taken between 1910 and 1912.  It is possible that the photographer was Thomas Millner, at that time Manager of the Grand Junction Canal Company.  A letter has survived between Millner and FMC referring to photographs taken by him.

The images were taken, usually above Lock 11, on the Buckby flight of the Grand Union Canal (then the Grand Junction Canal). However, there are a few taken at other places in the flight.  Most of them show an impressive wash coming from the propeller, although the lack of a bow wave betrays the fact that the boat is stationary in the water.  Close examination of the photographs reveals the rope that is securing the boat to an anchor point, so that a sharp image could be obtained.  The photographic emulsions of those days were much slower.

Fifteen FMC Buckby photographs exist today although it is possible that ten others were taken but have disappeared.  Perhaps some of them are languishing in someone’s attic…. The missing ones to look for are Admiral, Duke, Emperor, Empress, Hecla, Monarch, Speedwell, Viceroy, Victoria and Victory.

For many years, the only known image of President as a steamer was a torn fragment that only just revealed the name of the boat.  It was not part of a Buckby photograph but was taken at an unknown location.

This all changed in 1991.  We were in the lock at the Admiral Nelson at Braunston, very nearly at the end of President’s first fly run as a restored steamer.  An elderly lady approached us with an envelope and the words “I think I may have something here which would interest you”.

In the envelope were three photographs.  The first was a studio portrait of James Woodfield, President’s first captain.    The second was the complete version of the torn fragment we already held. The third was the missing Buckby photograph of President.
The lady was Mrs Sarah Poole, daughter of  James Woodfield, who had come to present the photographs to us from her home at Meriden. [ Further Details of the Fly Run ]

o-O-o

When President’s Centenary cruise was being planned, it was felt that it would be appropriate to try to re-create the Buckby photograph as close as possible to her “official” birthday on 23rd June.  On 29th June, therefore, President dropped Kildare off at Buckby top lock in the care of Tony Tibbins and worked down the flight to the winding hole just below lock 12, which proved to have too much mud to allow a 70’ boat to turn.  Recovering her dignity, she then went down to the marina entrance below lock 13, winded there and returned up the flight to above lock 11.

Having been advised by British Waterways that, due to recent damage to the top gate, it would be unwise to tie the boat back to the balance beam, the long line was used to tie back to a bollard on the lockside.  With the crew of Nick Haynes, David Stott and Neil Ratcliffe taking up the poses of the crew from a hundred years before and Keith Rogers (hidden in the engine ‘ole) winding up the revs to produce a suitably impressive wash, the photographer (me) took one image on his little tripod-mounted Canon Ixus, just to check the framing of the scene, before taking multiple hand-held shots with his much larger Canon SLR camera.  The crew changed over to allow Richard Prince, Keith Rogers and me to try our luck at posing.

The scenery in the background had changed considerably in a hundred years.  The railway line was completely obscured by trees growing along the embankment and the defining viaduct in the 1910 image was hidden by new growth in the foreground.

I am still kicking myself for not remembering that the original photograph would have been taken from a tripod viewpoint, much lower than a handheld camera today. 

Thus the one image that was taken from the correct height was the first framing shot and this is the one that I have chosen as the “official” image.  Mind you, I still have to thank Paint Shop Pro for enabling me to remove the white concrete bollard which occupied much of the bottom corner.

Richard Thomas

For further details of all the other FMC Steamer Buckby photographs, see here - information supplied by Richard Thomas www.steamershistorical.co.uk/