Brentford High Street: E.C.Jones

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E.C.Jones & Son (Brentford) Ltd - Bantam Boats
History of Bantam Boats

Bantam Boats were designed, built and modified by E.C.Jones & Son (Brentford) Ltd. from 1948 to 1969 and were thought to be a very innovative design. They were designed by Edward George Jones with the help of his sons, Edward Charles (Ted) my father, Robert William (Bob) and Stanley Alfred (Stan). Edward George Jones was the son of Edward Charles Jones the founder of the Company, which started in 1915.

Bantams were built at Brentside Wharf, Brentford which is on the River Brent at the start of the Grand Union Canal. There were 89 Bantams built although their numbers go up to 91, numbers 13 and 15 were not used for some reason. Roman numerals were used to number the tugs at first then at approximately number 32 they changed to Arabic numerals.

Building a Bantam

A Bantam tug took about 3 months to build, and at maximum production they built 8 in each of the years 1951, 1954 and 1958. A total of sixty six tugs were built in the 1950's and twenty three in the 1960's.

The tugs were built using automatic welding, this was a new method of welding in the early 1950's and presumably faster and more economical. The dimensions of the tugs were from 14ft .x 6ft.6ins. Length to 38ft .x 13ft.6ins. Beam and were adapted to suit the customers requirements and the work the tug would do.

What makes a Bantam special

The Bantams were designed to push barges, the tug would move up to the barge which fitted between two uprights on the front of the tug. The barge was held rigid by two steel cables that were tightened by a winch on the bow of the tug so producing a single propulsion unit that would be very manoeuvrable, economical and efficient.

The tugs did not sell well at first so to encourage buyers the company had to almost offer a “money-back” guarantee if the tug was unsuitable. Fortunately nobody asked for their money back, they asked for more tugs and barges.

Interested in finding out more about a Bantam?

Pam Vernon-Roberts, who has kindly provided the material about the Jones family and their business, has compiled a history of each Bantam boat and other boats built by E.C.Jones & Son (Brentford) Ltd. See the Contents List for an idea of what level of detail is available if you visit Chiswick Library. The history of BANTAM IV is available as an example on this site, also a photo of the launch of BANTAM I in 1948.

Published October 2006