Fay Twydell has provided this photo from 1997. The Boatmen's Institute was also known as 'The Mission', having been funded by the London City Mission to provide schooling for canal boat children.

It was built in 1904, on the site of an old mill, to a design by Nowell Parr and backs on to the River Brent, frontage to The Butts.

Gillian Clegg's 'Brentford Past' includes a photo of a class of children at the school and Carolyn and Peter Hammond's 'Then and Now Brentford' contains a photo of the mill taken in 1900. See also a postcard showing the Boatmen's Institute in the early 20th century.

Published March 2011; updated March 2012