Harefield's canal community

The Grand Junction Canal opened through Hillingdon in the 1790s, enabling industrial goods to be carried from the Midlands to London. The 1911 census for Harefield reveals at least 10 bargemen, carrying manure, iron and builders' materials. Their boats, whose names included Otter, Reliance, Hilda and Busy Bee, were treated as separate households.

Many barges contained entire families. The 1911 census shows that many barge children were born along the canal system - from Paddington and Brentford to Hockley on the Stratford-upon-Avon canal.

Local musician Malcolm Carlo, who pilots a narrow boat on the same canal, can trace his roots to a Daniel Kempster - his great-great-grandfather. Daniel appears as a Harefield barge captain on the 1881 census. The 1891 census shows him in Southall, aged 47, captain of The Hound. His son Daniel, 15, was the boat's mate. The younger Daniel went on to serve in the First World War, but tragically died from shell shock.