The River Thames above London underwent a dramatic transformation during the Victorian period, from a great commercial highway into a vast conduit of pleasure. Pleasure Boating on the Thames traces these changes through the history of the firm that did more than any other on the waterway to popularise recreational boating. Salter Bros began as a small boat-building enterprise in Oxford and went on to gain worldwide fame, not only as the leading racing boat constructor, but also as one of the largest rental craft and passenger boat operators in the country. Simon Wenham’s illustrated history sheds light on over 150 years of social change, how leisure developed on the waterway (including the rise of camping), as well as how a family firm coped with the changes brought about by industrialisation – a business that, today, still carries thousands of passengers a year.
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SIMON WENHAM is on the part-time tutor panel of Oxford University’s Continuing Education Department. His doctorate at the university was on the history of Salter Bros Ltd, where he worked as a manager for five years. He has travelled on the waterways around Oxfordshire by skiff, steamer, canoe and narrowboat. He maintains www.simonwenham.com, which promotes aspects of social history with a particular emphasis on Victorian Britain, the river Thames, the city of Oxford and the development of leisure.
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