James Hiley the Boatman

Lady of the Lake and burnt-out Lord of the Isles on the right

(included with the permission of Ian Boyle, Simplon Postcards website)

In 1845 the wooden Lady of the Lake became the first steamboat built to sail on an English lake. She was operated by the Windermere Steam Yacht Company and sailed from Newby Bridge to Ambleside, a distance of eleven miles which she covered in about an hour and a quarter. Such was the success of Lady of the Lake in her first year, that a second steamer was ordered, the Lord of the Isles, which was launched in 1846. Unfortunately her career was short-lived; she was destroyed by fire in 1850 while moored at Bowness pier. The fire occurred in suspicious circumstances and James Hiley, fireboy of the Lord, and William Jackson, fireboy of the Lady, were accused of wilfully setting fire to her. The lads were locked up in Appleby Prison to await trial at the local Assize Court but the case was dismissed. The judge ruled that it was unlikely that the boys would have deliberately destroyed the vessel as by doing so they would have denied themselves work.
(Windermere Lake Cruises, Company History - with permission)

James had been born in Hornby in 1833. His father Matthew, the organist at the Parish Church in Bowness, was born in Halifax in 1780. Matthew's father, also Matthew, and baptised in Ovenden near Halifax in 1747, was the son of John Hiley. It has not been possible yet to connect this John with the early Hiley/Highley families from the Halifax area.

John Campbell, in his book ‘Village by the Water – a History of Bowness-on-Windermere’, says that the occupations of fishermen and boatmen remained the exclusive preserve of local men, and mentions James Hiley as one of the three Windermere boatmen listed in the 1851 Census. ‘The boats in which visitors liked to pass a relaxing time on the water were owned by the hotels ………….the three boatmen would row them around the islands or elsewhere’.

In the 1861 Census James, now described as a Musician, was recorded as living in Crosthwaite near Keswick and he married Frances Walker the following year. After that no record has been found for James.

James’s brother John was a Tailor who lived in Bowness. John’s son Alfred was a Naval Architect and Engineer who worked at Vickers in Barrow-in-Furness.

We have no records of any children for either James or John.