As a child during the period of the Second World War, en route to visit my maternal grandparents who lived a few miles beyond Leeds, I was fascinated by the huge statue of the Black Prince (1330-1376) which dominated Leeds City Square.

I knew that the Black Prince was the eldest son of King Edward III and a man of valour who against all odds had beaten the French at the Battle of Crecy in 1346. To my childish mind the statue which symbolised chivalry and courage, epitomised the spirit of the British nation in those dark days.

Knowing nothing of any link between the prince and the City, I assumed that the statue was a mute yet eloquent testimony to a historic connection. Many years later I was disabused of the assumption when I learned that the Prince's connection with the city was non-existent and that the only link with Yorkshire in general was both tenuous and posthumous, his son, Richard II, being murdered in Pontefract Castle following his deposition in 1399.

Awareness of a link between my native Knottingley and the Prince's statue came quite recently when Mrs Shirley Bedford of Knottingley informed me that her great grandfather was the master of a barge which had transported the statue from Hull to Leeds in 1903.

The statue was the brainchild of Colonel Thomas Walter Harding J.P., erstwhile Lord Mayor of Leeds, who in 1902 conceived the idea of a grandiose centrepiece for the recently constructed plaza in the city centre.

At his own expense, Harding commissioned Thomas Brock R.A., to create an equestrian statue of the Black Prince. Objections were raised, for while the Prince's military prowess was undisputed it was justifiably claimed that he was an incompetent and autocratic administrator who hardly represented the concept of democracy and civic virtue which underlay the aspiration of Leeds following conferment of city status a decade earlier. Such considerations were, however, brushed aside.

The sculptor decided to have the bronze statue cast at a foundry in Antwerp, Belgium, from where it was duly shipped on the deck of a steamer in a sturdy wooden crate measuring 18' x 5'11'', arriving at Hull docks on the 22nd August 1903.

Considerations of cost effectiveness, smooth transit and efficiency, resulted in the decision to transport the statue by barge along the Ouse to Goole and thence by the inland waterway system to Leeds.

Transhipment of the cargo from the steamer to the barge was not without drama. Fear that the statue might be broken while being hoisted by steam crane into the hold of the barge caused the dock management to decline to load the cargo unless indemnified against potential damage. Harding's assurance being obtained, the crate was loaded into the hold of one of the fly boats belonging to the Aire & Calder navigation Company.

Fly boats were 'dumb' barges of substantial carrying capacity. First used about 1821 as horse-drawn passenger vessels, they were increasingly towed by steam tugs from 1830 and following the introduction of the railways, used principally as cargo boats.

Master of the unnamed barge used to transport the statue of the Black Prince was Joseph Boulton. Born at Knottingley in 1855 and raised in the family home at Canalside, near Racca Green, Boulton followed the family tradition and became a mariner. At the time of the 1881 Census, although Joseph's mother still lived at Knottingley, he and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, (nee Brown, of Fowey, Cornwall), were resident at Hull, his occupation being recorded as fly-boat mate. Sometime later, however, Boulton was promoted to be one of the Navigation Company's bargemasters and in this capacity he was given the grave responsibility of commanding the maritime aspects of the conveyance of the statue of the Black Prince.

The crate conveying the statue was lowered into the hold of Boulton's barge, described solely as the "prince's state barge", with the head of the charger facing the stern of the craft. Harding, evidently, regarded this fact as rather ominous and insisted that the cargo be reloaded with the horse's head facing the bow of the barge. The wily Company Agent prevailed upon Boulton to turn the barge round so that the horse faced upstream and the first leg of the journey was underway.

The journey from Hull to Goole was accomplished in a little over five hours. Moored overnight at Goole docks, the second phase of the voyage commenced early the following morning. Members of the public, aware of the significance of the journey, are reported to have gathered at appropriate places en route to cheer the mariners and their cargo. Boulton and his mate, whilst conscious of the honour bestowed, being experienced crewmen of phlegmatic disposition, were said to have regarded the valuable consignment as merely another cargo. The sang-froid of the seamen must have undergone a degree of discomposure, however, when their arrival at the destination point was greeted by a large crowd of cheering onlookers.

A low bogey, normally used to transport large boilers, was employed to transport the statue to the Vity centre from the New Dock Basin, off Clarence Road. In view of the nature of the load it was deemed appropriate to dispense with the traction engine and a team of six horses was harnessed to pull the statue to City Square on Monday 31st August 1903. On Wednesday the 16th of September, 100,000 people assembled on the site to witness the official opening of the City Square.

As for Boulton and his shipmate, they received oblique and anonymous praise in the Press which declared, ".. it is meet that the care exercised by the Aire & Calder Navigation Co., in transporting the statue from Hull to Leeds should be acknowledged... having delivered the valuable work without a scratch..."

The Company directors, flushed with the pride and prestige accrued from their success, decided to forego their charges. The opinion of Joseph Boulton is unrecorded but he must surely have experienced a vestige of pride which devolved however vaguely, through succeeding generations of his family to claim renewed attention today.

©Terry Spencer January 2007

The events described in the above article by Terry Spencer are based upon the essays by William Scott entitled 'Colonel Harding and the Black Prince', contained in 'Aspects of Leeds 2', and published by Wharncliffe Books 1999. p101-108.
ISBN-10 1871647592
ISBN-13 978-1871647594