The Bargeman's Daughter

Kitty told us that, from the age of 12, she would often wake up in the middle of the night and join her father on a trip aboard his barge the ‘Nar’.

They would load up the barge with 40 tons of wheat and Kitty's bicycle. Together they would sail up the estuary, down the Trent and the Fosse Dyke, to the mills at Gainsborough and Saxilby. When tired out, Kitty would head for the hold, where she would curl up to sleep on the sacks.

Right to left: Kitty’s Father Captain Jim Richardson, brother Jim, Mother Lily, elder sister Silvie, younger sister Rosemary sat at the front, Kitty on the deck chair and Silvie’s friend Rita.

Kitty aged 14. She regularly cycled to Withernsea and Hornsea on Sundays.

Captain Jim Richardson and his son, also called Jim.

Jim Richardson, Kitty’s father, was captain of the ‘Nar’. He lost an eye fighting in the Army during the Second World War, and on returning to Hull was sometimes known as Captain One-Eyed Jim Richardson.

Work on the barge could also be hazardous; on one occasion an unfortunate incident with the wire tow rope severed Jim’s finger clean off.

Clarence Mills owned by J. Arthur Rank where the Nar was loaded with wheat and barley.