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The steam tug "The Star" and the Patterson family

My Great Yarmouth Ancestry.

By Maureen Maughan

I live in Tyne and Wear but have recently found that some of my ancestors were from Great Yarmouth. My ancestor Christmas Patterson, circa 1869, (yes that was his real name) was the son of Matthew Patterson and Eliza (nee Knights). Matthew was a master of the steam tug "The Star" on the 1881 census, along with his son Matthew and a crew member, Henry Moss, age 28.

On the 1851 census Eliza Knights and her family were living at Row 133. What were these "Rows" - fishermen's homes? I was fascinated when I found this site and would love any information about how these communities lived and worked, and anything about the steam tugs.

Maureen Maughan

This page was added by Maureen Maughan on 30/06/2009.

Comments about this page

Hello Maureen. I am no expert, but I hope that the authors (Peter Allard and Parry Watson) of Maritime Great Yarmouth. Volume 1: a portrait in old photographs and postcards [Seaford: S.B. Publications, 1995] will let me quote from their book.

The Star was owned by the Great Yarmouth Steam Tug Company Ltd, which was formed in 1880. The owner of the so-called Red Funnel Tugs, it was the largest tug company in Yarmouth. This was at a time when the local fishing fleet was "at its peak".

As for The Rows, have you read Richard Dade's piece on this website?

Old photos and more can be seen on Norfolk County Council's website www.norfolk.gov.uk under 'Leisure and culture'.

For much more information, you could try tracking down books by local historian Colin Tooke, for instance Great Yarmouth: The Rows and the Old Town (published in 2000).

By Paul Douch
On 12/08/2009