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Ellis Charles Raymond Hadfield (5 August 1909 – 6 August 1996) was a
canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...
historian and the author of many classic works on the British canal system, mostly published by the firm he co-founded,
David & Charles David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing. David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and cont ...
.


Biography

Charles Hadfield was born at Pietersburg, South Africa, where his New Zealand-born father was an Assistant Resident Magistrate; his mother was daughter of a Devon clergyman. Hadfield went to England in 1924 to be educated at
Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the ti ...
,
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is a ...
, after which he went up to
St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university ...
, Oxford. In 1936 he joined the Oxford University Press. He was invited to the home of the theatre critic and author
Robert Aickman Robert Fordyce Aickman (27 June 1914 – 26 February 1981) was an English writer and conservationist. As a conservationist, he co-founded the Inland Waterways Association, a group which has preserved from destruction and restored England's inl ...
in May 1946, as were the author L Tom C Rolt and four others, the outcome of which was the formation of the
Inland Waterways Association The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom and was formed in 1946 to campaign for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and sensitive development of British Canals and river navigations. No ...
(IWA), a pressure group for the preservation and restoration of the waterways, with Aickman as chairman, Hadfield as vice-chairman and Rolt as secretary. In 1950 books about the waterways started to appear, to inform the public about their plight, with Rolt producing ''The Inland Waterways of England'', Aickman producing ''Know your Waterways'', and Hadfield producing ''Introducing Canals''. Later the same year, his book ''British Canals'' appeared, which ultimately was expanded into a comprehensive series of books about canals throughout Great Britain. Hadfield parted company with the IWA in 1951, after he, Rolt and others signed a memorandum suggesting that the organisation needed to have a policy of "priorities". This did not sit well with Aickman, who felt that all waterways should be retained and rule changes were introduced to force their exclusion. Hadfield recalled: In 1946 he became the director of publications at the
Central Office of Information The Central Office of Information (COI) was the UK government's marketing and communications agency. Its Chief Executive reported to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. It was a non-ministerial department, and became an executive agency and a ...
. He was a founder member of the
Railway and Canal Historical Society The Railway and Canal Historical Society was founded in the United Kingdom in 1954 to bring together all those interested in the history of transport, with particular reference to railways and waterways in Britain, its main objects being to promo ...
in 1954 and in 1960 he joined his friend
David St John Thomas David St John Thomas (30 August 1929 – 19 August 2014) was an English publisher and writer who founded David & Charles. Early life and career The son of writer Gilbert Thomas (1891–1978) he shared his father's enthusiasm for railways, parti ...
in setting up the publishing company
David & Charles David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing. David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and cont ...
and continued publishing a stream of canal books. This extended to a study of world canals, amassing a rich store of research material now kept at the
National Waterways Museum The National Waterways Museum (NWM) is in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England, at the northern end of the Shropshire Union Canal where it meets the Manchester Ship Canal (). The museum's collections and archives focus on the Britain's navigable inl ...
,
Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...
. Between 1963 and 1966 he was a member of the
British Waterways Board British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland ...
. He resigned from the management of the publishing firm in 1964 but continued to edit ''The Canals of the British Isles'' series. In 1971 he was invited to rejoin the IWA and became a vice-president in 1983. He married Alice Mary Miller in 1945 who died seven years before him in 1989 and they had two sons (Henry, who died an infant and Alexander who died in 2011) and a daughter (Molly). Hadfield had been appointed CMG in 1954.


Bibliography


Canals

* * * 2nd edn 1959, (Phoenix House). 3rd edn 1966 (David & Charles), 4th edition 1969, 5th edn 1974, 6th edn 1979, 7th edn 1984 * * 2nd edn 1967 (David & Charles) * 2nd edn 1970 * 2nd edn 1969, 3rd edn 1985 * * 2nd edn 1970. * 2nd edn 1981 * * * * * * * * *


Other works

*''The Cotswolds''.
Batsford Batsford is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. The village is about 1½ miles north-west of Moreton-in-Marsh. There is a falconry centre close to the village and Batsford Arboretum is nearby, ...
, London, 1966. (With Alice Mary Hadfield) *''The Cotswolds: A new study''. David & Charles, 1973. (With Alice Mary Hadfield) *''Introducing the Cotswolds''. David & Charles, 1976. (With Alice Mary Hadfield) *''Afloat in America: Two enthusiasts explore the United States and Canada by waterway and rail.'' David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1979. (With Alice Mary Hadfield)


See also

*
Canals of the United Kingdom The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a varied history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's ro ...
*
History of the British canal system History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...


References


Bibliography

* .


Further reading

* *Ridler, Anne
"Charles Hadfield"
''The Charles Williams Society Newsletter'', No. 82. Autumn 1996, pp. 3–6. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hadfield, Charles 1909 births 1996 deaths South African emigrants to the United Kingdom People educated at Blundell's School British waterways activists 20th-century British historians