Heybridge Basin (Cannibal Island)

Click on underlined blue names for link to more details

The Butcher Family

Boatbuilding, House Builders,Timber Merchants & millers, Gov't Surplus dealers, Barging Contractors, Ship Breakers.

Arthur Butcher Boatbuilder from the late 1800's.

May & Butcher. 1906.

May & Butcher Timber Merchant 1903

May & Butcher Ship Breakers 1920

Arthur Butcher & Son Gov't Stores 1926.

May & Butcher Barge Contractors

Registered as a Company in 1910.

(above) the house that Arthur Butcher lived in, and built boats prior to 1902, that is now the current Lock Keeper's house. One of the buildings from Osea Island erected by Mr Blott is at the back right.

Arthur Butcher lived in the cottage which is the current Lock Keepers house until 1902 when he swapped it with the Canal Company for the building on the corner of Lock Hill (now 'The Old Ship' pub) which his wife operated as a tearooms for a few months.

In 1903 he began business with local farmer Arthur May under the name of 'May & Butcher' with the purchase of 100 pounds of timber which unfortunately they discovered afterwards they had sold at a loss. They bought a large area from the entrance in Basin Road with an open area of pasture land, extending up to and over the seawall and foreshore. Arthur moved again to a new house he built on the pasture land behind 'Tinkers Cottage' and called it 'Seaview', using the access beside the old barn in Basin Road. They became a Company in 1910 and established several different departments to the business.

The land that 'Blackwater Timbers' used was previously owned by Arthur Butcher before joining up with 'Wally' Burr and forming 'Blackwater Timbers'. They eventually seperated with Wally continuing on his own.  The company ceased trading and all assets sold by auction on the 28th of March 1984

(above) boatbuilding on the new May & Butcher site.

(above) Government surplus sales store

(above) one of May & Butchers big open sales of mostly Gov't Surplus stock.

(above) Arthur Butcher and Mr Blott bought huge quantities of ex-army tents and erected many for sale and auction in the open field. Many ended up in the early days of the creation of the Millbeach Camp Site. The above picture is typical of the early 'Millbeach Camping Site' as it was originally known, about 1952 with some of the old Army tents still in use.

The company owned a 50ton Ballast Barge called 'Hawk'. They contracted to farmers to extract mud from the Northey shore for seawalls for farmers. They also owned several barges/lighters that were kept either on the foreshore or in the canal.

(above) M & B workshops at the head of their slipway before being taken over by the Newham Outdoor Activities Centre.

M & B constructed prefabricated wooden buildings, and after WW1 the company bought and sold army surplus equipment which in 1920 included a number of ex Ministry of Defence wooden huts from the Naval Base on Osea Island. They were dismantled and stored at their premises until sold and erected as residences, workshops and holiday homes in the area. Mr Blott from Tollesbury erected most of the Osea buildings from May & Butcher and was for some time connected with the Company. Some of the huts were placed and used in the following : Clark's Store and several along the Goldhanger Road, at the bottom end of Basin Road on the right are more, Miss Blott's house on 'Muckers Island', Mr Blott's store on the other side of the Canal Basin, some were erected as holiday homes around the lake at Salcot near the wharf, with more sold to local farms, and several more erected on their own pasture land in the Basin and along their seashore operations etc. One was erected beside the 'Millbeach' pub boating lake and used by Ivan Butcher as a cafe and tearoom with a jukebox in the 1950's.

(above) an M & B advert for the sale of the ex Osea Island Ministry buildings.

(above) a receipt for building work on a local Goldhanger farm in 1919.

(above) L to R. 'Tuna' Wisby, 'Jokey' Willis. 'Tuna' was a cart driver for 'May & Butcher'.

(above) an ex Osea Island wooden building erected in Goldhanger Road and used by Mrs Clark as a general store.

(above) another building from Osea Island erected by Mr Blott of May & Butcher, with the old 'Rat Hall' now gone. The old sailing vessel the 'Astrid Gloriana' in the right background being used for storage before being broken up by May & Butcher (see below)

May & Butcher 'ship breakers'

An almost unique side of the business that May & Butcher operated for some time in their early years, was the purchasing of large quantities of the temporary fittings from Canadian Cattle boats. Although somewhat dirty, it was in superb condition having only been used once for the journey over. It was cheap and well sought after by the farmers. A walk through their yards by a journalist in 1911 commented on the large number of chicken coups, small shed, kennels and gates of all sizes that were stacked about ready for sale.

In 1920 May & Butcher began to bring in ships to be broken up, some were quite large sailing vessels like the 2500 ton Canadian built 'Astrid Gloriana' (which they used as a storage hulk for some time before breaking and burning it), and the three masted auxilliary steam schooner 'St George' of the RYS.

(above) a May & Butcher shipbreaking gang.

(above & below) the many vessels broken on the foreshore of M&B. In the above picture the 'Astrid Gloriana' is on the extreme right. Three sailing barges are also being broken the 'Charley', the 'Agness' and the 'Unity'. In the below picture, from R to L is the 'Astrid Gloriana' and the 'St George'.

(above) the 'Astrid Gloriana' with the 'St George' leaning in against her, both waiting to be broken up.

(above & below) the auxilliary steam schooner 'St George' of the RYS. Joyful Peasey lived aboard the 'St George', while it was anchored off Osea Island and at the Basin until it was broken up. Several villagers still had souveniers from the St George tucked away in very recent years.

(above) the 'Astrid Gloriana' moved closer up to the seawall for ease of breaking, after being used for some time as a storage hulk by M&B.

(above) locals watching the 'Astrid Gloriana' ablaze.

(above) the 'Astrid Gloriana' hull well ablaze, view from the Basin side.

The largest vessel to be broken up by 'May & Butcher' was the 5500 ton naval Cruiser HMS 'Dido' (her funnels were used to turn the flood ditch into a drain when they developed the land for housing). She was purchased on the 16th of December 1926. One of it's deck guns was mounted on the lawn of 'Seaview', and the crane used to lift seaplanes aboard also remained in use until the land was sold and developed into the 'Maritime' housing estate in the 1980's.

(above) built in 1894 the 5500 ton 'Eclipse Class' Light Cruiser HMS 'Dido'. Was converted to a submarine depot ship. Frank Parks was watchman aboard her while awaiting to be broken up.

The story of the sinking and drownings in an attempt to fetch HMS Marlborough round to May & Butchers for breaking

Another vessel bought by 'May & Butcher' (officially listed as purchased by A.Butcher) which turned into a disaster for some of the Basin Family's, was the purchase of one of the old Royal Navy sailing ships, the 131 gun HMS 'Marlborough', built in 1855.

(above) HMS 'Marlborough'. 131 gun Royal Navy 'Ship Of The Line'. Built as a sailing vessel and converted to steam screw auxilliary on the stocks before launching.

The 'Marlborough' was purchased by May & Butcher in October 1924. But sadly while on tow to Osea Island where she would be stripped before ending up on the Basin foreshore, she capsized off Selsey on the 29th of November 1924 with the loss of four crew, one being Arthur Dowsett from the Basin. Two of the saved were Cecil and James (Jimmy) 'Bouncer' Stebbens from the Basin, Cecil being mentioned for bravery in saving his uncle James by swimming with a lifeline to him. The Stebbens and Butcher family are related by marriage.

(above & below) copies from the local 1924 newspaper of the 'Marlborough' incident. (unfortunately befor the days of scanning, there was only a cheap photocopier available to make a copy of any kind). Arthur Dowsett in the middle of the above picture, Cecil and James Stebbens in the below picture.

They built a slipway in 1928. The Company continued with limited operations during WW2 with the manufacture of the wooden parts for 'Mosquito' and other aircraft, similar to what Bentall's were doing at the time. The repair and breaking up of small naval craft continued for a short time after the war. Eight or nine 'Minesweepers' were bought from the Navy and refurbished before selling them on. The construction of farm buildings and wooden shuttering for large civil engineering contracts being their mainstay of business until the Company closure in 1984.

May & Butcher Ltd - V - The King (1934).

After the end of the First World War, the Government had a surplus of tents which were no longer required by the army. As a result, the Government’s disposal’s board was set up to sell these tents. They agreed to sell tents to May and Butcher Ltd who left £1,000 as a security deposit for their purchases. According to the written agreement between the disposals board and the company, the price for the tents, and the dates on which payment was to be made were to be agreed between the parties, as and when the tents became available. In 1923 a new disposal’s board took over and refused to sell the tents. They stated that they no longer considered themselves bound by the contract. May and Butcher sued but were unsuccessful. They appealed to the House of Lords, but lost.

(above) an M&B label from the 1970's.

(above and below) the handout for the winding up auction sale of May & Butcher assets on the 28th of March 1984.