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Thomas Clayton (Oldbury) Ltd This well-known operator can trace its history back to 1842, when William Clayton set up a carrying fleet in Birmingham, and in 1862 established a wharf and boatyard at Saltley. Thomas Clayton took over the business on his father's death in 1882, and continued to expand it. By then, as well as general cargoes, Clayton's had developed a specialist trade in liquid cargoes, the many gas works being the main customers. At first, the cargo was carried in barrels, but by 1885 the practice had developed of putting it directly in the hold, which was decked over to form the top of the tank. The lids of the hatches were then sealed with lead seals until reaching their destination. In 1889, the business was rationalised. The general carrying business was merged with a rival concern, Fellows, Morton & Co, to become the famous Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. FMC also took over the Saltley yard from Thomas Clayton; many of the FMC and Clayton boats were built at this yard, including the well-known steamer “President” which is based at the Black Country Museum. Thomas Clayton remained a Director and shareholder of FMC, but continued to operate his own fleet which concentrated on the carriage of liquids, from a new base at Oldbury. All of the boats in Clayton's fleet were of wooden construction, except for three experimental iron boats purchased from FMC. However, the boatmen preferred the wooden boats, and the iron ones were soon sold. The boats were all named after rivers or lakes. In 1916 a new pattern was established when the boats built in that year were given names beginning with “A”. In 1917, “B” was used, and so on until the letter “U” was reached in 1939. After that, no more new boats were purchased and the pattern was abandoned. The mainstay of the Clayton traffic was gas works by-products - mainly tar, creosote and “gas water” (an obnoxious solution of ammonia) - much of which was taken to Midland Tar Distillers at the bottom of the Titford Canal, adjacent to Clayton’s base, for reprocessing. In 1924, Clayton’s obtained a contract for carrying fuel oil from Stanlow Oil Refinery at Ellesmere Port on the Manchester Ship Canal to the Shell Depot at Langley Green, for which the motor boats were primarily purchased. However, in late 1955 the boats were made obsolete by a new pipeline, and with it the last regular long-distance traffic on the Shropshire Union Canal ceased. Surprisingly, Clayton’s fleet did not reach its peak, of over 90 boats, until the early 1950s. However, the demise, when it came, was rapid, and the fleet was down to just 8 operational boats by 1966. The final crunch came when Clayton’s yard was compulsorily purchased for building the M5 motorway. The decision was taken therefore to close the fleet, and the last load was carried on 31st March 1966 by the “Stour” - which is now owned by the Black Country Museum. By this time, Clayton’s had built up a road oil tanker business, under the name of Thomas Clayton (Petroleum Products) Ltd — later to be taken over by the Cory group — and the Oldbury Company was wound up. In order to perpetuate the memory of this famous fleet, the present owners of Dane have registered a new Company in the old name.

Thos. Clayton fleet since 1916.

Name / Fleet No. / Source / Date entered fleet / Registered Details / Registered date / Further Information

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