de bene esse: Unique Photos of Last Generation to Work Britain's Industrial Canals

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

They were once vital industrial routes to supply coal to Britain's biggest mines and home to hundreds of workers, now relegated to leisure use, a unique collection of photos of Britain's canals give rare insight into the lives of the last generation to work the inland waterways.
The new exhibition, An Inland Voyage, at the London Canal Museum includes pictures from the late 1940s and early 1950s before the use of the waterways changed forever.

Working life on the canals: Nellie Stokes steering a butty down the Oxford canal

River children: Four children aboard the Little Marvel canal boat when the inland waterways were still a vital industrial link

Water girl: Joyce Hambridge making the most of some good weather sunbathing on the prow

The pictures by Coventry factory worker turned photographer Robert Longden taken at Hawkesbury Junction in Warwickshire, where the Oxford and Coventry canals meet, have been restored and curated by his great grandson Stephen Pochin.

His unique photographic archive conveys an intimate social history of a working life now long gone.
In the late 1940s, the area around Hawkesbury was dominated by heavy industry with six massive cooling towers visible along the skyline.

On a voyage: A group of children stand by a barge used to transport coal to London

Home sweet home: Hawkesbury Junction in Warwickshire, where the Oxford and Coventry canals meet, with a power station in the background

Working life: The Oxford canal was the main coal supply route from Wyken Colliery and pit heads in the area

The Oxford canal provided the main coal supply route to London from Wyken Colliery and nearby pit heads around Hawkesbury Village and Exhall.
Longden became president of the Coventry Photographic Society and won several awards for his work.
Today, his archive is considered to be of unique social and historical importance.

The exhibition runs until February next year.