Thomas Travally and Rachel Winnall

St Dunstan & All Saints, Stepney - East end
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/3477011

Thomas Travally (1685–1744) and Rachel Winnall (1680–1755), daughter of John and Alice Winnall, married at the church of St Dunstan & All Saints, Stepney, on 20 Sep 1704. The record of their marriage lists them as Thomas Trevalle (sic) of Ratcliff, Waterman and Rachel Winnall of Blackwall, where Rachel's father, John Winnall, was also a Thames Waterman.

St Dunstan's was known as the "Church of the high seas" because of the great number of sailors who lived there. It's also is known as "The Mother Church of the East End" and has had an important role in my family history, from baptisms in the 1630s, to the baptism of my own grandfather in 1897.

Thomas Travally and Rachel Winnall had six children, all of whom were also baptised at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney:

1. Elizabeth Travally bap. 26 Aug 1705
2. Esther Travally bap. 18 Jul 1709
3. Mary Travally bap. 30 Jan 1712
4. Winnall Travally bap. 15 May 1715
5. Martha Trevally (sic) bap. 17 Feb 1716
6. Warden Travally bap. 10 Feb 1718 (Died 1720)

On these baptism records too Thomas Travally is listed as a Waterman. 

"If watermen were the river’s taxi drivers, then lightermen drove the lorries."

According to the Binding Records of the Thames Watermen & Lightermen, Winnall Travally was apprenticed and therefore bound to his father, Thomas, on 18 Jul 1729. He would then have been around 14 and would be free on 20 Jan 1843, by which time he would have been 28 years old. That seems an inordinately long time. Did Thomas just not trust his son? Apprenticeships are still completed for those wanting to work on the river, offered through the Company of Watermen and Lightermen, lasting 5 years.   

Race for Doggett's Coat and Badge 

The World's Oldest Boat Race

Since 1715 the Race for Doggett’s Coat and Badge has been passionately rowed by apprentice river workers on the Thames. It is believed to be the oldest continually competed sporting event in the world. Thames Watermen compete to earn a coveted red Waterman's coat and badge. The race therefore dates, coincidentally, to the year of Winnall Travally's birth. Thomas and Winnall must surely have known about it. Could they even have taken part? 

(And little did I think I might have been following family tradition when I took part in the Dongola Race at Sunbury Amateur Regatta one year.)