Dutchman's Breeches

Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's breeches) is a perennial herbaceous plant, native to rich woods of eastern North America, with a disjunct population in the Columbia River Basin.

The common name Dutchman's breeches derives from their white flowers that look like white breeches.

Lowry refers to the plant in his novel Ultramarine; "Andy, the Dutchman's breeches, ha ha!" (Pg. 40). This reference is to the Native Americans and early white practitioners use of the plant for treating syphilis. Andy the cook on board the Oedipus Tyrannus is suffering from venereal disease.

John Owen An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews

Lowry refers to the "manifold security" in his novel Ultramarine;  "it seemed to Hilliot now that Oedipus Tyrannus had a manifold security:" (Pg. 43). The phrase is used alongside other biblical allusions. One possible source is John Owen's An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews first published in the 17th century; "The Lord Jesus being thus entered into heaven as our forerunner, gives us manifold security for entering in thither also at the appointed season."

Lamp of Sanctuary

A sanctuary lamp, altar lamp, everlasting light, or eternal flame is a light that shines before the altar of sanctuaries in many denominations of (Jewish) and (Christian) places of worship. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the lamp in Ultramarine; "The light burning in the forecastle was the lamp of sanctuary." (Pg. 43)

S.S. Leeway

The S.S. Leeway was launched on 03/03/1897 originally named SS Sahara built by Alexander Stephen & Sons Glasgow; Ship Type: Cargo Vessel, Tonnage: 4089 grt, Length: 370.1 feet (BP), Breadth: 48 feet. Propulsion: Steam, triple expansion, single screw. The ship was renamed several times; 1920 Marshal French, 1922 Leeway, 1925 Charterhurst and finally Bianca Bianchi in 1927. The ship had several owners: Glasgow Nav. Co. (Maclay & McIntyre), Glasgow, 1915 Houlder, Middleton & Co., London, 1919 Saint David's SN Co., Cardiff, 1922 St. Mary SS Co., Cardiff, 1925 Charter Shipping Co., Cardiff 1927 G.R.Bianchi, Genoa. The ship was scrapped on 17/07/1928.

Lowry refers to the ship in his novel Ultramarine; "One of those bloody St Mary Axe Boats; the Leeway is knocking around here. Only its wings aren't clipped." (Pg. 33), "Then we were standing on the wharf, looking up at the soaring stern of the S.S. Leeway from Swansea which had docked forward of the Martensen." (Pg. 101); "He spat; the spittle landed on the "Y" of Leeway and dribbled down slowly into the harbour." (Pg. 102).

Lowry's reference to the ship is probably due to members of the crew of Pyrrhus, on which Lowry sailed to the Far East, being familiar with South Wales where the Leeway had been based and the fact that the former owners St. Mary SS Co. were being investigated by the authorities for the loss of one of their ships the SS Eastway co-owned with Mr. Watkin James Williams. (See St Mary Axe Boats).

St Mary Axe Boats

Lowry uses the phrase "St Mary Axe Boats" in his novel Ultramarine; "One of those bloody St Mary Axe Boats; the Leeway is knocking around here. Only its wings aren't clipped." (Pg. 33).

Lowry's seems to be using a slang/colloquial phrase perhaps used by sailors to refer to the Baltic Exchange which was located at 30 St Mary Axe in London.

The Baltic Exchange is the world's only independent source of maritime market information for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts. Read more on Wikipedia. 

Lowry's reference may also have an ironic link in that the Leeway had been part owned by the St Mary's Steam Ship Co. Lowry's reference to the ship is probably due to members of the crew of Pyrrhus, on which Lowry sailed to the Far East, being familiar with South Wales where the Leeway had been based and the fact that the former owners St. Mary SS Co. were being investigated by the authorities for the loss of one of their ships the SS Eastway co-owned with Mr. Watkin James Williams. The case was reported in the Times and a full report can be read here.

Lowry's reference may refer to the idea that the Leeway maybe being set up to be "lost" as an insurance scam though this was not a conclusion of the inquiry into the loss of the Eastway. Lowry may have heard of  "death ships" - any boat so decrepit that it is worth more to its owners over-insured and sunk than it would be worth afloat. Lowry later would become familiar with B.Traven's novel The Death Ship, about such ships, originally published in 1926 but not translated into English until 1934 when Lowry probably read the novel as his German was poor.

The Campbells Are Coming

Lowry refers to the song in his novel Ultramarine; "the Campbells are coming, yo ho, yo ho: the Campbells are coming along the grey familiar fields to happy go." (Pg. 44).

A song written by Robbie Burns. The original song for, The Campbells are comin dates back to the 1715 Jacobite rebellion. In the 1715 rebellion the 2nd Duke of Argyll, John Campbell, led the government forces against the Jacobite forces. However, in this song, Burns alludes to the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots in Lochleven Castle in 1567. In this instance, ‘Great Argyle’, is the 5th Earl of Argyll, who made an effort to rescue her.


The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin to bonie Lochleven,
The Campbells are comin Oho, Oho!

Upon the Lomonds I lay, I lay,
Upon the Lomonds I lay, I lay,
I looked down to bonie Lochleven,
And saw three bonie perches play.

Great Argyle he goes before,
He maks his cannons and guns to roar,
Wi' sound o' trumpet, pipe and drum
The Campbells are comin Oho, Oho!

The Campbells they are a' in arms
Their loyal faith and truth to show,
Wi' banners rattling in the wind
The Campbells are comin Oho, Oho!

The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin to bonie Lochleven,
The Campbells are comin Oho, Oho!

The song is connected with the siege of Lucknow in the Indian rebellion, 1857. Nana Sahib had massacred women and children, and while the survivors were expecting instant death, a Scotch woman lying ill on the ground heard the pibroch, and exclaimed, “Dinna ye hear it? Dinna ye hear it? The pipes o’ Havelock sound.” And soon afterwards the rescue was accomplished. E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.

Kings Lynn, Norfolk

King's Lynn, also known as Lynn, is a sea port and market town standing on the river Ouse in the county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated 97 miles (156 km) north of London and 44 miles (71 km) west of Norwich.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the town's main export was grain. The town was no longer a major international port, although some iron and timber were still imported. Like other East Coast ports, King's Lynn suffered from the discovery of the Americas, which benefited ports on the West Coast of England. It was also affected by the growth of London which attracted the town's trade.

The port of Kings Lynn continued to thrive in the 19th century. Alexandra Dock was built in 1869. Bentinck Dock was built in 1883.

Lowry refers to the port in his novel Ultramarine; "The quartermaster had one green eye, and one brown one and Hilliot knew he came from King's Lynn, the decaying port in the wilds of Norfolk." (Pg. 38)

Richard Dehan The Dop Doctor

The Dop Doctor is a novel written by Clotilde Graves in 1911 under the pen name of Richard Dehan, although she was already known as a writer (chiefly for the theatre) under her own name.

The story hinges around a drunken and disgraced medic who eventually makes his way to South Africa where he redeems his honour at the Siege of Mafeking. Albert Gérard, in his European-language writing in Sub Saharan Africa, regards the book's description of the siege of Mafeking "as a heroic justification of British Imperial strategy and the vindication of a belief in the righteousness and superiority of the British cause. The Dop Doctor contains pro-Jingo arguments of the type which offers the stereotypical portrait of the Boer as backward and despicably primitive, and the black man as a shadow figure behind the civilizing foreground, an appendage of an argument over what to do with his labour". The incidentials of the novel, however, should not distract from its pimary objective of tracing a story of redemption through expiatory suffering and kenosis, a subject much explored by writers, in several European languages, connected with the literary renouveau catholique movement. It was made into a film in 1915 by Fred Paul. The film gave considerable offence in South Africa due to the harsh portrayal of English and Dutch characters. It was eventually banned under the Defence of the Realm Act. Wikipedia

We must assume that Lowry read the book as he makes reference to a drink and comments about the drink only found in this book to date:

"Dop," being the native name for the cheapest and most villainous of Cape brandies, has come to signify alcoholic drinks in general to men of many nations dwelling under the subtropical South African sun. Thus, apple-brandy, and peach liqueur, "Old Squareface," in the squat, four-sided bottles beloved no less by Dutchman and Afrikander, American and Briton, Paddy from Cork, and Heinrich from the German Fatherland, than by John Chinkey—in default of arrack—and the swart and woolly-headed descendant of Ham, may be signified under the all-embracing designation." (The Dop Doctor Pg. 99).

Lowry refers to Cape Dopp in his short story 'Seductio ad Absurdum'; "And it wasn't wine at all but Cape Dopp, wot we call Cape Dopp— raw spirit gawd blimey. Why, do you know, we all went mad, mad, and they had to tie Deaffy up to the bullock post." (Pg. 9) and "Fellers used to keep em as pets and make em drunk on Cape Dopp." (Pg. 9); these lines are repeated in his first novel Ultramarine (Pgs.127-128).  Lowry also uses the phrase 'Old Squareface' in Ultramarine when the quartermaster on board Oedipus Tyrannus asks Dana to his cabin for a drink; "Come along to my room and have a slice of old squareface."  Pg. 37

Moji, Japan

Moji-ku is a ward of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is the former city of Moji which was one of five cities merged to create Kitakyūshū in 1963. It faces the city of Shimonoseki across the Kanmon Straits between Honshū and Kyūshū.

Moji was first made into a port by Suematsu Kenchō with the financial backing of Shibusawa Eiichi in 1889. It was chiefly used for the transportation of coal, though there is a traditional song about the sale of bananas imported into Moji from Southeast Asia which survives to this day (Banana no tataki-uri). Moji was also the departure point for many troops in the Russo-Japanese War who were ferried across to Korea.

Lowry refers to the port in his novel Ultramarine when Norman is warning Dana about contracting venereal disease when he goes ashore in Tsjang Tsjang (Dairen); "Voyage before last, in Muji, it was, I picked up, the finest dose you ever saw, voyage before last in the Maharajah - she's lying in this port now" (Pg. 34) and again when the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus are talking about how Smithy contracted venereal disease in Moji; "got it in Muji he had, and never said damn all to anybody.." (Pg. 61).

There is no record that Lowry visited the port on his 1927 voyage to the Far East. Lowry was familiar with J. Johnston Abraham's The Surgeon's Log, which features a visit to the port where his ship takes on coal (Pgs. 122-144), which may have inspired him to feature the port in Ultramarine. Or Lowry may have known that Moji was a regular port of call for Blue Funnel ships to take on coal on trips to Japan.

Central Market, Liscard

Liscard Market Circa 1930 Courtesy of Wallasey Central Library

Lowry refers to a market in his novel Ultramarine; "Then he was walking again with Janet, slowly, through the crowd. Electric lights swam past. Gas jets, crocus-coloured, steadily flared and whirled. The shouts and cries of the market rose and fell about them like a breathing of a monster." (Pg. 43).

In the 1920's, there were only two markets on the Wirral - Liscard Central Market and Birkenhead Market.  There is a strong possiblity that the market that Lowry referred to in Ultramarine was the Liscard one as it  was approximately 400m from Tess Evan's home at 26 Thirlmere Street.

Central Market Buildings was a post First World War development in Wallasey Road, Liscard, which stood on land originally occupied by two dwellings, one of which was Clairville Cottage, before being demolished in the 1960's and replaced by a supermarket which was converted into a Wetherspoons pub called the Clairville.

The market may also be where Dana and Janet buy fish for her mother; "Ruby fisheries. Do you remember going there to get the cod steaks for your mother?" (Pg. 123).

Tsingtao

Former western postal name of Qingdao, China a major seaport, naval base, and industrial centre on the Shandong Peninsula on the Yellow Sea. China conceded the area to Germany in 1898, and the Kiautschou Bay concession, as it became known, existed from 1898 to 1914.

After a minor British naval attack on the German colony in 1914, Japan occupied the city and the surrounding province during the Siege of Tsingtao after Japan's declaration of war on Germany in accordance with the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The failure of the Allied powers to restore Chinese rule to Shandong after the war triggered the May Fourth Movement. The city reverted to Chinese rule in December, 1922, under control of the Republic of China. The city became a direct-controlled municipality of the Chinese Government in 1929. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry visited the port between July 29th and 1st August 1927 on his voyage to the Far East aboard the Pyrrhus. Lowry arrived from Dairen before sailing onto Keelung.

Lowry refers to the port in his novel Ultramarine; "He was thinking of the first time he had seen Andy in the booth, where he had been talking about a girl at Tsintao, on the bathing beach there." (Pg. 25); "A white motor boat came curtsying out of the harbour, rolling nearer and nearer: as she rounded the stern of the Oedipus Tyrannus her name was visible, Mabel-Tsintao." (Pg. 28); "In Tsintao I defrauded a Chinaman of a bottle of Batavian arak, weeping afterwards, when he refused publicly, to shake hands with me." (Pg. 93/94) and " 'Aw, you mean Tsintao, boy' ' No, I don't mean Tsintao' 'E means Tsintao all the bloody same.' (Pg. 161).

Stan Hugill in his book recalls the sailortown area of Tsingtao:

Tsingtao, in China, having been taken over by the Japanese after the First world war, was in these days very Japanese in character, although the imprint of its previous owner, Germany- with a dash of Russian, and a bottom layer of China - was also present. In the early thirties it was quite a busy port and consequently had many drinking dives fro seamen. The first one, outside the dock gates, was the Port Lunch. Up the Kuan Hsieh and Liao Cheng Roads stood many more , with brothels in Lin Hsing Road. Here we give some of the better known of these joints: cafe Ginza, the Korean Bar, Sapporo Cabaret, Slick's Bar, Jimmy's Bar, Bright Eyes, Kismet, the St. France, the Kiharu Baru, and the New Bluejacket Bar.

In the Lin Hsing Road were the 'cages' with Japanese joro gazing outwards while they knitted, embroidered, or chatted to each other. Korean kisnangs or Geisha, all of whom, unlike Japanese Geisha, were harlots, were also to be found in houses in this street. (Sailortown Pg.332).

Trocadero Cinema

Trocadero, New Brighton 1934

Lowry uses the name Trocadero for the cinema in Tsjang Tsjang (Dairen) which Dana, Norman and Popplereuter visit in their drunken drift around the port in Chapter 3 of Ultramarine; "Trocadero" (Pg. 37);  "It appears that the mate wanted to go to the Trocadero, and the skipper thought it was a bore." (Pg. 39);  and signs for the cinema are seen on pages 81, 85, 104 and 109. There is no evidence to date there was a Trocadero Cinema amongst the 8 Japanese owned cinemas in the Dairen in the 1920's

The name originates from the Palais du Trocadéro which was built on the hill of Chaillot for the 1878 World's Fair in Paris. The palace's form was that of a large concert hall with two wings and two towers; its style was a mixture of exotic and historical references, generally called "Moorish" but with some Byzantine elements. Read more on Wikipedia

The name Trocadero became popular in England for the naming of cinemas in the 1920s - examples can be found in London, Rusholme, Leicester, Blackpool, Whitstable, Southport and Derby. Lowry would have been aware that there were 2 examples near to where he lived in the 1920's - in Camden Street, Liverpool and Victoria Road. New Brighton. Lowry probably frequented the Trocadero in New Brighton with Tess Evans during 1927.

The New Brighton Trocadero was formally opened on 1st June, 1922 by the Mayor of Wallasey, Alderman Augustine Quinn. The first film shown was 'Perjury', staring William Farnum (1876-1953). Music was provided by the Tracadero Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Mr. Bescoby. The acting manager was Mr. C.H. Hankinson, who had previous experience with the Hippodrome and the Tivoli Theatre. The cost of admission were 6d, 9d and 1/3.

The Trocadero was built from reinforced concrete and was of fire-proof construction. The main frontage was executed in cream tinted terra cotta and the central portion, which rose above the entrance, was finished with a heavy pedimented gable and well proportioned windows. Either side were lock-up shops surmounted by a plain parapet. Throughout the length of the frontage in Victoria Road, was a wrought-iron and glass verandah to provide shelter in bad weather for patrons queuing outside.

The cinema was capable of accommodating some 900 people inside in what was considered at that time, to be the most luxurious surroundings. The main entrance to the cinema had marble paving which provided access through mahogany swing doors that lead into a spacious hall panelled in keeping with the entrance doors. Leading directly from the hall were the entrance doors to the auditorium and immediately to the left was an elaborate staircase, with its massive balustrade. The stairs led to the foyer on the first floor, which in turn gave access to the luxurious balcony which had been constructed on a slope so as to ensure every seat had a clear view of the screen.

The inside walls were of simple and restrained style. The main piers were run up as plasterers finished with enriched brackets from which sprung arched ribs of decorative plasterwork across the ceiling. The intervening wall spaces between the plasterers were richly panelled in modelled plaster work leading up to an effective treatment over the circular windows, and surmounted at the eaves by a well-proportioned classic cornice. The infilling to the ceiling was also effectively broken up by a series of panels and enriched ventilating gratings. The proscenium front and arch was boldly treated forming a fitting frame to the silver screen and its drapers. The tip-up seats were upholstered in blue corduroy velveteen and finished with mahogany backs and arms. Heating the cinema was provided by a low-pressure hot water system, whilst the air conditioning comprised a blower fan to provide fresh, warm air at a low level to eliminate floor draughts. Read more on History of Wallasey

By coincidence, the Trocadero, New Brighton showed 2 films in October 1927 which Lowry mentions in his work - Rex Ingram's Mare Nostrum and The Amateur Gentleman starring Richard Barthelmess. It is possible that Lowry saw these 2 films in New Brighton after he returned from his Far East voyage and prior to him going to study with E.E. Kellett in Blackheath.

F. E. Chadwick et al Ocean Steamships etc

Lowry's references to literature of the sea are fairly extensive in Ultramarine and include appropriations from a book entitled Ocean steamships a popular account of their construction, development, management and appliances by F. E. Chadwick, U.S.N., J. D. J. Kelley, U.S.N., Ridgely Hunt, U.S.N., John H. Gould, William H. Rideing, A. E. Seaton (1891).

Lowry's obsession with the stokehold may have been ignited by the descriptions in Chapter "The Ship's Company written by Lieutenant J. D. Jerrold Kelley U.S. Navy in Ocean steamships etc. However, we have no record of when Lowry read the book - it may have been as a child or at school.

Lowry had an affinity with ships' firemen and references or allusions to firemen occur frequently in his work. Lowry may have even signed on the S.S. Fagervik as a fireman on his journey to the White Sea in 1931. A description of the stokehold of the Oedipus Tyrannus and the fireman Nikolai Wallae occurs early in Ultramarine. (Pg.s 24-25); "But despite their work the firemen seemed to get more fun out of life than the seamen, and it seemed somehow to be better, in some queer way to be nearer to God-" (Pg. 25).

Compare text from Ultramarine with Ocean Steamships etc:

...it was humiliating to watch the nicety with which the lever weight and fulcrum worked, opening and closing their hidden mechanisms and functioning with such an incomprehensible exactness! He thought of the whirling clanks holding horribly in their nerveless grip the penetrating shaft that turned the screws ... Ultramarine Pg. 25

....and in the end you marvel at the nicety with which lever, weight, and fulcrum work, opening and closing hidden mechanisms, and functioning with an exactness that dignifies the fraction of a second into an appreciable quantity. Cranks whirl and whirl and whirl incessantly, holding in moveless grip the long shafting turning the churning screws..... Ocean Steamships Pg. 171

An echo of the above can also be found in a description of the movement of Oedipus Tyrannus on Page 41; "The desire of the link for the pivot; of the lever weight for the fulcrum...".

"Well, those were the ancient violences, the old heroic days of holystones; and they are gone, you say." Ultramarine Pg. 47

"In the middle watches the decks are scrubbed with sand and brooms and brushes, for the old, heroic days of holy-stones are over, and a hundred pounds of effort are no longer expended for an ounce of result." Ocean Steamships Pg. 166-169.

"He gazed round the engine room. Ah, there at least no interruption entered. It was a wonderland, a laboratory of laboratories, a twilight island of mysteries.....Why was it his brain could not accept the dissonance as simply as a harmony, could not make order emerge from chaos?" Ultramarine Pg. 157

"When you come to measure the region fairly, it broadens into a wonderland ; it shapes itself into a twilight island of mysteries, into a laboratory where grimy alchemists practise black magic and white. At first all seerns confusion, but when the brain has co-ordinated certain factors, harmony is wooed from discord and order emerges from chaos." Ocean Steamships Pg. 170

Lowry used the phrase "All Lombard Street To A Tahiti Orange" in his novel Ultramarine when the crew are discussing the chances of the survival Norman's pigeon in the sea  "Yes. All Lombard Street To A Tahiti Orange on that, mate' said the boatswain, as he started to roll a cigarette. 'I'm afraid he'll make a nice little bit of supper for one of them sharks, supper eh?'" (Pg 149). Lowry must have recalled the phrase from Ocean Steamships; "Very creditable, sir ; very well done. You may secure, sir ? " Very well done it is, and when you remember this is the first drill and many of the hands are new, you may feel reasonably assured, should any ordinary fire break out, that it is all Lombard Street to a Tahiti orange it will be subdued most promptly." (Pg. 155).

Greasby, Wirral

Greasby is a large village on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The earliest known human settlement in Merseyside has been found at Greasby, dating from approximately 7000 BC. A rectangular floor of sandstone slabs and pebbles suggests regular use by the nomadic hunters of that period. Greasby was an Anglo Saxon settlement, as witnessed by the form of the name, Gravesberie, in the Domesday Book. Gravesberie derives from the Old English gräf and burh, recorded as meaning a "stronghold by a grove, trench, canal or wood". The name was Scandinavianised to Greasby, under the influence of Old Norse speakers in Wirral (gräf and býr, with býr meaning "settlement" or "farmstead").

After the Second World War the area expanded considerably, with significant residential development across previously agricultural land. This has resulted in Greasby becoming contiguous with the nearby settlements of Moreton, Upton and Woodchurch. Read more on Wikipedia

In the 1920's the main road to Birkenhead from Frankby went through Greasby. This is the route that the narrator takes in the short story 'Enter One In Sumptuous Armour' from Caldy to Birkenhead;" There was a sea of mud round the farm yards. We splashed through little villages named Frankby and Greasby." and  "I noticed the pubs longingly. .....in Greasby, the Coach and Horses. I was sorry to be leaving the pubs behind though I had never entered one." (Pg. 232). Lowry also refers to the village in his novel Ultramarine when Dana and Janet go for a walk on the Wirral; " It was in Greasby they saw a horse in the stable - 'dreaming and warm'.. "(Pg. 42). Lowry is possibly referring to Greasby Hall Farm seen below.

Lowry refers to village in In Ballast to the White Sea; Sigbjørn passes through the village on his way to Birkenhead to catch the train to Liverpool on his journey to Preston; "Soon they had turned the dangerous Frankby corner into the Greasby road, passed the village green and the village cross, and roared into the straight. At the corner, by the Coach and Horses, he slowed down." (Chapter X1).

Lowry also refers to the village in a letter to Carl Brown dated April 1926; "I walked to Greasby looking for the dog which had gone in the other direction - but I sang all the way." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 9).

Liverpool Victoria Rowing Club, Wallasey

At the beginning of the nineteenth century Wallasey Pool was a natural inlet, running from the Mersey estuary some two miles into Wirral, initially between the coastal townships of Wallasey and Birkenhead. The first dock was opened in 1847 and over the following half century most of the Pool was converted into docks. The open central waterway became the Great Float and only the upper end retained its original rural character and the name Wallasey Pool. Liverpool Victoria Rowing Club was founded in 1884 building their own boathouse on Wallasey Pool in 1892.

Up to1914-18 War, membership rose considerably, the boathouse was enlarged. In 1919 the Club was restarted. In 1930 the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board commenced excavations for the conversion of the last part of Wallasey Pool into Bidston Dock and the Club was required to move to a new site on the Birkenhead side of the Pool. Read more 

Lowry refers to rowers in his novel Ultramarine; "And there had been nothing that mattered, save only themselves and the blue sky as they scampered like children past the Hall Line shed to the harbour wall just in time to see the Norwegian tramp steamer Oxenstjerna pass through the gate of the inner dock, while a scratch four paused on their oars watching her entrance steadfastly, their striped singlets dancing in the afternoon sunlight. (Pg. 28). This reference has to be to rowers from the Liverpool Victoria Rowing Club.

Hall Line Shed, Birkenhead

The Hall Line shed stood on the Wallasey side of the Great Float in Birkenhead Docks near to the Duke Street swing bridge.

Robert Alexander started shipowning in the 1850s and in 1868 founded the Sun Shipping Co., Liverpool which operated cargo and passenger services. The ships were named _____HALL, the company became known as the Hall Line, and in 1899 the name was officially changed to Hall Line Ltd. The company was purchased in 1901 by John Ellerman and continued operating as part of the Ellerman Group as Ellerman's Hall Line. Below is a photograph of a Hall Line ship The City Of Cairo built in 1915 and which would have been a familiar sight at the Hall Line sheds in Birkenhead during the 1920's

Lowry refers to the sheds in his novel Ultramarine; "And there had been nothing that mattered, save only themselves and the blue sky as they scampered like children past the Hall Line shed to the harbour wall just in time to see the Norwegian tramp steamer Oxenstjerna pass through the gate of the inner dock, while a scratch four paused on their oars watching her entrance steadfastly, their striped singlets dancing in the afternoon sunlight. (Pg. 28).

Cathcart Street, Birkenhead

A street in Birkenhead named after the family home of the Laird family of shipbuilders who lived originally on the south bank of Wallasey Pool before the street was built.

The street runs from the East Float, the location of the Blue Funnel Line wharf, to Conway Street and is part of the grid-iron pattern of the original Birkenhead streets laid out in the mid to late 1800's.

Lowry refers to the street in his novel Ultramarine; "....in Cathcart Street, near the berth of the ship, a street dreary in the grainy rain, and loud with the clatter of shunting dockside engines and the shouts of floury stevedores..."(Pg. 20).

Lowry would have accessed the Blue Funnel Line wharf from the street on his 1927 voyage to the Far East, he refers to the Dolphin Hotel, Anchor Hotel and the Mutual Aid Society Booth all located in the street.

Holt's Mutual Aid Society Booth, Cathcart Street, Birkenhead

The Holt's wharf was based at the bottom of Cathcart Street in Birkenhead adjacent Vittoria Dock in the East Float section of Birkenhead Docks. In the 1930 photograph above, you can see the wharf in the centre of the photograph on the far left. The map below shows the position of the wharf with Cathcart Street running all the way down from Conway Street in the west to the Great Float in the east.

Holt's "Mutual Aid Society Booth" according to the Kelly's Directory 1927 a clothier manufacturers on the right side of Cathcart Street on the dock side of Corporation Road. In 1927, Holt's Mutual Aid Society Limited was managed by Captain Alfred B. Pightling who was a Marine Superintendent. It is possible that Holt's had a "booth" nearer to the dock but I have not found one indicated on any map, in a trade journal or a history of the company. Certainly, the uniform Lowry obtained for the journey and proudly wore during his time at Cambridge University was manufactured in the above building.

Lowry refers to the company in his novel Ultramarine;  "After agreeing to meet Nikolai on the Oedipus Tyrannus, he had gone with some of the sailors to a "Mutual Aid Society Booth" in Cathcart Street, near the berth of the ship, a street dreary in the grainy rain, and loud with the clatter of shunting dockside engines and the shouts of floury stevedores...(Pg. 20). Lowry lists the items Dana collects at the booth which possibly replicates his own experiences; "He had bought....a sea jersey, two singlets, a shanghai jacket and dungaree trousers, and a pair of sea boots..". (Pg. 20); later Norman ridicules Dana at the booth; "While Andy, pursuing logically his conduct in the Mutual Aid Society Booth, usually went out of his way to be cruel. He had called him 'Miss Hilliot'. Hurry up there, Miss Hilliot..." (Pg. 22)

Birkenhead Park Railway Station

Birkenhead Park railway station is situated in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. It lies on the Wirral Line 31⁄2 miles (5.6 km) west of Liverpool Lime Street on the Merseyrail network.

The station was opened on 2 January 1888, as a joint station between the Wirral Railway and the Mersey Railway. It replaced the Wirral Railway's original terminus at Wallasey Bridge Road (close to the present-day Birkenhead North station), becoming an interchange between their line to West Kirby and the Mersey Railway's new line to central Liverpool. On the same day, the Wirral Railway's new line to Wallasey Grove Road opened, which was extended to New Brighton later that year.

Lowry refers to the station in his short story 'Enter One In Sumptuous Armour'; "At Birkenhead Park we left the car. I said goodbye to Featherstonbaugh, giving him one of the half-crowns that had already taken shape from my father's eyes that morning....We took the Mersey Underground Railway." (Pg. 233). The journey made by the narrator of the story may have been a familiar one to Lowry as he is on his way back to school probably using the same route as Lowry did - by car from Caldy, underground to Liverpool and main line train to the Leys School.

Lowry also makes another possible reference to the station in his novel Ultramarine when Dana recalls his time with Janet; "His whole being was drowning in memories, the smells of Bikenhead and of Liverpool were again heavily about him, there was a coarse glitter in the cinema fronts, children stared at him strangely from the porches of public-houses. Janet would be waiting for him a the Crosville bus stop, with her red mackintosh and her umbrella, while silver straws of rain gently pattered on the green roof..."Where shall we go? The Hippodrome or the Argyle? ..... I've heard there's a good show on at the Scala - (Pg. 27)

If Janet (Tess) was coming from her home in 26 Thirlemere Street in Liscard then she could have taken a Wallasey Corporation bus from Liscard across Birkenhead Docks to Park Station, which was the terminus of Crosville buses in 1927 in Birkenhead. This would have been logical if Hilliot (Lowry) travelled to meet her either using the steam train from West Kirby Station, which terminated at Park Station in the 20's before electrification in the 30's; or he travelled by Crosville bus 108 from West Kirby.

Crosville Bus Stop

Lowry refers to the Crosville Motor Company Limited in his novel Ultramarine when Dana recalls his time with Janet; "His whole being was drowning in memories, the smells of Birkenhead and of Liverpool were again heavily about him, there was a coarse glitter in the cinema fronts, children stared at him strangely from the porches of public-houses. Janet would be waiting for him a the Crosville bus stop, with her red mackintosh and her umbrella, while silver straws of rain gently pattered on the green roof..."Where shall we go? The Hippodrome or the Argyle? ..... I've heard there's a good show on at the Scala -" (Pg. 27).

The Crosville Motor Company Limited was formed on 27 October 1906 in Chester, by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Georges de Ville, with the intention of building motor cars. The company name was an amalgam of 'Crosland' and 'de Ville'.

By 1909 Crosville had commenced its first bus service, between Chester and Ellesmere Port, and was to grow to incorporate bus services in Cheshire, Lancashire and north-east Wales, becoming one of the major names in the British bus industry.

Crosville expanded rapidly after WW1 including onto the Wirral. In October 1919 a service from New Ferry to Meols commenced, running via West Kirby and Hoylake. With Crosville now expanding outwards from Chester and into the Wirral, it was inevitable that conflict with some of the municipal operators would ensue. Licences to run from West Kirby to Wallasey village were granted in May 1920, but plans to extend the services to Seacombe ferry and New Brighton were opposed by Wallasey Corporation. Similar problems were encountered with Birkenhead Corporation, who steadfastly refused to allow the Company's vehicles into the town.

The above is important to note as to which bus stop Hilliot (Lowry) would have met Janet (Tess). If Janet (Tess) was coming from her home in 26 Thirlemere Street in Liscard then she could have taken a Wallasey Corporation bus from Liscard across Birkenhead Docks to Park Station, which was the terminus of Crosville buses in 1927 in Birkenhead. This would have been logical if Hilliot (Lowry) travelled to meet her either using the steam train from West Kirby Station, which terminated at Park Station in the 20's before electrification in the 30's; or he travelled by Crosville bus 108 from West Kirby. This would enabled them to  walk into Birkenhead town centre to visit the theatres. Another possibility is that Hilliot (Lowry) traveled to Liscard to meet Janet (Tess) as Crosville operated a service from West Kirby to the Queens Arms Hotel in Liscard.