Michael Tomlin
Twas eighteen hundred and
fifty-three
Pull those oars man,
pull them true
The wind blew o’er
a raging sea
There’s a place in heaven for you
No Leigh man dared to fish that day
Pull those oars man, pull them true
‘Cept Michael Tomlin they do say
There’s a place in heaven for you
Pull those oars man, pull them true, There’s a place in- heav’n for you
Pull those oars man, pull them true, There’s- a- place in heaven for you
As he returned at the break of
dawn
Pull those oars man, pull them true
He saw that Cook’s van had gone
There’s a place in heaven for you
He knew those fish must be delivered
Pull those oars man, pull them true
To Blackwall up the London River
There’s a place in heaven for you
They rowed all day on the
flooding tide
Pull those oars man, pull them true
Til Blackwall Wharf came into sight
There’s a place in heaven for you
They sold those fish there every one
Pull those oars man, pull them true
But Tomlin’s mate was nearly done
There’s a place in heaven for you
With his mate exhausted in his berth
Pull those oars man, pull them true
Tomlin rowed for
all he’s worth
There’s a place in
heaven for you
‘twas late that night so locals say
Pull those oars man, pull them true
He hove-to in Dead Man’s Bay
There’s a place in heaven for you
Tomlin he was a fisherman then
Pull those oars man,
pull them true
But he later became
a fisher of men
There’s a place in
heaven for you
And when his fishing days were o’er
Pull those oars man, pull them true
He went to rest ‘neath St Clement’s Tower
There’s a place in
heaven for you
Lyrics: Tony Prior
Melody: Simon Oliver
September/November 2004
Michael Tomlin was born in Leigh
on Sea in 1814 and grew to be a man of huge proportions and enormous strength.
In due course, he became a fisherman and in the days when fish was sent to
London by road, he was determined to get a good catch of skate to Blackwall.
He and his mate rowed their boat up river, a distance of some forty miles, where
the mate collapsed from the exertion. Tomlin carried successive loads from to
the market, a matter of a mile away and then rowed back to Canvey Island with
his mate exhausted in his berth.
On another occasion, following
the death of his daughter in London he fulfilled her dying wish by sailing his
fishing boat up the Thames and bringing her body back to Leigh for burial.
Michael Tomlin spent much of his spare time to preaching the
Gospel in South East Essex and later devoted his life to this end. He died in
1903 and is buried in the north west corner of the churchyard of St Clement's
Parish church in Leigh.
For more information read:
Old Leigh by H N Bride published by Southend on Sea Museums Service