Edgar J. March

{{Short description|British writer of books on sailing boats}} {{Use British English|date=May 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}}

{{Infobox writer | embed = | name = Edgar J. March | honorific_suffix = M.S.N.R., A.R.I.N.A. | image =Edgar J. March (1a).jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt =  | caption = March, in 1929 | pseudonym = | birth_name = Edgar James March | birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|09|05|df=y}} | birth_place = Isle of Thanet | death_date = {{Death date and age|1971|07|22|1897|09|05|df=y}} | death_place = Isle of Wight | death_cause =  | resting_place = | occupation = {{hlist|Artist|special constable|lecturer|historian|writer}} | language = | education =  | alma_mater =  | period = | genre = {{hlist|Ships|Seamanship}} | subject =  | movement = | notable_works = {{hlist|''Spritsail Barges of Thames and Medway''|''Sailing Trawlers''|''Sailing Drifters''|''Inshore Craft of Britain in the Days of Sail and Oar''}} | spouse =  | partner =  | awards = | signature = Signature of Edgar J. March 17 October 1929 (1).jpg | years_active = 1914–1971 | module = | website =  | portaldisp =  }}

'''Edgar James March''' (5 September 1897 – 22 July 1971), known professionally as '''Edgar J. March''', was a writer, lecturer and historian of traditional British sailing craft.

March began his career during the First World War as a draughtsman for the Air Ministry, and after the war he exhibited watercolour paintings of aeroplanes in action. However he had grown up on the Thanet coast in Kent, where he regularly witnessed working sailing ships, and a fisherman taught him to sail. So from around 1920 to the end of his life he was researching traditional British, wooden, working sailing craft which operated inshore and at sea. This research continued in tandem with his 25-year lecturing career, in which he brought to the public films, lantern slides and histories of sailing boats. For his generation in the United Kingdom, working sailing craft were already almost completely gone from the waters. By 1950 he had amassed a collection of over 15,000 lantern slides of lost or soon-to-be lost sail-driven fishing and cargo boats, which were about to be overtaken by motor vessels.

From 1948 March published six heavily-detailed volumes laying out the history and construction of sailing barges, sailing drifters, sailing trawlers, British destroyers, and finally two volumes covering his life's research on inshore craft of the British Isles. His published works contain memories and photographs dating from the 1860s to the dates of publication. The books include scale drawings and construction plans of the vessels, which are sufficiently detailed for the use of model-makers. Of March's book, ''Sailing Drifters'', the ''Lynn Advertiser'' comments, "The 191 photographs portray a way of life now gone for ever and likely to have vanished unrecorded had not Edgar J. March striven to collect information stored in the wise old heads of a generation now well into the evening of its day".

==Background== thumb|upright|Kimberley Hotel, Westgate thumb|upright|Cedric Road, Westgate-on-Sea, March's home for 50 years [[File:Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, England-26Dec2013 (1).jpg|thumb|upright|Freshwater, Isle of Wight]] March's father was William March, a butler,<ref name="1891 England Census Wm March">{{cite web |title=1891 England Census. Osberton (South Lodge), Retford Road, Worksop. RG12/2644. Page 7/85. Schedule 35. |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/6598/records/13486954?tid=&pid=&queryId=10a07cf5-7cd5-4e96-a569-eb73c897d3ef&_phsrc=CuP25&_phstart=successSource |website=ancestry.co.uk |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=24 May 2026|via=ancestry|url-access=subscription |date=1891 |quote=William March described as domestic servant butler, born in South Luffenham, Rutland. Only William and Lissie March are listed at that address.}}</ref> who became a seaside hotelier.{{Refn|William March (Luffenham, Rutland 1855 – Westgate-on-Sea 22 January 1936). GRO index: Births Jun 1855 March William Uppingham 7a 252. Deaths Mar 1936 March William 80 Thanet 2a 1755. William March died at the Kimberley Hotel, Westgate. |group=nb}}<ref name="1911 England Census" /><ref name="Death of W. March 1936">{{cite news |title=Death of Mr W. March |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001698/19360128/124/0007 |access-date=29 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=28 January 1936 |page=7 col.1}}</ref> His mother was Lizzie "Lissie" March née Barr, daughter of William Barr, who was a groom and postilion for the Earl of Craven,<ref name="William Barr postilion 1951">{{cite web |title=1851 England Census |url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBC%2F1851%2F4279243%2F00016&parentid=GBC%2F1851%2F0012104959 |website=findmypast.co.uk |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=29 May 2026 |date=1851}}</ref> and later a farmer.{{Refn|Lizzie "Lissie" March née Barr (born Shrivenham, Berkshire, 1862). GRO index: Births Jun 1862 Barr Lizzie Faringdon 2c 244. Marriages Dec 1888 Barr Lizzie and March William Leighton B 3b 837. Marriage certificate says " All Saints, Leighton Buzzard, 17 October 1888, father William Barr, a farmer". |group=nb}}<ref name="1911 England Census" /> Lissie Barr was baptised as Lizzie on 8 June 1862 at St Mary the Virgin church, Ashbury, Berkshire.<ref name="Lizzie Barr baptism 1862">{{cite web |title=Berkshire Baptisms Index: Ashbury, Berkshire, England: Lizzie Barr in 1862 |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FB%2FBERKS-BAP%2FTOP%2F0042529&tab=this |website=findmypast.co.uk |publisher=Church of England |access-date=29 May 2026 |date=8 June 1862 |quote=Parents William and Elizabeth Barr. Father's profession: groom. Father's residence Ashdown Park Lodge.}}</ref> William and Lissie March were married at the Church of All Saints, Leighton Buzzard on 17 October 1888.<ref name="Andrews Newspaper">{{cite book |title=Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976 |date=1888 |publisher=Andrews Nespaper |location=United Kingdom |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/1897/records/48197?tid=&pid=&queryId=610a47c8-7a56-46a4-ab50-4cc4972d01be&_phsrc=CuP23&_phstart=successSource |access-date=23 May 2026|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="1888 marriage">{{cite book |title=England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 |date=1888 |publisher=H.M. Government |location=United Kingdom |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/9852/records/16080022 |access-date=23 May 2026|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Between at least 1901 and 1921 they were running the Kimberley Hotel, a 22-room seaside boarding house, in Westgate-on-Sea, with resident cook and housemaid.<ref name="1911 England Census" /><ref name="1901 England Census" >{{cite web |title=1901 England Census. Kimberley Hotel, Westgate-on-Sea, Isle of Thanet, Kent. 21/820/69/5/17 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7814/images/KENRG13_817_820-0798?pId=5885975 |website=ancestry.co.uk|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=17 May 2026 |location=Westgate-on-Sea |date=1901}}</ref><ref name="1921 England Census" >{{cite web |title=1921 England Census. Kimberley Hotel, Westgate-on-Sea, Isle of Thanet, Kent.. 2/3/253/Ee/1 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/63150/images/4436_0545?pId=7778014 |website=ancestry.co.uk|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=17 May 2026 |date=1921 |quote=Edgar J. March is described as an artist in this census.}}</ref> In 1916 Sir Gilbert Parker, MP stayed there. In 1921, another of their hotel guests was Frederic Wallace Hastings Blake, governor of HM Prison Pentonville.<ref name="1921 England Census" /> In 1935 the Kimberley Hotel mounted a prizewinning exhibition on the subject of yachting, as part of the Queen Carnival in Westgate.<ref name="Carnival prizewinner 1935">{{cite news |title=Queen Carnival. Crowned at Westgate. A record procession. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001698/19350827/112/0007 |access-date=29 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=27 August 1935 |page=7 col.5}}</ref> March's uncle, George March, ran the Westcliffe Hotel in Westgate-on-Sea, and was a councillor for Westgate.<ref name="Thanet Adv 27 November 1920" />

March was born on 5 September 1897, at his family's address, the Truro House Hotel, Ramsgate in the Isle of Thanet, Kent, England,{{Refn|Edgar James March (5 September 1897 – 22 July 1971). GRO index: Births Dec 1897 March Edgar James Thanet 2a 942. Deaths Sep 1971 March Edgar James 5 Se 1897.I.Wight 6b 1974. His birth certificate says: "Fifth September 1897 Truro Hotel Ramsgate U.D.(Urban District)., Edgar James. Father William March hotel proprietor of Truro Hotel Ramsgate, mother Lizzie March formerly Barr". |group=nb}}<ref name="1911 England Census" >{{cite web |title=1911 England Census. Kimberley, Sea Road, Westgate on Sea, Kent. 63/04/4486 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/2352/records/50824327?tid=&pid=&queryId=f3c2abea-efeb-4a5e-b167-5c1dc30d0b7e&_phsrc=HFg748&_phstart=successSource |website=ancestry.co.uk|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=17 May 2026 |location=Margate, Kent, England |date=1911}}</ref><ref name="1939 Register" >{{cite web |title=1939 England and Wales Register, schedule 99|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/61596/images/TNA_R39_1752_1752K_008?pId=16548441 |website=ancestry.co.uk |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=17 May 2026 |location=Margate |page=7 |date=1939}}</ref> where his father was the hotel's proprietor.<ref name="Truro House Hotel proprietor">{{cite news |title=London and country hotels and restaurants |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001112/18980806/142/0012?browse=true&fullscreen=true |access-date=2 June 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Daily Telegraph & Courier (London) |date=6 August 1898 |page=12 col.6 |quote=[Ramsgate]: Truro House Hotel, facing sea; terms mod[erate]; table d'hôte; sep[arate] tables; prop[rietor] W. March.}}</ref> He was baptised on 3 October 1897 at All Saints' Church, Westbere, Kent.<ref name="England Births & Christenings">{{cite book |title=England Select Births and Christenings 1538-1975 |date=1897 |publisher=Church of England |location=Westbere, Kent |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/9841/records/29811874?tid=&pid=&queryId=f3c2abea-efeb-4a5e-b167-5c1dc30d0b7e&_phsrc=HFg748&_phstart=successSource |access-date=17 May 2026|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription}}</ref> He had an elder brother, William Francis George March,{{Refn|William Francis George March (Ramsgate, Kent, 1896 – 24 October 1917). Births Mar 1896 March William Francis G. Thanet 2a 930. |group=nb}}<ref name="1911 England Census" /> a 2nd lieutenant of the Royal Flying Corps, 23rd squadron,<ref name="National Archives WFG March">{{cite web |title=2/Lieutenant William Francis George MARCH General List and Royal Flying Corps |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1158044 |website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=24 May 2026}}</ref> who died of his wounds in the First World War.<ref name="WWI records for WFG March">{{cite book |title=UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919: records for William Francis George March |date=1917 |publisher=H.M. Government |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/1543/records/1001197?tid=&pid=&queryId=f80cf790-3e7b-4ba4-90cb-d16a93eb1419&_phsrc=CuP76&_phstart=successSource |access-date=25 May 2026|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |quote=In Ger Hand Gen Lis}}</ref> He is buried at Harelbeke New British Cemetery, Belgium.<ref name="WFG March burial place">{{cite web |title=William Francis George March in 1917. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt Of Honour. |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM%2FCWGC%2FROLLOFHONOUR%2F000605361&tab=this |website=findmypast.co.uk |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=29 May 2026}}</ref> March and his brother were brought up at the Kimberley Hotel, Westgate-on-Sea.<ref name="1911 England Census" /><ref name="1901 England Census" />

On 17 October 1929 March married Linda Dorothy Tottenham-Bowman,{{Refn|Linda Dorothy March née Tottenham-Bowman. (8 August 1903 – 12 November 1979). GRO index: Births Sep 1903 Bowman Linda Dorothy Lewisham 1d 1271. Marriages Dec 1929 March Edgar J. and Linda D. Tottenham-Bowman Thanet 2a 2771. Deaths Dec 1979 March Linda Dorothy 08 Au 1903 Isle of Wight 20 1942. The marriage certificate says: "St Saviour's, Westgate-on-Sea, Kent. Oct 17 1929. Edgar James March of Kimberley, Westgate-on-Sea, lecturer, son of William March, and Linda Dorothy Tottenham-Bowman.of (Rothlin?), Birchington, daughter of Alfred Tottenham-Bowman, deceased. |group=nb}}<ref name="1939 Register" /><ref name="Linda D. March probate">{{cite book |title=England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 |date=1979 |publisher=H.M. Government |location=United Kingdom |page=5374 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1904/images/46452_B294223-00262?pId=22683285 |access-date=23 May 2026|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |quote=March Linda Dorothy of Eden House Eden Rd Totland Bay I of W died 12 November 1979 . Probate Winchester 29 December £31,737 ref.793318059E}}</ref> at St Saviour's Church, Westgate-on-Sea.<ref name="Thanet Adv 1 November 1929">{{cite news |title=Marriages |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001697/19291101/221/0010 |access-date=23 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=1 November 1929 |page=10 col.7}}</ref> By 1939, he and his wife were living in Cedric Road, Margate.<ref name="1939 Register" /> Before they moved to the Isle of Wight, they lived at Sunrays, 3 Cedric Road, Westgate-on-Sea,<ref name="Shetland News 2 August 1951" >{{cite news |title=Shetland boats. Illustrations and plans wanted |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003210/19510802/041/0003 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Shetland News |date=2 August 1951 |page=3 col.2}}</ref> for more than fifty years.<ref name="Maidstone Tel 5 November 1971" /><ref name="Kentish Express 25 June 1954" /> Linda petitioned for divorce from March in 1931,<ref name="Divorce petition 1931">{{cite web |title=Linda Dorothy March in 1931 |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=TNA%2FJ77%2F0051885&tab=this |website=findmypast.co.uk |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=29 May 2026|via=Find My Past |date=1931 |quote=Archive ref. J 77/2968. Divorce Court file:169Respondent Edgar J. March. 5. Item ref. J 77/2968/1695}}</ref> however the couple were together again by 1939.<ref name="1939 Register" /> There may or may not have been a gently humorous echo of this event when March dedicated his ''Spritsail Barges'' (1948) to his wife, thus: "To my wife, who has not minded my love for ''Kathleen'' and her sisters'", the dedication being accompanied by March's sketch of the barge ''Kathleen''.<ref name="Spritsail Barges 1948" /> March died on the Isle of Wight on 22 July 1971. His last address was Green Acre, Madeira Lane, Colwell, Freshwater, Isle of Wight.{{Refn|Green Acre is a large house on the corner of Madeira Lane and Colwell Road, in Freshwater, Isle of Wight.|group=nb}}<ref name="Probate 1971">{{cite book |title=England and Wales National Probate Calendar |date=1971 |publisher=H.M. Government |location=Winchester, England. |page=70 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1904/images/48589_83024005506_3675-00079?pId=73910586 |access-date=17 May 2026|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |quote=March Edgar James of Green Acre Madeira Lane, Colwell Freshwater Isle of Wight. Died 22 July 1971. Probate Winchester 1 November 1971. £4540.}}</ref><ref name="BR Observer 11 December 1970" />

==Career== March knew working sailing ships from an early age. He later wrote: "One of my earliest recollections of boyhood days was learning from a bearded fisherman the difference between a mulie barge and a ketch". He was already researching for his future publications during the First World War, saying that "[My] happiest hours in [the] war years [were] those I spent pottering about Whitstable Harbour, obtaining much of the material for [''Spritsail Barges'']".<ref name="Spritsail Barges 1948" />{{rp|2,3}} During his childhood he was familiar with fishing boats too. He wrote in ''Inshore Craft'' (1970):<ref name="Inshore Craft 1970" />{{rp|29}}

<blockquote>Along the coast the longshore men from Westgate-on-Sea made a living chiefly by taking summer visitors for trips, especially when warships lay in Margate Roads for days at a time. In winter they went drift-netting for herring and sprats, a bitterly cold job in open boats ... The two big herring punts were ''Edith Mary'' and ''Enchantress'' owned by Chris Case – my friend from boyhood until his death during the [Second World War] – who taught me the difference between all the rigs of sailing vessels in the days when they could be seen every day in the offing ... As a schoolboy I used to walk to Margate, where Chris kept his boat in the harbour, and sail back with him, when he taught me many things.<ref name="Inshore Craft 1970" />{{rp|29}}</blockquote>

thumb|upright|The spritsail barge unloading stone for Sea Road, 1913 By July 1913 when he was around sixteen years old, and was articled to the local district surveyor, a working barge appeared in St Mildred's Bay in front of the Kimberley Hotel. March's employer was ordering the repair of roads in Westgate-on-Sea, and March as a surveyor's apprentice witnessed the barge unloading stone for Sea Road.<ref name="Spritsail Barges 1948" />{{rp|15,29}}

Meanwhile, until his first book was published in 1948 when he was over 50 years old,<ref name="Spritsail Barges 1948" /> March was continuing his research while earning his living by other means. In 1921, He was working as an artist,<ref name="1921 England Census" /> and he was still being described as an artist in 1950.<ref name="WT and HBH 18 November 1950">{{cite news |title=Whitstable Historical Society |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000524/19501118/127/0006 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald |date=18 November 1950 |page=6 col.5}}</ref> During the First World War he worked for the Air Ministry and "executed many important drawings for the authorities". In 1920 he exhibited water colour action paintings of war planes and sea planes, in Trafalgar Square, Westgate.<ref name="Thanet Adv 27 November 1920">{{cite news |title=An aircraft artist |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001697/19201127/203/0008 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=27 November 1920 |page=8 col.6}}</ref> However March's brother, an airman, had died in 1917 of his wounds in the First World War, and March was disillusioned with aeroplanes. He later wrote in ''Spritsail Barges'', "I cannot help thinking that the world would have been a happier place if aircraft had remained dreams instead of becoming nightmares".<ref name="Spritsail Barges 1948">{{cite book |last1=March |first1=Edgar J. |title=Spritsail Barges of Thames and Medway |date=1948 |publisher=Percival Marshall |location=London |edition=1}}</ref>{{rp|94}} By 1930 he was working as a hotelier and lecturer, and was also working as a special constable, number 53, in Margate Borough.<ref name="1939 Register" /><ref name="EK Gazette 11 February 1955" /> He was elected as a councillor for Westgate in 1938.<ref name="Thanet Adv. 25 October 1938">{{cite news |title=Spiking the enemy guns. Ramsgate election sensatin. Westgate |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001698/19381025/110/0005 |access-date=23 May 2026 |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=25 October 1938 |page=5 col.6}}</ref>

===War reserve constable=== thumb|upright|The golf course on Sea Road, Westgate-on-Sea March was employed as a war reserve constable during the Second World War, when in plain clothes he arrested a burglar who was looting evacuated properties in Sea Road, Westgate, and after the offender punched March in the face, a chase began across the local golf course, together with another policeman. The burglar, Private Ernest Hipkiss, was again arrested and taken to the police station, pending a court appearance.<ref name="Thanet Adv 19 December 1941">{{cite news |title=Caught after chase. Court story of soldier's struggle with constable |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001698/19411219/137/0006 |access-date=23 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=19 December 1941 |page=6 col.5}}</ref><ref name="East Kent T & M 20 December 1941">{{cite news |title=Another looting charge |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003350/19411220/074/0005 |access-date=23 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=East Kent Times and Mail |date=20 December 1941 |page=5 col.1}}</ref> The court heard the following from March:<ref name="East Kent T & M 20 December 1941" />

<blockquote>War Reserve Constable March said he was on duty in plain clothes in Sea Raod on November 24th when he saw the accused looking about. He kept him under observation ... he heard a noise coming from the rear of a house and then saw the accused ... [March] went with the accused to the rear of the house, saw a scullery window open, a pane of glass broken, and a stone on the sill. He then told accused he was a police officer and asked him to produce his pay book. The accused immediately hit him on the left cheek with his fist. Witness fell back and the accused fell on top of him. A struggle ensued and the accused broke away. [March] followed him and seized him again and raised his stick ... [Hipkiss ran away] ... [March] borrowed a bicycle and rode after him.<ref name="East Kent T & M 20 December 1941" /></blockquote>

Following a chase with the assistance of Police Constable Farley and a second arrest, Hipkiss was charged with theft and assault and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment.<ref name="Thanet Adv 16 January 1942">{{cite news |title=Pillaging by soldiers |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001698/19420116/062/0003 |access-date=23 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=16 January 1942 |page=3 col.4,5}}</ref>

===Researcher=== From the 1920s, March was occupied with the research which was to become the basis for his series of nautical books. He frequently appealed for information via newspapers.<ref name="Thanet Adv 11 February 1944" /> In 1928 he wrote to ''The Bioscope'' to appeal for "films of square-rigged ships or barques under sail".{{Refn|Sadly, the present location of March's historically important film and lantern slide collection is unknown.|group=nb}}<ref name="Bioscope 1 August 1928">{{cite news |title=Films wanted |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002396/19280801/285/0062 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=The Bioscope |date=1 August 1928 |page=62/x col.3}}</ref>

In 1944 March was asking readers of the ''Thanet Advertiser'' for information about the Ramsgate sailing fleet.<ref name="Thanet Adv 11 February 1944">{{cite news |title=Letters to the editor. Ramsgate trawlers |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001698/19440211/043/0002 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=11 February 1944 |page=2 col.5}}</ref> In 1946 and 1949 he was writing to the ''Banffshire Advertiser'', asking for information about fifies and zulus.<ref name="Banffshire Adv 11 April 1946">{{cite news |title=Letters. Information wanted |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005897/19460411/038/0004 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Banffshire Advertiser |date=11 April 1946 |page=4 col.3}}</ref><ref name="Banffshire Adv 4 May 1949">{{cite news |last1=Rambler |title=Coast Gossip. The interesting past |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005897/19490504/072/0007 |access-date=21 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Banffshire Advertiser |date=4 May 1949 |page=7 cols 4,5}}</ref> Also in 1946 he wrote similarly to the ''John O' Groats Journal'',<ref name="JOG Journal 12 April 1946">{{cite news |title=Sailing Drifters and Trawlers |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000459/19460412/060/0003 |access-date=21 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=John o' Groat Journal |date=12 April 1946 |page=3 col.3}}</ref> and to the ''Hull and East Yorkshire Times'' and ''Hull Daily Mail'' about fleets on the Humber and the Dogger Bank.<ref name="Hull & EYT 2 March 1946">{{cite news |title=Smacks and trawlers |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0007169/19460302/065/0005 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Hull and East Yorkshire Times |date=2 March 1946 |page=5 col.5}}</ref><ref name="Hull DM 27 February 1946">{{cite news |title=Smacks and Trawlers |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19460227/027/0003 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=27 February 1946 |page=3 col.4}}</ref> In 1947 he was writing to the ''Cornish Guardian'' for information on Cornish luggers for his ''Sailing Drifters'' book.<ref name="Cornish G 23 January 1947">{{cite news |title=Sailing luggers |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002823/19470123/066/0004 |access-date=21 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Cornish Guardian |date=23 January 1947 |page=4 col.5}}</ref> Knowledge of his research was prompting consciousness of loss of the old traditions and the need to preserve records.<ref name="Banffshire Adv 4 May 1949" />

===Lecturer=== March travelled the country and lectured about marine matters for several decades. The following list demonstrates the breadth of his subject matter. In October 1925 March was one of the visiting lecturers taking part in the Hull University Lecture series at the Royal Institution in Hull.<ref name="Hull DM 6 October 1925">{{cite news |title=Hull YPI experiments |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19251006/051/0007 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=6 October 1925 |page=7 col.5}}</ref>

In January 1926 at Garston, Merseyside March took part in the Garston Free Lectures series with his "Salving of Ships" lantern slide lecture. This offered him a "rare opportunity to describe the wonderful apparatus for retrieving the damage done to shipping during gale and fog, and by the ravages of war. The sinking of valuable ships and almost priceless cargoes in the submarine attack on Britain's commerce in the Great War was dealt with, and many of the remarkable inventions that resulted from the crisis then experienced".<ref name="Runcorn WN 29 January 1926 page 6">{{cite news |title=Corporation lecture at Garston |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000964/19260129/102/0006 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Runcorn Weekly News |date=29 January 1926 |page=6 col.6}}</ref> A Garston newspaper reader D.L.H. added that, "March told of many ways of dong the work, and exciting and dangerous work it is. He told of the wonderful work done by the divers too. It was a splendid lecture by a fine lecturer. Every item of interest was explained so well".<ref name="Runcorn WN 29 January 1926 page 8">{{cite news |title=Corporation lectures at Garston |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000964/19260129/126/0008 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Runcorn Weekly News |date=29 January 1926 |page=8 col.5}}</ref> In the same month, March gave his "Salving of Ships" lecture in Belper, Derbyshire. The ''Belper News'' reported that he "proved a wonderfully fluent speaker who never hesitated for a word. For an hour and a half he spoke with scarcely a moment's hesitation, every word being clearly and loudly spoken, an achievement not often attained by other speakers ..."<ref name="Belper News 29 January 1926">{{cite news |title=Mr Edgar J. March |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001538/19260129/081/0004 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Belper News |date=29 January 1926 |page=4 col.3}}</ref> On 30 January 1926 he was at Bedford, giving his "Ships Throughout the Ages" lecture.<ref name="Bedford Rec 26 January 1926">{{cite news |title=Bedford Record social diary |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0006197/19260126/101/0012 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Bedford Record |date=26 January 1926 |page=12 col.4}}</ref> In October 1926 in Dunstable he gave his "Salving of Ships" lecture which was described by the ''Luton News'' as "an interesting account of how many ships that had apparently become wrecked beyond help of salvage had eventually been saved".<ref name="Luton News 28 October 1926">{{cite news |title=Literary Society |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000658/19261028/159/0009 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle |date=28 October 1926 |page=9 col.4}}</ref> In November 1926 he twice gave his "Ships Throughout the Ages" lecture at Liverpool with lantern illustrations.<ref name="Liverpool Echo 15 November 1926">{{cite news |title=City's free lectures |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19261115/126/0004 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Liverpool Echo |date=15 November 1926 |page=4 col.4}}</ref> In December 1926 March lectured at Runnacleave Hall, Ilfracombe, on "Ships Throughout the Ages", and this prompted a local councillor to tell of Barnstaple-built ships which once carried wool to Australia.<ref name="ND Journal 9 December 1926">{{cite news |title=Ilfracombe |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000328/19261209/044/0007 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=North Devon Journal |date=9 December 1926 |page=7 col.1}}</ref>

In February 1927, March gave his "Ships Throughout the Ages" lecture in Hull.<ref name="Hull DM 3 October 1926">{{cite news |title=Hull Young People's Christian and Literary Institute |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19261005/109/0004 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=5 October 1926 |page=4 cols 1,2}}</ref> In December 1927, March gave his "Ships Throughout the Ages" lantern lecture at the Smethwick Institute, which was then in Worcestershire.<ref name="Smethwick Tel 8 October 1927">{{cite news |title=Smethwick Institute |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002897/19271008/006/0001 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Smethwick Telephone |date=8 October 1927 |page=1 cols 3,4}}</ref>

In 1928, he gave a lecture on "Ocean Cables" and showed a "special film" to Brighouse Sunday Lecture Society, in Brighouse, West Yorkshire.<ref name="Brighouse FP & DA 1 March 1928">{{cite news |title=Brighouse Sunday Lecture Society |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0006403/19280301/031/0002 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Brighouse Free Press and District Advertiser |date=1 March 1928 |page=2 col.6}}</ref> In the same year he gave an untitled lecture as part of Edinburgh's winter philosophical programme, organised by the Edinburgh Philosophical Insititution.<ref name="Edinburgh EN 29 September 1928">{{cite news |title=Edinburgh philosphical programme |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000452/19280929/258/0006 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Edinburgh Evening News |date=29 September 1928 |page=6 col.2}}</ref> In November 1928 he gave a lecture for the Bodmin Free Library Lectures Committee on "Ships and Shipbuilding" with limelight illustrations.<ref name="Cornish Guardian 4 October 1928">{{cite news |title=Bodmin Free Library Lectures Committee |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002820/19281004/407/0008 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Cornish Guardian |date=4 October 1928 |page=8 col.6}}</ref> In December of that year, he gave a lantern slide lecture whose title was to be oft repeated for later lectures: "The Salving of Ships". On this occasion, the lecture contents included "recovering gold from the ''Laurentio''; raising a 24,000-ton battleship; work on the scuttled German fleet, etc".<ref name="Coventry ET 8 December 1928">{{cite news |title=Lantern lecture |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000337/19281208/103/0007 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=8 December 1928 |page=7 col.6}}</ref> In the same month, he gave his "Ships Throughout the Ages" talk with lantern slides at the former Stoll Picture Theatre in Kingsway, London.<ref name="Mirror 5 December 1928">{{cite news |title=London amusements |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19281205/201/0018 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Daily Mirror |date=5 December 1928 |page=18 col.3}}</ref>

In January 1929 in the "spacious" and "thronged" RDS theatre in Ballsbridge, Dublin, March gave his "Ships Throughout the Ages" talk with lantern slides as part of a children's lecture course. The lantern show began with people riding on trunks of trees and early British coracles, and continued through Norman and mediaeval shipbuilding. There followed the development from the ships of Columbus and of Henry VII to the great liners of the 1920s. However he "devoted a considerable portion of his discourse" to yacht racing, perhaps as light relief for the children. At that time, motor ships were superseding sail and steam, but March said "this would bring renewed activity to the shipyards".<ref name="Irish Ind 5 January 1929">{{cite news |title=Story of ships |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005940/19290105/120/0005 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Irish Independent |date=5 January 1929 |page=5 col.4}}</ref> In November 1929, he gave another lecture on "The Salvaging of Ships" at the Barn Theatre, Oxted. The ''Kent and Sussex Courier'' noted that the lecture was "profusely illustrated with beautiful lantern slides".<ref name="Kent & Sussex C 22 November 1929">{{cite news |title=Oxted: Literary Society |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000483/19291122/351/0020 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Kent & Sussex Courier |date=22 November 1929 |page=20 col.3}}</ref>

On 8 February 1930, March gave a lecture on the salving of ships to the Sittingbourne Paper Mills Club, at their club house in Sittingbourne, Kent,<ref name="EK Gazette 11 February 1955">{{cite news |title=30 years ago: 8th February 1930 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002521/19550211/137/0008 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=East Kent Gazette |date=11 February 1955 |page=8 col.3}}</ref> and gave the same talk to the Thanet Shiplovers Society in 1950.<ref name="Thanet Adv 29 September 1950">{{cite news |title=Shiplovers' winter plans |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001699/19500929/083/0003 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=29 September 1950 |page=3 col.6}}</ref> In 1936 and 1937 March gave more lectures. He was described as a "noted marine engineer" when on 12 March 1936, he gave a lecture to St Ninian's Literary Guild in Angus, Scotland, on the recent building of the Cunard-White Star Liner, the RMS ''Queen Mary'' in John Brown's Yard, Clydebank. He showed lantern slides including the "laying of the giant keel ... the bending of the great girders that form the ribs of the ship ... Mr March's astronomical figures left the audience almost gasping at times".<ref name="KFP & AA 9 March 1961">{{cite news |title=Do you remember? Twenty-five years ago: March 12 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003520/19610309/048/0003 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Kirriemuir Free Press and Angus Advertiser |date=9 March 1961 |page=3 col.3}}</ref> At the behest of the Committee of the Markinch Institute, he gave a similar lecture to a "large audience" in Markinch town hall in January 1937.<ref name="Fife News 23 January 1937">{{cite news |title=Markinch |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005241/19370123/065/0007 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Fife News |date=23 January 1937 |page=7 col.2}}</ref> In that month he gave the same lecture in the Stoll Picture Theatre, Newcastle, having been invited by Tyneside Lecture Society.<ref name="Newcastle EC 16 January 1937">{{cite news |title=Tyneside Lecture Society |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000726/19370116/004/0004 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Newcastle Evening Chronicle |date=16 January 1937 |page=4 col.2}}</ref>

In 1940 March abandoned plans to lecture in Dublin; not due to wartime conditions but because of illness.<ref name="Irish Ind 4 January 1940">{{cite news |title=RDS lectures changes |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001715/19400104/243/0010 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Irish Independent |date=4 January 1940 |page=10 col.3}}</ref> In 1949 he gave a lantern slides lecture on "Ships Throughout the Ages" to the Whitstable Historical Society.<ref name="WT & HBH 1 October 1949">{{cite news |title=Food for Thought. The Whitstable Historical Society |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000524/19491001/082/0005 |access-date=21 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald |date=1 October 1949 |page=5 col.5}}</ref> By 1950, he owned over 15,000 lantern slides on "nautical matters".<ref name="WT and HBH 18 November 1950" />

===Published writer=== March published his first book in 1948, and his last in 1970. His ''Sailing Drifters'' of 1952 is dedicated to, "the tens of thousands of fishermen, known unto God, who sleep in the deep waters or in churchyards hard by the sea".<ref name="Bookseller 18 October 1952">{{cite news |title=New technical books released on the 17th Ocober |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005089/19521018/220/0050 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Bookseller |date=18 October 1952 |page=50 cols 1-3}}</ref>

In 1954, as president of the Thanet Shiplovers, March presented copies of ''Sailing Drifters'' and ''Sailing Trawlers'' to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. In the same year, during a world conference on fishing in the United States of America, 150 copies of his ''Sailing Trawlers'' were bought by attendees.<ref name="Kentish Express 25 June 1954" /> He signed off his final publication, ''Inshore Craft'', thus:<ref name="Inshore Craft 1970" />{{rp|302}}

<blockquote>Men skilled in the knowledge of how to make the best use of wind and tide are rapidly passing away, but I shall always be proud to have known many of them and to have recorded something of their way of life before it was too late.<ref name="Inshore Craft 1970" />{{rp|302}}</blockquote>

==Associations== March was a member of the Society for Nautical Research.<ref name="Coventry ET 17 August 1972" >{{cite news |title=Eve: Sea fever housewife |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000769/19720817/859/0061?browse=true&fullscreen=true |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=17 August 1972 |page=61 col.1}}</ref> He was also an Associate of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.<ref name="BR Observer 11 December 1970" /> In 1949 he became the first president of the Thanet Shiplovers, or Shiplovers' Society, in Margate, Kent.<ref name="Kentish Express 25 June 1954" >{{cite news |title=Kent gift for royal duke |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003535/19540625/184/0009 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive |work=Kentish Express |date=25 June 1954 |page=9 col.7}}</ref><ref name="Thanet Adv 11 January 1949">{{cite news |title=Shiplovers Society |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001699/19490111/168/0007 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=11 January 1949 |page=7 col.4}}</ref>

==Works== March had written both ''Sailing Drifters'' and ''Sailing Trawlers'' by 1951, but there were publication delays.<ref name="Shetland News 2 August 1951" /> * {{cite book |last1=March |first1=Edgar J. |title=Spritsail Barges of Thames and Medway |date=1948 |publisher=Percival Marshall |location=London |edition=1}}<ref name="Maidstone Tel 5 November 1971" >{{cite news |last1=Hardwick |first1=Michael |last2=Hardwick |first2=Mollie |title=The lure of boats attracts the fireside sailor |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001744/19711105/200/0011 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Maidstone Telegraph |date=5 November 1971 |page=11 col.1}}</ref><ref name="Maidstone Tel 27 March 1970" >{{cite news |last1=Hardwick |first1=Michael |last2=Hardwick |first2=Mollie |title=Tide ebbs for the "spreeties" |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001744/19700327/310/0014 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Maidstone Telegraph |date=27 March 1970 |page=14 cols 5-8}}</ref><ref name="Google Books Barges">{{cite web |title=Spritsail Barges of Thames and Medway |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Spritsail_Barges_of_Thames_and_Medway/a4UNiVeoYQYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Spritsail+Barges&dq=Spritsail+Barges&printsec=frontcover |website=google.co.uk |publisher=Google Books |access-date=23 May 2026}}</ref> * {{cite book |last1=March |first1=Edgar J. |title=Sailing Drifters |date=1952 |publisher=Percival Marshall & Co. |location=London |edition=1}}.<ref name="Sailing Drifters (1952)" >{{cite book |last1=March |first1=Edgar J. |title=Sailing Drifters |date=1952 |publisher=Percival Marshall & Co. |location=London |edition=1}}</ref><ref name="Western Mail 19 November 1952">{{cite news |title=Maritime books |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000104/19521119/219/0003 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Western Mail |date=19 November 1952 |page=3 cols 4,5}}</ref><ref name="Google Books Drifters">{{cite web |title=Sailing Drifters |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sailing_Drifters/V8aEAAAAIAAJ?hl=en |website=google.co.uk |publisher=Google Books |access-date=23 May 2026}}</ref> * {{cite book|author=March, Edgar J.|title=Sailing Trawlers: the Story of Deep-sea Fishing with Long Line and Trawl |date=1953 |publisher=Percival Marshall & Co. |location=London |edition=1}}.<ref name="Sailing Trawlers (1953)" >{{cite book|author=March, Edgar J.|title=Sailing Trawlers: the Story of Deep-sea Fishing with Long Line and Trawl |date=1953 |publisher=Percival Marshall & Co. |location=London |edition=1}}</ref><ref name="Western Mail 22 July 1953">{{cite news |title=To be released the 17th August 1953 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000104/19530722/311/0003 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Western Mail |date=22 July 1953 |page=3 col.7,8}}</ref><ref name="Google Books Trawlers">{{cite web |title=Sailing Trawlers The Story of Deep-sea Fishing with Long Line and Trawl |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sailing_Trawlers/USdmkEsM6GYC?hl=en |website=google.co.uk |publisher=Google Books |access-date=23 May 2026}}</ref> * {{cite book|author=March, Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: a history of development, 1892-1953 |date=1966 |publisher= Seeley Service |location=London |edition=1}}<ref name="BR Observer 11 December 1970" /><ref name="Open Lib Destroyers">{{cite web |title=British destroyers: a history of development, 1892-1953 |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5568162M/British_destroyers_a_history_of_development_1892-1953 |website=openlibrary.org |publisher=Open Library |access-date=23 May 2026}}</ref><ref name="Destroyers by March" >{{cite book|author=March, Edgar J.|title=British Destroyers: a history of development, 1892-1953 |date=1966 |publisher= Seeley Service |location=London |edition=1}}</ref> * {{cite book|author=March, Edgar J.|title=Inshore Craft of Britain in the Days of Sail and Oar |date=1970 |publisher= David and Charles |location=Newton Abbot, England |edition=1}} in 2 volumes.<ref name="Bookseller 28 July 1973">{{cite news |title=Papercovered editions |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005089/19730728/361/0084 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Bookseller |date=28 July 1973 |page=84 col.3}}</ref><ref name="BR Observer 11 December 1970" >{{cite news |last1=Wrangles |first1=Alan |title=Angling roundabout |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001922/19701211/265/0014 |access-date=19 May 2026 |work=Bognor Regis Observer |date=11 December 1970 |page=14 cols 7,8}}</ref><ref name="Maidstone Tel 24 July 1970" /> March was working on this book from at least 1951.<ref name="Shetland News 2 August 1951" /> Reprinted in 2005.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inshore Craft of Britain in the Days of Sail and Oar |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Inshore_Craft_of_Britain_in_the_Days_of/TFZwxQEACAAJ?hl=en |website=google.co.uk |publisher=Google Books |access-date=23 May 2026 |date=2005}}</ref>

<gallery> Spritsail Barges by Edgar J. March - dust cover (1).jpg|''Spritsail Barges of Thames and Medway'' (1948) Edgar J. March Sailing Drifters (1).JPG|''Sailing Drifters'' (1952) Edgar J. March Sailing Trawlers - first edition (1a).JPG|''Sailing Trawlers'' (1953) Books by Edgar J. March (3a).JPG|Books by March </gallery>

==Responses and reviews== As the reviews and comments below demonstrate, March was a "well-known fishing-ship historian" from the publication of ''Spritsail Barges'' in 1948 to the end of his life.<ref name="Scotsman 23 November 1956">{{cite news |title=From sail to automation |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19561123/193/0007 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=The Scotsman |date=23 November 1956 |page=7 col.1}}</ref>

===Model-making=== [[File:Plate 2. Model of an 18th-century well smack (1).jpg|thumb|upright|Model of a well smack (photograph from ''''Sailing Trawlers'')]] One of the public responses to March's work was to use his books as an information source for ship modelling. This is unsurprising, since March was a ship-modeller himself, and chapter 12 of his ''Spritsail Barges'' (1948) features 31 pages of details and drawings on that subject.<ref name="Spritsail Barges 1948" />{{rp|242–273}} Ship-modeller Mavis Chambers says that "her childhood interest in these ships was nurtured by the writings of Edgar J. March ... His descriptions of life aboard the vessels caught her imagination ..."<ref name="Coventry ET 17 August 1972" /> Michael and Mollie Hardwick comment, "[March] will be well remembered wherever Kent waters flow, and we are sure that his delightful, yet most detailed work, will attract as many enthusiastic letters from admirers and modellers of the old craft and nostalgic ones from old bargemen now ashore, as it did when it first appeared.<ref name="Maidstone Tel 27 March 1970" /> In 1967 an Austrian boy was inspired by a picture in March's ''Sailing Trawlers'' to build a model of the 1885 paddle tug ''Aid''.<ref name="East Kent T&M 6 October 1967">{{cite news |last1=Kent |first1=Paul |title=Can anyone help Helmut's research? |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003350/19671006/054/0004 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=East Kent Times and Mail |date=6 October 1967 |page=4 col.4}}</ref> Modeller Captain David Bray made several models from March's plans, including one of the 1920 Rye sailing trawler ''Master Hand''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bray |first1=Captain David |title=Master Hand |url=https://nauticalnostalgia.com/model-making-model-engineering/master-hand/ |website=nauticalnostalgia.com |publisher=Nautical Nostalgia |access-date=23 May 2026}}</ref>

===On ''Spritsail Barges of the Thames and Medway''=== thumb|upright|Spritsail barge ''Dunstable'', built 1891 March's 1948 book on Thames and Medway spritsail barges<ref name="Spritsail Barges 1948">{{cite book |last1=March |first1=Edgar J. |title=Spritsail Barges of Thames and Medway |date=1948 |publisher=Percival Marshall |location=London |edition=1}}</ref> constituted an inspiration for a public movement to preserve at least one of those vessels, which by 1955 were almost gone from the water.<ref name="Maidstone Tel 11 February 1955" /> Even by 1949 the skipper of the barge ''Kathleen'' lifted his eyes from March's book and told a reporter that the end of spritsail barges was coming because boys no longer wanted to work long hours on a sailing ship, and that already the ''Kathleen'' had lost her sail and gained an engine.<ref name="Thanet Adv 1 March 1949">{{cite news |title=Spritsails are dying out |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001699/19490301/132/0005 |access-date=22 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Thanet Advertiser |date=1 March 1949 |page=5 col.5}}</ref> In 1955 the Thames Sailing Barge Trust held an exhibition in Chatham library. They wanted to preserve at least one of those barges for posterity. Although despised in the past, that type of vessel had become the "darling of the sea" by 1955, and barge-sailing clubs had formed. The ''Maidstone Telegraph'' comments that "Mr March undertook the bulk of the research during the difficult days of the war". According to March's book, the Thames barge sailing races began in 1863, and in consequence the barges' construction and the men's seamanship improved. The book also includes plans and instructions for the model maker.<ref name="Maidstone Tel 11 February 1955" >{{cite news |title=Picturesque old ladies of Thames and Medway |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001744/19550211/224/0007 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Maidstone Telegraph |date=11 February 1955 |page=7 col.5}}</ref>

===On ''Sailing Drifters''=== The ''Hull Daily Mail'' describes this book as "a thing of joy for its magnificent production".<ref name="Hull DM 14 November 1952">{{cite news |title=Fish in days of sail |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19521114/004/0004 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=14 November 1952 |page=4 cols 5,6}}</ref> In 1952, when March's ''Sailing Drifters'' was first published, ''The Scotsman'' says: <blockquote>Memories [of old fishermen] enrich his book, though it is no mere romantic evocation of vanished glories. On the contrary, it is a solid work, packed with information collected with the unflagging industry of an enthusiast. [Although location and history is covered], Mr March's interest is obviously in the design of sailing drifters and in local types which he describes in the most careful and elaborate detail. He illustrates the construction and rig of the vessels by a series of scale plans extending to some 60 pages, where there are nearly 200 photographs of drifters under sail or in harbour, of fishing villages, and crowded ports.<ref name="Scotsman 27 December 1952">{{cite news |title=Herring fishing |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19521227/145/0006 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=The Scotsman |date=27 December 1952 |page=6 col.6}}</ref></blockquote>

thumb|upright|Drifter ''Twilight'' (1895) under way The Banffshire Advertiser reviewed the book at length in 1952, saying, "It is indeed amazing what a mass of detail and illustrated information author Edgar J. March has succeeded in getting between the covers of his book, ''Sailing Drifters''". The newspaper devoted much attention to March's content dealing with Buckie, its scaffies, and the great gale of 1848, when many lives were lost.<ref name="Banffshire Adv 6 November 1952">{{cite news |title=Sailing Drifters |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005898/19521106/086/0008 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Banffshire Advertiser |date=6 November 1952 |page=8 col.2,3}}</ref> As reported by the ''Berwickshire News and General Advertiser'', the book also includes details of the East Coast Disaster of 1881, where, again, many fishermen lost their lives, leaving hundreds of children fatherless.<ref name="Berwickshire News 4 November 1952">{{cite news |last1=Bookman |title=1881 disaster recalled |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000470/19521104/078/0003 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Berwickshire News and General Advertiser |date=4 November 1952 |page=3 col.4}}</ref>

After March's ''Sailing Drifters'' was reprinted in 1971, it was still drawing attention. Reporter Stephen Guy comments on the sailors' superstitions, and says, "These are just a few of the gems packed in this revived voluminous work – the story of Britiain's herring luggers. The mass of minutiae transforms an apparently dull subject into the chronicle of a vanished way of life".<ref name="Liverpool DP 20 April 1972">{{cite news |last1=Guy |first1=Stephen |title=Fishing with gems |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004986/19720420/012/0012 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Liverpool Daily Post (Welsh Edition) |date=20 April 1972 |page=12 cols 5-7}}</ref> ''Sailing Drifters'' was reprinted again in 1978.<ref name="Shetland Times 22 December 1978">{{cite news |title=Now reprinted |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000666/19781222/211/0020?browse=true&fullscreen=true |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Shetland Times |date=22 December 1978 |page=20 cols 5,6}}</ref> In 1964 ''Sailing Drifters''' was caught up in a discussion of the three-mile fishing limit, because the book contained details of a fishing charter which were not easily available anywhere else, at the time.<ref name="Sussex Express 29 May 1964">{{cite news |last1=Rouser |first1=Lewes |title=A new angle on Charles II fishing controversy: Herrings only? |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000656/19640529/244/0009 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Sussex Express |date=29 May 1964 |page=9 col.3}}</ref>

Reviewer D.C. of the ''Lynn Advertiser'' quotes March: "The time this book should have been written was fifty years ago when sail rode the waters as a thing of life and beauty. In the interim two fierce storms of man-made violence swept this country. The first saw the extinction of the sailing drifter; during the second priceless records vanished, some to swell salvage drives, others burned up on the funeral pyre of Nazi hate". D.C. adds that, "The 191 photographs portray a way of life now gone for ever and likely to have vanished unrecorded had not Edgar J. March striven to collect information stored in the wise old heads of a generation now well into the evening of its day".<ref name="Lynn Adv 17 October 1952">{{cite news |title=Fishing craft |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003432/19521017/292/0010 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Lynn Advertiser |date=17 October 1952 |page=10, col.6,7}}</ref>

Although the ''Shetland Times'' reviewer of 1952 bemoans the lack of specific reference to Shetland fishing boats within the Scottish fleet, he still describes ''Sailing Drifters'' as "monumental" and "magnificent". He does mention a description by the Shetlander Stuart Bruce of the colourful nature of the scaffies and fifies which were once used in Shetland, but which could not be recorded in black and white photographs. For example, "The fifies were gaily coloured – white or blue gunwales, black topsides, a red or yellow bend, white water cuts and green bottoms".<ref name="Shetland Times 17 October 1952">{{cite news |title=''Sailing Drifters'' is magnificent |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000666/19521017/099/0005 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Shetland Times |date=17 October 1952 |page=5 cols 2,3}}</ref> March intended to include the Shetland fleet in his ''Inshore Craft'',<ref name="Inshore Craft 1970" >{{cite book|author=March, Edgar J.|title=Inshore Craft of Britain in the Days of Sail and Oar |date=1970 |publisher= David and Charles |location=Newton Abbot, England |edition=1}}</ref> having begun working on the book by 1951, but did not complete it until 1970.<ref name="Shetland News 2 August 1951" />

===On '''Sailing Trawlers''=== thumb|upright|Trawler ''Hibernia'' (1877) under way The loss of the last sailing smacks, and the last-minute salvage of memory of them, struck many of the reviewers of this book. For this volume, March interviewed smacksmen who first went to sea in the 1870s, and he included some nautical photographs which on appearance in his book were at least a century old.<ref name="Lynn Adv 18 September 1953">{{cite news |title=Smacksman's story |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003432/19530918/304/0011 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Lynn Advertiser |date=18 September 1953 |page=11 cols 4,5}}</ref> He wrote that the last of the sailing trawlers were used on the Norfolk Broads in the Second World War to deflect the landing of enemy seaplanes, and that he managed to examine the remaining ones in order to note their construction details.<ref name="Grimsby DT 8 October 1953">{{cite news |title=A Story of Grimsby's own little ships |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001121/19531008/004/0004 |access-date=20 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Grimsby Daily Telegraph |date=8 October 1953 |page=4 cols 5,6}}</ref>

A 1953 ''Shetland Times'' review of ''Sailing Trawlers'' calls the book "a masterpiece".<ref name="Shetland Times 6 November 1953">{{cite news |title=Review: ''Sailing Trawlers'' |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000666/19531106/035/0002 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Shetland Times |date=6 November 1953 |page=2 col.5}}</ref> Bookman of ''Berwickshire News'' says,<ref name="Berwickshire N & GA 25 August 1953" /> <blockquote>Years ago, vast fleets from Hull, Grimsby, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Barking, Ramsgate, Brixham and Plymouth left to trawl in the North Sea and around our shores while smacks brought in live cod for the London market. Of these thousands no one remains today working under sail, but their story has been recaptured for all time in this comprehensive volume.<ref name="Berwickshire N & GA 25 August 1953">{{cite news |last1=Bookman |title=Bookland |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000470/19530825/022/0002 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Berwickshire News and General Advertiser |date=25 August 1953 |page=2 col.2}}</ref></blockquote>

Edward Crossley describes ''Sailing Trawlers'' as a "magnificent volume". He notes March's comment that many of the skilled fishermen were illiterate and used inadequate compasses, but that their seamanship was superb, such that with education they could have been officers n the navy. He notes March's words: "Sad as it is to see the disappearance of the picturesque sailing smacks ... still sadder is it to realise that the splendid men who manned them are going fast". March quotes a trawlerman who said, "In the old days there was always laughter when the men were working. You don't hear it nowadays".<ref name="YP & LI 25 August 1953">{{cite news |title=A choice of new books. The great days of sail |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19530825/085/0003 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |date=25 August 1953 |page=3 col.4,5}}</ref>

James R. Nicolson calls March's ''Sailing Trawlers'' a "great book", and repeats some of its information on the first steam-trawling fishery of 1877 and its subsequent expansion, in his article on overfishing.<ref name="Shetland Times 13 April 1979">{{cite news |last1=Nicolson |first1=James R. |title=Overfishing in Shetland waters: Age of steam |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000666/19790413/169/0019 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Shetland Times |date=13 April 1979 |page=19 col.2}}</ref> Reviewer J.C.W. of the ''Grimsby Daily Telegraph'' describes the book as:<ref name="Grimsby DT 17 December 1970" />

<blockquote>A superb book [and] a classic, a harvest of sea lore and history unobtainable in any other form. The smack fleets have all gone ... Mr March has saved them from oblivion by presenting their story – their history, the life of a fisherman, his working methods, vessels' rigs and methods of construction ... this is such a well-documented, deeply-researched book".<ref name="Grimsby DT 17 December 1970">{{cite news |title=For those in peril ... |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001121/19701217/013/0013 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Grimsby Daily Telegraph |date=17 December 1970 |page=13 cols 2,3}}</ref></blockquote>

===On ''Inshore Craft of Britain in the Days of Sail and Oar''=== thumb|upright|An early oyster dredger, with men hauling dredges March's ''Inshore Craft of Britain in the Days of Sail and Oar'' was published in 1970. Alan Wrangles says:<ref name="BR Observer 11 December 1970" /> <blockquote>"I find it very difficult to express my feelings, ranging as they do from admiration of the author and his work to a sense of gratitude that all of this fascinating information has been brought together and will now live on for ever ... The two volumes are in fact wonderful storehouses, not only of historical fact but of technical know-how. If Mr March had not written these books much of which they contain would undoubtedly have been lost for ever. [They are] two reference books of inestimable value".<ref name="BR Observer 11 December 1970" /></blockquote>

Of the same publication, Michael and Mollie Hardwick say,<ref name="Maidstone Tel 24 July 1970" /> <blockquote>"Without doubt, this ... is destined to live as a principal source book for nautical and general historians, at both national and local level, and for model makers and armchair enthusiasts. Mr March has condensed a lifetime's study into this work. A great many of his sources are unique in that they were old men since dead – fishermen, boatmen, boat builders, even smugglers – who could speak from first hand experience of the kind of craft in common use a century and more ago. What we like so much about his work is that when, in the course of setting down hard and technical fact an anecdote springs to mind, he doesn't hesitate to pass it on, so that his books are as much yarns as treatises.<ref name="Maidstone Tel 24 July 1970" >{{cite news |title=Lucilla earns her reward |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001744/19700724/034/0002 |access-date=19 May 2026|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |work=Maidstone Telegraph |date=24 July 1970 |page=2 cols 5-8}}</ref></blockquote>

==Legacy== An uncatalogued collection of notes, books, papers and photographs pertaining to March's research for his lectures and publications is held at the National Maritime Museum. It comprises 15 boxes and one oversized folder, and the contents are dated between 1860 and 1945. The collections is titled, "Uncatalogued: March, Edgar J, Maritime Author, Fl. 1952-1970". Although photographs are mentioned, the list does not mention the films and the 15,000 magic lantern slides as used by March in his lectures; the whereabouts of these is unknown.<ref name="National Maritime Museum">{{cite web |title=Uncatalogued: March, Edgar J, Maritime Author, Fl. 1952-1970 |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-465364 |website=rmg.co.uk |publisher=Royal Museums Greenwich |access-date=23 May 2026 |quote=Ref: MSS/89/001-083}}</ref>

==Notes== {{Reflist|group=nb}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Edgar J. March}}

Category:1897 births Category:1971 deaths Category:20th-century English male writers Category:English lecturers Category:20th-century English historians Category:People of Kent Category:20th-century British male artists Category:Councillors in Kent Category:Constables