Sonia Rolt OBE passed away at the age of 94 on Wednesday 22 October.
Widow of the author L.T.C. (Tom) Rolt – author of the iconic book ‘Narrow Boat’ and other transport works and one of the founders of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) – Sonia was however famous in her own right as one of the most outstanding women of the waterway world.
Sonia South originally trained as an actress then with the outbreak of the war, she worked for a while in the Hoover factory at Greenford on military aircraft.
Shortly after this she volunteered as a trainee boatwoman on the canals, becoming one of the now almost legendary ‘Idle Women; a name coined from the IW badge they wore. Later, she met and married a working boatman George Smith.
She became active in working for better conditions for the boat people then met Tom Rolt at a screening of the film ‘Painted Boats’ in 1945. Sonia worked with Tom in the early days of IWA campaigning.
She married Tom and they had two sons, moving to his family home at Stanley Pontlarge, the house where she lived until her death.
Although often pressed to write her own life story, Sonia remained a fierce guardian of Tom’s works and wrote several new introductions and in 1997 she wrote ‘A Canal People, The Photographs of Robert Longden’.
A love of historic buildings led to her work for the Landmark Trust and later, the National Trust, and active membership of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. She was a vice-president of IWA.
In 2010 Sonia was appointed OBE for services to industrial archaeology and heritage.
Those of us who were lucky enough to know her well – her knowledge and indefatigable enthusiasm for waterways, wit and always good company – will miss her greatly.
Thanks to Harry Arnold and Waterway Images for this report and photo.