Houseboat LA NOISETTE at West Mersea early 1920s. The boat was owned by Charles Simpson Mason, born 1860 and died 1926. It is thought she then became the MARSH VIEW, owned by Dora Clift. The boat was near the bottom of Hove Hill, probably with the houseboat MAUREEN between it and the road.

Charles Simpson Mason ran a Tea Importing Business in Ipswich. He had two sons. The eldest, Charles Squires Mason RNVR, was drowned along with all except one of the crew when the destroyer HMS NARBOROUGH was wrecked on the coast of the Orkenys in 1918, just before the end of WW1. Charles Simpson Mason was devastated by the death of his son. He wound up the business and retired to the peace and isolation of the houseboat at West Mersea. It is thought LA NOISETTE was named after a sloop the two brothers sailed on the Orwell before WW1.
Date: c1923