This was previously Gun Lane and at times during the Edwardian era was also referred to as "Trinity Lane".
A poor area with many homes consisting of just three rooms (two bedrooms and a kitchen come family room) and at least one having only two rooms. Piped water arrived here at the close of the 1800s but not before the only well for the residents had run dry. The road surface was not properly made up until near the end of the era. Most houses here were demolished long ago.
It is likely some residents have been missed due to the rapid tenant turnover in poorer streets. We will endeavour to add in anyone found to be missing as research opportunities permit.
Odd numbered* properties were on the left as you came in from Dean Street. Numbers given as they were then=
1.) Richard Cook, born circa 1861, unmarried farm labourer. Richard seems to have lived in Trinity Road or in Trinity Place just off it all of his life. He was the son of Richard and Keziah Cook.
3.) In 1907 Mrs Price. Then carter Robert Bowles and his lodgers the Hall family headed by laundress Mrs Hall. After that Bertie (agricultural labourer bn circa 1885) and Jane (bn circa 1883) Bryant and their children.
Mrs Price was PERHAPS Clara Price who lived at an unknown number in Trinity Road in 1901 with her husband Francis, a vegetable hawker, and their children. However she wasn't a widow at this point so the 1907 Town Guide wouldn't usually list her as the head of household, and the guide says Francis is in Dean Street. You would expect Clara to be with him there but this couple did go on to separate in later years so PERHAPS this is evidence of an earlier separation that didn't last. They were together in Dean Street in 1911. The couple's son Nathan died at Trinity Road aged 7 months in 1895. They had a daughter called Freedom!
A Wesley Hall, presumably of the above Hall family was in 1912 fined for swearing in his home in Trinity Road for two whole hours! It was a risky business raising your voice in Trinity Road, or swearing with the window open given the fact that the Police Station was in the same street. Prosecutions for swearing so that it could be heard outside were very common in Edwardian and Victorian Marlow. Trinity Road was a major hotspot for such offences. You definitely needed to stop up your ears if you went by.
The Bryant's two month old baby daughter Rosamond suffocated while sharing her parents bed in 1913. The potential dangers of co-sleeping were understood at this time but the benefits in most people's eyes outweighed them and it was a very common practice. A verdict of death by misadventure was recorded.
Jane Bryant was the daughter of Joseph and Charlotte Budd who will feature in the second part of my Edwardian residents of Trinity Road post as they lived on the other side of the street. Her baby daughter Rosamond was named after her sister.
5.) W Aldridge. Then uncertain others. Then Rose and George Jones and their children. This couple came to Marlow from Wooburn between 1912 and 1914. At Wooburn George (bn circa 1879) had been working at the board mills as well as assisting at times in a coal business. He admitted stealing a small piece of coal from that business and was bound over as a result. It is possible that this precipitated the family's move to Marlow. He was a private in the Royal Berkshires when he was injured in 1914 and was evacuated to an English hospital. Still resident 1915 however in the next few years the couple separated and only Rose (nee Harmsworth) and the children remained at no 5.
7.) A Winkworth then labourer James Bowles. The latter was born circa 1855 and continued to live here for many years.
9.)William Beaver a domestic gardener /labourer, born circa 1852-54 but has a variable birthdate. Moved in to number 9 late 1901 or very early 1902. Continued to live in this tiny cottage for many years. He lived alone as he had separated from his wife Rachel (nee Stacey). In 1902 he took out an ad in the paper warning traders in the town he would no longer be responsible for any bills she ran up. They were already living apart at the time of the census the previous year. Rachel had taken the children and gone to live in High Wycombe. William was the uncle of Richard Cook, above. That is, he was the brother of Richard's mother Keziah who was born a Cook.
11.)Rapid turnover of tenants. Charles Higgins and his wife Esther, Miss Hunt, then laundress Selina Austin (who gives her address on the 1911 census as no 6 but she can't live there as it was certainly the home of someone else at that time and her censused neighbors show her to be in fact in no 11. See the note far below about Marlow's atrocious street numbering record).
Charles Higgins was born in the early 1840s Bucks and grew up in Skirmett. He was a labourer. Esther's birthdate wanders on censuses. They moved to Trinity Road from Hayes Place Marlow between 1901 and 1907. They also lived up at Marlow Common and out at Burroughs Grove for a time. While at the latter Esther was called to give evidence at the inquest into the death of a newborn baby. The mother of the child could not afford even the cheapest midwife. These typically attended not only the birth but visited washed and dressed the newborn child for the next day or few days. When Esther heard about the mother's situation she offered to help in any way she could and said to send word to her when she was needed to attend. Unfortunately Esther fell ill at the crucial time and the mother decided she could not fairly call on her. Instead she gave birth without assistance and passed out towards the end. The child died within minutes of being born for want of attention. Another woman fetched by one of the mother's children, saw that the mother was unwell immediately after the birth but did not check on the child or stay with them because she had supper to prepare. She did return 45 minutes later but found the child dead. The coroner's jury were not impressed by her actions.
As a young man Charles Higgins spent a short time in jail for failing to pay the fine levied on in for assaulting a man helping to clear a Skirmett pub of some disorderly customers.
Selina Austin moved to Marlow some time between 1908 and 1909. She lived in Trinity Road with her children / step children. Selina was born circa 1868, the daughter of Richard and Ruth Jewell of Turville. As a young woman she worked as a servant in Henley and got into trouble for obtaining a silk blouse under false pretences. As a first time offender she was bound over rather than jailed. She married her recently widowed husband Thomas Austin in 1901. Within a matter of weeks he had deserted her and his children so Selina had to ask for poor relief. Though he returned to her he deserted again in 1908. At this point he was a rag and bone man. She wished for a separation order but he promised to return. Shortly afterwards she moved to Marlow, seemingly without him but taking her children and step children.
In 1909 her stepson Henry Austin age 15, of "weak intellect" was convicted of stealing 6d from her. She had sent him to pay for certain goods she had requested but he instead spent it on toffee and having fun in Cookham. This offence saw him ordered to a reformatory school. Soon after his return he was arrested for begging for food and jailed for 14 days. The local police inspector had found him a job but said the young man was "idle" and ended up in the workhouse, from which he stole clothes. In 1914 he was jailed again for stealing sacks from a barn.
Selina moved to Dean Street, probably by 1915, and then later went to Berwick Road.
13.) William Collins or Colyer, a council employed road scavenger and his wife Florence for most of the era followed by Henry and Emily Nash and their children. The Nash family moved here from Chapel Street. Henry was a carpenter born circa 1864. Emily was born circa 1860. Towards the end of the era Henry as a widower became the lodger here rather than the tenant and the household head was Henrietta Bidmead (nee Rockell, widow of William Henry Bidmead). Henrietta was the niece of John Lovegrove and she had previously lived with him on the opposite side of the street and therefore both these residents feature mostly in Part Two of this Edwardian Trinity Road post. Later Henry Nash moved to number 22 Trinity Road to live with his then adult and married son Reginald.
15.) A brick and timber semi detached house with some stucco. Two bedrooms. Initially the home of John Boot (bn circa 1855), beater at the paper mills and his wife Harriett (born circa 1859), their son also called John plus Harriett's widowed sister Mary Ann Francis. The Boots were very long standing residents of Trinity Road. They paid 3 shillings 6d a week rent in 1905. Their son John became a postman.
After the Boots left Mr and Mrs Harry Bowles made it their home. Harry was already a soldier in the Royal Berkshires before the First World War and then saw active war service before his capture and retention in a German POW camp in 1917. He was held in Westphalia.
Police Station and Court (17-19) - the Sergeant and his family typically lived in. Police officers will form separate posts on the blog so are not included here. Buildings stand but in different use.
Holy Trinity Church
21.) Trinity Cottages Brick, Flint and tile two up, two down home attached to number 23. Alice Player, then Mr Smith (not the Eli Smith who appears in Part Two of this post) who was followed sometime between 1905 and 1907 by Samuel Todd, a carter born circa 1880, his wife Mary born circa 1878 and their children.
This cottage still stands.
23.) Trinity Cottages . A two up two down brick, flint, and tile cottage .James (bn circa 1859) and Annie Mitchell (bn circa 1868) with their children occupied the cottage at the start of the era along with the teenage Florence Cheetham who was cousin to James. The Mitchells, who paid 3 shillings a week rent in 1905, Were followed by A Hickman, then Eliza Atkins and her husband James Atkins a brewer's labourer. Both the Atkins were originally of Stokenchurch. They moved into this particular house between 1905 and 1907. In 1901 they lived in Chapel Street, Marlow. Eliza was born circa 1853 and James circa 1846.
This cottage still stands.
Even numbered properties will be in Part Two along with some Edwardian Trinity Road Residents that can't be certainly placed in any particular house number.
*Note= Marlow was beyond terrible at organizing street numbering, displaying house numbers, or making sure everyone knew what number they lived at. Some people refused to acknowledge the fact that their home had been officially renumbered and carried on using the old number. Others don't ever seem to have understood what their house's number was even after it was officially given one. Some people without moving house would give a different number for their home each different time they were asked, based presumably on guesswork. We often have to use multiple sources to repopulate an Edwardian street in this town reliably.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use our research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.
Similar Posts
Victorian residents of Trinity Cottages Jeremiah and Emma Harding here
General earlier history of Trinity Road here
Edwardian St Peter Street here.
Edwardian Cambridge Place here
Edwardian Spittal Street and Spittal Square Part One here and Part Two here
Edwardian wedding gifts in Marlow here
Some Sources=
Marlow Town Guide and Almanack 1907 and 1915 editions. Marlow Printing Company.
South Bucks Standard 24th July 1913, South Bucks Standard 18th April 1912, . Reading Mercury 24th November 1914. South Bucks Standard 12th November 1909. All British Library Archives via the BNA.
South Bucks Standard February 7th 1902. Directly from the British Library.
Maidenhead Advertiser 17th October 1888. Baylis Media Archives.
Williams estate sale papers, copy kindly given by Adam Baxter of the Marlow Society.
Rent receipt from Jane Pullinger.
Excerpt Henley advertiser 26th June 1897.
GRO marriage Index, GRO online.
https://www.rootspoint.com/record/1881-UK-Census/Slian-Jewell-1869-Turville-Buckinghamshire-Turville/45eac361-6400-40dd-968a-5910b9edb3fd/l
https://www.rootspoint.com/record/1901-UK-Census/James-Atkins-1846-Stokenchurch-Buckinghamshire-Marlow-Urban/50235109-fac7-40e6-ae41-0874082aee1d/
https://www.rootspoint.com/record/1901-UK-Census/John-W-Boot-1859-High-Wycombe-Buckinghamshire-Marlow-Urban/d4b375a0-a0ad-44f9-842a-51474bcabaea/
Other 1901 census information from the transcription from microfilm by Jane Pullinger.
"England and Wales, Census, 1891", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4GGX-Z3Z : Thu Jan 16 07:18:41 UTC 2025), Entry for William Beaver and Rachel Beaver, 1891.
"England and Wales, Census, 1901", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9YY-186 : Thu Feb 13 03:33:37 UTC 2025), Entry for Henry Lunnon, Robert Lunnon, Rachel Beaver 31 Mar 1901.
