The surprising past of the Masonic Centre in Marlow

 Many people have been puzzled or intrigued by the chapel like appearance of the current Masonic centre in St Peter Street Marlow. It's location opposite the Catholic church of St Peter's has often led to the assumption it was built as a kind of parish hall for them. The clue to the true history lies in the family actually responsible for putting it up - the Morgans. They were prominent members of the Salem Chapel as it was then known (Aka Congregational church, now the U.R.C Quoiting Square) and it was for a break away group of worshippers that the building was established as a place of worship. 

The Music Room, above. Image ©Colin Groves and used with permission. 

A severe break at the Salem Chapel

The story of why there was a significant sundering of the congregation at the Salem Chapel has partly been told already by us in Charlotte's biography of the Rev Thomas Styles and can be read in more detail here). To sum up, Rev Styles expressed in 1854 a wish to marry a lady that some members of the congregation regarded as an unsuitable choice for a minister. In addition, some thought he shouldn't marry at all as the living they could provide would not be sufficient for a married man. If he did, then resignation should follow they reasoned. Thomas disagreed and married Eliza anyway. You may think that would have been more or less the end of the matter. Not so - a significant number of worshippers lead by Mr Morgan "broke away" from the main congregation and remained so estranged for nearly 10 years. At first they met in the Albion rooms West Street, but in 1855 the breakaway group were planning a purpose built building that would double as a lecture hall for hire. This was not completed until 1861 in St Peter Street and is what we call the Masonic Centre. It was licenced for worship and used as such until 1863. 

The press and town as a whole were very much on the side of the Rev Styles. The loss of half his congregation severely dented his income.  The deficiency was made up by voluntary donations made by those of all denominations. The South Bucks Free Press thought the dispute was really about internal power struggles within the church and many criticized those who presumed to tell their "respected" minister what to do. 

The lecture room opens

In July of 1861 "the lecture room" (and it was then just a single room) opened. Big enough to hold 300 people, it was provided with a stage and state of the art harmonium at one end as well as gas lighting and a hot water heating system. The lighting was a constant source of complaint later but at the time of opening this was a facility with all modern conveniences. The building was designed by Marlow architect Charles Carter and it was completed by our builder Thomas Corby. The first lecture was on "the existing barriers [to the] social, moral, and religious elevation of the people". Temperance lectures were a big feature of the early days too, especially by the Great Marlow Temperance Society. 

It was of course also used for worship. The Rev Mitchel was engaged as a probationary minister there and Sunday congregations were regarded as well attended. 

Peacemaking? 

 In 1863 the Rev Styles had finally had enough. He had continued to offer an olive branch to those who had left his church and many had indeed returned to him.  Thomas now said he was ready to retire altogether. The breakaway group felt this was an opportunity to reconcile. The question then was of the pension to be offered. Thomas had been living on an income of £30-40 a year which was found to be less than half of what any incoming minister would accept to replace him. But there was those (especially in the breakaway group) who thought the pension of the same amount would have to do. It was felt that as this group had caused the Rev Styles to have to live on such a small sum and were generally the better off, that they should contribute to his pension fund. They initially refused and were accused of trying  "to crush  and sweep away" Thomas with "a system that shames them". It was noted this was not the first time a such a system of "persecution" had been used to shed a minister. Strong language was used on both sides  - one member of the main congregation referred to the breakaways as "illiterate nonentities" for example!  In the end Thomas was given the right to live in the Manse for life as well as  £40 a year. 

A month after Thomas preached his last sermon, a "re-union" meeting was held in the lecture room, presided over by church member Joseph Wright of Marlow Mills. He said they were gathered to "give assistance and counsel to the little cause in Marlow now making an attempt to recover it's position once enjoyed".  A visiting preacher pleads for all to forgive and be forbearing. 

Lectures? No thanks! 

With the lecture hall no longer needed for purposes of worship, it was kept open for the secondary role as a sort of public hall. Unfortunately as such it was initially a failure. The main users were groups who would otherwise have used the Salem Chapel schoolrooms and when the rift was healed, they generally did so. The Mutual Improvement society did hire it for educational talks but these were poorly attended. In 1864 the lecture room was declared a failure.  The Rev Millman of All Saints (Anglican) then took lease of the premises for 5 years for use as the National Girls School. (They got their own premises in 1870.) In 1867 Owen Peel Wethered of Marlow's well known brewing family bought the freehold. He intended to use it as a public hall for hire. It would soon generally be known as the Music Room as it was often used for concerts and choral union meetings. 

The Music Room - respectable audience only please

In the 1870s the shift from educational and temperance related  offerings to more general entertainment was complete. Both the Literary and Scientific Institute and Mutual Improvement Society still used the facilities on occasion but attendance was usually reported as poor. The emphasis was on respectable entertainment - for example when Mrs Howard Paul visited in 1877 to offer songs and impressions we are reassured that there was "an utter absence of anything coarse or objectional"..

Other best selling Victorian events included an exposure of the sleight of hand used by Spiritualist mediums, a recreated Japanese village as part of an exhibition of their craft, displays of photographs, Pepper's Ghost, and magic lantern exhibitions. My favourite event though was a show in 1883 of curiosities and artefacts collected by local people. A polariscope, stuffed skunk, photographs of microscopic algae from the USA, a portion of the wrecked HMS Eurydice, a calculating machine and a display of ferns were amongst the eclectic items on display. 

In 1888 the Music Room was licenced for dramatic performances and these would be a big feature going forward. In the 1880s the room had been used more by travelling troupes or showman.  As these were sometimes regarded as a little noisy and not educational enough, a decision was made by the Wethered's in 1894 that the music room would no longer be available to showman or groups not resident in Marlow (unless taking part in a Marlow organised fundraising event such as for the cottage hospital.) 

As gymnasium and cinema 

In the 1890s the music room became home to the Marlow Gymnastic club - you can read more on those energetic fellows here 

It's other significant use was as Marlow's first regular cinema from 1911-1913 - again the full story has been told in a post - here

As the Public Hall

In 1906, the Wethered family sold the freehold of the music room to a small limited company of Marlow men including prominent Congregationalists William J Morgan and Joseph Dorsett. The new owners say it will be now known as the Public Hall - although the Music Room name stuck for a long time! They made some additions to the building and improvements to the lighting. 

In the Edwardian era it saw meetings of the Woman's Freedom League and Suffragette groups - usually interrupted by belligerent young men armed with whistles, cow bells and mouth organs. Politics related meetings themselves had generally not been allowed previously. 

Afterwards 

The story of the buildings use in the First and Second World Wars will be covered in another post. The Freemasons bought the freehold in 1934. 

NB. The Rev Alexander Henderson also resigned as the Congregational minister specifically in order to get married - after the congregation voiced "doubts" about whether he should. (1883)

Post written by Kathryn Day. 

© MarlowAncestors 

Related posts:

Index of church and chapel related posts (all denominations) :here

For other posts about St Peter Street or other specific buildings see here

Votes for women? Marlow discussions on the issue here

Sources include : 

Charlotte's research on Rev Thomas Styles

Marlow Directory 1891 

Kelly's Directory 1889

Marlow Almanack and Directory 1903, 1907, 1915. 

South Bucks Free Press 13th December 1857, 8th August 1860, 26th July 1861 2nd February, 27th March, 19th June,  4th July & 28th August 1863, 23rd January 1864, 27th September 1867, 26th October 1883, 30th November 1888, 15th May 1908

Reading Mercury 3rd August 1861, 17th Jan 1863, 24th February 1877, 12th September 1885

Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News 29th August 1863 

Bucks Herald 127th October 1877

Maidenhead Advertiser 14th February 1894

South Bucks Standard 6th July & 26th October 1906

Information on the Congregational Church as was from Martin Ashford with thanks. 

© MarlowAncestors 

Life in 1950s Marlow Part Three Transport and Childhood

Part One covered sport and leisure, Part two dealt with homes and employment.

Post by Charlotte

Transport 

Car ownership while not uncommon was far from universal in the 1950s so bus services and trains as well as cycling were important to local people trying to get from A to B. Currall's Garage in the High Street offered repairs and sales for those lucky enough to have their own car and of course there was Platts garage too. Platts was a Morris and M.G dealer. The Maple Garage in Little Marlow Road was an Esso and Ford dealership. Unusually for the times it opened for the sale of petrol on a Sunday.  Petrol rationing continued into the 1950s meaning careful thought needed to be made about whether any journey was necessary. A couple of  petrol pumps stood ready outside Comptons cycle shop in West Street for any motorists who pulled up kerbside. Marlow Bottom wasn't to be left out, Witches Barn Garage still operated in the village.

A Mr or Mrs Cook of Marlow had a red upholstered 1953 second hand Austin A30 for sale as advertised in the Reading Mercury 1958 for a bargain £415.

See a pic of the A30 on Wikipedia here.

Daniel Gibbons of 19 York Road had previously operated as a secondhand car and other vehicle dealer but I haven't found any reference to him still doing that in the 1950s. He was definitely still operating as a rag and bone man however, which was previously his sideline.

George Bason of 18 Wycombe Road sold secondhand motorbikes and offered repairs.

Mr Sylvester of 41 West Street was a driving instructor, possibly the only one in town at first. 

Driving could have its hazards then as now. Heavy snows of February and early March 1958 saw buses unable to reach High Wycombe and the roads out of town to Henley and Stokenchurch were blocked for all traffic.

More bizarrely the road at the foot of Bisham Hill was covered in jam for hours following a collision involving a truck carrying several tons of the sweet stuff in 1958. What a sticky situation.

Concerns about the weight of the traffic crossing Marlow Bridge have dogged the structure since the 1800s. Increased weight restrictions on vehicles using the bridge and emergency structural repairs to it were both needed in the 1950s. Thames Valley services from Maidenhead stopped crossing the bridge in 1958 because of new weight restrictions. Instead passengers got on and off in Quarry Wood Road.

Other bus services connected Marlovians to Reading and High Wycombe. The Marlow-Little Marlow-Bourne End service however came to an end in the 1950s because too few people were using it at a time when petrol rationing meant bus companies had to ensure every bus they sent out on a journey had earned it's share of the limited petrol supplies available.

Bicycles were available to buy from C. A Boddy in the High Street. Like quite a few other cycle suppliers in this time period he also supplied prams. Well, they both have wheels, I suppose. The Boddys also sold toys. Another cycle agent was Comptons in West Street, also a motorcycle seller and as mentioned above a petrol supplier 

Marlow still had a full sized railway station in the 1950s.

Childhood 

Schools

The 1958 Marlow Town Guide lists the Girls' school as being in Oxford Road and the Boys' one in Wethered Road as well as Sir William Borlase School (then just for boys and both a boarding and day school) in West Street. They obviously hadn't updated themselves from their previous edition as the schools had in fact been totally reorganised in 1954. A good lesson in treating all historical sources even very official seeming ones with caution. Back to school for the guide authors we say! The boys' school had been transformed into a unisex secondary school known as All Saints Secondary School. The future site of Great Marlow School was purchased by the council in 1957 though it would not be developed into a secondary school for several more years. Bigger premises were sorely needed as All Saints Secondary School was bursting at the seams. Until further schools opened in Stokenchurch and High Wycombe children from Lane End and Cadmore End had to attend the Marlow school. Overcrowding meant that the school was not able to offer the G.C.E exam, as extra classes for the pupils who wished to study for it could not be physically accommodated. Any children who wanted to pursue post 15 education elsewhere would be helped to find avenues to it where possible however. 

Reach for the stars, kids

As well as not having to take exams the pupils of All Saints weren't required to do homework - until the teachers got the unwelcome idea to try it in 1955. At first only some classes fell victim but from September 1956 the whole school was told to expect compulsory homework unless they had a parental letter of exemption. Such exemptions might be because the child helped in the family business, looked after younger siblings or simply because the family did not believe that school work should be allowed to encroach in family together time (this latter was a common sentiment). 

At their speech day in 1956 the speaker was an Air Vice marshall who told the children that they were lucky to be growing up in the Atomic Age as there would be lots of exiting opportunities for them. He predicted interplanetary travel might be an established fact by the late 1980s or early 90s.

In 1958 at the Borlase School speech day the guest speaker was t.v personality and criminologist John Watson who told the boys that in order to be happy men they would need two things- the right job and right wife. He warned them that a "safety first" attitude in life would be dangerous to them (not necessarily in reference to choosing a wife). 

Borlase converted part of the original school building into a flat for the caretaker and a recreation room for the school masters during the 1950s. Mr Hazelton, the Head in 1957 said that in the next year there would be around 350 pupils at his school including 80-90 boys in the Sixth Form. This he felt represented a school that had grown too fast to keep up with itself.

The 1958 Town Guide  also makes no mention of Foxes Piece School which was built between 1954-56, initially just as an infant's school with only three classrooms. The rest of the grounds were used as sports fields for other Marlow schools. Foxes Piece was only meant to be a temporary school at first. However it was extended and became a full junior school for 5-12 year olds in the 1960s. More on the early days of this school and the history of the Foxes Piece area is available in my post here.  

Another point upon which the Town Guide was well out of date on was the fact that the Oxford Road school was then functioning as another infant school. A premises in St Peters Street (which had also previously functioned as the Girls' School) was in 1954 turned into a mixed junior school (middle school). There was a mixed Catholic school in St Peter Street too. At Medmenham children attended the village school. Danesfield was of course yet to exist.

Dial Close, a private school for girls operated from the Causeway.  Another private girls school Wycombe Court was located at Lane End but put on buses to bring in Marlow pupils. It had a unisex kindergarten.

When they weren't being drilled in the three Rs or receiving questionable life advice from a criminologist, there were numerous leisure opportunities for our younger Marlovians.

Hobbies, toys and clubs 

Owning a television was becoming increasingly common in the town. British children with a set might already be watching 2 hours of television every day according to research quoted in the book A Century of Childhood. A t.v show detailing the adventures of American Davy Crockett led to a mass childhood craze of wearing a Davy Crocket style mock fur hat. I haven't been able to find evidence of these on sale in Marlow but Bonners Superstore in High Wycombe certainly offered them and was only a bus ride away.

Model airplanes and games could be bought from Moretons (primarily a bee keeping supplies shop!) in West Street. The children of the secondary school and if the former boys' school kept bees on the premises and produced their own honey so they may actually have enjoyed browsing the bee keeping supplies while they were there. Toys were also available from the Woolworths in Market Square, from the Boddy's BTC toy shop in the High Street and from Jane Ann's in West Street which offered Meccano, Dinky, Triang and Hornby ranges amongst others. The small department store W.J Daniels in Market Square had an upstairs toy department.

The Marlow Sea Cadets , just for boys, formed in 1956 though they did not yet have their own premises and met initially at All Saints Secondary School. A Boys Club, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides already existed. The latter met in a hut in Quarry Wood Road. 

Higginson Park, Riley Park (usually then called Riley Recreation Ground), Gossmore and Seymour Park were all open spaces available to play in while a children's paddling place was set up in an enclosed section of the River Thames in 1958. This was in addition to the official Bathing Place Marlow then had in the Thames at Quarry Woods for both adults and children.

Not all the outdoor activities of 1950s Marlow children would meet our approval today. Butterfly and bird egg collecting were still quite widely practiced by some children, mostly little boys. I used to have a 1950s children's butterfly book previously owned by a local boy in which the young reader is given detailed instructions as to how to use poison to suffocate a trapped butterfly and warned that sniffing or accidentally consuming the recommended poisons might kill him too. A repurposed soft drinks bottle was recommended as a carrying vessel for such poisons. Fail! Though Mr Watson the safety-last criminologist probably approved.

For sources for this series of posts see Part One. Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

Culture, Honour and Virtue - A history of the early Catholic schools in Marlow

St Peter Street in Marlow may be a place of quiet calm and gentility now but if you were to walk it in the early and mid Victorian era, a much more noisy and boisterous atmosphere would have prevailed. There were many reasons for this - more inns and beer-houses, the bustling Limbrook wharf, Gibbon's brewery and later the Buckinghamshire Chair Factory¹. 

One of the characteristic sounds of the street would also have been the sound of children playing. In the 1860s St Peter Street was home to 5 schools - the Catholic charity/infants school, the small Convent School, the National girls, the National infants,  and the private boarding schools for young gentlemen run from the Deanery². And then there was of course another "classic and commercial" boarding school at Marlow Place³ just a stone throw away. Our focus today is on the three Catholic schools. 

Undated and sadly very faded image of a group of pupils, identified by Michael Eagleton as coming from the Catholic infants school. Image used with thanks. 

NB. Most older historic references to the St Peter's school refer not as we would expect to the Catholic school whose modern successor goes by that name but to the two National schools in the road. The others were usually referred to just as the Catholic schools or the Convent schools. 

A start in West Street

The oldest of the two Catholic establishments was the infants charity school, as established by Charles Robert Scott Murray of Danesfield and Medmenham Abbey. Scott Murray was a wealthy and prominent Catholic convert and the person who paid for the building of St Peter's Church in Marlow⁴. The first version of the school was actually located at the Albion Rooms West Street, part of Albion House - a building which has a long connection to schooling⁵. It was established there by 1850. Initially it was ran by a couple of lay ladies and was definitely on the small side - about 20-25 pupils. It is curious that the property was let to the school managers by the Clayton family of Harleyford Manor as Sir William Clayton was outspokenly anti Catholic in the years leading up to the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. (A speech he gave in 1827 at the Town Hall in Marlow equated Catholicism with evil, tyranny and "intellectual degradation". And that was just the warm up!) This illustrates the prejudice Scott Murray faced when securing space for this purpose. 

Help for the poor

In late 1852 Scott Murray had organised for the Sisters of Charity of St Paul the Apostle based at Banbury to start a small convent at Marlow. They were also to take over the running of the charity school. In 1853 they moved into their new premises adjacent to the Catholic church in St Peter Street. Scott Murray would pay for the day to day running costs of the school such as the heating and lighting, and the provision of books and writing materials. At a time when education was not generally free, the charity school became increasingly popular as it charged a lower fee than the other schools in town. It was not restricted to Catholic families - indeed for some time in this era the majority of pupils were technically protestant. It had only become legal for non Catholic children to attend Catholic schools in 1846. This legal change may well have been what precipitated the foundation of the school. The Catholic population of the town would probably have been too small to sustain an establishment by itself.  Prior to 1791, it was not legal to run a Catholic school - and up to 1778 the punishment for so doing was life imprisonment.

A price to pay?

 The demographic was unquestionably from the poor at this period. The families must have been grateful for the opportunity to educate their youngsters at an affordable price - but the decision to send them to a Catholic school was not without controversy in the town. Protestant families whose children did not attend the church supported schools felt they were under pressure to withdraw them from the alternative.  Some also believed that when their children got into minor trouble with the police they were more harshly dealt with that would be the case of they had not attended a Catholic run school. Nevertheless by 1860 there was around 60 - 70 children in regular attendance at the infants school. 

Treats and trips for the scholars

One advantage of having a wealthy patron who took a close interest in the school was that the little pupils were not forgotten on the occasion of any kind of celebration in Marlow. Scott Murray inevitably provided the youngsters with a Christmas dinner served in their school rooms. Roast beef and plum pudding all round. Royal celebrations were another common excuse to have a break from routine. When the then Prince of Wales married in 1863 Scott Murray provided the youngsters with all kinds of goodies from lemonade to sweets and oranges. Other treats including river boat trips to Danesfield - where sports and games were provided, and a special tea provided by Canon Bernard Smith⁶ to mark a 25th anniversary of his service at Marlow. (1878)

Life at the infant school had its difficult aspects though - the school inspectors inevitably noted that the two classrooms were far too cramped and that the toilet provision was abysmal! (In this they had something in common with the two National schools over the road.) The school was also, like others in the town, subject to periodic closures due to outbreaks of the likes of small pox and scarlet fever. 

Culture, honour and virtue - the Convent Upper School 

Right from the start, the Sisters of Charity were permitted to take in a handful of private pupils who would  be educated seperately from those attending the charity school. The fees charged to these weekly or monthly boarders (who tended to be fairly well off) could be retained by the Sisters. The proviso was that the education of the poor children had to come first - if the Sisters wished to increase the numbers of other pupils they had to provide another Sister to ensure this.

At a meeting of mainly non conformists to discuss the re-establishment of a British school in Marlow, a (concerned) comment was made that Scott Murray was going to expand the provision for middle class children at his Catholic schools. If accurate this seems to have been the start of the expansion of the private convent school to take in more day pupils. 

In 1885, a dispute of uncertain nature with the school managers caused the Sisters to withdraw from both the Marlow schools and their branch at Danesfield (also established by Scott Murray). They finally left in 1886, although Scott Murray begged them to stay. The schools were undoubtedly a success and had just been extended. A Miss Grace Crowther was then recruited to head both the infants school and what was then generally known as the Convent Upper School, which was mixed and took pupils up to around age 14. To quote a source from 1894, this upper school was where "the children of the wealthy and well to do are carefully trained by fully trained and efficient instructors to occupy their positions in the higher ranks of society with culture, honour and virtue."

The young people attending this second school followed a broader curriculum including subjects such as Latin and more in depth musical study. The two establishments remained closely linked however and shared a prize giving day and entertainments. Mrs Scott Murray usually presided over the former and ensured all those attending on a more or less regular basis came away with some prize. The younger and  poorer pupils recieved individual practical items such as clothing and the older pupils more decorative ones such as copies of old master paintings to hang on their wall. 

In 1891 it was decided that Miss Crowther's residence could be altered to allow her to take in paying guests during the lucrative river season. This was to permit her to increase her income. A straightforward pay rise was seemingly out of the question. This is the why the oft published Marlow summer visitors lists includes so many names for people staying at the Convent school.  Miss Crowther certainly earned her keep - she had some 90 children of the infants school in her care and only one assistant mistress beside pupil teachers. 

The 1890s and beyond 

By this time the schools founder Charles Robert Scott Murray had died, and although the wider Scott Murray family did not forget their school at Marlow they had a less immediate every day relationship with it. Many of the treats and trips now provided to the pupils were by well off Catholics who took homes at Marlow for the river season year on year. This is especially true of Eugene Kelly and his family who regularly took up summer residence at Temple House. Eugene had also personally defrayed most of the cost of an assistant priest to help the ailing Canon Bernard Smith in the last two years of his life. The Scott Murrays still could be depended on to provide a Christmas surprise for the children though. Mrs Charles Aloysius Scott Murray managed to find a Christmas tree that would reach the ceiling of the Music Room (now the Masonic centre, hired for the purpose) in 1899 and she festooned it with gifts for all.

Since the 1870s the infants school had been under government control. This meant they could access grants rather than rely solely on their benefactor,  but in return they had to submit to school inspections and payment was by results. It also meant a "conscience clause" was now formally in operation. So the religious education was to taken at the beginning or end of the day to allow those children not participating to more easily absent themselves. 

In the late Victorian period the school inspectors still lamented the state of the toilets, the rough stoney playground and the general state of the school buildings but praised the teaching at least. Grace Crowther remained in charge until just after the First World War which brings us up to the end of the period we deal with. But to answer the oft asked question of when the modern St Peter's school moved to Prospect Rd, it was 1974. The land was actually released for school use by the Ministry of Agriculture from allotment use in 1965! 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Links to related subjects referred to above:

1 - The Bucks chair co of St. Peter Street - here

2. The Deanery school - here

3. Marlow place schools here

4. Early history of St Peter's Church here

5. The Albion rooms as a British School here

6. Biography Canon Bernard Smith, 50 years at St Peter's and a Marlow Hero here

To find other school related posts search by school name here

For other church related content see here - all denominations

Sources include: 

Information from Sister Anne, archivist to the Sisters of Charity of St Paul the Apostle with many thanks. This included information from the undated draft of the foundation agreement for the school and convent. 

Slaters commercial directory 1850. 

Musson & Craven's commercial directory 1853. 

Kelly's Directory Bucks 1863

The Catholic Directory 1853 

Marlow Town Guide and Directory 1891

Marlow Almanack qv 1907 & 1915

South Bucks Free Press 2nd Jan 1857, 14 Jan 1860, 19th Jan 1861, 15 March 1863, 13 May 1868, 7th Oct 1870, 28 June 1878, 7 June 1888, 3 February 1889, 4 March 1910

Maidenhead Advertiser 2 July 1879, 29th September 1886

Bucks Herald 17 April 1886

The Tablet April 16 1887 Vol 69 p 630

Buckinghamshire Examiner 2  December 1891

South Bucks Standard 21st April &  22nd December 1893, 8th June 1894, 21st July 1894, 22 December 1899, 5th September 1902, 14 January 1910

Bucks Free Press 19 July 1919

© MarlowAncestors