UPDATED OCTOBER 2023
Text and research by Charlotte Day, Image by Kathryn Day.
From at least the 1820s until around 1901 the Sawyer family ran a bakery here.
Robert Sawyer came first. By 1833 he had given over the business to his son James (born 1803) and gone to run a pork butcher's shop nearly opposite it.
In the handwritten 1833 parochial assessment notebooks which my family has Jame's premises were described as a house, yard, flour lofts and sheds and had an annual value of £12. Only two doors away was another baker's shop operated by Henry Menday.
In 1851 a Henry Howard received six weeks hard labour for stealing a 2lb loaf from the shop.
After James' death his widow Charlotte took on the helm but she had been behind the counter long before that. In 1879 her scales were found to be slightly deficient during a routine inspection. Nearby baker Owen Wright who had taken over Menday's premises was similarly found wanting*.
As well as bread Charlotte had a line in pig feet, or at least she did in 1859 when an 11 year child James Harris stole one from a dish on her shop counter. The price was a shilling - or for little James, a whipping. The judge in the case decided to be "merciful" and thus ordered that the punishment could be carried out in private rather than in the usual public manner. As well as pig feet Charlotte had a sideline in other groceries and vegetables.
A definitely more merciful sentence was handed down to a "girl" Emma Anderson who stole a 4lb loaf of bread from Charlotte in 1872. She only had to suffer a day in jail.
After Charlotte retired her son James ran the bakery business but she continued to live with him on the premises. You can read more about James (unfortunately it's not a happy read!) and another son Owen in a post here. I will just add here that under the stewardship of James the family suffered a serious fire on the premises when heat from a bread oven caused part of the timber structure of the building to catch fire. James was just a stone's throw from the fire bell which could be rung to summon the Marlow Fire Brigade. Both the fire and water damage to the building were severe with the family losing much of their furniture and it was feared that only demolition of the premises would be an option. That however seems to have been avoided. A few years later James sold his business to baking rival Charles Carter who did not intend to operate from the premises.
The Morgan family owned the actual building of the bakery. It had once belonged to the church.
Charlotte Sawyer, the wife of James Senior was the daughter of Spittal Street grocer Joseph Eagle and Elizabeth his wife. (Read more about them here) Her birth family were worshippers at the Salem Chapel in Quoiting Square now known as Christ Church. There she was baptised at the age of 2 in 1811. She married her husband aged just 17.
For the involvement in political bribery of Charlotte's brother in law Jason Povey see here
James Sawyer Senior's brother ran the Ship Inn in West Street close to the bakery
Researched and written by Charlotte Day, photo by Kathryn Day.
To find other West Street content see the "Specific Shops, Streets Etc" option on the menu. For all mentions of any individual on the blog see the Person Index *As of August 2023 over 7,500 Marlow linked people are mentioned here*
Sources:
*Bucks Herald 27th November 1875. Via the BNA and British Library archives.
Reading Mercury 12th Feb 1859. As above.
Bucks Herald 12th April 1851. As above.
South Bucks Standard 6th August 1897, as above.
Census 1841-1901. Transcribed by Jane Pullinger and Charlotte Day from microfilm. All census information is Crown Copyright.
Salem Chapel baptisms transcribed by me from microfilm #007765132 images supplied by the LDS church, Intellectual Reserve Inc.
1833 parochial assessment. Original handwritten record held by my family and transcribed by me.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this information for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.
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