William Wyatt, apparently originally of Wooten Under Edge in Gloucestershire, arrived in Marlow by 1792 (probably several years before) with his wife Ann. His obituary would later describe how it was he who set up the first stagecoach that could make the return journey to London in the space of the same day, every day except Sunday. William attracted the patronage it said of George 3rd and achieved the feat of halving the journey time to London by lobbying for, and it seems also paying for, the improvement of the necessary roads. This likely dates his first involvement in the local trade to pre 1788.
Sadly as soon as the improvements occurred everyone else who wanted to run coaches on the same roads were able to, meaning a lot of competition along the route and financial difficulties for William who had spent a lot on his enterprise.
For a while he went into partnership with Elizabeth Minchener of Colnbrook, Berkshire but the partnership dissolved in 1806 when she became insolvent. Whether William was able to continue I am uncertain as yet. He and Elizabeth had also been wagoners. This may be to Reading as his obituary said he was familiar on the roads around there with his vehicle too.
William died in 1841.
His son Frederick born in Great Marlow in 1795 was himself a coach master. He bought his way into a share of the Original stagecoach (each coach had a name in those days) in 1820 which ran from the Upper Crown Marlow to the Gloucester Coffee House in Piccadilly London via Bisham, Pinkneys Green and Maidenhead*. This he drove himself, coming to blows with a rival coachman at least once! (For the full story see here) By 1830 the route given was stated as to run via Maidenhead, Slough and Hounslow though that may have been just a case of different stops advertised at different times. His partners in 1820 were Mr William Edwards and Thomas Clark. Edwards died in 1824, having sold his remaining interest in the coach two years before. Around 1827 Frederick seemed to strike out on his own though there is some conflicting evidence. Mr Clark continued his coach from his booking office on the other side of the High Street until his death in 1830 when his widow Susannah took over. I last see reference to the Original in 1836. Frederick's coach was known simply as Wyatt's Coach. Susannah Clark in her will says she has a brother James Wyatt so was presumably nee Wyatt herself. How she was related to William Wyatt is uncertain, probably sister.
In 1827 his coach was robbed of some valuable packages by a gang of robbers suspected of being of London. It was a difficult year for Frederick as he also received a conviction for overloading his coach which he was driving with 12 outside passengers, plus luggage on the roof. Too many outside passengers was considered to make a coach dangerously unstable. Frederick appealled his hefty fine and the conviction was quashed. This was because the witnesses against him were employed by a paid informant and the statements of disinterested ones presented at the appeal trial contradicted those earlier statements. He had not presented their evidence earlier as he had asked for the original trial to be delayed in order to gather evidence but permission had been refused.
Two years later Frederick went bankrupt but he bounced back and continued in the trade thanks to the help of his friends who gave him financial assistance.
In 1830 he lost a coach horse that had been grazing on Cookham Common and offered a reward plus expenses for its safe return. It could be recognised by the letters F.W branded on each hoof. Frederick rented an eight acre field in Cookham for his horses. He was still tenant there 1836. This field was in addition to Mill Meadow and another tiny one he rented in Marlow.
Wyatt's service ran in all weathers although snow covered roads could provide something of a challenge for the heavy vehicles. Frederick was thrown out of the box of the coach in 1830 when attempting to pass along the snow covered lane between Maidenhead and Pinkneys Green. The horses stumbled on some loose stones after accidently straying off the road itself. The horses bolted off but thankfully were stopped at Pinkneys Green before coming to any harm. Frederick was well enough to resume the journey the next day.
By 1823 Frederick and his wife Lucy (née Ginger who married in London in 1816) lived in the High Street Marlow, their home also acting as the booking office for the coach. The property was described in 1833 as a house, stable, barn, yard garden and orchard worth together £20 a year. In 1841 Lucy's mother Ann Ginger lived with them too. The property was where Nat West bank is in Marlow but not the same building you see today as it was rebuilt in 1894. See image below.
In 1838 Frederick advertised the fact that he was giving up his coaching business and had 12 horses for sale as a result. Perhaps there were no buyers as he was still in business a year later.
The coach Frederick operated in 1839 had changed route and now ran to Paddington Station in London via Wooburn and Taplow (to connect to the new train service.)
That year the coach suffered a serious accident at Maidenhead Bridge toll. The Wyatt's were behind with paying their dues at the gate. When the toll keeper refused to open the main gate for the coach as a result, it tried to get around and through a side gate (for foot traffic??). This the toll keeper tried to shut on the coach as it passed through, frightening and injuring the horses, overturning the coach and slightly injuring some of the passengers. The toll keeper was fined for risking the life of innocent passengers. When he didn't pay he was sent to jail.
The coming of the railway to Maidenhead destroyed the coach trade. By then Frederick's son also called Frederick (born 1821 Great Marlow) was the one driving the family stagecoach. They for a while did try to make up for the lost trade to and from London by offering a coach service to Maidenhead station (not yet located in its current position. It was at Taplow aka Maidenhead Riverside). But they were not the only ones who thought to do so and there was not trade enough for two. The Wyatt's had exhausted their credit and things got rather heated. The rivals Lovegrove and partners of Maidenhead made a go of the station run for some time. In 1845 Frederick senior came to blows with Mr Baker, whose brother in law had gone into partnership with Lovegrove. Frederick had made some disparaging remarks about the horses used by the new concern, and things blew up from there resulting in blow to the head for him. This assault took place in the chemist shop of Robert Foottit in Marlow High Street. Frederick senior had gone in there to ask Robert to write a letter for him as he was like many of his generation, illiterate. Baker followed him in with the above result. Frederick got his lawyers involved, and demanded compensation, legal costs paid and a public apology, plus a donation by Baker to the parish poor box. Baker refused to do more than pay expenses and in the end the case went to court and Baker was required to pay Frederick 50s damages. In this hearing much is made of the fact Frederick had a "broken down constitution" whereas Baker was half his age, strong and "an ugly customer with his fists" . We are also told that Frederick is currently working in some capacity for a Mr Peto, possibly the Pinkneys Green farmer. Frederick was perhaps not as weak as his lawyer suggested as a witness on his side at the trial - William Humphreys the harness maker - admits it's true Frederick walks 4 miles each morning and evening.
The Bucks Gazette claimed Lovegrove had started up in order to provide a "cheap, safe and expeditious" journey to Taplow, and because the Marlow people were trying to get rid of the quarrelsome Wyatts. The latter had been banned from entering the station yard apparently and when they tried to do so, their coachman (possibly Wyatt himself) got into another fight involving blows to the head. The Bucks Gazette rarely tried to offer balanced reporting in those days and enjoyed a spirited half veiled attack on someone who had upset them so Wyatt's friends might well have a different version of events! It does seem the Wyatts had some trouble with their Taplow station coach though. For example it broke down on Bisham Hill in 1840, and the accident resulted in several people suffering nasty injuries. The clerk of the work at the rebuilding of Danesfield was amongst the victims. With a dislocated shoulder, he was put up at The George Inn (George & Dragon) to recover well enough to be moved. There were probably worse place to convalesce!
Frederick senior moved away to the village of Ozleworth near Wooten Under Edge circa 1863, where he died the next year.
Frederick junior moved to Islington, London where he became a cab driver. There was much competition in that trade and Frederick struggled. He developed rheumatism in both feet making his job difficult. An appeal for charitable assistance for him appeared in papers local to Marlow, seeking to appeal to the locals' nostalgia and gratitude for the Wyatt family's old role in the Marlow stagecoaches.
A Thomas Wyatt was the landlord of the Horns in Chapel Street Marlow by 1828. He had married Maria Silver at Great Marlow in 1795. There is a good probability that he was the brother of William Wyatt and uncle of Frederick Wyatt senior. He operated as a carrier from his pub, as did his son George (baptised Cookham 1797). Thomas's wagon transported goods to London every weekday via Maidenhead and Slough in 1831. By 1844 Thomas was dead and this service was reduced to twice a week but members of the family were still carriers from Marlow more than a decade later in 1856 when George Wyatt's son Edward Tracey Wyatt AKA Tracey Wyatt took over the carrying business. More on Thomas here
There was an older Mr Wyatt acting as a coachman in Marlow aged an estimated 60-70 years in an 1845 court case who is a bit of a mystery. Thomas of the Horns and William were both dead. Perhaps Frederick senior looked rather old for his age!! There appears to have been another brother, James for the probable siblings William, Thomas and Susannah Wyatt however so perhaps it was him.
* William Edwards took out an advert in 1820 to warn the public about underhanded techniques recently used to poach his clients (and Wyatt's) which he said would result in legal action if not halted. Most likely he was refering to the new post coach service running from the Greyhound to London by Mr Williams. See more in the post linked to below. Edwards adds that he has responded to the request of residents of Little Marlow, Wooburn, and Taplow in sending a coach through those places daily and will continue to do so. Williams had advertised a coach service through the same stops. Whether either of those were intended to connect to the London service at Taplow or sometimes continued on in their own right isn't clear.
Post about other stagecoach operations in Marlow, including more on Wyatts struggles with his rivals (fights included) see here.
For more on the Crown see here. You may also like Kathryn's post on Marlow history "Will the horseless carriage catch on?" here
To find other transport related posts look on the General Marlow History listing here There is a transport sub heading within that.
Highwayman Peter Rivers here
All mentions of an individual on this blog can be found on the Person Index. Thousands of people are mentioned.
Written by Charlotte Day and researched by Charlotte & Kathryn Day.
Sources:
Bucks Herald 12th November 1864 [Wyatt death notice] and 11th December 1841 [death William]. Copy digitized British Newspaper Archives from the British Library.
Reading Mercury 23rd December 1877, as above [appeal for help for Frederick Junior].
Windsor and Eton Express 20th August 1820 & 24th July 1830, as above [lost horse].
Report of Bucks Lent Assizes, 1845 - digitised by Google.
Berkshire Chronicle, 16 Jan 1830, 24th November 1827, as above [robbery] and September 7th 1839 [coach accident 1839].
Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 22 March 1845
Wyatt v Baker, 1845 court summary, Bucks Lent assizes, as transcribed by Jane Pullinger, 1979.
Property records held by my family, transcribed by me.
Great Marlow parish registers transcribed by me years ago when a copy was held by Marlow Library. I do not know if this is still the case.
The Bankrupt Directory [covering 1820+] compiled by George Elwick . Published 1843. Copy held British Library. Digitized by Google.
1841 census Great Marlow. Transcribed from microfilm.
A Guide To The Great Western Railway published by R Groombridge, London 1839.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NP26-FBM [baptism George Wyatt].
Pigots Commercial Directory 1831 and 1844.
Reading Mercury 17 August 1829
Bucks Gazette 17th October 1840. [Bisham Hill Accident]
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