Call The Apothecary! An Alternative Medical History of Great Marlow

This is a post about the medical help, (or hindrance) available to your Marlow ancestor during a time of illness in Georgian and Victorian times. Many of those who we would call doctors, surgeons, pharmacists and midwives have or will feature in their own posts as individuals as will the Cottage Hospital. But this is an overview of how things worked in practice in Marlow specifically if you did not or could not consult a regular doctor. 

Usually we think of the "doctors" of the time as being divided into physicians, who made the diagnosis, the lesser ranked surgeons who did operations, and below them the apothecaries making up and dispensing medicine, patent medicine sellers, quacks, and "wise women" and midwives. Things were not that simple though. Physicians were expensive, university trained and relatively scarce. I have found no medical practitioner in Marlow defining themselves as a physician during this period, but "Doctor of Physick" Stephen Chase was based in Little Marlow in the 1730's and 40's. There are however many surgeons - all male of course - and a good number of them also referred to themselves as apothecaries, so they were effectively acting as something approaching a GP eg George Rawden Robson. 

The apothecaries were for many the first port of call in an illness. We tend to think of them as a kind of early chemist operating out of a shop and using herbal and sometimes dangerous ingredients. But many of our Marlow men were the ones called to make a home visit to the sick as one of the first ports of call. When reading narratives of deaths and illness, the pattern that emerges is something like this ..When someone first fell ill, the family would try and do what they could at home for them. They may make up a medicine from what they kept at home, use a patent medicine held on standby or go to a one of the druggists for a tried and trusted remedy. If this did not work, most called in the apothecary who would both diagnose the condition and prescribe a cure, hopefully. Only those who had more funds would routinely call in the surgeon-apothecary. For example, when 69 year old Hannah Croxon suffered severe burns in 1869, the person called in was "pharmaceutist" (as he then described himself) Tildesley mentioned above. Poor Hannah had tried to top up an oil lamp while it was already lit. The oil caught and the "flare" travelled up her arm and then set her dress aflame. Tildesley was the only person who attended Hannah before the unfortunate lady died of "nervous exhaustion" 2 days later. (There was more than one Hannah Croxon in Marlow at this time. Our victim here is the wife of bargeman William, not baker James.) 

 If there was an accident, a surgeon was the usual person called, and he sometimes performed an operation at the nearest convenient place, otherwise at his premises, usually his home. For example when surgeon Dr Henry French of West Street sells up in 1861, he is described as having a "neatly fitted up surgery and consulting room ..well supplied with water" which is to be sold with all the usual fixtures of surgery. Surgery is this sense is not just a doctors practice but an actual place to do operations. Later the Provident Nursing Association, and the Cottage Hospital would provide care - and an operating theatre in the case of the latter. Dr French was a former army and general surgeon and teacher of anatomy who later specialised in the treatment of eye conditions. He ran an eye clinic and "opthalmic dispensary" at West Street in the 1850's, on Mondays and Thursdays 10-12. Advice given to the poor for free. He was also a midwife. Male midwives or "accoucheurs" were the expensive option, the other prominent Marlow man to fill this role is John Tildesley in the later Victorian period. He was also a dentist. 

The most famous apothecary associated with Marlow is James Chase who lived at Westhorpe House between 1684 and his death in 1721.  James followed in his father's footsteps and acted as the apothecary to the Royal court. He served William III, Queen Anne and George I. 

Most of the patent medicines sold by the likes of George Cannon and John Howe, were made to secret recipes we don't really know if they may have had any actual affect on the conditions they were supposed to cure. A tour of both their shops is available here, and here but one thing you will notice is they were both booksellers. These and stationers routinely sold patent medicines, made up in chemists elsewhere. They were respectable tradesmen and the treatments they sold may not actually have contained different ingredients to the cures prescribed by the doctors. The remedies might sound strange to us now, but they could only work with the medical knowledge of their time. The people who may unintentionally have sold useless or even dangerous treatments were different from "quacks" who knowingly sold what they knew to be ineffective or adulterated. 

However a report from 1795 showed the danger that could come from untrained grocers in Marlow acting as druggists. John Mason Goode  collected some examples, and published them on the request of The Committee of the General Pharmaseutic (qv) Association. He reported that some unnamed grocers and a druggist at Marlow had caused "lamentable and deleterious effects" by mistaking arsenic for cream of tartar. Tincture of opium was given instead of tincture of senna. As a result of these type of errors, a woman nearly died. 

Marlow suffered a few medical scams from the above mentioned quacks. We may be suspicious of a few "medicine" sellers who tended to pop up at Marlow Fair offering brilliant solutions to every possible condition. It's interesting that even at the time these were called a con -not everyone was equally gullible but also not everyone was equally desperate for a cure affordable to them. A particularly unpleasant scam was ran in 1836. A man calling himself Dr Hamilton arrived in Marlow smartly dressed and accompanied by a respectable looking wife. He claimed to have come from an Edinburgh medical school (one of the most prestigious places to receive medical training) and he was in the neighbourhood to treat some important cases that demanded his particular attention and expertise. So he had made arrangements to spend a few months in Marlow and while here, he would generously find time to see the local sick. He distributed handbills in the streets stating that he would see the sick for free - they would just have to pay for the remedies prescribed, and supplied by Dr Hamilton himself. This naturally attracted the attention of those who would normally struggle to afford a doctors fees. He produced shining testimonials of how his miracle remedies had cured many a high class person. Queues formed and the doctor issued a lot of prescriptions. He asked for payment in advance for this, with the medicine due to be delivered to the patients later. But it never came. When the doctor had received enough money, he absconded without paying any bills and without curing anyone. For the poor who had pawned their possessions to pay for treatment or taken out a loan, it was a cruel trick. It emerged that Dr Hamilton and his distinctive yellow gig had also taken rooms in Reading, Windsor and Maidenhead and enacted the same scam there. He was believed to have come from Wales, and does not seem to have ever been caught. A description was circulated - he was apparently fond of plaid trousers. 

It was not unusual for medical men to come to Marlow and see patients over a short period of time before moving on in their "tour". So Dr Hamilton popping up out of the blue was not a red flag in itself. For example Monsieur Mallan arrived from London in 1838 to cure Marlow's dental problems "for a limited time". The gentleman seems to make quite bold claims but he does not seem to have attracted any complaints. He aimed to restore decayed teeth using a mineral "succedalteum" which in a few seconds would harden into something resembling enamel and allay pain. He also used it to secure loose teeth, but if it was too late for that, he would  provide replacement teeth either natural or artificial "fixed painlessly and without springs, clasps or wires." 

Later in the period, the place to go for patent cures was more likely to be a chemist than a bookseller or grocer. In late Victorian and Edwardian times, Marlow was flooded with ads from our chemists for the brilliant preparations of their own devising they could offer. Increasingly they were for beauty products too. Special mention goes to chemist Walter Duplock who in 1906 managed to get a testimonial for the effectiveness of his exclusive Voxine throat drops from no less than Madame Melba, a regular Marlow visitor. She said they were pleasant to take and should be more widely known. He reproduced this hand written note in many an advert. Going back further, testimonials to the efficacy of various patent medicines were a feature in both local and national newspapers. I have often come across those alleged to have been written by Marlow residents. You might imagine these people didn't actually exist outside the imagination of the writer of the advert, but in fact they were usually the names of real traceable Marlow people at least. Whether the choice of words was their own or suggested by the seller is uncertain but set phrases do tend to get recycled. For example in 1725, Great Marlow resident, the barge-man William Pudsey had apparently contributed a testimonial to a pamphlet about the wonders of Dr Bateman's Pectoral Drops. William tells us he had long suffered a cold and rheumatism as well as a swollen jaw for which he could receive no "ease or rest". He had sought at great expense treatments from doctors and apothecaries to no avail. Then someone had told him that he should try the Bateman's Drops which were often advertised with testimonials in the Northampton Mercury. (It covered the Marlow area for news at this point.) He bought a bottle from Christopher Irwin who offered a number of patent medicines. And lo and behold William had a miraculous cure. To the surprise of all who knew him in his previous "deplorable condition", William "recovered my former health and strength in very short time."

We have gathered the names of many Marlow women who acted as midwives -  many who saw into the world hundred of babies. Surgeons were usually only called in if difficulties arose. Unregistered midwife Sarah Ann Price had for example helped to deliver 900 youngsters in her estimation by 1903. More on her here 

Other medical related posts:

Biography of hospital surgeon and doctor Dr John Dunbar Dickson here

Call the Apothecary here

Marlow Hero Nurse Cassidy here

Matron Mary Cole here

Benjamin Atkinson, surgeon here

Midwife Sarah Price here

The first Cottage Hospital and Provident Nursing Club here

More about the Cottage Hospital and the move to Glade Rd site  here 

SOURCES

"Apothecary" - Reasons why the apothecary may be suppos'd to understand the administration of medicines in the cure of disease. (Luke Stokoe 1704)

Corfe, George. The Apothecary Ancient and Modern (Stock, 1885)

Goode, John Mason, History of medicine in so far as it relates to the apothecary. 1795. 

The Pharmaceutical Journal, December 1st 1877, Vol 8 (Pharmaceutical Society, 1878), digitised by Google. 

Kelly's Directory Bucks 1883 (Kelly's Directories Ltd,1883)

Bucks Gazette, 20 August 1836, British Library Archive.

Reading Mercury 25 August 1838

Windsor and Eton Express March 15 1856. 

Bucks Herald, 12 May 1861. 

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/nfca/projects/studentresearch/supernatural 

Marlow Guide 1905.

A Treatise on the Virtues of Dr Bateman's Pectoral Drops (William Dicey, 1739) US National Library of Medicine collection, made available through the InternetArchive. 

©Marlow Ancestors

The Notorious William Hatch

William Hatch was baptised in Great Marlow in 1795 to William Hatch and Sarah who ran a bakery in the High Street. 

When the father William senior died he left all his surviving children who reached the age of 21 £150 each invested in stocks. William junior would have been one of them. The will is available on the blog here. Extraordinarily, one later report which accused William junior of acting out of pure malice as a police informer, also said that his real father had been a failed highwayman.

Whatever the truth of that William junior grew up to follow the respectable trade of baker. Initially he assisted his mother Sarah as a baker and corn dealer, then he traded briefly in Slough and Reading, both in Berkshire, before returning to once more help his mother. In 1831 he, but not his mother, who had not made him a partner in the business, was declared bankrupt. The bankruptcy notice also calls him a farmer.

This bankruptcy William survived and he continued baking. But he was not much liked and some kind of rumour or suspicion tended to be always around him. In 1828 John Boswell took out an ad in the Windsor and Eton Express apologising for circulating a false report as to William's character saying he was "extremely sorry" for his actions. The ad says he is taking it out as if he does it is agreed that William will not take legal action against him. Perhaps not the best wording if you want to suggest sincerity of apology but it worked. There is no hint as to what had been said about William.

Just a few weeks later however William won £5 damages from George Creswell of Marlow for calling him "Buffer the Hatch" when they were both in the Horns, Chapel Street. William claimed that "buffer" meant homosexual and that chalk scribblings using the same terms had been found on walls all around town. There was no suggestion George had been responsible for any of those. It is clear from the lawyers' arguments and witness statements that if buffer did signify homosexual to some it was not generally known to do so. The tone of George's voice and the fact the words featured on street graffiti meant they were presumed to be disrespectful words but without specific meaning. One of the lawyers said "buffer" had once long ago been used for lowly employees in law firms who had to do the unpleasant tasks like delivering eviction notices. I myself found evidence of the word being used as a term for someone who is willing to do other people's dirty work. Given that William when insulted was in a meeting with one of the Overseers of the poor, Thomas Broadway, then it may well be that outdated meaning was meant. It may also refer to Hatches electioneering work for the Williams family who held Marlow as a pocket borough.  George didn't explain his choice of words. The judge said it didn't really matter, an insult of some kind had been intended so damages were due to William. He however warned the offence did not warrant anything substantial. William had by the way formerly been an Overseer of the poor in Marlow himself.

In 1830 school master Mr Francis of the Bluecoats school (now known as Borlase), was convicted of assaulting William, when in drink. There was some amusement expressed at the senior, slight and short teacher taking on the 6ft tall and sturdy Hatch, and it seems Francis came off the worst.  Two witnesses on each side contradicted themselves altogether, but Francis was found guilty and had to spend a week in the house of correction. He also had to pay a £5 fine and find sureties for his future good behaviour. William said that Francis had called him a "sodom-ite" and he had retaliated with his fists. At this point the local magistrate presiding intervened to say he was aware of chalked graffiti in Marlow making a similar point but to the best of his knowledge there was no truth to the remark! However, the incident was widely regarded as politically motivated, as the two supported opposite candidates and feeling was still running high after a recent election. Hatch had been accused of brandishing a knife at an opposition voter at the previous election (which he denied doing), along with allegations that he had been banned from several public houses for violent conduct. It is true that certain establishments were strongly associated with one political candidate or another, and William may not have been too welcome in some simply for taking the other side publicly. He did say he did not regard his involvement in electioneering as very extensive. However the magistrates on summing up were no doubt politics stood behind it all. They expressed the wish that the school teacher would not let the electioneering spirit move him to breach the peace in future. 

William had plenty more court appearances. In 1829 he was fined 12 shillings for pulling up a crop of potatoes in a poor man's garden, a Mr Harding. This man may have been a tenant of his as the next year William had to pay the court costs when he failed in his attempt to prosecute his tenant Hannah Frith and her husband for picking fruit in the garden of the cottage they rented from him. The judge told William he didn't own the fruit, they did. In the same session the judge threw out William's suit against one John Simpson for allegedly throwing a stone at his window.

In 1829 William was also summoned for failing to support his illegitimate child with Ann Beaver and ordered to start paying up.

Three years later he was fined a shilling for trying to purposefully run down a servant of Mr J Clayton with his bakery cart. The judge condemned his reckless violence.

The next year William prosecuted Christopher Wildego for an alleged theft of a loaf from out of that cart.

In 1834 he stabbed a young boy who had formerly worked for him and stole the boy's knife. He was allowed to escape further penalty if he paid the boy 6 shillings compensation and give him back his knife!

The same year George Creswell was once again pitted against William. The Windsor and Eton Express said William was an "Ill looking man generally known as the appellation of the Buffer upwards of six foot high" who appeared in court with a cut face, two black eyes and 4 teeth knocked out. William said George had committed this assault on him. The paper said his usual "appalling" face was rendered more disgusting than usual as a result! Once more the setting for George and William's confrontation was a public house. William had used provoking language to the other man until he lost his temper. George was able to produce witnesses to prove that he was a respectable and "truly peaceable and steady man when unmolested" while William was the reverse so William's request that the defendant be bound over to keep the peace towards him was refused. George was however fined for the assault. The Creswells were renowned for being tall, strong and well built men. 

In 1835 William reached his lowest point being arrested for a "brutal attack upon his wife with intent to murder her". He had then run off for a few days but was arrested upon his return. He was unable to pay his bail, nor find anyone who wished to help him in this way ("no person having the remotest claim to respectability would become his security" said the paper) so was sent to Aylesbury Gaol to await trial. After three months in such custody he managed to prevail upon his wife to withdraw the charges on the grounds he would behave better in future.

He is referred to in reports at the time as the "notorious Will Hatch" and "Buffer the Hatch".

He had married a "Miss Spicer" in Henley, Oxfordshire in 1832. I have seen a marriage notice not a parish register so I am afraid I do not at the time of writing know the bride's first name. 

I find no further mention of William Hatch in Marlow records or any wife of his. They may have moved away to escape their recent scandals. William was still alive when his mother Sarah wrote her will in 1838. She had by then moved to Eton and left him besides money a bible. Making a point Sarah?

Sarah died in 1844. She was the owner of the row of houses in Dean Street called Hatches Row, which were sold off after her death.

For all mentions of a person on this blog see the Person Index. Over 2,300 people are listed as of December 2021. You will find more on Sarah Hatch for instance there.

Some Sources:

Wills of William Hatch and Sarah Hatch. Transcribed by me from wills held at the National Archives Kew.

Great Marlow Parish Registers, transcribed by me from the originals.

Windsor and Eton Express 8th May 1828, 12th Jan 1833, 25th Jan 1834, 29th August 1835, 19th Dec 1835.

Paper copies held at the British Library and accessed by me via their partnership with the BNA.

The London Gazette (compiled) Volume 2 by Thomas Neumann 1831. University of Iowa Archives, digitized by Google.

GRO Death Registration Index, online from the GRO.

Charlotte Cocks Of The Glade

Above: the former home of Charlotte Cocks.

Think Holy Trinity Church in Marlow has some attractive stained glass windows? Charlotte Cocks is partially responsible for them being there. Born Charlotte Agneta Cocks, she was baptised at St George's Hanover Square in London in 1818. Her parents were Agneta Cocks and Thomas Cocks Esq of Park Place. Thomas was a wealthy banker. Charlotte's brother was Thomas Somers Cocks of Thames Bank AKA Lymbrook in Marlow (later known as Thames Lawn).

Charlotte did not marry but by 1861 she was in her own home "The Glade" in Great Marlow. It would then have looked out onto open fields and the small lane to the Marlow Mills that would later become a built up Glade Road. If you looked from her front bedroom windows in 1861 you could see the river Thames and the boats on it, something which is impossible now because of housing development. (Glade Rd was formerly set out as a 20ft wide service road for the common fields by the Enclosure Commisioners in 1853 and as such was bound by a hedge and ditch. The last was filled in when it was adopted as a public road in 1875 but parts of the hedge survived into the 1880's at least. The contract to make this and the other roads in the "Common Field" was awarded to Mr Eustace of Oakham, near Chinnor.) To see the earlier history of the Glade see this post.

The house was after her lifetime renamed The Cedars and later still Cedar House as a large cedar tree grew in the garden.

Charlotte shared her home with her older sister Jemima. Independently wealthy, they did not need to work. The two women each had a ladies maid plus a cook between them. Jemima died in 1875 but Charlotte had many friends and pops up in a great many reports of local social events so hopefully she was not lonely.

Back in 1847 Charlotte and Jemima had been caught up in one of Marlow's many historic riots, this one over a disputed election result*. The then young women sought shelter from the violence in the bakery ran by Eliza Brighton in the High Street. Eliza shut them in with her until the streets were clear and they could safely return home. To see a photo of her premises in the modern day or to read a biography of Eliza see here.

Throughout her life Charlotte was interested in the church and in particular with Holy Trinity Church in Trinity Road Marlow. Every year she provided the flowers for the latter's altar at Easter and helped with the church decoration at Christmas.

The main church at All Saints received a £5 donation from her and Jemima in 1862 towards the organ fund.

In 1893 Charlotte paid for a stained glass window in Holy Trinity in memory of her brother Major Cocks. The church had originally been built with clear glass windows only to save money.

Charlotte died on August 13th 1903 leaving an estate worth just under £46,000. Her nieces and nephews were her main beneficiaries but there was also a £20 annuity each to two of her servants Mary ?M... [hard to read] and Emily Stroud. Mary also received all Charlotte's clothes. Emily had worked for Charlotte since at least 1881.

The Cocks family paid for a stained glass window in Holy Trinity church in her memory.

About 6 months after Charlotte's death, the house was up for let. It then comprised of 4 reception rooms, plus kitchen, pantry and housekeeper's room downstairs. Then there were 7 bedrooms, a dressing room and bathroom on the upper floor. The bathroom could boast both hot and cold running water which was still a luxury at that time. The house was sometimes earlier described as having 10 bedrooms. This was including the two attic rooms for servants and the bedroom that was later converted into the bathroom. Further alterations must have occurred after Charlotte's time as when the house was sold in 1905 it was back up to 10 bedrooms plus the bathroom.

The three quarter acre garden contained a small orchard with 2 glasshouses, the view of which could be enjoyed from the veranda. All this in 1903 would cost you £100 a year on a minimum 7 year lease. Rental prices have changed a little since then! Not included in the property details then but a new feature of the garden was the fernery which incorporated pieces of moulded stone and marble from the old Marlow Church, demolished in the 1830s. They had been collected by Charlotte's nephew Alfred Heneage Cocks who lived at Thames Bank. He left there in 1899 and offered the remains to the churchwardens of the current church. They refused his offer so Charlotte took in the pieces. Wonder where those precious artifacts are now? You can read more about the old church here.

Another view of The Glade.

*a post about the women's riots of 1800 is on the blog here. We were a very riotous lot in Marlow. A post about the 1880s election riots is here while the earlier Swing Riots are covered here and the 1847 riot is covered here.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. Photos and additional research by Kathryn Day. Photo taken in April 2021

A post about Charlotte's gardener Jeremiah Harding is here.

To find other Glade Road content look at the "Specific Shops, Streets Etc" option on the menu here. Biographical posts on other Marlow people can be found under "Biographies Of Individuals" on the menu here or see the Person Index for every mention of any individual on the blog. 

Some sources:

Will of Charlotte Agneta Cocks, my transcription. Copy held at the National Archives, Kew.

1861-1891 censuses, my transcription from microfilm.

South Bucks Free Press and Maidenhead Journal 6th September 1862 [organ fund donation]. Copy from the British Library Archives, via the BNA.

South Bucks Standard 28th August 1903 [funeral details]. 19 February 1904 [House description] As above.

Bucks Herald 28 May 1904, as above 

GRO Index of Death Registrations from the GRO online.

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

Little Twins Grave Hurley

 

The grave in Hurley of Josiah and Benjamin James Mason who died aged 5 weeks old March 7th 1819.

"Here lies two pure and spotless babes as parents ever could wish to have. Their days were short, complaint severe which snatched them from their parents dear. But God on them had fixed his love and took them to the realms above".

To find other graves use the Graves index here

Post listing for other Hurley related content here

To find every mention of an individual or family here use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. 

© Marlow Ancestors. 

Occupants From 1702 - Corner House, Marlow

 Updated July 2023

The oldest references to this house usually call it The Corner House but it doesn't seem to have gone by that name for a while. It is on the corner of West Street, in Market Square / High Street. Not to be confused with a later property known as the Corner House on the corner of Institute Road and the High Street. ( For more on that building see the post here ). The property had three rooms per floor in its early days.

In 1702 until at least 1705 the property pictured was occupied by chapman Richard Greydon.

In 1719 Richard Langley made the place his home. He may just have used it as an alehouse.

Joseph Webb, butcher, along with his wife Ann bought the premises in 1743 from the heirs of Thomas Constable, a merchant linen draper from Reading who had owned the property for some years. The grand asking price? £40! At that time a Thomas Wright was the tenant. However Joseph himself occupied the house at the time of his death in 1756. He left the premises to his wife Ann but two years later upon the death she asked her son in law William Sneath the Marlow surgeon to organise the sale of them on her behalf. The property was supposed to belong to Ann only for her lifetime and then descend to her and Joseph's son John and his heirs but she had the consent of her son to sell it (or she would have been illegally selling entailed property)!

The premises were auctioned off at the nearby Crown inn to the highest bidder.

Ann's sole heir was her daughter Elizabeth Sneath which suggests that her son John was dead by then. The will of Elizabeth Sneath herself can be read here. There was an unmarried daughter Mary in Joseph's will too. She, Elizabeth and John were that will's joint executors.

By 1833 Henry Menday / Mendy (born circa 1795) had a bakery in the Corner House. The premises then comprised a garden and yard as well as the main building. The annual value of the property was assessed at £12 then. Henry also occupied a garden and yard opposite with an annual value of £2. His shop was only two doors down from Sawyer's bakery- more about that business here.

Henry continued in the Corner House for some years before he retired in middle age and went to live further along West Street with his wife Mary. He died in 1869.

Owen Wright the baker was in Menday's old premises by 1853 until at least 1884 when there was a failed attempt to break into the shop. Marlow was enduring a little crime wave at the time.

In 1879 when Owen heard that fellow shopkeeper Ann Badger had had a pair of boots stolen from her business he went off in hot pursuit of the suspect, retrieved the boots and handed the man over to the police. Playing cricket probably helped keep him fit!

Owen was no stranger to appearing in court. He twice had to sue men who owed him money. John Jones hadn't paid for £1 worth of bread in 1855, while "MacMillan" owed a whole 4p for flour in 1865. Most Marlow bakers in the 1800s also acted as flour dealers.

In 1879 during a routine inspection Owen was found to have be selling bread at less than the advertised weight, though only marginally so. Near neighbour and fellow baker Charlotte Sawyer was similarly guilty along with a host of other retailers whose scales were found to be in less than perfect working order. You typically were fined for this.

Owen died at home on the premises in 1884 aged just 54. He and his family were worshippers at the Salem Chapel, Quoiting Square which is now called Christ Church. 

The Corner House premises were used for most of the late Victorian period and earlier 20th century as a refreshment rooms or cafe. George Fryer decided on the slightly posher "refreshments caterer" for his occupation when filling out the 1891 census. He listed himself as having a coffee house in the Kelly's 1903 and 1911 trade directories. George was the subject of a number of thefts from his premises, usually of food. One of the most ambitious was the theft of a four and a half pound portion of a German sausage taken from the window in 1887. That was some sausage! The guilty party, a tramp from Aldershot, was seen to put it under his coat and was caught with it still there a little later. His snatch cost him 14 days jail time. 

George and his wife Sarah suffered the death of their eldest child Florence aged 13 in 1893 and insolvency the next year. I'm not sure who occupied the premises immediately afterwards but it was still an eatery.

This blog focuses predominantly on pre 1920s Marlow so we'll leave it there!

To find other High Street / West Street content please see the "Specific, Shops, Streets Etc" index here. All mentions of an individual can be found under the A-Z Person Index options on the menu. Thousands of Marlow people are listed.

Sources:

Will of Joseph Webb 1756, PCC. Copy from National Archives, Kew. Also Ann Webb 1771 and Thomas Constable 1729 as above. All transcribed by me.

Commercial Gazette 15th August 1894. British Library Archives.

1833 parochial assessment original handwritten notebooks, held by my family and transcribed by me.

1841-1891 censuses reels, transcribed by me. 

Property deeds Buckinghamshire Archives.

Kelly's Directory of Buckinghamshire 1883, 1903 and 1911 by Kelly's Directories Limited. Via the University of Leicester.

GRO death index online.

Ipswich Journal 7th January 1758. Bucks Herald 18th October 1879 and 14th April 1855. Copies held at the British Library Archive and accessed by me via the BNA March 2021.

Buckingham Express 2nd August 1884. As above.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this research or the image for the purposes of family or local history research if you credit this blog and provide a link here.

Canon Bernard Smith

 Above: A tablet set into St Peter's church reads-

"Outside of this church was restored 1904 in memory of Bernard Canon Smith."

Bernard died in 1903 aged 88. He was believed at the time of his death to be the oldest serving Catholic priest in England. He had been at Marlow for 53 years.

Bernard was born to an Anglican family in Great Ponton, Lincolnshire where his father was the rector. In his youth Bernard aligned himself to the Tractarian movement. He was given the Anglican living at Leadenham near Lincoln in 1839 but resigned and joined the Catholic church in 1842. For an ordained minister to go over to Rome was horrifying to some and a malicious (or hopeful) letter was sent anonymously to the Morning Advertiser newspaper saying reports that Bernard had resigned and converted was a lie put about by dishonest Catholics. Bernard quickly wrote to the paper to refute this.

In 1845 he was ordained as a priest and in 1853 came to Marlow to take over from John Morris. He later said that his first impulse on arriving here was to not get out of the carriage and go straight away again. Quite why his first impression was so so daunting I'm not too sure! 

Bernard's friend R. W Sibthorpe visited him at Marlow in 1865 and wrote to a mutual friend of the visit "I found Smith grown considerably stout but as usual very cheerful, very kind and giving me a hearty welcome." Bernard's church he said was "perfection of its kind..beautifully kept" with a congregation of about 180.

The letter also mentions that attending one of the two schools* attached to the church was two younger brothers of the Marquess of Queensbury, whose mother had converted to Catholicism. Mr Morris said that this was not popular with the Marquess or the boys' guardian and so Bernard had always to be on the alert for a potential abduction of the boys!

Another friend of Bernard was the dramatist Charles Reade. Bernard also helped Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin with translations when Pugin was working on his Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornaments and Costume, a work Bernard later revised and enlarged. Pugin was friends with Bernard prior to the latter joining the Catholic Church to which Pugin already belonged. When he learnt that Bernard had converted he wrote of his joy and of that fact that he had long suspected things were going that way with him.

Pugin had worked on Bernard's church in Leadenham, something which was not very popular with some who thought the finished style too decorative and suspiciously Catholic in tone. Bernard had already made changes to the church interior that were reminiscent of more opulent Catholic church interiors having a Sanctuary painted blue with gold stars and introducing a processional crucifix, church candles, and an altar cross. The local gentry were quick to air their distain for this and Bernard felt unsupported by his church superiors in dealing with their anger. 

After he left his position those changes in Leadenham that could be easily reversed were so.

Bernard had been reciting some prayers in Latin too, so objections of his congregation were more than  about cosmetics. 

The living at Leadenham was in the presentation of his mother Justina who must have had some difficult conversations with parishioners when Bernard converted.

Leadenham's loss however would become Marlow's gain.

Working in any church doesn't give someone too many leisure hours but when he did get some free time Bernard could indulge his hobby of being a butterfly fancier, logging any unusual specimens that fluttered through Marlow and breeding his own butterflies at home. He was ever ready to swap knowledge or pupae with others interested in the creatures or to invite people to see his collection. And that's the thing about Canon Smith- he was generous and friendly to all. Every single mention of him I have read says this. 

His death triggered an outpouring of letters and other tributes to him in the press and journals and his funeral was conspicuously attended by those from all denominations. He was known to give charitable and friendly support to anyone in Marlow he heard needed it without asking or caring what denomination they were.

He was also a keen gardener and liked to visit his parishioners gardens to swap tips and plants. Bernard was knowledgeable about very many subjects in fact. When he first arrived in Marlow he'd spent time correcting classical texts for the publishers Longman, and others. He also tutored young men seeking to enter universities such as Oxford. 

  

He had early in his days in Marlow suffered vocal abuse from a minority who could not abide the renewed presence of a Catholic church in the town. It is a credit to him that it was said that some of those same abusers would later be sincere mourners at his funeral due to his kindness to them when they were in need. Bernard himself recalled the anti Catholic prejudice that he himself had entertained as a younger man. As an Oxford undergraduate he said he had made his mind up not to befriend any Catholics and to end friendships with any who introduced a Catholic to him! 

Bernard's habit in his younger days of riding a donkey up to and into the church at Easter was also said to have endeared him to some, as an amusing eccentric. This was actually something occasionally done in other churches in England but presumably not locally as the sight was sufficiently novel for parties of High Wycombe chair makers to make a special journey to Marlow to watch it every year. Some of these came initially to mock (mounting the donkey wasn't too easy for Bernard as he was a rather hefty man) but he took it in good spirit and that won them over. (You can read about other Easter, and May Day traditions in Marlow here)

Bernard died in 1903 at the Presbytery. Ill health in the last few years had finally meant he consented to the employment of a helper at Marlow in the form of curate the Rev James Purcell. They say he had become almost beggared by the extent of his generosity in his later years. He was sorely missed by the poor in particular. 

*There was a private upper school for fee paying pupils (girls and kindergarten) and a mixed ordinary school.

Bernard's grave at St Peter's Church, Marlow.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. Photos and additional research  by Kathryn Day.

Related Posts

Early history of St Peters Church including anti Catholic prejudice here

Menu of posts related to the churches and chapels of Marlow here

 To search for an individual person use the A-Z Person Index option in the top drop down menu. 

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this content for family or local history with credit to this blog and a link here so the sources I list below remain credited too. Thanks.

Sources:

Maidenhead Advertiser 28th October 1903 and Essex Standard 14th June 1839. Copies held British Library and accessed by me via their partnership with the BNA 

The Entomologists Journal and Record of Variation. Vol 15. Ed by James William Tutt. Digitized by Google.

Recollections of A.N Welby Pugin And His Father Augustus Pugin by Benjamin Ferrey and Edmund Sheridan Purcell. 1861. Published by E Stanford.

A Register Of The Presidents, Fellows, Demies, Instructors In Grammar And Music, Chaplains, Clerks, Choristers And Other Members Of St Mary Magdalene College In The University Of Oxford From The Foundation Of The College To The Present Time. By John Rouse Bloxam. Published by W Graham 1881, Oxford. This contains the letter about the 1865 visit to Smith.

Census as transcribed by me from microfilm.

The Bengal Catholic Herald 1843, Volume 4. Digitized by Google.

The Life of Cardinal Wiseman - Wilfred Ward (1902 edition)

Well End Farm Occupiers

Well End Farm, Well End, by Little Marlow.

Note: occupiers in those days are not often the same as the owners.

1837- a mixed farm with cows and poultry and crops of corn, peas, potatoes, clover, vetch, oats and barley.

1851- Unclear who is the farmer but a cottage at the farm was occupied by agricultural labourer Joseph Smith and his wife Eliza.

1861-84. James Fryer. Wife Catherine. In 1861 James was farming 225 acres and employed 6 men and 4 boys. By 1881 that had risen to 400 acres with 7 men and 6 boys employed. In 1868 James advertises for a steady, sober, married man to join him as a shepherd, with a cottage to be provided for his use.  Fined for failing to inform authorities that he had foot and mouth disease on his farm in 1871. A boy employed by him, Ernest Hayes, charged with stealing money given to him to buy tar with in 1884. Note in early 1880s butcher and cattle dealer David Andrews also farmed 26 acres of land at Well End. David was previously at Abbey Farm, Little Marlow.

1895-1906. William John Rolphe. Late deceased in 1907. Executors sold off his stock. He also had Pigeon House Farm Little Marlow at some point.

1908-1915 Herbert Lane. Wife Ellen. Dairy farm where own butter made. Moved from Benwell dairy farm Bix, near Henley. Advertised 1914 in the Reading Mercury for a carter whose son would work as under carter. Successful applicant would get a cottage and garden to live in. Herbert and Ellen seem to have had great trouble retaining staff both on the farm and in the house as maids. Quiet, rural location may have put some employees off. In 1911 Harry Bogden, probably a milkman, employed at the farm was accused of absconding with 3 shillings 6 pence of Herbert's. He was found guilty but bound over only at the appeal for mercy of Herbert. The theft was put down to Harry having a drinking problem affecting his behaviour [Reading Mercury 27th May 1911, via the British Library and BNA collaboration].

1920 - Charles Lane

Farm occupier listings come from property records, adverts, wills, letters, censuses court cases and more.

Ongoing research more will be added when I can.

To search for people on this blog use the Person Index on the drop down menu and for places like farms choose the Specific Shops, Streets Etc option on the menu. For more on Little Marlow and Well End see posts listed under Nearby Places on the menu.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this content for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here.

Marlow Cinemas From The Silent Era

 The first building to be called "The Cinema" at Marlow is an unexpected one. It was neither purpose built nor devoted just to the showing of "moving pictures". I wondered why I kept coming across references to a "cinema" in Marlow before the first "proper" one opened in Spittal Street in 1913. I then managed to find the forerunners address, and it was none other than the Public Hall in St Peters Street, now the Masonic Centre and previously known as the Music Room or Lecture Hall. The term cinema was used to refer to other part time "picture palaces" locally, so it was obviously more loosely applied than now. 

The first showings I can find evidence of at this first part time cinema were made in November 1911 but this doesn't mean there were not earlier shows. They were courtesy of the Marlow Animated Picture Syndicate, later just called the Marlow Pictures Syndicate. The manager was Mr H Lacey of Station Rd, Marlow. I believe this is Horace Lacey, more familiar in his day job as a haulage contractor and removals man. The Syndicate promised the latest pictures both dramatic and comedic. They screened films or "Cinematograph entertainments" every Friday and Saturday evening at 8, with a 2.30pm Saturday Matinee aimed specifically at children. 

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

Some of the film's shown in 1912/13 were "The Awakening of Jones" (a comedy that apparently kept the audience laughing continuously) and dramas "The Moonshiner's Daughter" and "The Cylinders Secret"  - a melodrama about a man wrongfully accused of murder who is saved from the gallows by a phonograph recording, the cylinder of the title. One of the best recieved shows was "The Relief of Lucknow" which was praised for it's dramatic battle scenes involving large numbers of real soldiers and it's "faithfully reproduced" version of events. These were of course silent films so the action was accompanied by a pianist in the hall, Miss A Hutt doing the honours on more than one occasion. In 1915 a young lady and talented pianist of Maisonette, New Town, Marlow posted an advertisement in a film industry newspaper seeking a place in a "small picture hall" as the musical accompanist. She would take a small wage in exchange for the opportunity to gain experience. Let's hope she found a good position. 

They changed the programme mid week, mostly offering 2 comedies and one drama. The film's were showing to packed audiences, with patrons sometimes turned away from the full to bursting venue. The Syndicate also ran the Beaconsfield Cinema (actually the town hall in this instance) on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. 

The Cinema was refered to as Marlow's permanent place of "kinema" amusement so it seems the optimistic Syndicate members hoped to be hosting entertainments there for many years to come. Unfortunately for them, others had the idea of providing for Marlow's love of moving pictures at a different venue. The Public Hall cinema was still in use the following year but then...

The Marlow Picture Palace Co Ltd Arrives

The Bucks Herald sent a reporter to the Marlow Public Hall cinema in March 1913 after hearing glowing accounts of the picture shows there. He described the hall as packed with youngsters "bent upon getting full value for their penny." The evening show was similarly full. The films showed extremely pretty and life like scenes he thought. But given this obvious success of film shows in Marlow it could only be a matter of time before a rival venture came along. He reported rumours that a cinema was to open in the High Street if a suitable place could be found. In the end a different location won. 

On the 25th June 1913 The Marlow Picture Palace Company was registered. They were going to carry on the business of "an electric picture palace and kinematograph entertainment" under a board of 3-5 directors.  As we don't know the names of all those involved in the Syndicate, it is therefore possible that some may have been involved in the new venture, however the latter were not Marlow men and the Syndicate feels more local. It had £3,000 capital in £1 shares. They opened the Marlow Picture Palace in a purpose built mock Tudor building roughly where the Arlo and Jacob furniture store is now in Spittal Street. It is believed the first films were shown there by the end of 1913, although it may have been early 1914 if the Kinematograph Weekly, reporting on the progress of this and other new cinemas is correct as it says negotiations are still ongoing to erect a building in December 1913. 

The first few years of the Marlow Picture Palaces life was fraught with squabbles between the various directors and shareholders, which resulted in court cases, injunctions, claims and counter claims. The first two directors announced were John Black of the Tavistock Hotel, Covent Garden, and Mr Clark of Dorset. They were shortly afterwards joined by Mr Tinker of Maidenhead. Some of the arguements seem to be about money owed for land purchased (not necessarily at Marlow). John Black was taken to Chancery by the other directors who accused him of paying into his own bank account the takings of the Picture Palace instead of placing them into the business account. They also claimed he had taken away the Picture Palace Company books, accounts and paperwork and refused to hand them back. John did not appear at this hearing so we don't hear his defence. It seems he may have been witholding what money he considered rightly or wrongly to be owed to him. He was ordered to return the cash and all the paperwork. John subsequently took out an injunction to prevent two new directors acting in this role. The disputes seem to rumble on but as the company continued, they were presumably able to make some practical arrangements in terms of funding. They certainly took out more than one mortgage on the Picture Palace, including two within 6 months of each other. 

Whatever problems there were behind the scenes, the Picture Palace was a big success. Poor Mr Lacey could not compete with the more spacious purpose built cinema with the facilities to screen the latest films, and so in November 1913 we find him offering his complete Bioscope and other film showing equipment up for sale. This does not mean the Picture Palace was luxurious. The first screen was apparently painted onto a wall. 

Just how many film goers could squeeze into the Marlow Picture Palace is uncertain. Before the cinema opened, the film trade press said that it would cater for 500 or 550  patrons. In June 1914, the directors announced a plan to double the size of the venue with rear extensions. They aimed to cater for 1000 film goers and have room for a newly erected "stage capable of being used for dramatic plays and musical comedy". This seems an awful lot of people to fit in, considering that by the time the cinema was converted to being capable of showing "talkies" (by 1930) it was said consistently to have seating for 324 persons. The Picture Palace did offer boxes as well as bench style seating, the latter of which probably did allow for quite a few people to fit in a small space. In 1916 the manager stated in a letter to a trade newspaper that he could accommodate 500 persons. Ticket prices started at 3d in 1921. Sometimes someone sponsored a free showing for children - for example John Langley of Bridge House paid for 374 children to attend the Picture Palace as a treat in November 1914. 

The Marlow Picture Palace became the King George Cinema in 1926, after closing for a few weeks for modernisation works. (These included a new screen and "proper" seating. The first film screened under the new name was Rudolph Valentino's The Sheikh.) It was fitted out for showing "talkies" by September 1930, at one time the smallest cinema in the world to be capable of screening such films, according to the manager H F Bailey. Western Electric did the honours and it seems the investment paid off as the picture house was said to be full to capacity, including people standing. Standing room gets mentioned several times in fact. 

During the First World War

During the First World War, Manager W J Deller (Dellar) was working 18 hour days. In 1916, he opened the cinema from 6-10pm Mondays - Saturdays and earlier for the Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Then from 11pm - 6am he was engaged in war work at a local munitions depot, also working there for 12 hours on a Sunday when the cinema was closed. He was keen to show that cinema staff were not shirkers in the war effort. (In the same year they advertised for a pianist to work a 30 hour week.) In October 1914, all the takings from the Friday screenings one week were donated to the Marlow War Relief Fund. Deller's days had got longer since the outbreak of war as he had struggled to find staff who were not required for military service. His staff in 1916 consisted of just 3 - a "pianiste", cashier, and a lad. Among the tasks he had taken on were bill posting (sticking up the film advertisements and show time posters) and maintaining the gas engine. 

Marlow on screen

Marlow also saw the arrival of the occasional silent picture film crew, as well as visits by those involved in the "kinematograph trade" who made several river outings to Marlow as a group. Intended as a pleasure trip, the "antics" of the group were also filmed by one of those attending. How lovely it would be if this footage (from 1911- 1920's) had survived. Some of the films shot partially in Marlow include "Sorrel and Son" 1927 (river scenes and a wedding at the Compleat Angler) and in 1921 "The Experiment" for Sinclair Hill (more river scenes). 

Afterwards

This blog deals with the period pre 1920's but I'll just give a quick mention of the Cinema's life after this point so you can seek for more information if the later periods are more interesting to you. The County Cinema opened on a new site in Station Road in January 1938. It was originally planned to partly demolish and rebuild the old Cinema in Spittal Street but the size of that site obviously limited the improvements they could make so in the end this project was abandoned in favour of a new location, with the old building remaining in place for other uses. The style of the cinema was supposed to be Georgian to make it in keeping with the surrounding buildings (Architect David E Nye, builder Lovells of Marlow). At the time it was regarded as "beautiful" at least by the actress Edith Stamp Taylor who declared it open and others describing their first impressions. Nowadays the buildings are looked back on as not the most attractive and both they and the Spittal Street cinema have been demolished. 

Horace Lacey and co in the day job as "van proprietor" and "cartage agent" 1905 Station Road. 

The Public Hall, St Peters Street as it then was known, now the Masonic Centre and site of Marlow film screenings before the Picture Palace opened. 

NOTE

The Music hosted an animated picture show or cinematographe exhibition in 1897, organised by the Marlow Institute. "The wonder of the age!" Admission 6d, 1s or 6d, half price for Institute members who could also stand for free at the back of the hall, space permitting. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

To find all mentions of someone on the blog use the Person Index option on the top drop down menu. You may also like to look at the General History menu to read other posts relating to everyday life here in the past - see the post listing here

©Marlow Ancestors

Sources.

The Kinematograph Annual Yearbook 1937 & 1939 (Kinematograph Publications 1937/1939)

The Bioscope 3 July 1913, 18 December 1913, March-June 1914, 12 November 1930. 

South Bucks Standard 14 November 1912, 30 January 1913. British Library Archive, accessed via the BNA. 

Bucks Herald 15 March 1913. As above. 

Kinematograph Weekly, 18 December 1913. 27 January 1916. Thanks to Marcus Endwright for access to these. 

Marlow Guide 1905

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1911, 1915, 1939.

Carter, Huntley. The New Spirit in the Cinema: An Analysis and interpretation of the Parallel Paths of the Cinema. (H Shaylor 1930)

Tapsell, Martin. Memories of Buckinghamshire Picture Palaces. (Mercian Cinema Society, 1984) 

More Widows Of The Almshouses

Isabella Mitchell

Isabella after a 10 year wait and at her 12th attempt of trying was successfully elected into an almshouse in 1901. She was at that time living at Cape Town, a virtual shanty town on the edge of Marlow. For more about that place see my post here. As a widow she had survived by working as a servant or charwoman at different times.

Earlier in her life she lived with her husband George in the gardener's lodge at Spinfield House (also called Spinfield Lodge) where George was gardener. 

Isabella married her husband in 1848 at the age of 19. She was born to unmarried mother Ann Holloway. When Isabella was 5 her mother married James Jones, a brewer. On the 1841 Great Marlow census Isabella lived with her stepfather, presumably widowed, and half siblings in a cottage in the Church Yard. That may sound a strange address but there were several homes on the edge of All Saints churchyard and so described in those days. Isabella worked as a satin stitch worker then.

Her husband George is censused as being born in Lambeth. He won numerous prizes in local shows in the Marlow area for flowers and fruit he had grown. He began working at Spinfield circa 1849.

Sarah Butler

Sarah was resident at the Almshouses at the time of her death in 1901 at the age of 83.

She was born to unmarried mother Ann Archer in 1817. When her daughter was 13 Ann married George White and had another child, Elizabeth. George died not long afterwards and Ann married again. It is with that second stepfather Richard Juggins that Sarah lived in 1841 along with her mother, half sister and husband Richard Butler whom she had married at the age of 17. At the time of his marriage Richard Butler himself was around 44. 

Richard and Sarah continued to live in the Dean Street area for many years (Alma Passage and Marefield). Unsurprisingly given the age gap between her and her husband, Sarah had a long widowhood. She worked then as a servant before being elected into the Almshouses in 1889.

To read more about Sarah's sister Emma and her husband who was transported see here. Sarah's grandparents Archer ran the White Hart in Chapel Street. More on them here

Ann Plucknett

Died in her almshouse in January 1892 aged 81 by which time she had been a widow for a few months short of 40 years. Her husband James (born 1810 Marlow to James and Mary) had been a baker and flour dealer of West Street (there by 1839) and after his death Ann continued to run the very small shop for a while. She thereafter lived with her nephew William Cox, Marlow's chief well sinker, before she went to the almshouse.

Post researched and written by Charlotte Day.

This is the second post about the widows of the Almshouses. The first here contains an introduction to the institution. Also see my post here on resident Rebecca Blake who was in her younger days a professional photographer. A post about another resident Sarah Evans is here.

For an index of Oxford Road related posts or of any other Street see here

To find every mention of a person of interest use the Person Index option on the drop down menu.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this material for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here.

Sources: 

My census transcriptions.

Newspaper copies in British Library archives, via the BNA:

South Bucks Standard 8th March and 20th December 1901.

Death Cert.

1841 Piggots Royal National and Commercial Directory.

1839 Robson's Directory.

1847 Kelly's Post Office Directory of Bucks 

Death Registration Index, GRO.

High Street Pubs You Have Never Heard Of

Historic landlord listings for some little known, and long gone Marlow pubs. Not yet complete online. 

See Pub Related on the top drop menu for similar posts.

THE FOUNTAIN HEAD

The building this occupied has been demolished.

Had its own pump and capacious well for a good supply of water. Had carpentry workshop at the rear, quite a common feature behind inns in Marlow. Also large garden and stabling. Rent paid by James in 1838- £12 12s per annum. 

1833 - James Cresswell. Also a carpenter.

1838 - James Creswell

1839 - John Collins. Also a carpenter. John had lived next door earlier and it looks like his home was combined with the pub to make a bigger pub come carpenter's business. Knocking small pubs into next door cottages was very common. John died 1840.

1841 - Mary Collins. 

1844 - Mary Collins

Became briefly a lodging house. It was located where the Hogs Head/The Old Brewery pub is now to be found.

THE TURKS HEAD AKA THE SARACENS HEAD/THE TURK. Premises known, will be shown in future.

1820 - William Harding (also a shoemaker)

1833 - William Harding

1841 - William Harding

1853 - William Harding (and                shoemaker)

The Hardings stayed put for a long time but seem to have given up beer selling. In the 1860's Richard Harding was a "naturalist", meaning taxidermist. 

THE BEAR / BEAR INN

Present in High Street, close to Market Square, from at least 1614 -1735. Looks to have been near to or on the West Street corner. It came with 13 acres of land behind it. There was later a small beer seller and lodging house called the Bear in Chapel Street but this will feature in a different post as it is unrelated.

1614- Thomas Godfrey owner.

1666 - Premises owned by Thomas Godfrey. 

1667 - Richard Clark occupier (probably since 1650 at least) He was also a glover. Premises now owned by Thomas Moore who purchased it from Thomas Godfrey (and wife Elizabeth) "citizen of London and silk weaver", heir to Thomas Godfrey yeoman

1673 - Likely to be one of inns bought by Thomas Winckle from Robert Moore, after his brother Thomas died.

1717 - John Pratt (Owned by Sir James Etheredge, bought from the Guise family) Close behind let to Willis. 

1734- Thomas Wright

1735 - purchased by Sir William Clayton. 

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

To find other pub listings see the Pub Related option on the menu. We cover as well as Great Marlow the villages of Little Marlow, Medmenham, Lane End and to a lesser degree Hurley and Bisham.

All mentions of someone on this blog can be found under the Person Index.

To read a full list of old Marlow pubs, inns etc see the list here

Sources include: 

1853 Mussons and Cravens Commercial directory.

1833 Parish Assessment notebooks owned by my family and transcribed by Charlotte.

Various wills and property deeds in the Bucks Archives, as researched by Charlotte including - John Moore 1655, Thomas Moore 1673, Robert Moore 1681

Contemporary newspaper reports, held at the British Library and accessed via the BNA :

Bucks Gazette 18 August 1838.

Large number of property transaction records, wills and legal documents etc especially Guise-Etheredge related, held at National Archives, Kew or Buckinghamshire Archives.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to quote from or use this research for family or local history purposes but please credit this blog and link back here to ensure our original sources remain credited for the information provided.

John Gidley, Presbyterian Minister

John Gidley was a Presbyterian Minister in Marlow from 1703 until his death in 1711.

He was from a Devon family* and received his MA from Exeter College Oxford University in 1660. In the same year he was ordained in Exeter Cathedral as both deacon and priest "without any subscription or oath or promise of Canonical obedience". John appears on a 1664 list of ejected (because dissenting) ministers in Exeter. He was said then to live with a Mr Clare near Key Gate in that city. This may be the merchant George Clare who went bankrupt in the early 1700s. This George sued John over property in St Thomas in 1700 so relations seem to have taken a downward turn between them. John was sued again a few years later with a large number of others, including apparent relatives of his, in relation to the estate of the same George Clare. Documents relating to this are held in archives in Devon, far from me, so I can't find out exactly what the nub of the issue was. If I am able to find out more I will come back and update this post.

In 1672 John was granted a general licence to preach but he lived on his family estate in Exeter, just occasionally preaching due to his shyness at public speaking. This was said to be so severe he could not say grace in front of others.

His confidence must have increased over time however as 1690-92 he was Independent Minister of Aldborough Hatch in Essex with a 200 strong congregation who must have expected to hear him speak on a regular basis!

I am unsure how he came to Marlow but he was here in 1698 when he witnessed the will of Richard Sawyer the basket maker. In 1703 John was granted licence for his house in Marlow to be used as a dissenting meeting house. He received £4 a year from the Presbyterian Fund 1703-09.

John's will was written in 1711 "considering my time of departure is at hand". In it he refers to himself as a "clerk" which was the term used for all ministers in those days. He mentions no Marlow property only that which he had in Devon, including New Hayes the family home. He however left £50 to any Presbyterian minister who settled in Marlow within 7 years of his death if money owed to him from the estate of a Samuel Clark was paid to his executors. The £50 was to be given to the minister at a rate of £5 a year for ten years. If no Presbyterian did settle in Marlow half the money was to go to Marlow's poor and the other half to the poor of the parish of St Thomas Devon where John's family home was located. This was just outside Exeter. Another £10 was left so that "the most religious persons" of St Thomas parish could be bought books. These were to be "faire bibles" (without any Apocrypha or Book of Common Prayer) Mr Birkett's Poor Man's Helper and Mr Baxter's Call to the Unconverted. The Mr Baxter was Richard Baxter who seems to have been personally known to John.

John asked to be buried in Marlow or some neighbouring parish. The funeral was to take place in the morning "as silently and privately" as possible. He desired a "faire noble marble" headstone be placed upon his grave with the words "Here lies the body of John Gidley Minister of the Gospel", his date of death, age and the line "less than the least of all saints" inscribed. The funeral was to be "managed" by Mr Bartholomew Pane. The placing of the vault was to be the care of John Higgs Senior, Thomas Hayson and James ...ewing. For accommodating his requests the minister of the church where he was buried was to receive 2 guineas and the churchwardens half a guinea each.

John asked that after his death his collection of books be sold with the help of Mr Samuel Cox of Ealing, Samuel Clark of Beaconsfield (perhaps a relative of the deceased Samuel Clark above) and John ?Pownell of Wycombe. John mentions few other personal items- a watch went to his cousin Gidley Burgess and a set of seals on a ring to another cousin Gidley Martin.

The main legatees of his will were various nieces, nephews and cousins of his. There is no mention of any wife of children for John.

The will and two codicils were witnessed between them by Robert Beckford, William Beckford, Robert Rance and Thomas Hobbs. These are all Marlow names. Robert Beckford was a hoop maker in West Street. He had a cousin William Beckford who was a carpenter in Little Marlow. This is likely the William Beckford of John's will. The Rance family at the time were heavily involved in rope making. Thomas Hobbs also witnessed the will of Richard Sawyer mentioned above. These men could just be friends or neighbours to John but this witness list may also offer a glimpse of the names of some of John's congregation, who are thought to be the predecessors of the congregation of the Salem Chapel / Congregational Church in Quoiting Square and thus today's Christ Church in Quoiting Square.

John's financial incentive for another Presbyterian settling in Marlow does not seem to have had immediate effect as the next such minister, John Benson, is not recorded until 1715, four years after John's death (though within the lucky seven years that would see him win that £5 a year allowance for ten years). That does not in any way mean that there were suddenly no dissenters in Marlow when John died. Visiting preachers could have kept his old congregation going until someone could be induced to move here. There was an Independent Chapel building in Marlow before 1724. 

Where John Gidley's house was in Marlow isn't known. As I said above he mentions no property in the town in his will. If therefore he rented rather than owned his Marlow home it is interesting. Whoever rented John a house would very likely have been in religious sympathy with him if they allowed him to use the building for dissenting worship. I have read every will written by any person from Marlow or Little Marlow written between 1698 and 1711 and available from the National Archives in the hope someone would mention property in such and such a street in Marlow occupied by their tenant John Gidley. Sadly no one does. Nor does anyone in describing their property describe it as being next to or opposite another occupied by John Gidley. No property transaction I can find involving any Marlow person mentions him either. I haven't given up hope of locating him within the town though. Because there were no house numbers in the 1700s any mention of a property tends to include a string of locating information telling you who lives in various other nearby properties. So there has to be a chance that John and his location are recorded somewhere. 

*John seems to have been the son of  George Gidley of St Thomas, Exeter and an unknown mother.

Note by Kathryn:

The "Presbyterian dissenter" Lord Wharton left in his will (proved 1692) a sum of 10 shillings a year to a preacher who would speak annually at Marlow on the "truth, usefulness, sufficiency and excellence of the Holy Scriptures". This was a significant sum.  The preacher should also stress the people's right to have these scriptures in their own language (as opposed to Latin). The prayers accompanying this sermon were not to mention Lord Wharton's name, an unusual request. Similar sermons were to be preached at Wycombe and other nearby towns. He also left substantial amounts to be used to purchase 1,500 bibles a year for poor children in various parts of the country ( 10 were sent to Marlow, plus 13 other religious books which were to go to those recieving the bible who'd made most improvement in their studies of it). The bibles were still distributed in the 1830s but I do not know how long the sermons continued. There was some controversy by the 1840s that money left by Wharton was not being used for the proper purposes. In particular the distribution of the bibles was mostly in the hands of the various parish churches. It was argued it would be more in keeping with the dissenting Wharton's wishes for the non conformist chapels to have charge of them. 

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

For more church related content on this blog including minister biographies see the Church Related option on the menu. To find every mention of someone on this blog see the Person Index option - there's over 6,000 people there. 

DO YOU HAVE AN ANCESTRAL CONNECTION TO THIS CHURCH? IF SO, YOU MAY LIKE TO COMMEMORATE YOUR ANCESTOR BY SUPPORTING CHRIST CHURCH PATH OF LIGHT FUNDRAISING EFFORTS - SEE   Here FOR MORE INFORMATION**

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

Sources:

Wills of John Gidley and Richard Sawyer. Transcribed by me from  PCC wills held at the National Archives, Kew.

A Short History Of The Ancient Diocese of Exeter From The Conquest To The Church Congress 1894. By Herbert Edward Reynolds. Published 1895 by H Besley and Son.

Book Owners Online, detail of John Gidley. Content CC BY-NC 4.0.

The Non- Conformist Memorial, An Account Of The Ministers Who Were Rejected. Written by Edmund Calamy and Samuel Palmer. Published by W Harris. 1775. New York Public Library copy digitized by Google.

An Abridgement of Mr Baxter's Life And Times Volume 2 by Richard Baxter and Edmund Calamy, 1713. Digitized by Google.

Select Remains Of Phillip, Lord Wharton - Rev J Whitridge, published by J Brydons 1849.

Say Cheese! It's Mrs Blake.

Rebecca Blake was a relatively unusual thing - a female Victorian professional photographer. She lived with her husband the frame maker, gilder and picture restorer Richard Blake in West Street Marlow. Theirs was the cottage far right in the photo above (modern number 86 with the bowed window). One of the rooms was presumably set up as a studio as the backs of her studio portraits only give the West Street address as her place of business. Rebecca also did street and country views. In fact a number of her town and country scenes were permanently on display in the window at West Street. You could go in and see the full collection if Mrs Blake was home. Husband Richard was quick to correct those who thought he was the photographer responsible. If you wished to view the collection when Rebecca was absent, Richard would ask you to return when she could show it herself. 

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has one of her photographs on display - link below. The featured photograph shows Westhorpe House, Little Marlow. This house was identified for us by Michael Eagleton who writes the Marlow Memories column in the Marlow Free Press. Thanks to Michael for that.

Rebecca was born Rebecca Clarke in Little Marlow circa 1830 to John and Rebecca Clarke and grew up in Burrough's Grove just outside Marlow.

As a young woman she worked as a seamstress before she married Richard in London in 1860. Why they married in London when both were of Marlow origin I am unable to say but it is not uncommon to do so.  Nor can I say how Rebecca came to photography. (Her husband is however recorded as taking photographs of some local events in the early 1860s. He continued to do this - if Rebecca didn't get there first!)

She was already in business as a photographer the next year. After Richard's death in 1893 she took out an ad in the South Bucks Standard to say she had hired a workman to continue his business. The Maidenhead Advertiser paper extended its sympathy to Rebecca for the loss of her husband in a piece which said Richard had been an "original character" who had trained a cat of "phenomenal size" to do amazing tricks, played a host of musical instruments including a violin he had made himself and was willing to talk the ears off anyone able to listen to on the subject of Marlow history. He also kept an aquarium of native fish which he attempted to train to follow commands. He was apparently somewhat successful with his efforts in the form of performing minnow "Tommy Dodd", which he showed off with "childlike delight." 

While he may have had a great memory for history he may have been less good at remembering to pay his bills as I found him summoned for failing to pay his gas rate while his landlord Mrs Sarah Davis (more on her in the near future) was obviously nervous about him and Rebecca paying rent on time.

In 1857 Sarah Davis was summoned for spitting at and hitting in the face Mrs Blake. Sarah had gone to Rebecca to remind her about some nearly due rent. Mrs Blake did not take kindly to this and a verbal confrontation followed. It was then said that Sarah launched her attack. The judge said that if she paid all the costs of the case for both sides the charge could be withdrawn (presumably with Mrs Blake's agreement). This decision isn't explained in any surviving record I have found but Sarah went with it. It implies that she was the guilty party as she had to pay both side's costs but that she was not thought likely to repeat the offence and thus need any further deterrent to be applied to her.

By the time of the 1901 census Rebecca defined herself as a picture frame maker only so it seems she decided to concentrate on that business over her photography one.

In 1903 she was elected to fill a vacancy in the Oxford Road Almshouses for widows. As well as a home she would have received a small weekly pension as an almswoman. At this point a local newspaper described her as "a much respected and deserving old lady". 

She died some time after 1911, seemingly not in Marlow.

Rebecca's brother in law was minor portrait painter Giles Blake. A post on other artists in Marlow history male and female, professional and amateur is available here

More posts on women who ran businesses in Victorian or Edwardian  Marlow=

Rachel Hall the West Street butcher here

Ruth North the toy dealer of West Street here

Mary Ann Parslow, famed Compleat Angler landlady here

Charlotte Sawyer the baker of West Street here

Multiple female ironmongers in the High Street here

That is just a selected few. You will find more women in business if you look on the "Specific Shops,Streets...ETC" menu option and follow the links to different premises or browse under the Pub Related option on the menu to find lots more female publicans.

To find all mentions of someone on the blog please use the Person Index, for a list only of more substantial mentions of someone try the Biographies of Individuals section on the menu. You will find more biographies of women of the almshouses there and more are to come.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Sources:

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1408055/view-of-an-estate-photograph-blake-rebecca-mrs/ Link here

Kelly's Directory of Berks, Bucks and Oxon 1883 and 1885. Published by Kelly's Directory's Limited.

South Bucks Standard, 24th February 1893 and 27th February 1903. Maidenhead Advertiser 1st Feb 1893. Reading Mercury 25th July 1857. South Bucks Fred Press October 1883. Copies in the British Library archives.

1841, 51, 61, 71 and 81, 91 censuses transcribed from microfilm by me.

1901 census transcribed by Jane Pullinger from microfilm.

England Marriages database 1538- 1973 Familysearch (https://familysesrch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJ71-X6J : 13 March 2020)

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

Hancock Grave, Little Marlow

This grave is to be found at St. John the Baptist Church, Little Marlow

Robert Hancock, died February 23 1826, age 76

©Marlow Ancestors

Crewe Grave, Marlow

 

Daniel Crewe who passed away suddenly in London January 5th 1925. 

Also of:

Caroline, beloved wife of the above who also passed away suddenly January 4th 1928.

Grave is in Marlow Cemetery. 

Look under Graves on the menu for similar posts.

©Marlow Ancestors. Reproduction of the above image is freely allowed for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link back here. Thank you.  

Marlow's Own Cape Town

The exotically named Cape Town, Great Marlow sprang up by 1856 in a site off Spinfield Lane. The location was first known as Forty Green Place but had the name Cape Town by 1882. In 1895  magistrate George Higginson expressed horror that families could be allowed by the landowner William Clayton to rent the mostly two room, single storey properties which were in a disgraceful state and "unfit for habitation". Other references to the homes there suggest that they were virtually shacks. 

The site stretched over 20 acres and contained at different times between 4 and 8 residences. Though the Marlow Water Works were said to be on the edge of or within Cape Town I find no evidence of anyone living there employed at those works. It's likely that some of the shacks were originally erected for or used by the 40 navvies employed in 1884 to sink the first well and lay piping at the Chalk Pits for the Marlow water company. A variety of occupations are given for Cape Town residents - workers in the brick kiln at Bovingdon Green a short walk away, labourers at Blounts Farm ditto. Hooks Farm would also have been near. Domestic servant Isabella Mitchell censused at Cape Town in 1891 might have been a daily servant at nearby Spinfield House. Her husband had once been the gardener there. Isabella, a widow, was one of Cape Town's longest residents, present 1871 as a charwoman with her children and still there 1901. By then she lived alone. For more on Isabella see her biographical post here.

Most Cape Town households consisted of no more than two people because of each property's tiny sizes but as said above some whole families squeezed themselves in like Isabella's had done.

Also potentially working at Spinfield House were 1871 census gardeners George Roberts and James Swadling.

The local chair making industry was represented by chair seat maker Owen Blewitt. Owen was guilty of a savage attack on his wife Sarah that left her unable to walk for weeks. Her "crime" was failing to stop eating her own supper when he decided she should make him a pancake. Cape Town neighbour Mary Ann Platt came to Sarah's aid and gave evidence against Owen in court. The judge called his behaviour "unmanly". He was sentenced to 6 months hard labour, increasing to 8 months if he could not find sureties for his good conduct. Given that his personal surety level was set at £10 (plus £5 from someone else) he was going to serve the 8 months*. 

His son Owen grew up to live at Cape Town too.

Other Cape Town residents to get in trouble were husband and wife Henry and Sarah Stroud. Sarah stood accused of stealing the key to the neighbouring Stacey family's home, letting herself in with a duplicate key and taking potatoes from a sack in their bedroom, no other storage being possible in a two room home. She received a 21 day jail sentence after pleading poverty. She was suspected of having stolen potatoes in similar circumstances. Henry was jailed for stealing a huge quantity of wood (from over 100 trees!) and tree saplings from William Clayton's nearby woodland. It was his third such conviction.

The last reference I found to Cape Town was 1903 when a William Gates of that address put out ads locally for a job as a groom. I think Cape Town was probably still inhabited 1904 or even later however .

To find all mentions of someone on the blog see the Person Index option on the top drop down menu.

*Update by Kathryn - Unfortunately Owen Blewitt was convicted at least  twice more for assaulting Sarah who said she was constantly in fear of her life. Despite this, the prejudices of the time meant Sarah's application for a separation order (so she could live legally apart from her husband) was refused after the third assault in 1891. And Sarah was given the advice by magistrate Sir George Higginson to try and "do her best" with her husband so they might live peacefully going forward. She said she'd rather live in the workhouse than with him. To be fair to Sir George, he often heavily dressed down domestic abusers in court, attacking their lack of manliness, and more than once pushed for maximum penalties for the accused. Why Sarah was not given a separation order when those with fewer convictions against their abuser were is hard to say. It may be the accusations made by Owen against his wife that she often came home drunk coloured the bench against her - although her son and daughter denied ever seeing their mother drunk. 

Sources:

Census my transcription from microfilm.

Newspaper copies held by the British Library and accessed by me via the BNA October 2020: Bucks Herald 5th May 1885. Bucks Herald 26 May 1883.

Newspapers held at British Library:

Berkshire Chronicle 25th October 1884. 

South Bucks Standard Jan 22nd 1891. 

Property records in my family.