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.

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