Henry or "Harry" Calcutt was originally of North Leigh in Oxfordshire but had moved to Little Marlow by the year 1833 when he married Mary Bailiss, daughter of James Bailiss the baker. James was formerly of Hailey Oxfordshire but by then of Witney. The marriage took place in Witney. Harry may well have been already at Westhorpe Farm Little Marlow then. He was certainly the farmer there by 1838 when he was 37 years old.
The focus was on dairy at Westhorpe but commercial crops of oat and barley straw and turnips were also grown by Harry and chickens kept for eggs. Probably their were other arable crops too as in 1844 the Reading Mercury reported a ploughing match and concluded that Harry's ploughman was the best of what was a very superior bunch of competitors.
In 1851 the land Harry farmed consisted of 386 acres on which 21 labourers were employed. Westhorpe Farm was only 341 acres so he was also in possession of a bit of land in addition to the main farm. In 1861 Harry was farming 367 acres and employed 15 men and 6 boys. The rent for Westhorpe was £500 a year in 1860.
Traditionally poultry on farms were the work and business of female members of the family. When employee William Smith was jailed for embezzlement by not handing over money a Mrs Mudie had paid for eggs and milk from Westhorpe it was Mary Calcutt that was called to give evidence that she had not received the money rather than her husband which shows you that she was actively involved in the business of the farm.
Theft from all farms was a major problem in Victorian England. Little Marlow was more affected than Great Marlow in this respect. William Munday received a year in jail for stealing 4 fowls from Westhorpe in 1851, it not being his first offence. Other fowls, wood and turnip greens disappeared from the farm at other times. Harry was clearly a kind man and avoided making a prosecution when he could, refusing to appear in court when Susan Moore stole wood from him in 1847 and saying his employee Benjamin Anthony must have been mistaken when he took more straw than he was meant to and delivered it to someone who had not paid Harry for it. The implication being he was selling Harry's straw himself. Note that with constables on routine patrol daily and them being keen to interrogate any poor looking person carrying anything that might have been stolen a lot of cases went to the court because the constable had discovered a theft had taken place before the victim even knew it happened. So without actually making a complaint of theft Harry could find himself asked to give evidence in a case he would rather not pursue at all or would rather settle himself.
His role of Overseer of the poor in Little Marlow perhaps gave him more perspective on how desperate some people could be when they turned to theft.
Harry himself found himself on the wrong side of the law in 1876 when he was accused of selling adulterated i.e watered down milk (21 per cent water!) following routine testing by the police. The bench dismissed the charge on a technicality as Harry was the one charged with selling the milk but it was taken from the cows, transported and sold by Harry's milkman not by Harry himself. It does not seem that the police resubmitted the case with the milkman in the dock instead.
Harry and Mary's son Harry junior played cricket for Little Marlow teams many times. This interest in the sport may have come from dad as Harry allowed a meadow he rented in Spade Oak to be used for matches several times.
Harry died at the farm in 1878, Mary in 1881.
After Mary's death Harry's property in Witney (which I guess Mary was receiving the rental income from in her lifetime) was sold off. It consisted of a house come shop with a 3 storey warehouse attached in Corn Street, the 5 bedroom house come shop next door also with a three storey warehouse, 5 cottages on the other side of Corn Street meadow in Witney, 3 cottages in Meeting House Lane in Witney, a small house, meadow, field and cottage in Hailey Oxfordshire and 3 acres of land in North Leigh. One of the Corn Street premises was the former bakery premises of Mary's father James Bailiss who died in 1844. Another was a butcher's shop. The piece of land in North Leigh was probably the land left to Harry in the 1844 will of his father Robert, a farmer. Some of the other property in the sale also seems to have hereditary Calcutt property. As this is "Marlow Ancestors" specifically I haven't delved deeper into this.
Westhorpe Farm was taken over by son Harry. He and his wife Rosa will feature more fully on the blog in future. The eldest son in the family James Bailiss Calcutt died young in 1849.
A photo of Harry and Mary's gravestone is on the blog.
To find other biographies of couples and families try the Biographies of Families option on the menu. There is also a Person Index for every mention of an individual on this blog. See the Other Places menu option for more Little Marlow content.
Sources Include:
The Solicitors Journal and Reporter July 1860.
Banbury Guardian 20th March 1851. Reading Mercury 14th August 1869. Both British Library Archives.
Little Marlow censuses transcribed by me. Census information always remains Crown copyright.
Gravestone, Little Marlow.
Property records including at Oxfordshire History Centre which also had Robert Calcutt's will. I did not keep a transcription of this will however Oxfordshire Family History Society has a transcription on their website if this is your family and you want to read it.
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