A friend to famous writers, an electoral cheat, and owner of the only newspaper in town Robert Maddocks of Great Marlow was many things but boring was not one of them. It is thanks to him and even more so his wife Jane that we know so much about the life of Percy Bysshe Shelley the poet and Mary Shelley the author in Marlow. I thought then that they would make perfect material for a blog post.
Let's start at the beginning...
Robert was born circa 1783-87. Jane née Jones was baptised at Bisham in 1788 daughter of Robert and Maria Jones. In 1810 Jane and Robert Maddocks married by licence at Bisham. Robert was at that point described as of Marylebone Middlesex (London today of course). I have seen it speculated on family history websites that Robert might have been of Scottish heritage. His last name makes it possible at least paternally though I see no direct evidence of it and his census entries give him as English.
Robert was a carpenter, house agent and builder. He and Jane definitely lived on the Pound Lane side of Marlow High Street by 1831 though the couple were resident in Marlow by 1814 and were almost certainly in fact already in their High Street home and premises by 1828.
In 1817 acting as house agent for Jeffrey and Sophia Tilecote who had moved away from town he rented their former home and school Albion House to the Shelleys. He became friends with them as he already was with writer Thomas Love Peacock who was living in West Street, Marlow.
Later biographers of the Shelley's were assisted by the Maddocks in writing about Percy and Mary's time in Marlow. Jane Maddocks especially remembered the kindness of Percy to the poor. She said that every Saturday evening he gave out money to those who came by appointment to his door, especially widows and children. If he was away from Marlow he gave his bag of coins to Jane to hand out for him from her house in the High Street. The poor came with slips of paper signed by Percy over the preceding week explaining how much he wished to give each individual- anything up to half a crown. As he often ran out of paper in his generosity these slips were sometimes fashioned from pages torn out of whatever reading book he had been carrying about with him.
Robert Maddocks also had fragments of Percy's writings which he was able to give Percy's biographers later.
Because of the sexism of the day they were usually asked to recollect their interactions with Percy rather than Mary Shelley so what they made of her is uncertain.
The Shelley's stayed for a little over a year until they left for the Continent, Albion House being too miserably cold in the winter for them to remain there.
Robert organised new tenants and helped with the packing up process of the Shelley household.
He didn't just manage the property of others, he owned property himself. When the Lower Crown in the High Street went out of business circa 1830 Robert bought it. Some of the premises he used for a public billiards and reading and newspaper room, the rest he let. This reading room didn't have much going for it- one single copy of one single newspaper- but for the people of Marlow it was heaven even so. There was no other public place offering newspapers to read yet in town and very few people could afford to buy their own copy, let alone a copy followed by another the next day followed by another the next etc. We forget just how expensive newspapers then were because of tax on both the newspaper itself and on each individual advert each edition contained. This you had to pay when you bought your copy, cheaper ad free editions not existing. Paying to read ads seems bizarre to us looking back but those newspaper were the only way most people heard about a house or shop up for auction or rent, a job opportunity, a new business opening or a book being published. Our Marlovian ancestors thirsted for such information. Those writing about Marlow a little later remembered vividly how even well off people would club together to buy a newspaper copy. If nobody had thought to buy one while up in London or Reading for the day and brought it back with them, or made a special request to a stationer or bookseller to order one in for them no edition entered the town except the one ordered in for Robert, making him the sole source of printed news for everyone.
The main part of the former pub he rented to Jane Sime an unmarried gentlewoman who ran a girls' school from there. It is in relation to her that Robert had his lowest hour. Poor Jane became confused as to why she was not asked to pay any rates for her property. Being an honest woman she went to the parish officials to pay. Imagine her astonishment to be told she didn't live in her house, a man did and he was paying the taxes for it. Jane Sime persisted in the matter and a plot for electoral fraud was uncovered. In those days you had to be both male and an occupier of a minimum amount of property by rateable value in order to vote. If she had been a man Jane would have occupied sufficient property to vote. Robert Maddocks entered into a conspiracy with a man of similar political sympathies to him who did not occupy sufficient property to vote. They pretended that the man and not Jane was his tenant so the man could have the vote for that property. An enquiry backed Jane's version of events, Robert's friend lost his entitlement to vote and in a fit of pique Robert told Jane that she would be evicted from her home and business premises.
He doesn't seem to have thought about what Jane Simes would do about the tax issue. To be fair to Robert he might have felt that he was in some way doing the right thing at first by not letting as rare a thing as a vote go to waste. Jane had no hope of using it herself after all.
Robert's own home and building business headquarters consisted of a dwelling house, stable, 3 chaise houses, a shed, work and store shops, yard and garden. These were worth together an estimated £12 a year.
Despite being exposed for the voting dishonesty Robert was chosen more than once as a churchwarden by the Vicar of Marlow. These appointments do not seem to have been very popular with some others in town. Nevertheless Robert also managed to get elected as one of the Overseers of the poor for Marlow.
He and Jane had at least four daughters- Annabella, Mary, Catherine and Jane- and one son, John. Annabella did not marry and lived on an independent income. Catherine married a brewer and John was a brewer/ brewer's engineer/ lime burner which might just possibly suggest some previous link with the brewing trade in the family.
Robert died on 9th July 1859. Jane moved with Annabella to Chertsey Surrey, probably to be near her married daughter Catherine. On the 1861 census Jane lived at Staines Lane Chertsey and was an annuitant with a young servant and Annabella at home. Her son John also lived in Chertsey for a while before moving to the South West. Jane died in 1864.
The site of the former Lower Crown, part of which became the Maddocks' News Room.
The Maddocks grave at All Saints Church Marlow.
Sacred to the memory of Mr Robert Maddocks builder who died July 9th 1859 age 75. Also of his wife Jane who died January 16th 1864 age 77.
*a biography of Robert Hayes Smith the shopkeeper who brought newspapers to the town en masse for the first time has been written by Kathryn and is available here
Biography of another turns of Shelley's in Marlow, radical poet and postmaster William Tyler here
To find biographies of other Marlow couples and families see the Biographies Of Families option on the top drop down menu. There is also a Biographies Of Individuals and a Person Index for all mentions of someone on this blog.
For more about the Lower Crown see the Pub Related menu option.
A list of over 70 schools like that of Jane Simes existed in Marlow is published on the blog here
See:
The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley by Edward Dowden.
Bisham and Great Marlow Parish registers.
©Marlow Ancestors.
No comments:
Post a Comment