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Friday, August 27, 2021

Eusebius Windsor

Eusebius caught my attention because of his great first name. He appears on the 1833 Parochial Survey notebooks I have I have in my possession as the landlord of the Elephant and Castle beer house in Dean Street.

While there was a great deal of beer sellers in that street later in the 1800s most of those licenses were yet to be granted in 1833 so there was some competition but nothing like what there would come to be later in the area and Dean Street was in no way the centre of alcohol consumption then in Marlow.

Eusebius had been born in Marlow in 1799 to Elizabeth and William. In 1822 he married Elizabeth Stevens. 

Eusebius continued to work as an  labourer while running the Elephant and Castle. This again was common and likely means it was actually his wife Elizabeth who was the day to day runner of the business. I see this situation time and time again with Marlow pubs. Elizabeth may have had little choice but to shoulder the burden of the work as according to a 1834 Bucks Gazette article Eusebius preferred going out hunting to work of any kind! The article said that Eusebius stood accused of letting a dog he had hired in the (surely tiny) hope of catching a wild boar be a nuisance to the whole neighborhoods of his exploits (in Berkshire not Marlow). He escaped a fine due to insufficient evidence but was ordered to pay his overdue rates given that if he had sufficient money to waste on a wild boar chase he had sufficient money to pay his taxes.

Whether because it proved too much like hard work or for some other reason Eusebius didn't stick with the beer selling trade. By the time of the 1841 census he and Elizabeth along with their children Charlotte [known by her middle name Emma], Elizabeth junior and Henry were living with his parents in West Street. The dad of Eusebius, named William, was a baker.

In 1844 Eusebius was in trouble again, this time for springing two horses of his from where they were impounded to avoid paying the impound fees. If your animal strayed it was impounded until you paid a fee to the person who had impounded it. This was to discourage loose animals being left to damage crops and fences.

But we must not imply Eusebius was a ne'er do well. He was a volunteer fire fighter, actually credited with particular energy at this dangerous activity. He also stepped in on one occasion to help the Marlow police make a difficult arrest in Marefield. Doesn't seem fair on that evidence to call him lazy at all!

I have not found his death registration. 

The Elephant and Castle premises later became the Mint.

There are previous posts on this blog which feature Dean Street beer sellers and their families see Pub Related option on the menu here.

More Dean Street content here.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my research with credit to this blog.


Sources:

Great Marlow parish reg.

1833 parochial assessment working notebooks in my possession, transcribed by me.

Census transcribed from microfilm. 

Newspaper copies held by the British Library accessed via the BNA October 2020. Windsor and Eton Express 10th February 1844, Bucks Gazette 25th January 1834.


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