The Roebuck (present by 1829 and AKA The Antelope) in the Causeway changed it's name to the George Inn in 1835 when shoemaker Steadman Camden bought it. His shoemaking business and home were further up the High Street, on the same side. The pub soon became known as the George and Dragon.
The premises you see today are the result of a substantial expansion and face lift in 1895. The older property had been too small for the popular pub, then calling itself a hotel too. It had also suffered fire damage in both 1879 and 1882 during Alfred Maskell's stewardship.
Prior to the expansion the landlords sometimes used the nearby boys' schoolroom as a place to host dinners for various paying clubs and societies. The Wethered's brewery workers had a Christmas dinner at the George and Dragon many times in the later 1800s.
An earlier fire destroyed the stable roof at the rear in 1869. Originating in the loft above, it was worsened by the fact a substantial amount of hay had been laid in there.
In 1880 Liberal election candidate Mr Griffith's gave a speech from a cart outside the George and Dragon before hosting a dinner within. His failure to be elected M.P caused bitter disappointment amongst especially poorer members of the community and sparked a mass riot in the town which required the threat of military intervention to put down.
The pub had a coach house out back and hired carriages out in the late Victorian period. It's prime location saw it busy during the Regatta. The owners frequently decorated the outside for this and other occasions. For the inaugural Marlow Fete week proceeding the Regatta in 1897, the hotels decorations were called jubilant in their "abundance, variety and taste." Less happily, the fair ground rides that occupied the Causeway during the Regatta effectively blocked it in at times. A stray missile from the shooting booth in the summer of 1898 sailed through the upstairs window of a cottage adjacent to the Dragon, leading to a ban on similar booths in future. This decision also applied to the October street fair which also occupied the Causeway outside the hotel.
In later Victorian and Edwardian times in particular the hotel stressed it's proximity to the river and the excellent accomodation it could offer fishermen. In 1904 the clever marketers were using the telegram address "Comfort, Marlow" as their own. With good stabling at the rear, what more could you ask for?
List of historic landlords can be found here
Other pub/hotel etc related posts for Great Marlow and nearby can be found in the index here
©Marlow Ancestors. If reusing or quoting from this research, credit this blog and link here so my sources remain attached to the information provided by them. You are welcome to do so.
Sources:
Bucks Herald 27th March 1880 [Mr Griffith's visit] and 25th April 1891 [Carriages for hire]. Bucks Chronicle and Bucks Gazette June 1868 [barn fire] Copies held at the British Library, digitised by the BNA. Accessed by me November 2020.
England and Wales Census 1881. My transcription from microfilm.
Kelly's Directories 1911, 1915,1920.
1833 Parochial assessment. Original notebooks held by my family and transcribed by me.
Additional research by Kathryn.