Jolly Cricketers Bovingdon Green

UPDATED BY CHARLOTTE May 2026

Historic list of landlords for the Jolly Cricketers AKA the Cricketer's Arms Bovingdon Green near Great Marlow.

Gathered from adverts, censuses, wills, court cases etc.

For more on this pub and it's people see my post Bovingdon Green in the 1800s here.

Other Bovingdon Green linked posts are indexed here

1843-44 James Jones.

1853-55 William Davis. Possibly already there 1851. There was a man in Marlow of this name who was a beer seller in 1831. Could be the same man in different premises. William must have died sometime between 1855-61.

1861-83 Hannah Davis, widow of the above. Read about William & Hannah's son in law here.

1883-88 George Robinson.

1888- 1901 Frederick Coleshill, who had moved from the Sadler's Arms, West Street Marlow. Wife Lottie also served behind the bar. In 1900 Frederick donated 2s to the Marlow Transvaal Relief Fund which was organised in conjunction with the Red Cross amongst others. The fund helped the families of soldiers fighting in South Africa, and injured soldiers.

1902 briefly widow Lottie Coleshill as above then Thomas Willis.

1905-16 Francis William Styles. In 1905 Francis was assaulted by two troublesome customers who entered the pub without his permission and then refused to leave. Francis was one of those who gave evidence when the nearby landlord of the Royal Oak killed his brother in a fight. For this case see here. In 1915 Francis was fined £5 because he served convalescing soldiers with alcohol. These men were on an outing from a military hospital to nearby Hooks Farm where they were watching athletic sports and a pony gymkhana. As military patients they were dressed in distinct blue uniforms that Francis was supposed to recognise. Notices of this has been sent to all local pubs and he admitted that he had had one.

1916-33 Walter Simmons. Walter and his wife had moved from Spinfield Lane Marlow.  Their son rifleman W.H Simmonds of the Hampshire Regiment (Isle Of Wight Rifles) was listed as presumed dead in 1918, having been previously listed as missing.

1933-34 Richard Arthur Milliard.

1934 pub force to close by local authorities who were trying to dramatically cut the number of licensed premises. A protest petition by a large number of Bovingdon Green residents demanding the pub be spared was ignored. Landlord Richard Millard had hoped to live out his days there. He said the pub might not do a huge amount of trade (this was the key excuse officials made to shut down a pub) but it was enough for him so why did they have to interfere? Remember he would be losing his home and his business in one go. He would receive compensation but not a huge amount. At this point it was a Wethered's Pub.

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