Men Who Built Marlow Part 3

Young Lovell

Young James Lovell (yes his first name was Young) was born at Sydling St Nicholas in Dorset in 1842 to Mary and James Lovell. His father was a carpenter. James followed him into this trade. Far more of the major builders that I find began their working life as carpenters than bricklayers or masons. Young married his wife Charlotte Winifred Cresswell of Marlow at Marylebone in London in 1873 and moved to Marlow by July 1874.

He was at first the manager of the building business ran by the Corbys. They lived in the building which is now WH Smith in the High Street, Marlow and had additional now demolished workshops and a yard a little further along the High Street. In late 1876 following the retirement from illness of Thomas Corby junior, Young Lovell took over the business for himself. His office was at number 35 High Street the former premises of another Marlow builder William Bond. William is the subject of my post Men Who Built Marlow Part One here, while the Corbys are in Part Two here. 

Young carried on the tradition started by Corby, of having an annual Bricklayers v Carpenters Cricket match each September, all players being those who worked for his own company. The bricklayers seem to hold the overall record but matches were tight! 

In 1878 Young's apprentice James Howard was cautioned in court for leaving his apprenticeship with Young and ordered to return to him. 

Young's foreman in 1883 was Henry Young and in 1891 Edmund Coster.

His company in Marlow were responsible for (a small selection!):

1877-78 Demolition of the house Beechwood and rebuilding of it. He had to take legal action to get paid for this job. During the rebuilding bricklayer's labourer William East jumped from some brickwork onto some scaffolding in order to fetch something, causing a section of scaffolding to give way. William fell nearly 30 feet to the ground, dying of his injuries a few days later. Builders probably jumped about the scaffolding in those days a fair bit. The scaffolding was not found to be obviously faulty. 

1881- building of two new almshouses in Oxford Road.

1882- alterations to All Saints, the Parish church including a new roof and vestry. He was a church warden to the church.

1886- House Bohemia on the Bisham side of the river. £2436 paid.

1889-90 Marlow Institute, Institute Road (this is now the Library).

1893- Wooden isolation hospital at Marlow Common. Put up in just 6 days.

1893/4  Building of what is now the NatWest Bank building in the High Street. 

1895- new churchyard wall, All Saints.

1895- significant alterations and extensions to the George and Dragon, Causeway. Paid £114 10 shillings for this.

1895- 2 villas Institute Road.

1896- smaller alterations to the interior of the above church including adding a new door.

1897- adapted part of Cromwell House in the High Street into a Post Office.

Repairs to the Obelisk in Market Square.

Outside of Marlow:

1877- enlargement and improvement of Bisham Church.

1905-06 Built Windsor Police and Fire Stations.

While the day to day labour on the building sites would have been done by others, Young himself like many carpenters made coffins for local people. For perhaps no more reason than this quite a few of local families had him organise entire funerals for their loved ones. Many modern funeral directors have their roots as builders/carpenters long ago. 

He was also a Director of the Marlow Water Company and one of the organisers of the 1887 Jubilee celebrations in Marlow.

Young relaxed by playing the violin including in local concerts including at the Marlow Institute where he was Treasurer, entering shows with his vegetables and flowers, fishing, taking part in and organising billiards tournaments and by playing cricket for Marlow.

1905 advert.

He died in 1911. By then he and Charlotte lived in Beaumont Rise though the High Street premises were still used by the company. Their son Harry attended the Royal Engineering College before going to India as a civil engineer. When home he played football for Marlow. He was also a tennis player. As well as Harry there was a daughter Winifred, and two further sons Clifford Percy and Arthur Young. Little Arthur died as a baby. Clifford went off to be a builder in Gerrard's Cross and was the carrier of the family firm after Young's death.

Charlotte Winifred Lovell seems to have been a quiet person appearing in only a few social or charitable event lists with her husband or by herself. One event she did attend was a lavish Christmas party given in the Music Room, St Peter's Street for the children of the Catholic Church in 1899. Her daughter Winifred helped to serve food at the party. The family were not themselves Catholic (unless Charlotte and Winifred had converted at some point as some members of the wider Cresswell family had done). Young was a C of E churchwarden remember and he married Charlotte in a C of E church. The connection seems to be that Young was appointed by the Urban Council as the manager of the Catholic School. Presumably being a Catholic was not necessary for that. It was not the same role as head teacher - it seems to be concerned with financial and maintenance matters.

Charlotte also went to some scientific lectures at the Institute with her husband.

In 1902 the couple had an accident in Oxford Road Marlow when their pony and trap overturned. Young's shoulder was dislocated and Charlotte had cuts and bruises.

The firm Y.J Lovell founded by Young continued into the 2000s when it was renamed.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Other posts related to building families: 

 (Men who Built Marlow) 

Bond here   

 Corby here 

Frederick Plumridge here

To find all mention of a family of individual here use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. 

Sources:

London Metropolitan Archives, parish records.

Great Marlow census from microfilm transcribed by me. Census information always remains Crown Copyright.

GRO Death Index.

Reading Mercury 10th August 1878 (James Howard case).

Bucks Herald 11th June 1887 (jubilee)

SBS 30th June 1893 (isolation hospital) and 26th December 1902 (carriage accident).

Newspapers British Library Archives via their collaboration with the BNA.