Men Who Built Marlow Part Two

Thomas Corby Senior and Junior of Great Marlow.

The elder Thomas was born circa 1785 in Medmenham according to the census.

Thomas Senior in partnership with Theophilus Clifford the stonemason in 1829 won the contract for brickwork and masonry for the new suspension bridge at Marlow. More on the extremely fraught building process here.

That bridge is the bridge you see today in Marlow.

In 1833 Thomas and his son lived parts of the same building in the High Street, shown below as it is today. Their builders yard, workshops and offices were a little further along the High Street in buildings demolished in 1969. 

Thomas Senior's part in that year had an annual value of £14 and consisted of his part of the house, a storeroom, lofts, yard and garden. His son's property consisted of his part of the house, and a garden with a total value of £11. There was only one entrance doorway for the premises. This fact when revealed to investigators in the 1840s would lose Thomas Junior his vote in elections as a separate householder even though his part of the property was valuable enough to qualify him otherwise. Thomas did not marry and always lived in the family home.

Thomas the elder in 1833 also owned and occupied 67 acres of farm land at Munday Dean just outside Marlow worth just over £55 a year. The Corby family had occupied land there for some years. He also had a kiln, shed and other buildings up at Marlow Common where he made bricks. (The fraught history of the brick kiln there will follow separately). 

In 1846 he and his son built the Catholic Church in St Peter's Street. They also built a Catholic chapel at Danesfield.

In 1851 he appeared on the census as a builder employing 30 men.

Thomas Senior died in 1853. (See his grave here ) In his will he left two houses in Staines Middlesex in trust for the benefit of his grandchildren. These were the children of his daughters Mary Ann (by marriage Rogers) and Emily (by marriage Croxford). His then unmarried daughter Charlotte received the furniture he had already given her to use when she kept a school, his bed and bedroom furniture, 3 cottages at ...(Swelley?) Place Great Marlow, 3 cottages at Bovingdon Green and £1000 which was invested. There was also money invested for his grandchildren, the children of his dead daughter Catherine Reeves and his son Henry Corby. 

Thomas Junior was left 5 cottages in Hambledon and a cottage in West Street Marlow. After his father's death he took over the business full time. On the 1861 census he was a builder and brick maker employing 47 men and 3 boys. His brickmakers went on strike in 1860 to demand a pay increase of a shilling per one thousand bricks made. Other local workers struck or asked for wage increases at that time due to price inflation of everyday goods.

Thomas Junior built Holy Trinity Church, the vicarage, the Roman Catholic School, the brick arch and stabling at New Court (1874) shown below (which involved first demolishing the two houses right next to his own home), the Little Marlow village school (1862), the novel wooden church at Handy Cross (1864) and the Primitive Methodist Chapel (now Liston Hall).

Thomas Junior was forced to retire in 1877 due to his health. The man he employed as overseer of his building operations, Young Lovell bought the business. More on him in future.

Shortly after his retirement Thomas died and was buried with his sister Charlotte Gibbs in All Saints churchyard in Marlow. I have a post showing his grave here

The Bucks Herald paid tribute to Thomas after his death saying he had shown "indomitable industry" and "unswerving honour and integrity".

Above: the arch leading into New Court built by Thomas Junior.

By Charlotte Day. Photos by Kathryn Day.

Further Information:

The Men Who Built Marlow Part One: The Bonds has already been posted here

Part three - The Lovells - here

Part 4: Frederick Plumridge here

To find all mentions of a family of individual here use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Sources:

Bucks Herald 7th April 1877 [Obituary]. Copy held in the British Library archive. Via the BNA.

Bridge wardens accounts and papers at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies.

Will Thomas Corby, held at the National Archives, Kew. Transcribed by me.

Original property records held by my family.

Census 1841-71 transcribed by me from microfilm.