Mary Ann Parslow, née Creswell was without doubt in her day one of the most well known people who lived and worked by the Thames. Famed not just around her home area but nationally. But I'll bet you've never heard of Mary Ann. I guarantee your Marlow ancestors had heard of her and a good few would have had her to thank for helping to drive prosperity in the town over the Summer months- in particular shopkeepers, fishermen and those that hired boats out etc.
Her claim to fame was running the ultra fashionable Compleat Angler Hotel opposite Marlow's church, and in fact making it that ultra fashionable place to stay in the first place. As such she appears in a whole host of memoirs and articles. Most often she is called Mrs Parslow, though it is sometimes the case that she is rendered Mrs Compere instead, her previous married name.
Mary Ann was born circa 1805 the daughter of John Cres(s)well of Great Marlow and niece of the then landlord of the Compleat Angler, William Creswell. More about him and his family in this post here. (The work of making the Compleat Angler a "must visit" destination was started with much success by another woman - Ann Creswell. )
Mary first married Robert Compere, landlord of the Six Bells, Boults Wharf, Reading. The couple had various children before he died in 1842. Robert made his wife sole executor of his will and left her all he possessed in terms of ready money, furniture, linen, plate etc. In 1850 Mary married widower Hezekiah Parslow who had taken over the Compleat Angler. She and her two Compere daughters Ann and Frances lived at the inn with Hezekiah and some of the children of his first marriage.
It was after Hezekiah's death in 1858* that Mary Ann came into her own and transformed her establishment into THE place to stay along the Thames.
The South Bucks Standard called her that "buxom and famed hostess", Joseph Ashby - Sterry in his Tale Of The Thames memoir called her " Majestic" while the Bucks Herald in 1871 said anglers when it was out of season dreamed of that "well known familiar face of worthy Mrs Parslow" (The word "buxom" comes up a lot in relation to Mary Ann so she fitted the landlady stereotype! Seriously though, all the Creswells seem to have been tall and powerfully built-indeed they were famed for it locally).
Her food was apparently worth rowing any amount of miles down the Thames for, and her organisational skills second to none. In particular she cultivated business relationships with professional "sporting" fishermen such as Robert Shaw (who features in almost as many Victorian Thames reminisces and guides as Mary Ann does) who could expertly show her guests where to catch whatever they wanted in the vicinity.
Though Marlow had the reasonably sized and comfortable Crown Hotel it was often solely the existence of Mrs Parslow's hostelry and the high level of attention given to her guests there that made travel guides recommend Marlow as a place to spend a holiday or day trip by the river. When I said Mary Ann was vital for the town's economy I meant it!
She even gets mentioned in some stateside publicans. The New York Sportsmen publication for instance wrote that Mrs Parslow "knows what is good and, what is more, gives it to you" and her business was "by far the most comfortable resting place on the banks of the Thames". It noted that a stay with her was expensive but worth every penny.
The best eels caught in the river by Shaw and others were saved up by Mrs Parslow to serve to her favourite guests. Those staying at the Anglers were affectionately known as "Parsloviennes" and seen as a fanatical tribe that would eschew the Ritz in favour of Mrs Parslows any day. Make no mistake, a high proportion of her guests would have stayed at some point in the best hotels in London. They were wealthy business people, even aristocrats, who could if they had wanted to have hired a whole mansion while they had a holiday in Marlow but they chose Mrs Parslow's tiny rooms instead. Her inn / hotel was small, not as you see the premises now but it was that very rusticity which charmed her guests along with her warmth, kindness and service. Later modernizations and expansions to the site were seen by many late Victorian travellers as a sacrilege that would make Mary Ann turn in her grave!
Samuel and Mrs Carter Hall in their work "The Book Of The Thames From Its Rise To Its Fall" written after her death said how they still missed her "cheery greeting" when visiting the town. Mary cast a long shadow. Time after time later descriptions of the Thames and its hostelries would sigh over the fact nothing still available could match Mrs Parslow's old place.
Nevertheless her daughter Frances took over the Compleat Angler and made quite a name for herself in her own right before her premature death aged 41 in 1883. The Fishing Gazette mentioned that her passing would be mourned by every boatmen and fisherman. They would miss her "kindly face" and her ability to make the Angler more like a home than a hotel it said. Frances' brother in law Robert Foottit took over the premises after that. More on him in this post here.
A list of all the known historical landlords of the Compleat Angler is here.
History of the Compleat Angler in 1900's here
*he also left a will of which Mary Ann was the main beneficiary.
For more posts devoted to particular individuals see Biographies Of Individuals on the menu. There is also a Person Index for every mention of someone on the blog however small. More posts containing information about the history of Marlow pubs and the people who ran them can be found on the top drop down menu under Pub Related.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this content for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here.
Some Sources:
PCC will of Robert Compere, my transcription from an original will held at the National Archives, Kew.
Census- my transcription from microfilm.
Paddington All Saints Parish Registers, originals.
South Bucks Standard 14th February 1896, via the BNA and British Library Archives collaboration.
National Index of Wills and Administrations, National Archives, Kew.
The Book Of The Thames From Its Rise To Its Fall by Samuel Carter Hall and Mrs S.C Hall published by Virtue 1877.
A Tale Of The Thames by Joseph Ashby - Sterry published by Scribner 1897. Digitized by Google.
Spirit Of The Times and The New York Sportsmen, Volumes 13-14. 1865. Published by Spirit Of The Times. Digitized by Google from a Cornell University Library copy.
The Fishing Gazette, October 27 1883.
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