The Wells family were one of the first to settle in Glade Road Marlow, arriving in Clifton Villa by 1881.
Mark the father was a corn merchant and baker, retiring shortly after the family went into residence there. He seems to have maintained ownership of his old premises and the house that went with them though he did not run the business there. He would not have had a lot of rest in retirement. Mark was one of the Overseers of the poor and a director of both the Marlow Gas Company and the Buckinghamshire Chair Company. He was also a shareholder in the Great Marlow Railway Company and an active fundraiser for Marlow Hospital. Mark died in 1909 in his 79th year.
The mother in the family Sarah Elizabeth also raised money for the hospital and gifted the patients books in 1911 (Bucks Herald 29th April 1911, British Library Archive accessed November 2020). As a widow she attended meetings of the National Service League in Marlow an organization campaigning for the introduction for men of compulsory National Service in the army so Britain would not be left vulnerable to attack. This organisation was more than usually popular in Marlow (See for instance South Bucks Standard 15th April 1911, British Library Archives). The Wikipedia article on it says that it was largely supported by right wingers. This is interesting as Mark Wells was a Liberal. Perhaps there were a few heated conversations over the breakfast table while Mark was still alive! Sarah died in 1918.
The couples three daughters Marion and Emily, who did not marry, and Harriet (who married James Luck of Leighton Buzzard) all lived at Clifton Villa as adults with their parents for at least a while.
Marion died in 1924.
More families of Glade Road can be found under the "Specific Shops, Streets ...etc" option on the menu. All mentions of someone on the blog can be found on the Person Index.
In my research I also used census data transcribed by me from microfilm. Also of use to me was the GRO death registration index on the GRO website, accessed November 2020.
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