West Street was a good place to go if you were a little boy or girl clutching a spare coin or two in the Victorian and Edwardian era. It was a street never without a toy retailer. Mr Salier, Hannah Blizzard and the Norths are three toys sellers that come to mind but the subject of today's post is John Adams.
John was born in Westminister c1827. He arrived in Marlow when he was about 20 years old, on foot, seeking work. He called at cabinet maker Mr Mealing in the High Street. In this he was lucky. He gained a job there, first as a furniture polisher and then as a cabinet maker. But like so many early Victorians John had his finger in many pies, and some ventures went a little more smoothly than others!
Above, the Mealing premises where John first worked.
A difficulty of another kind hit John when he fell in love with Sarah Maria Gudgin soon after settling here. Sarah accepted his proposal but her family certainly did not. They considered John an unsuitable match - her family were better off than his for one thing. The couple eloped to London to marry at St Pancras in February 1851. But although the couple had taken out a marriage licence, the priest refused to marry them. It seems this was because they had lied and claimed they were both resident in the parish where the marriage was to take place and the priest knew this not to be so. But the marriage proceeded the following day with the bride's residence corrected to Marlow. This was St Valentines day by a sweet coincidence. How the families "strong opposition" to the couples union broke down after the fact of their marriage isn't clear. But John and Sarah made their home in Marlow and lived here until the end of their lives.
The exact date of John starting out in business on his own account isn't clear. He was still working for Mr Mealing at the time of his marriage and defined himself as a cabinet maker in some sources even after the first mention of his "toy warehouse" can be found in 1854. Combining sources of income was standard for small shopkeepers at this time in Marlow, the wives usually managing the day to do day shop work. John's obituary mentioned that he had first taken over a small West Street stationers and newsagent and expanded into the neighbouring premises to offer toys and confectionary. These two little shops were in the building currently occupied by the main Sainsburys supermarket. John's toy shop was certainly different from one today - it sold tobacco in that side of the business! Later it also squeezed in some groceries.
John comes across as a man who always had his eye on a new business or money making opportunity. He is said to have suffered heavy losses on the racetrack, and by unsuccessfully speculating on gold mines. For a while he had a second shop, in the "best part of the High Street", which was a fancy goods repository. What a fancy goods seller offered varied by shop and over time, but in John's case, he sold fancy clothes trimmings and accessories such as braiding and silks, embroidery supplies, costume jewellery, ivory, pearl and tortoiseshell brushes and combs, as well as robes and "oriental goods". And confectionary of course. He combined this with a coal selling sideline, another common Marlow side income. A fire in his warehouse in 1866 saw the building left with just the walls standing. Luckily John was insured for this loss. In 1869 John offered both the fancy goods business and coal merchant part up for sale as he was "declining" coal selling. But it seems there were no takers. In 1872 John was at least creating the impression that the fancy goods business was doing well. He advertised that he was going to invest in a grand redecoration of his premises. This would involve a big stock sale to create room. But a second notice, saying the clearance would be effected by selling everything at 20% below cost price does sound like the work of a man either extremely eager to begin his decorating, or one with a cash flow problem. Sure enough, less than a year later, John was trying without success to sell his fancy goods business again. Unfortunately the stock in trade and shop fittings were then auctioned off on the premises to appease his creditors and stave off bankruptcy. It was then back to concentrating on the West Street business. Not to be defeated, John gained a licence to sell British wines there in 1873. He was known for his low prices, and seems to have flourished again. He was constantly improving the two premises, and they became known as a bazaar which probably suits the eclectic range of novelties to be found inside. Some of the fancy goods element had found its way back in by the time Sarah Adams died aged 64 in 1894.
Around the time of his wife's death, John decided to split his West Street shop back into 2. He would continue with the newsagent side, and spinster relative Hannah Blizzard would take over the toys and fancy goods element in the neighbouring premises. A few years later Hannah would suffer a horrible death when her clothes caught alight as she cooked her dinner on a little stove at the back of the shop. Her niece Ruth North would later take it over - read about her here.
John himself lived alone behind the shop after his wife passed away. In 1897 he too died at home, thankfully more peacefully than the tragic Hannah. In the 10 days before his death, he had begun to have his meals at the adjacent toy shop, provided by niece Elizabeth Blizzard. One day he did not come for his tea. Elizabeth knocked at the shop to tell him it was ready but received no answer. Believing him to be out, she though no more of it until he also failed to call for breakfast. She ran to the High Street to fetch John's nephew James Gray who broke in through the back door. They found John dead in his fireside chair, a newspaper folded on the table alongside his customary jug of beer bought from the neighbouring Sadlers Arms. It was decided he had died peacefully of heart failure during an afternoon nap. His shop was subsequently used again with it's neighbour as part of the North's toy shop.
Written and researched by Kathryn Day.
More about the Meaning family, furniture makers to royalty see Charlotte's post here
Use the A-Z people index at the top to find every mention of an individual here, and the Specific Shops, Streets etc option to find other entries relating to shops or West Street. Over 3,000 people are to date featured on this blog.
For posts about everyday life in Marlow in the past, see the post listing here
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©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this post for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here.
Sources include:
1854, 1869 & 1883 Post Office Directory (Kelly's Directories Ltd)
1876 Harrods Royal and County Directory (Harrod & co)
Marriage Licence research by Charlotte Day
GRO Birth, Marriage and Death index
1851, 1871, 1881, 1891 census transcriptions from microfilm by Charlotte Day
1905 Marlow Guide
South Bucks Standard 22 Jan 1897, British Library Archive, accessed via the BNA.
1872 sale of stock notice, John Adams.
Bucks Herald 13 September 1873 as above.
Reading Mercury 3 July 1869, Maidenhead Advertiser 27 January 1897, as above.