Updated October 2023
Tucked away off Station road is the house now known as Marlow Lodge. It was built as Suffolk Lodge, and this post is dedicated to some of the people who lived there.
At the time the house was built, it enjoyed views over the famously beautiful Quarry Wood across the Thames. Such a view is not possible in the same way now, as it is hemmed in by subsequent development of Lock Road and nearby. The grounds belonging to the property were once extensive. The main garden was just under 4 acres but at one point nearly 30 acres of additional grounds were attached to it. The house itself may not be a mansion, but taking the place as a whole, it was a substantial holding. These grounds were reduced over time and are now built over.
The couple responsible for building this "neat red brick villa" were Samuel and Jane Brandon (nee Wooster). Samuel was a market gardener and valuer from Paradise Row, Rotherhithe. He was a very successful businessman, and built himself a house to be proud of. The name Suffolk Lodge was presumably chosen because a suspected connection between the Brandon's and the Duke of Suffolk in the families past. It perhaps inspired the name of nearby Norfolk Cottage in Station Road too.
Samuel sold produce to Covent Garden market amongst other places. In 1846 his employee Richard Phillips was seen to be behaving in a suspicious manner on his arrival at the market. He seemed to take some bundles of goods out of the cart he arrived in and then conceal them elsewhere while taking the remaining vegetables to be sold. He had secreted 6 large bundles of Samuel's celery worth 5 shillings with the intention of selling them for his own profit. He was caught and sentenced to 2 months in prison.
Suffolk Lodge was often said to have been built in 1861, however Samuel and Jane were already described as resident there in early February 1861 so it seems likely the work started a while before that. I do not believe they initially actually maintained it as their primary residence. Samuel kept up his home in Paradise Row, and indeed died there in 1865. It seems the property was let during these first few years. However Jane seems to have made Lodge her main home (until at least 1881) with her son, also Samuel. This younger Samuel by the age of 45 was describing himself as a retired market gardener, and a few years later was living off "private means".
Samuel senior may have died relatively soon after building the house at Marlow but I think he would have approved of the fame the garden produce would go on to have. Mrs Brandon employed a gardener and there was a gardeners lodge for their accomodation by the late 1870's if not before. It was common then for a married gardeners wife to act as a housekeeper or servant in the main house and this is the case often at Suffolk Lodge. The gardeners there were lucky to have a first class range of glasshouses at their disposal. The garden staff regularly won prizes for the quality of their produce, with fruit an especial source of pride. In 1874 for example they won awards for grapes, cherries, gooseberries, apricots and apples. A list of gardeners here and at other Marlow houses can be found here. The extensive orchards were far beyond what the family could use, so it seems the Brandon's were using at least part of their extensive estate as an active market garden.
In 1884, Thomas William Lockyer arrived at Suffolk Lodge where he remained until 1891. I believe he was a tenant. By this time the gardens could boast a tennis lawn and summer house as well as an ornamental fish pond. There was also incredibly several hundred fruit trees within the grounds at this time, some within an orchard, others dotted throughout the estate. Surely a legacy of the Brandon's and their market gardening connection.
The house was sold in 1895 with 3.5 acres of garden for £2,500. At the time D'Arcy W Reeve had been the resident for a few years. In 1897 it was bought by actor Max Lindlar from Pinkneys Green, owner of one of Marlow's first motor cars. You can read more about Marlow's early motorists here. The Lindlars had many friends in the film and music trade and they used these connections to organise or assist with fund raising performances, concerts and fetes during their time in Marlow. Sometimes the beneficiaries were local, sometimes further afield. Ellen Terry was one of those who arrived for a summer performance in the grounds of Suffolk Lodge in 1900. She was joined by other artists from the Lyceum theatre in London. The show was put on on the lawns, with a yew hedge as the backdrop. The weather was kind and a large crowd of distinguished guests attended. The performance was one of two hosted by the Lindlars in Marlow for the Oxford House musical and dramatic society which had the aim of bringing "quality" music and drama to the East End. It was possible to buy a ticket if you were not an invited guest, from Mrs Lindlar amongst others.
At the time of the Lindlars purchase, Suffolk Lodge it was described as having two floors, 4 reception rooms, 7 bedrooms and a bathroom. There was also stabling of "ornamental design". The grounds were still described as well timbered and secluded.
The Lindlars moved to Bisham Park Farm. In 1908 on account of Mrs Lindlar's adultery with a friend they divorced. Mrs Lindlar was of Spanish origin.
Next resident of Suffolk Lodge was Emile Sigismund Enoch, (Enock) German born and Jewish, and wife Bessie. They bought the freehold in 1901. Emile was one of the "&sons" of Enoch & Sons, the London sheet music publishers. His company was a famous name for music lovers in his day. Emile organised a gramophone concert in aid of the Church Lads Brigade in 1908. This meant an audience gathered in front of a top of the range gramophone, instead of in front of a live orchestra. These events were very popular at the time. It was held in the boys school room in the Causeway (now the church hall). Emile's business also donated music themed prizes for many a prize giving and charity event. He seems to have been a generous man. It was around this time the house became known as Marlow Lodge, although the old name stuck stubbornly for many. Emile kept ownership of Marlow Lodge until at least 1917 although he let it out for the summer or "river season" on a number of occasions. We have now reached the end of the period our blog deals with.
Notes:
I have come across a couple of references to "thousands" of bedding plants and flowers offered for sale from Suffolk Lodge in the 1880's and 90's. It was common for gardeners to offer excess plants in this way. Sometimes the profit from this was considered a perk for the head gardener.
You can find all mentions of your ancestor under the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. The Specific Streets etc menu can be used to find info about other Marlow houses.
Related posts:
Marlow's other early motorists here
Written & researched by Kathryn,
© MarlowAncestors
Sources include:
1863 Dutton, Allen & Co Directory
Kelly's Directory 1883 (Kelly's Directory Ltd)
Harrods Royal County directory. (JG Harrod & Co,1876)
Census 1881,1891 transcribed from microfilm by Jane Pullinger.
Gardeners Chronicle & Agricultural Gazette (Haymarket, 1854). Digitised by Google.
Sheahan, James Joseph History and Topography of Buckinghamshire 1862
South Bucks Standard 4 June 1897, 12 June 1908, British Library Archive, accessed via the BNA.
Bucks Herald 1 April 1865, 01 August 1874 as above.
Reading Mercury 13 July 1901, as above.
Berkshire Chronicle 9 February 1861, as above.
Morning Post cutting, July 1900.
https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/print.jsp?div=t18461123
Families claiming ducal connections 1700-1800. (1985, Jane Pullinger)