If you were fortunate to walk along the Thames of an evening in the 18th century you may have had the pleasure of seeing an otter at Marlow. Mostly active at night, they might still leave a trail on the banks that you could see during the day. They could still be found in Victorian times, but in much lower numbers, and unfortunately a few Marlow men had a role to play in their decline and eventual disappearance. The Thames otters are now back although I am not sure any have yet made their way to Marlow.
The problem for the otters was that Marlow made a lot of money from the men that came to Marlow to fish. And otters were regarded as ruining the anglers sport as they competed for the fish stocks. So if a fisherman saw one, he was likely to catch and kill it. Fisherman in this context usually refers to the professionals who were employed to convey or escort anglers to the best fishing spots. Henry Rockell, a long time fisherman of this type, caught and killed a "very fine" otter 3ft 10" long and weighing 23lb in 1862. In 1891, the Temple Lock keeper boasted of catching his 5th otter in 2 years. Part of the motivation was regular payments by angling clubs offered for the capture of otters dead or alive. (In 1880 there was a 10 shilling reward for a dead otter offered by the local anglers association. In 1889 the reward was £1) You have to cheer the otter that escaped two gunmen who had come across it on the towpath near Hurley. They fetched a punt in order to pursue it on the river but it managed to go via a ditch into private property where it was safe from their attention. Perhaps this was the same one that eluded Hurley Lock Keeper Davis in 1872. He fetched his gun but then found the only cartridge he had didn't fit it. The Hurley lock keeper Townsend was gently satirised in an 1882 Thames guide for being a man obsessed with the subject of otters, turning every conversation round to the subject of needing to keep a watchful eye out for them. By the time the book had been published, Mr Townsend had caught and stuffed one of his quarries, putting it on display in a glass case. Mr Barksfield, a carpenter on the Danesfield estate, killed both a male and female otter in 1889.
One person who would pay for a live otter was Alfred Heneage Cocks of Thames Bank and later Poynetts near Hambledon. A man of many interests, Mr Cocks was the keeper of a menagerie of British wild animals, which included some otters bred in captivity. He contributed his observations about their behaviour to many journals and institutions. His prize male otter, captured on the River Isis in Oxfordshire, died while still young leaving him with two captive females and a thwarted plan to breed them. He gained another in 1895 thanks to the lock keeper at Temple. It was in fact an otter that had started Alfred's animal collection when he was still a boy. He had came across a Marlow man who had caught one and who offered to find another and sell it to the young man. He finally managed to breed a litter from a young female he had hand reared within his house. Alfred seems to have possessed at least 8 other adult otters between the 1870s and 1890s, caught by either himself or others chiefly around Marlow and Bisham. Some he kept for over a decade. I'm pleased to say at least one female made a successful break from her cage into the freedom of the Thames however. Strange as it may seem in our eyes, considering his habit of removing them from the wild, Alfred considered himself an ally of the otters. He campaigned to make it illegal for lock keepers to trap the animals (successfully, it was banned by the Thames Conservancy in 1903) and declared the shooting of them by anglers ignorant and disgraceful.
The last mention of an otter I can find nearby until recent times was one sadly killed by a dog in the river in 1916. Otters were now rare enough in this stretch of Thames for the appearance of the otter to be reported nationally.
Other once abundant wildlife that may not be easy to find in the Marlow waters now are eels and lamprey. Eel baskets or "bucks" used to sit on the older versions of Marlow Bridge. Eel "lines" are mentioned later - the anglers also objecting to these for interfering with other fishing. Marlow's Domesday book entry says the manor was good for 1000 eels a year. An unfortunate diner at an unnamed Marlow public house in 1766 died in "great agony" after an attempt to consume 5lbs of eels, along with 5lbs bread, and 5 quarts of beer. He managed the bread and beer, but became sick after chomping his way through the first 3lbs of eels! (Mr Adnose Jack)
Marlow was regarded as the farthest part of Thames from London that was good for catching lampreys. In the late 18th century the Dutch were said to be the buyers of "incredible quantities" of these each spring. They were still regarded as abundant in the early Victorian era. A mostly forgotten seasonal harvest that would have occupied many Marlow people.
Salmon had disappeared from our stretch of the Thames in the the first part of the 19th century. (1820 was a date often given for last one caught.) Wycombe Road farmer William Cresswell (Creswell) had extensive knowledge of the river. In 1866 he was one of several Marlow men who appeared before a Royal Commission on the subject of preventing pollution in the Thames and improving its navigation. He was asked how the river had changed within his life time. The loss of salmon stood out to him. He recalled last seeing one in the river 48 years before, but before that he remembered salmon of 20-30lbs were taken. William had ran the Swan barge with his brother George in his youth, and had also taken out fishing parties from the Compleat Angler, ran by his parents for decades. Various people had ideas as to why the salmon had vanished, with the inclusion of more locks one suggestion, and too many steam launches on the river another, along with pollution.
For a sight that was just as unusual in the past as now we can mention a 7ft long sturgeon seen swimming in the Thames in 1824. It came from the direction of Maidenhead and seems to have escaped the attention of fisherman.
Written and researched by Kathryn Day.
Related posts:
To read more posts about the Thames in Marlow from the bargemen working on it, to frozen river skating and procedures for reviving the drowned see the index here
To find all mentions of an individual here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu where you will find links to posts about 3,025 and counting former residents of Marlow.
A post listing for info about places close to Marlow such as Harleyford, Temple and Hurley is available here
Sources
Zoologist Monthly Journal of Natural History, 1877 (West and Newman)
Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1881.
The Zoologist, 1882 collected edition.
Alfred, H.J, 1859 - A complete guide to spinning and trolling for fishermen. (Alfred & Son London)
Dickens, Charles - Dickens Dictionary of the Thames (Dickens 1889 edition)
Fennell, John Greville, 1867 -The Rail and The Rod, or tourist Anglers Guide to waters and quarters. (H.Cox,London)
Royal Society for Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce Journal Vol 17 (RSA 1869)
Fearnside, William Gray, 1834. Tombleson's Thames (Tombleson and Company, London)
Windsor and Eton Express 31 August 1824 - copy from the British Library and accessed via the BNA November 2020
Bucks Herald Apr 1 1882, as above
South Bucks Standard. 1 March 1891, as above.
Western Daily Press, 29 April 1916. As above.
Kelly's Directory of Berks, Bucks and Oxfordshire 1883, (Kelly's Directories Ltd)
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic news, vol 2 1875.
Pask, Arthur Thomas, The Thames From Lock To Lock, a Playful Guide 1882.
Weekly Amusement, December 1766. Digitised by the InternetArchive.
©Marlow Ancestors
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