When we walk around the older streets in Marlow, with their comfortable Victorian villas, pretty Edwardian terraces and spacious Georgian homes, we might feel that Marlow was a pleasant and comfortable place to live for our Marlow predecessors. And for many, that's exactly what it was. But there has always been two sides to the story, and it is sometimes hard to appreciate just how grindingly poor and badly housed some of Marlow's workers actually were. The scenes of the worst of this, from the "abominable slum" St Peters Court, near St. Peters Street, the old homes of the miserably unsanitary Hayes Place, and the densely crowded areas around Dean Street have been demolished and removed almost as thoroughly from the collective memory. In our posts we hope to make sure that the lives of the poorer members of our town also get remembered. The story of St. Peters Court, the cholera outbreaks there, and Hayes Place have been covered by us before and the posts are linked to below. This entry covers a few aspects of life for the less well off in the Victorian and Edwardian era in Great Marlow.
Wretched homes in wretched streets
In an 1847 guide to the Thames and the town's and villages nearby, the author said that Marlow still had a "very poor reputation". The homes about the "meaner streets" had a "wretched, poverty stricken aspect" where there were more evident signs "of vice forcing themselves on the attention than is at all common in country times of the same size and class." The streets he meant were almost certainly Dean Street and those around such as Gun Lane, Providence Place and the like. These were centres of the poaching and wood stealing industries, and had a good share of beer sellers. (Spittal/Chapel Street, West Street, Church Passage/lower St Peters Street and Quoiting Square could boast more beer sellers in concentration however at this point.) Although the beer houses were criticized for harbouring criminals and driving poverty through the purchase of alcohol, they also had a role in relieving it. Apart from often providing affordable accomodation, they also organised the slate clubs. (See below).
So just how bad were these less than appealing homes of the poor? As an example of just how terrible conditions could be, we will look at 5 houses in Dean Street condemned as unfit for human habitation in 1875. These 5 one bedroom cottages were adjoining one another, and all belonged to James Meakes. It was discovered that 4-7 people were living in each of these tiny residences. The roof of one has partially fallen in, and that of the others was not watertight. And neither were the exterior walls which all had holes in. They shared a tumbled down privy which had an incredibly offensive odour. Further more, water came in under the doors both front and back when it rained. James Meakes eventually made the cottages in a livable condition, but only after ignoring two notices to improve them and subsequently recieving an order that they must be closed up and no longer let to anyone.
A glimmer of hope
A poorly maintained house with questionable sanitation and iffy drinking water wells may be bad enough, but a short period of illness and unemployment could make even these unaffordable. One way of providing a buffer against these type of events was to join either one of these slate clubs, or a friendly or benefit society. These varied slightly in terms, but generally the point was to pay in a regular weekly or monthly sum in exchange for claiming a payout in the event of a accident etc. Any unclaimed money paid in was usually shared out by the slate clubs at the end of the year amongst the fully paid up members. In 1839, the Royal Standard Benefit Society was started at the Clayton Arms in Quoiting Square. The monthly subscription was 2s6d. It was a large national organisation. If a member was sick, and unable to work a weekly sum was given to them to meet expenses. If they died, the bereaved family recieved £20 or £10 if the deceased was the spouse of the member. The lying in of a members wife (that is the period around her giving birth) resulted in a £2 payment. A loss of household property from fire, imprisonment for debt, and an order to go to the workhouse were also covered. The conditions of joining this society with its superior benefits were unsurprisingly stiff. You could only join for the first time if you were under 35 years old (although you could remain a member until 45) and you needed a minimum income of 24 shillings a week. In addition, your character must bear the strictest investigation!
The Clayton Arms still had a slate club at the end of the Victorian period but it was now run independently. (The last version was re-started in 1892) Unlike many clubs, this later club had no upper age limit for its members. It also had secured the huge benefit of offering subsidised medical attention to it's members for an additional payment of 1s a quarter. (Courtesy of Dr Culhane). By the late 1890s membership cost 6d a week, payable monthly. This entitled the member to up to six weeks sick pay at 10s a week. In 1893 it had 49 members. By 1898 it had 100. This club took an additional payment of a shilling from all members should one of their number die, to help pay for the funeral. (Or 6d from every member if one of their spouses died to the same end.) They would allow late payment of dues within reason, but you were fined for doing so. Committee members not turning up to meetings also recieved a soft fine, all profits to club funds.
The slate clubs were most prolific in the Victorian era, with just about every pub hosting one at one point or another. But several continued into the Edwardian era and beyond for example at The Ship in West Street, Two Brewers of St. Peters Str, The Plough in Little Marlow Rd, Prince Of Wales, Mill Rd, and the Royal Oak in Bovingdon Green.
Death preferred to the Workhouse
Poor relief was available for some, but there were exceptions - including those with illegitimate children who were barred from recieving outdoor relief at some points (that is help recieved outside of being admitted to the workhouse directly). Relief had to be applied for, and may not be granted. Some would quite literally die rather than be admitted to the "poor house". An extreme example of this was elderly ex agricultural labourer Mr Gardner who lived near Wymers Farm. He had become "somewhat incapacitated" and as such had been able to procure little work to support himself and his wife. Labouring was physically demanding even for the relatively young and agile. They had little if anything in the way of savings. Gardner had applied for parochial aid and duly received it it seems on a couple of occasions. In 1876, he was forced to ask for help again. It was the middle of winter and a difficult time to procure work at the best of times. The order this time was made that he must be admitted to the workhouse. This he could not bear, and the poor man slit his throat with a razor. He was found by his devastated wife on her return from running an errand.
Coal and Clothing Clubs
On a more positive note, efforts were made by the better off to ease some of the burden of poverty. Sometimes this was framed as educating the poor to budget, well intentioned if sometimes patronising and/or unrealistic. A Penny Savings bank was established, usually operating from the boys schoolroom in the Causeway. Regular saving was sometimes rewarded by the addition of a little top up to funds by the supporters of the Bank. It was wound up in 1888 after a period of at least 10 years.
In the late 1880s and 1890s the Parish Church came up with a few helpful schemes. Children attending the Sunday school could pay in a minimum of 1d at a time to join a clothing club which gave them access to reduced price items to wear. There was also a clothing club for adults. Those interested in that would ask for a "club card" from one of the supporters of the initiative. Then each Monday, the member needed to go the Vicarage and pay in a minimum of a penny to club funds. At the end of the year (November in club terms) those who had made a minimum number of payments would have their "card" topped up with a bonus for the purchase of clothing later. A coal club ran in a similar way, between May to November and also attracted an end of season bonus. I'm not sure whether the coal group purchased fuel during the summer months when it was a little cheaper, to sell at a subsidised rate as was the case in some other Coal Clubs.
A very difficult couple of years
The terrifically cold winters of 1894/5 caused much misery. Many men were reliant on outdoor manual labour to earn their living. This was especially true of those without a steady year round job who took work when and where they could. But prolonged frost, and flooding made much of the planned works impractical. No jobs meant no pay. A large number was described as in "real straits" by February 1895. A committee was set up to see what could be done to help them. Local people were implored to offer work. Mrs Allam rose to the challenge and found employment for 138 men over two days working at stone breaking at her gravel pitts. One of these occasions was captured by local photographers Scott & Smith of the High Street in Marlow. Others worked on projects for the local council, widening roads near Marlow Bottom and Seymour Court, under orders from the Parish surveyors. I believe subscribers to this work fund subsidised the wages of those so employed, to encourage their employment in sufficient numbers. Initial work was given as a priority to married men, on the presumption they would have at least a spouse if not children also dependent on them. Work was however also offered to single men which must have been an especial relief to those with other kinds of dependents.
The vicar started a fund to pay for the breakfasts of the poor children who could not concentrate on their schoolwork on empty stomachs. Lady Higginson, a devoted patron of Bovingdon Green school, organised the same free breakfasts there, free and at her own expense. Altogether about 75 children were said to be reliant on these free meals in early February. 100 of the worst off of the families also received a gift of coal, some of it also paid for by Lady Higginson.
Although the weather in 1894/5 was extreme, there were several other times that similar schemes were both needed and offered. For example in 1904 within hours of a register of unemployed men being opened, 35 men had put their names down to ask for work in any capacity that could be found. Although it could not be guaranteed that employment would be forthcoming for all, local businesses were implored to do their best, mostly "unskilled" labouring by the day.
Begging in the streets
It is not difficult to find evidence of regular beggars appearing in Marlow throughout this period. Some were moved on, several arrested. Sometimes promising to leave town and not return would allow them to escape punishment, especially later on. That is if they did not live here permanently. Some begged house to house, others in the streets. But there were also home grown examples, especially children. Sometimes the children were performing a little trick, tumble or dance for a few coins and perhaps we would call the enterprising youngsters buskers or street performers now! But in 1903, persistent complaints to the council of child begging in the streets, resulted in a police crackdown. However 5 years later, two youngsters of the Bowles family had been seen repeatedly begging for food or coins in Glade Rd. They had became a regular at the home of kind Mrs Thomas. She succinctly shut down the questions of those who asked why she had been "encouraging" them, by stating the children looked thin and had told her they were hungry and their father out of work. The following year, a group of Hunger Marchers passed through Marlow. They were met by police in West Street and allowed to proceed under escort up the High Street and over the Bridge. Trouble had been feared but none seems to have occured.
Quarry Woods, incredibly popular as a tourist destination, was said to be plagued by an "enormous number of beggar children" asking for food because they were "very hungry." The Bucks Herald called the children a "squalid and miserable hoard" who put the visitors off their food. No hint of empathy for the children whose longing looks at food were apparently so disturbing.
Common Lodging Houses
You will notice that in our listings of pubs, beer sellers etc, that many were described at times as also (or sometimes mainly) as Common Lodging Houses. These were cheap lodgings, usually used by unmarried men but not always. They tended to be crowded and with sometimes very poor reputations when it came to cleanliness, crime and over crowding. They were subject to more regulation and inspection as time went on, and as a result many closed (at least for accomodation). But we still had them in Marlow into the Edwardian era. A glimpse into what it was like to live in one can be seen from the report of the Crown and Cushion in Dean Street when it failed a Public Health Act inspection in 1904. Among the problems was a lack of screening between married couples beds, a lack of wash basins sufficient for the number of people inside, a dirty yard and an insufficiently cleaned stable.
A Last Image
In 1883 a reporter for the Maidenhead Advertiser attended the weekly petty sessions at the Magistrates court in Trinity Road. He described a distressing scene where a number of children from poor families were bought up on charges of theft. The sobbing from the youngsters was so loud that the witnesses could scarcely be heard. He was moved to pity and thought the children stood no chance of living anything but a life of degradation unless they were removed from their "evil" situation. But both he and the magistrate did not think the evil the children faced was poverty despite acknowledging that they looked "half starved" and were dressed in scanty clothing. For them the problem was a lack of civilization and Christianity from the "wretched" looking parents. The reporter wondered if missionaries shouldn't be employed in Marlow to help with this.
Written and researched by Kathryn Day.
Related Posts:
St Peter's court "slum" - here
Hayes Place here
Marlow poverty campaigner the Rev Tavender and of the Congregational Church - here
Posts related to history of Dean Street area and around:here
General posts about everyday life in old Great Marlow: here
More about Slate Clubs here
Wymers farm here
Poverty campaigner Rev Andrew Mearns here
© MarlowAncestors.
SOURCES INCLUDE:
Thorne, James - Rambles by Rivers : The Thames Volumes 1-2 (C. Cox 1847) Digitised by Google from New York City Library.
Penny Savings Banks - Penny Saving Society Journal (incomplete, 1881)
Windsor & Eton Journal - 15 January 1876
Bucks Herald March 24 1888, June 30 1883.
Maidenhead Advertiser July 8 1889, 06 August 1883.
South Bucks Standard 28 July 1891, 22 December 1893, 22 February 1895, 22 Jan 1904, 21 Feb 1908.
