This post is a summary of the life of Alfred Edmund Neighbour, landlord of the Red Lion in Marlow, and the Dog & Badger inn at Medmenham.
Gardening in the blood
Alfred was born in 1840 to 34 year old gardener John who was in charge of the gardens of Remnantz in the 1850s. The family lived for decades in "Potlands" or the Portland's area off West Street - for more about this time see the People Of Potland's post here Alfred's older brother William would grow up to be the celebrated head gardener at Court Garden and later Harleyford (read more here), while 3 other brothers Edward, John and Edwin also spent at least some time working as gardeners too. The kitchen gardens of Remnantz could be accessed from Portland's Alley as well as from West Street. It's possible the younger brothers may also have spent some time working at Remnantz in their junior roles. I believe Alfred's mother Hannah Maria died shortly after his birth.
Young Alfred however took another path and came to work on the railways. By 1861 he was at Leatherhead in Surrey* working as a railway guard, a responsible position for a young man. Like many youthful railway workers who were unmarried, he lodged with another family, in this case the Walkers at the Plough Inn. By the time of his first marriage in 1864, he had been promoted to a railway inspector (that is of safety rather than tickets).
His bride was Marlow's Hannah Elizabeth Hoare, daughter of beer sellers and lodging house keepers Charles and Charlotte. Hannah grew up in Gun Lane (now Trinity Rd) where her parents kept the small but respectable The Three Horseshoes. They always had lodgers, as beer sellers often did, so conditions were cramped. Later the Hoares moved to run the rather less salubrious by reputation Travellers Friend in Dean Street. This functioned more as a common lodging house than a beer seller by this time but it was licensed. Sometimes as many as 16 mostly young single men were slotted in with the family - no one expected their own room. Finally the Hoares would run the The Bear in Chapel Street, again a licensed premises that functioned chiefly as a lodging house, and not a very spacious one given the sometimes high number of residents.
At The Red Lion
A couple of years after their marriage, Alfred and Hannah were back in Marlow. Hannah would find herself yet again serving beer as the couple decided to take over the Red Lion in West Street. This was just next to the Neighbours original Potland's home. The Red Lion did have the odd longer term lodger and regular overnight paying guests but it was definitely a few steps up from the "common lodging houses". The Neighbours time there was relatively peaceful although Alfred went through that Marlow rite of passage of recieving a summons for allowing illegal gambling on the premises. (1867) This was related to the playing of card games there. Alfred was caught by a plain clothes constable who found several games ongoing in the back room, with Alfred frequently present. Alfred argued that he was new to the publican business and he had observed other licensees allowing card games so he thought there was no harm in it. He would however promise to abide by the terms of his licence in future. The court was fairly sympathetic and issued a low fine. Perhaps they did not realise his wife had been bought up in the trade and probably knew the regulations very well!
Sadly Hannah passed away when her youngest son Edward (b.1870) was just an infant. Soon afterwards, Alfred gave up the licence, and we loose sight of him for a couple of years. By 1877, however Alfred was in Medmenham and preparing to marry again..to another publicans daughter.
The Dog & Badger
Emma Sawyer grew up in Medmenham with parents James and Mary, innkeepers at the historic roadside Dog and Badger inn. By age 14 she was helping her parents as a bar maid, no labour restrictions relating to the employment of minors selling alcohol were yet in place! It was the tradition role for young unmarried publicans daughters, and good training - there is a reason a very high number go on to marry into other innkeeping families. When Emma and Alfred took over the Dog & Badger in turn from Emma's widowed mother, they would describe their 14 year old son/ step son Charles as their ostler and and 13 year old Hannah as a bar maid in turn. (1881). Alfred's son Edward age 11 was still obliged to go to school but he did not escape beer selling entirely. The adult Edward would (after a stint as a carpenter) be a beer dealer and grocer at Neighbours Stores in Quoiting Square with wife Catherine nee White.
Enter the duck
Things were not always peaceful for Alfred and Emma. In 1879 Alfred got into a tussle with a customer that landed him in court. It was the day of Marlow October Fair, and so there was a lot of traffic passing between Henley and Marlow. It was therefore a busy day for Henry too, in his position on the roadside between the two. Henley licensed victualler Joseph Ball was amongst those stopping by on both the way in and out. Shortly after Joseph and two friends arrived, Alfred encountered them and showed them a (dead) duck in his possession. (It seems Alfred thought it a good example, and drew their attention to it) Joseph took hold of the bird and made an offer to buy it that was presumably cheekily low. Alfred contended the encounter was a jocular one and he thought they were joking so laugh over he reached to retrieve the bird. But Joseph said he had made a bargain and would insist Alfred kept to it and so refused to hand the duck back. Some arguments went on for 5-10 mins, including a tug of war involving the thankfully dead animal. Alfred then lost what was left of his temper and threatened to hit Joseph if he didn't hand back the duck. Shortly afterwards he followed through with this, making several blows and drawing blood. There were plenty of witnesses and it was admitted Joseph had had quite a bit to drink. The court found Alfred guilty but expressed regret that they felt obliged to do so as they felt he had been much provoked. They set his fine as low as possible and relieved him of the obligation to pay some of the costs. Whether the duck was left in a fit state to be of use to either is unrecorded!
Afterwards
In the early 1880s the Neighbours decided to leave the Dog & Badger. Many people were not landlords for long and a great number of past Marlow people with diverse backgrounds can include a stint as a beer seller in their history. They lasted longer than many. They did have one last attempt to take on another premises, that of the troubled Chairmakers Arms in Dean Street in 1884 but their application was refused. The authorities were sick of trouble at the Chairmakers and a constantly changing set of landlords and would not consider someone with any kind of question mark against them. For the Neighbours it was the fact they had been operating the premises in practice for a short time without a licence while someone else was technically in charge. You can read about that here
The couple moved out of our area to London where Alfred would remain for the last 15 years or so of his life. He is described as a engineers labourer on the 1891 census. Half brother Edwin was not too far away, working as a gardener in Hanwell. There appears to a number of more distant Neighbour relatives in the general area which may have provided a different incentive to move there. He died in 1907.
Written and researched by Kathryn Day with extra research by Charlotte Day.
RELATED POSTS:
Pub index where you will find proprietor listings for the pubs and lodging houses mentioned above: here
Other posts related to Medmenham: here
To find every mention of an individual here, use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down - 4,000 individuals are currently listed.
The Allams - details of Hannah Hoares sister Sarah, who married into the Allam fish monger family, as well as information on the sad death of mum Charlotte - here
Every day life in old Marlow : here
Biography of individuals index here
* Trip points for researchers:
Some online research databases have misread the birthplace of Alfred on the 1861 census as "St Marleybone", Bucks which does not exist. It actually reads Great Marlow but that's old handwriting for you! Always best to check several sources if you can. Beware too of the similar aged ALBERT Edmund Neighbour which again some sites (and only some) have accidentally listed as ALFRED, born Beaconsfield. There were many Neighbours there but our Alfred was born in Great Marlow. Both married Lambeth, but different years. The Hoares other daughter Sarah Tilleard also married at Lambeth.
The Neighbour families of Bucks /Oxfordshire/ Surrey include people who work in the kind of trades that mean frequent moves further afield such as domestic and market gardening, railway workers, publicans and soldiers. It is therefore best to cast the net widely when looking for them.
Posts on gardener William Neighbour, Waterman Arms landlord Henry Neighbour and wife Catherine, and tollgate keeper and convict William Neighbour are available by searching this index here
SOURCES INCLUDE:
Census 1841 -1891 transcripts from the originals microfilm by Charlotte and Jane Pullinger.
Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener - Article by George W Johnson FRHS and Robert Hogg LLD, September 1864
South Bucks Free Press 9 March 1867, from the British Library Archive via the BNA
Bucks Herald 7 November 1867.
Reading Mercury 09 March 1867
The Horticultural Domestic Journal collected, 1870-1880. (1881)
Landlord listing research for the Dog and Badger by Charlotte.
© MarlowAncestors
