Kenton House Marlow

 Kenton House is given historically usually in Victoria Road but also sometimes in Glade Road suggesting it had entrances in both roads. It was close to Kenton Villas in Glade Road, two pairs of two houses built like Kenton House for Frederick Joseph Wright. It was a detached house with a garden, paddock (later an orchard), stable and stable yard. 

In 1883 Mrs Rolls was the resident. During the 1890s the house was often sub let for the Summer. Such was a common thing to do for Glade Road area residents. It was near the railway station and within walking distance of the Thames. Just the ticket for those who wanted to enjoy a fashionable riverside holiday!

Whoever had been the main tenant of late in 1905 had perhaps just died as the house contents was put up for auction then.

By 1907 Major Francis Fowler, his mother Gertrude and siblings lived at Kenton House. Mrs Fowler was the widow of Major General Charles Fowler who had died the previous year. In 1908 her youngest daughter May who was known by her middle name Irene drowned while punting on the Thames at Bisham. Punting was a very popular Edwardian past time on the river. Irene was an acknowledged expert on the art of managing a punt but the river on that stretch claimed casualties every single year. Irene had hired her punt from Shaws boat house in Marlow in windy but not not inadvisable weather conditions. She overbalanced while trying to free her punting pole from a tangle of weeds. Two small boy raised the alarm that a woman was in the water and trying to swim but the men who rushed to her aid could not find Irene. Her body was later recovered.

She was a musical woman as well as an active one training the choir of St Peter's Catholic church in Marlow and participating in charity concerts.

The same year Irene died Kenton House was put up for sale following the death of Eleanor Wright, widow of Frederick. The property was then worth £60 a year rent. Whoever bought the house, Major Francis Fowler's tenancy was unaffected. He seems to have been away from home in 1911 as on the census that year the Eddowes family occupied Kenton House.

He was back in residence in 1913 however when the house was again put up for sale. By then his yearly rent had soared to £85 which was pretty pricey. According to The Peerage website Gertrude Fowler died in Florence Italy in 1913.

We mainly focus on pre 1920s Marlow so I will leave it there.

To find more content on the historic residents of Victoria Road or Glade Road see this index.

All mentions of someone on this blog can be found under the Person Index.

Sources Included:

Kellys Post Office Directory for Bucks 1908. Kelly's Directories Limited.

GRO death registrations.

South Bucks Standard 14th July 1905, 4th September 1908 and 9th October 1908. British Library Archives, via the BNA.

https://thepeerage.com/p38900.htm#i388995