Tales Of A Marlow Policeman - Sergeant Maneely

Sergeant John James Maneely has had a walk on role in several of the stories we have already told about life in old Great Marlow. So we thought it was time to feature the man himself centre stage. 

As you have probably guessed from his name, Sergeant (later Superintendent) Maneely was born in Ireland [Co Tyrone, 1841. His wife Maria was Welsh.] So he was not, in common with most of our Bucks Constabulary police from days past, a Marlow man as such. But he certainly had a big role to play in the lives of many here! 

At the time of his retirement in 1901 we are told that Maneely had served for 38 years up to that point. He came to Marlow from Burnham in 1881, having previously been stationed at Amersham. 

Marlow may be a relatively small town but we mustn't assume that Maneely and his colleagues had anything like a peaceful time here.  Maneely is frequently to be found rounding up the drunk and disorderly, the users of "disgraceful language", the domestic abusers and those "trespassing after game." Such was the bread and butter work of Marlow Police.

However Maneely had been less than a year in his role in Marlow when he narrowly escaped being stabbed by Mary Ann Grace. He was struggling with her to gain possession of a knife she had used to stab her husband in the head during an argument. He managed to overcome her and secure the weapon for evidence. Mary Ann recieved a year in prison for the attack on her husband - you can read about the incident in a post here

The Sergeant was involved in executing warrants and interviewing suspects. He also laid a trap or two to catch a criminal. For example, in 1881 he worked with bookseller, stationer and printer Robert Hayes Smith to catch the person responsible for stealing from the the shop till. One Sunday Robert had heard a sound at the shop door (the shop being closed). He realised afterwards it was the sound of someone checking to see if it was locked. However at the time he was not alarmed, and on seeing no one trying to come in, he actually unlocked the door as he realised his children would shortly be coming back from church. This was clearly a gift to a thief who had not gone far away, and when the children arrived home they found the street door wide open. On checking his till, Robert realised several coins were gone. He decided to quietly speak to Sergeant Maneely about the matter. They thought that the thief might try the same trick having got so easily away the first time. So Maneely agreed to hide in the shop the following Sunday, and Robert marked some coins and placed them in the till drawer. The door was left unlocked and the shop was also watched from the outside. Before Maneely arrived to assume his position, Robert saw the door pushed open but it was only 13 year old Elizabeth Price. Elizabeth said she had a message to deliver to one of Roberts daughters from "some person" who wanted to complain that the girl had interrupted the play of the message sender's children. The message didn't make much sense, and Elizabeth couldn't say who had sent it via her. It seems she then left the shop but sadly not for long. For Robert was surprised when Sergt Maneely called him to come to the sitting room where he had placed young Elizabeth under arrest. She had been observed to hang around the shop door, re enter, take a purse off the shop shelf and then remove the coins from the till. The marked coins were found on her. Robert was surprised at the youth of his thief and asked in court for her to be treated with mercy given her age. His pleas were only partially successful. The judges thought Elizabeth's actions showed much pre mediation and so she was sentenced to a month in prison with hard labour. The work would be suited to her age they assured Robert. They added that they could have given her a 3 month term. 

A more bizarre watch was instigated by Sgt Maneely in 1886 when he set some constables to stake out Colonels Meadow (behind Borlase school). Reports had come to him of someone working their way around the perimeter breaking down and then carting off the fence. The constables caught our fence gatherer at work the following night - labourer Henry Stroud. He plead guilty - perhaps not surprising given he was found with the fence railings in his hands! He was charged with two similar offences and fined £1 plus costs for each. 

A particularly sad case came to the Sergeants attention in the summer of 1887. Two "little boys" belonging to the Neighbour family decided to go fishing for minnows in a ditch that bordered The Croft (now Gyldernscroft) near the Alder Meadow (Marlow Cricket Club ground). They had been done so many times before. On this day the boys saw what they thought was a parcel dumped in the water. They fetched it out with a stick, and found it was actually a sacking wrapped bundle weighted down with a length of metal chain. On starting to open it, the poor little lads discover the partially decomposed body of a new born baby girl. They ran to get their parents who in turn fetched Maneely. The sergeant gathered up the "parcel" and carried his sad bundle back to the police station. The identity of the infant was never established.

It was not all hard work for Maneely in Marlow. He played cricket for the Bucks Constabulary team when they played the occasional fixture, against other police or works teams. Perhaps he found time to watch a match or two at Marlow also. Maneely was also a member of the Christian Policemans Association. In 1886, 16 year old daughter Annie entered one of the Associations regular Bible knowledge quizzes and earned a "highly commended" for her efforts. This was organised through the group's monthly journal where the questions were published. The answers were then sent in by post and scored by a vicar. Annie recieved her name in print as a result. 

In 1890 Maneely was moved to Fenny Stratford, to fulfil the role vacated by the sudden death of his predecessor. He did not however remain there long as he was promoted to Superintendent and went to join the High Wycombe County Police in 1892. He replaced Superintendent Summers who was retiring - Summers had also served in Marlow. Maneely remained in Wycombe until his retirement in April 1901. Granted a "handsome pension" he also recieved gifts from his fellow police officers. This included an inscribed clock and silver cruet set as well as a "purse of gold". The local magistrates were sorry to see their efficient officer depart. He had they said been "most excellent" in his role and they could not imagine a better choice could have come their way for Superintendent. Maneely retired to East Sussex and died there in 1923 age 82. 

NB. Maneely had a son also named John James. He was an electrical engineer who settled in Penshurst, Kent. (Husband to Jane nee Card, married 1900)

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Related Posts:

Crime and disorder in old Great Marlow: Early policing - crime fighting societies, parish constables, sheep stealing and the night watch here

The Old Police Station and Police Court History: here

General index of posts related to crime and policing: here

* More about Robert Hayes Smith here

To find every mention of an individual here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. As of June 2022 there are more than 4,000 people listed there. 

Sources include:

Census 1881, 1891 : transcripts by Jane Pullinger from the original records. 

On and Off Duty - February 1886 (International Christian Policemans Association,1886)

Grace and Card family research by Charlotte. 

South Bucks Standard 29 July 1892 & 15 March 1901 British Library Archive. 

 Bucks Herald 12 February 1881, 27th April 1901 as above. 

Kellys Directory of Buckinghamshire... 1869 & 1883 (Kelly's Directories Ltd)

England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVHQ-PXM6 : 22 August 2020), John J Maneely, 1923.

© MarlowAncestors

Clarkes Grave, Hurley

 Note this surname is Clarkes, with final S not Clarke plural. 

Mary Clarkes. Born June 13 18(2?)6

Died December 1894. 

This grave is at St Mary's Hurley. 

©Marlow Ancestors

Most Popular Male Names Late Victorian Marlow

Compiled by me taking all variant spellings of a name together as one to give a realistic idea of how common a name was. 

The top 30 names of males living in later Victorian Great Marlow:

1.) William

2.) George

3.) John

4.) James

5.) Thomas

6.) Charles

7.) Henry

8.) Frederick

9.) Joseph

10.) Arthur

11.) Alfred

12.) Albert

13.) Harry (where this is the genuine birth name and not just short for Henry).

14.) Richard

15.) Robert

16.) Walter

17.) Edward

18.) Edwin

19.) Frank (where this is the full name and not short for Francis)

20.) Ernest

21.) Herbert

22.) Benjamin

23.) Daniel

24.) Edmund

25.) Francis

26.) David

27.) Leonard

28.) Samuel

29.) Sidney

30.) Owen 

©Marlow Ancestors.

Hurley Grave- Pitt

 In the churchyard.

Sarah Pitt daughter of William and Ann. Died February 1777. Aged 1 year 7 months.

Post by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this content for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

©Marlow Ancestors.

Young Offenders At Marlow

This post is to give an idea on how children who committed crimes (in the eyes of their elders) were treated in Victorian Marlow. Some of our juvenile offenders have already received a post of their own. This is a more or less random selection of a few others that we came across during our research. 

The first thing that is obvious is the child's family would have a bearing on the sentence the young one recieved. If the miscreant was considered to come from an otherwise respectable family, this fact is carefully noted in reports and considered a mitigating factor come sentencing time. But if the child's parents were considered lacking in such respectability, the child was feared to be more likely to commit another misdeed and was without doubt treated more harshly.  It's unlikely a middle class child committing a theft would get sent to a  reformatory for example. So the child's appearance in court and that of their parents mattered. 

Thomas Plumridge

Going in date order, our first case is from 1843 and it involves Thomas Plumridge who is described at "about 11". He was caught stealing a piece of pork from grocer Joseph Eagle* of Spittal Street. There are two possible candidates for this young man - one the son of William and Ann of Gun Lane, the other from Handy Cross. The tearful lad presented a truly penitent appearance in their eyes.  He was able to present witnesses as to his "excellent character" which along with a guilty plea helped him escape with just 3 days in prison. He had been put up to the theft by other unnamed boys he said. Sometimes a explanation like this worked in a child's favour, in other cases it had the opposite effect and bought down warnings against a moral failing and inability to resist sin. Thomas does not seem to have erred again regardless! 

Emily Grace

Moving to 1860, we come to a contrasting case, that of twelve year old Emily Grace**. Emily was up in court for theft. She had gone into the Washbourne's Seminary for Young Ladies (a small private day and boarding school) and removed several items belonging to the young pupils from the place where the girls hung their clothes. These were later detailed as a hat and coat valued at 4 shillings and a hat and cape valued at the same. At the same time she was accused of stealing an umbrella from the parish church. Umbrellas were relatively more valuable as well as easy to abstract so were not infrequent subjects of thefts at the time. Emily was seen at the Washbourne's when the clothes were missed and a search at her home revealed the missing items hidden away. It may well be they intended to pawn them. Young Emily confessed and plead guilty at trial. Unfortunately for her, she was not regarded as coming from a strictly respectable home. The wider Grace family were frequently before the bench. PC Nash considered her a victim of bad parenting and suggested it would be "beneficial to remove her from the scene of her vice for a time."  The newspaper reports were also quick to accuse her elders as providing "very indifferent training" to Emily. A household that was considered likely to encourage their offspring into a life of crime, or at least one that did not prove capable of controlling an errant child was just the sort the authorities feared. And so Emily was considered the ideal candidate to be sent to  reformatory. This was a sort of prison come school where the children were taught "honest industry" in the hope they would gain legitimate employment on release. She was put into prison for 2 weeks first, which was at the time a requirement, and then was handed over to a representative of Hampstead Reformatory for Girls where she was sentenced to spend the next 3 years. (The minimum term was 2 years.) These institutions varied hugely in quality, but Hampstead was thought to be one of the better ones at the time. Let us hope it was. The father of Emily, Richard Grace, was summoned a few months later for failing to make the compulsory maintenance payments towards his daughters upkeep at the Institution. The newspapers headed that reported again that Emily was a victim of "bad bringing up". The court considered that Richard was earning good money and could easily afford to pay for Emily but "cared little" about doing so. 

There was no possibility of remaining annoymous if you were child criminal. Public shame was no doubt meant to act as a deterrent. But it must have made it difficult for the girls trained in their "honest industry" to get jobs thereafter, at least in their home area. Emily was 15 on her release. Obviously many young unmarried women were servants and this might well have been the job Emily was always destined for. But now she had a public bad character it was going to be difficult for her to access  this big source of employment. In the end she went to work as a servant for Elizabeth Keene, who is supposed to have taken her on out of charity. But less than a month into the job, Elizabeth missed a pair of boots which were found in Emily's possession. Emily confessed to taking them and this time she was sentenced to serve 9 months in Aylesbury gaol with hard labour. She was 16. On release Emily returned to live with her parents. She would go on to have two illegitimate children, before marrying James Smith in 1879.  (She was unable to prove paternity for the second child born 1871 so no money was forthcoming from the alleged father, John Howard. At the hearing where that was settled there was said to be raucous scenes with much swearing from both sides!!) The couple moved to Essex, the birthplace of James.

George Robinson

Next "criminal" is 12 year old George Robinson. He was guilty of doing what seems at first to be simply behaving as a child - running through a Marlow Bottom field with some other boys while playing a game. However corn was growing there and crop damage was taken seriously at a time when many farmers were operating on a small margin. The other lads got away, but George was recognised and somewhat unfairly was made to pay costs amounting to the whole estimated value of the corn damaged by all the group - 10s. His mother Emma said George was a good boy and she appealed for mercy as he "had no father". In this case it meant she was a widower. She explained that George worked to help support his household, along with brother William age 14. Both were working as furriers then but George was previously a shoemaker. Emma was a needlewoman. The court said they would be as lenient as possible and so George recieved a 6d fine plus costs and the compensation mentioned above. If his mother had not been able to pay, George would have been required to spend two weeks in jail. 

 Owen Hatch 

Lastly we have a case from the end of the era. Owen Hatch age 7 had set alight two pig styes and a shed at Cookham Dean. All were completely destroyed. It would cost elderly  owner Henry Clark at least £5 to replace them. As he had "respectable parents" and was normally well behaved, he was let off with a telling off.  It seems that Owen had been playing with matches and acting only out of misplaced curiousity. The petty sessions established that Owen's family could not afford to compensate Henry Clark for his heavy loss as the father was not in regular employment at the time. Therefore it was decided to set up a subscription fund so well wishers could make good his loss. I believe the amount was comfortably raised. 

Related Posts:

*You can read about Joseph Eagles grocer shop here

 **More about the Grace family (caution, some distressing content) here

The Washbourne's school here

Crime and punishment in old Marlow: here

Pictures of the old police station and police court and it's history : here

Case of Mary Ann Burt, child thief  here 

To find all mentions of an individual or family here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. There's over 4,000 people listed there. 

Cookham Dean and other areas near Great Marlow - post list here

Written by Kathryn Day. 

Sources: Washbourne family research by Charlotte. 

Judicial record summary by Jane Pullinger 1975. 

Census 1841,51,61 - transcript from microfilm  by Jane Pullinger. 

Reports From The Commissionees Vol 38, Great Britain House of Commons. 1866.

Wilkinson, Robert  - The Reformatory and Industrial Schools Acts 1866 with notes etc  (Knight and Company 1867)

The Reformatory and Refuge Journal 1860.  (Reformatory and Refuge Union,1861)

Slough, Eton and Windsor Observer 28 September 1889. Slough Library. 

© MarlowAncestors.

Maldah, Institute Road

 

Above is a photo of the house Maldah in Institute Road Marlow. Maldah is a place in Bengal India. It isn't yet clear to me why the house was named after it. Quite a few properties in old Marlow had names reflecting places in the British Empire. We are hoping to write posts on their history to go along with this one.

The first resident I can definitely identify at Maldah was living there in 1898- William Popham, an electrical engineer at a time when electrical engineering was still very new, exciting and marvellous in the eyes of the average person. Though English William was an associate member of the American Institute Of Electrical Engineers (founded by Thomas Edison and Nicholas Tesla amongst others). This organisation had international links and an international outlook. William was connected to and may have worked directly for electrical engineer R.H Barnett of Newcastle, England. In 1899 at the age of about 30 he married at St Margaret's Westminster Rose Hervey. She then lived with her parents in Powys Square London but had been born and raised in colonial India (so perhaps suggested the name Maldah?). The couple split their time between London and Maldah, Marlow. I feel that the latter was perhaps mostly their summertime or weekend residence. It does not appear that they had any children.

Rose Popham was clearly a great admirer of the British Empire. She gave many public speeches in London urging English women to go to South Africa so that British men could find brides there after the South African Wars and was Secretary of the British Women's Emigration Association. She also helped English schools to find schools in the colonies to exchange letters with so that the children could learn about each other's different lives. Whether the foreign schools approached were those catering for European emigrant children or local ones or a mixture of both isn't clear. Rose offered help to any British teachers that were working in Colonial schools who wanted to return to Britain for rest or medical treatment but could not afford to do so.

When he wasn't working William was reading up on the latest research into the Vikings for whom he had a great passion. He was a member of and for while the Honorary Auditor of, the national Viking Club group of enthusiasts.

The couple kept Maldah until 1904 when the house and some of its furniture were put up for sale. After they left Marlow William became a stockbroker. In 1914 he volunteered for service in the Air Force. He survived World War One, not dying until the 1940s.

By 1914 the occupiers of Maldah were Beryl and William Onslow Secker who moved there from Wood End House near Marlow. Beryl had attended a meeting at Danesfield, Medmenham in 1912 of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. This was an organisation opposed to violent methods of gaining emancipation for women. More on suffragettes in Marlow and opposition to their cause see Kathryn's post here.

In 1916 the couple were paying £80 a year rent on the property. That year the freehold was put up for sale with them as sitting tenants but failed to attract sufficient bidding for a sale to go through. 

William was a soldier who had become a successful tea planter at Kandy Sri Lanka before returning to England in 1906 -07 with enough money to need no further employment. The First World War however disturbed the peace of rich and poor alike and William volunteered to rejoin the Army.

In 1918 William successfully sued for slander former Marlow police constable Edward Trim who had, whilst home on leave from military service during the war, spread about the completely false rumour that poor William was a German spy who had been paid hundreds of pounds through secret channels to betray his country. Trim bragged that he had played a major role in identifying and arresting William as a spy. William was he insisted languishing in the Tower of London as a result. Actually William was serving in the army as a loyal soldier. When he got wind of the slander he obtained leave to go home and launch legal action against Trim. The judge in the case said that he felt that Trim had lied because he had wanted to make himself seem important to those he spoke to in the Crown public house and an unnamed Marlow stationery shop. The slander against William was not merely untrue it was highly dangerous. Given the intensity of feeling such allegations would have aroused William's life and even that of his wife, not to mention the security of their home would have been at risk from angry mobs. 

William survived the war. He and Mrs Secker was still resident at Maldah in 1939 when she exhibited a tapestry of nearby Bisham Abbey. Their son Gerald left Marlow and became a rubber planter in Sri Lanka in 1920. 

The Seckers may have been related to the local Wethered family as Alice Wethered, elderly widow of Owen Peel Wethered of Tenerife died at Maldah in 1918.

Our blog focuses on the period up to the 1930's so I'll leave it there! 

All mentions of any person on this blog can be found by consulting the A-Z Person Index -there is a Harry Secker on there for instance who may be of interest. Thousands of people are listed on the index. More posts related to Institute Road or surrounding streets can be found on this index 

Written and researched by Charlotte Day. Photo by Kathryn Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this information for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

Sources

Country-side: Monthly Journal of the B.E.N.A. (British Empire Naturalists' Association).. United Kingdom, n.p, 1908.

"England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW2N-XRK : 16 May 2019), W Vyvyan M Popham, Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.

J.A. Berly's Universal Electrical Directory and Advertiser. United Kingdom, Wm. Dawson & Sons, 1900.

Saga-book of the Viking Club. (1980). United Kingdom: Viking Club.

The Electrician Electrical Trades Directory and Handbook. United Kingdom, Benn Brothers., 1893.

Bucks Herald 11th June 1894. Reading Mercury 8th July 1916. Reading Mercury February 11th 1939. Evening Herald (Dublin) 20th February 1918 British Library Archives.

South Bucks Standard. 18th January 1912. British Library Archives, via the BNA.

Proceedings of the Planters' Association of Ceylon. Sri Lanka, The Association, 1907.

"England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:26M8-K64 : 13 December 2014), Beryl Brunton, 1897; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1897, quarter 3, vol. 1A, p. 1005, St. George Hanover Square, London, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.