Bird Brooks Research And Graves Great Marlow

 

Above two, James Bird Brooks d. Aug 1896 Age 70

And Rosina - details obscured but see research below.

Above, a different James Bird Brooks grave d. Dec 1st 1852 age 62 years

AND:

Mary, wife of the above Dec 28th 1860 age 74. 

In All Saints Parish Church. 

Research by Charlotte:

The bottom grave is for James Bird Brooks who was baptised at Marlow in 1790 (to William and Mary who was nee Bird) and his wife Mary. The Berkshire Chronicle announcing her death said that she was "much respected" and had died after a lingering illness. 

The top grave is for their son James Bird Brooks (baptised 1825) and his wife Rosina nee Barnes (married Hoxton New Church 1847, both parties of Great Marlow).

James Bird Brooks Senior was a baker and corn dealer, a combination of occupations which was very common at the time. By 1833 if not earlier the bakery was in the Causeway, Marlow. See here for a description of the premises in 1833. It is still a bakery today.

Young George Moody was sentenced to one week's hard labour in 1847 for cheating James Senior out of 10 shillings.

In 1848 James Senior was the executor of the will of Martha Cleobury a gentlewoman of Chapel Street (see here).

When James died he requested that his wife take over his business with their youngest son William to assist her. He was to receive a third of the net profits when he turned 30 provided he continued to assist her and then take over fully once she died.

James Junior was a farmer at Finnemoor Farm at Ackhampstead chapelry just outside Marlow by 1847. The will of James Senior suggests that James Junior was at first running the farm for his father  as the furniture in the farmhouse and the crops growing in the fields belonged to James Senior who was perhaps growing wheat and corn for his business there. James Senior was renting the property back in 1833.

James Junior was one of the overseers of Ackhampstead. Both James Junior and Rosina died at Finnemoor Farm House. Rosina's death was in 1861 when she was 71. Being a little isolated the farm was sometimes targeted by poachers and thieves after hen eggs or the turkeys raised there. Two daughters of James and Rosina died as young adults. Their graves are photographed on the blog here.

Siblings for James Junior were: Amelia (mentioned in the will of Martha Cleobury above), Jane, Sarah (married Marlow stonemason William Clifford, son also William who became a baker too. More on him here), and William who took over the family bakery business. Jane married William Hall the Marlow butcher of whom more here. She and her surviving siblings and their children all received legacies from James Senior in his will proved 1853. James Senior at the time of the will's writing in 1851 had 4 cottages in Woburn Buckinghamshire plus at Marlow his premises, 3 other cottages on the Causeway, 2 other nearby cottages, and cottages on Strong Beer Acre, Marlow (off what we now call Station Road).

The brother of James Senior, Joseph, was a farmer at Blounts with a William who was probably another brother.

More posts related to people of the Causeway, Marlow indexed here

Photos and headstone transcription by Kathryn, research by Charlotte.

References:

Will of James Bird Brooks. P.C.C. Copy held at the National Archives, Kew and transcribed by Charlotte Day.

Post office directory of Berkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, with Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Huntingdonshire [afterw.] The Post office directory of Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire. (1847). United Kingdom: (n.p.).

Reading Mercury 4th December 1852 and 18th April 1874. British Library Archives, via the BNA.

Bucks Chronicle 5th January 1861. As above.

Windsor and Eton Express. 16th January 1847. As above.

Robson's Commercial Directory 1839.

1833 Parochial Assessment for Great Marlow transcribed from originals in my possession by Charlotte Day.

Great Marlow Parish Registers, transcribed by Jane Pullinger from the originals.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use these images for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here. 

John Gosling, Innholder Will 1803

 John Gosling Innholder of Marlow. Will written and proved 1803.

To his trusty servant Mary Humphreys £50.

To Mary Chamberlin £25 at 21.

Servants John (?Bunce?) and George Stewart £5 each.

Rest of his property to his "dear and only child" Sarah at 21. Until then held in trust with the produce and interest to be used for her benefit by his executors. These are his brother Thomas Gosling, farmer, of ?Studsbury? Wiltshire and Richard Westbrook butcher of Great Marlow.

Witnessed by John Phipps and William Hickman.

Notes:

The second witness was a doctor which may indicate John Gosling was ill at the time of writing his will though Hickman was a near neighbour anyway.

From other records the brother Thomas was of Charlton, Wiltshire.

The premises occupied by John are unknown but was likely the Upper Crown. The fact that he had 3 servants implies a larger premises, Richard Westbrook the butcher was almost next door to that and William Hickman very close by there too. 

Employee John Bunce was likely the man of that name who became the landlord of the White Horse in Spittal Street by 1809. 

This P.C.C original will held at the National Archives, Kew was transcribed by me Charlotte Day and then summarised here.

More wills from Marlow transcribed and indexed here.

©Marlow Ancestors.

Martha Higginson

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

Martha Higginson was an artist and one of the matriarchs of the Higginson family of Marlow prior to her death and burial in the town in 1840 at what must have been a very advanced age. Martha was the grandmother of the George after whom Higginson Park in Marlow is named. She lived most of her life away from the town but we're still going to claim her as a Marlovian as she was an interesting woman indeed!

Martha was born Martha Isaacs (on occasion given as Isaacson) into a Jewish family of London. The date usually given for this - 1755 -  is an impossibility given that her first known commission as an artist was only ten years later than that and she was exhibiting consistently from 1771 when if she was born in 1755 she would be only 16. 

It is usually presumed she was the daughter of the embroiderer Levi Isaacs of the Drury Lane area of London but contemporary sources only stated that she could be found by potential clients at the house of a "Mr Isaacs" off Drury Lane, no first name given, and Martha's relationship to him is not specified. It could be that he was her grandfather, cousin, brother or uncle. 

Lawyer and diarist William Hickey knew her family well and it may be that the "Miss Isaacs" who was part of his party attending the coronation of George 3rd in 1761 was a young Martha though more likely a relative of hers as that lady was said to be from Ireland.

Martha is known to have been a pupil at the Covent Garden Academy drawing school operated by Thomas Burgess. In 1765 Martha was commissioned to paint a portrait of the Chief Rabbi which was an enormous honour and for a woman an unprecedented one.

Between 1771 and 1774 she exhibited works in London with the Free Society Of Artists. The next few years are a bit of a mystery in Martha's life but in 1778 she arrived in Calcutta and began working as a portrait painter and miniaturist. To go abroad alone as a woman would have been very unusual so it is likely she went to stay with friends or family. William Hickey noted her arrival in his journal but does not appear to have been acting as any kind of protector or guide for her. Good job really as William was a bit of a ne'er do well who had embezzled a great deal of money from his father's company and been sent abroad in disgrace. Martha painted a portrait of William to send home to his sister who was missing him.

Martha soon met her husband Alexander Higginson who was in British colonial service and they married the next year. To do so Martha converted to Christianity a few days before her wedding. The couple remained in Bengal for just a few years, returning to England in 1782 when Alexander was about 45 and Martha likely in her later 30s.

Alexander died aged just 49 leaving Martha to a very long widowhood. Alexander's great wealth are said to have been much diminished by then thanks to unlucky investments but Martha died a very wealthy woman so perhaps things weren't so bad or she was a better investor than her husband had been! What she was not doing however was working as an artist as, following convention, she ceased employment upon marriage. That is not to say that she stopped practising art for pleasure however. 

 By 1798 and till at least 1807 she was resident in the family home at 35 Harley Street London. From 1809 to 1817 Martha lived at 42 Weymouth Street London. Then at some point before 1819 the Higginson home in London switched to 46 Wimpole Street and Martha lived there.

All the Higginsons were active in charity matters and Martha was a particular supporter of the Children's Friends Society.

Family interest in the Indian subcontinent remained as can be witnessed by her son Charles, who lived with his mother, subscribing to a history of Hindustan for instance.

Martha died at the Higginson family's Marlow home Townsend Cottage on 9th August 1840. Don't be mislaid by the word 'cottage' - this was no small house. In her will she left one of sons a ring with a lock of her husband's hair inside and Alexander's initials spelt out upon it in "brilliants" ,amongst other jewelry.

More Biographies of Marlow Individuals here. A post on historic Marlow artists here

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

Sources:

http://www.pastellists.com/Articles/ISAACS.pdf

Bengal, Past & Present: Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society. (1933). India: The Society.

Will of Martha Higginson. P. C. C. At National Archives, Kew. Transcribed by me.

The Gentleman's Magazine. (1840). United Kingdom: E. Cave.

Jewish Art and Civilization Geoffrey Wigoder . Chartwell books 1972.

Dictionary of British Miniature Painters by Daphne Foskett. Praeger Publishers New York 1972.

Boyles Court and Country Guide. 1817. Via Google Books.

Sun Fire Office insurance records, London Metropolitan Archives.

Heather Grave, Great Marlow, All Saints

 Thomas Heather, master of the Free School in this town. d 5 May 1795 aged 50. 

Grave is in the churchyard of All Saints Church.

Thomas also had private pupils, some lodging with him at his house in West Steeet. He was 13 years head master of the "Free School" AKA The Bluecoats School, now known as Sir William Borlase Grammar School. He had previously been an assistant master there to his uncle William Heather. 

For more on the more than 70 schools that have existed in Marlow history see our index here

Grave photo / transcription index for the blog here

For every mention of any individual on this blog (thousands are included) see the A-Z Person Index option on the menu.

©Marlow Ancestors.