Poetic Postmaster William Tyler

 William Tyler (born circa 1797) was a fascinating man, poet, political influencer, post master etc- and historic West Street Marlow resident.

His initial day job was that of a property agent specialising in sales and lettings of farms and land but also handling houses. In his spare time however he was a poet. He is said to have known well the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his author wife Mary Shelley who lived elsewhere in West Street for a short period in the 1810s. They probably shared a similar radical outlook. William would often write or speak about his memories of Shelley's residence here and it's a shame more of his anecdotes were not preserved. He had been given the chance to read diaries kept by Mrs Shelley during the families time in Switzerland for example and described it to contain many curious entries and incidents. Furthermore he knew the exact spot that the Revolt of Islam had been composed, on a little island near Medmenham Abbey. He says Shelley had visited that place daily while working on the Revolt, and had sometimes stayed there overnight. It was he said in 1824, now known by few. 

William's collected book of poetry 'Woodland Echoes' published in 1824 was a love letter to the tranquil beauty of the countryside along this stretch of the Thames. (It also features brief reminisces of Shelley's time in Marlow.) But William was acutely sensitive to the fact that the beauty of the scenery masked a hard reality for many. 1800s elections in Marlow were scarcely ever less than controversial but reached a particular low in the 1820s-40s for corruption and underhand dealings. In 1827 successful anti-reform M.P Owen Williams evicted scores of his tenants for daring to vote for his liberal opponent in the previous year's election. William lead the public outrage at this act, writing to newspapers and others to quash William's allegations that they were all in rent arrears. As a property agent he could have seen a lot of homeless residents and business owners as a money making opportunity for himself and those he represented but instead he tried unsuccessfully to get the evictions reversed. The victims held on for four months by simply refusing to leave but were then ejected.

He and local surgeon John Goodman organised a petition to Parliament for secret ballots to be brought in for elections and for an update on the Bribery Act to crack down on dirty elections. The Whig M.P for the county town of Aylesbury Lord Nugent was an early ally for them and retained Tyler's public support for years. William himself originated from a dissenting family in the Aylesbury area.

Col William Clayton, who hoped to represent Marlow as a Liberal candidate rehoused all the voters who had been evicted. He was eventually elected as M.P for Marlow in 1832. 

William Tyler acted as a property agent for some Clayton owned homes then. His ads for those properties which he had the job of letting often spoke of the beauty of the local scenery which had inspired his poetry or the health of Marlow's riverside location.

William continued to speak out on political matters both locally and in London. He strongly supported the end to discrimination against Catholics and Dissenting Christians, who because of the Test Acts were barred from various kinds of public office (Marlow in general was not in favour of Catholic emancipation). William also argued in favour of Irish independence, saying that he was embarrassed as an Englishman every time he accepted the warm hospitality of an Irish family.

In 1842 he found himself in hot water as a result of Clayton's dubious electioneering practices at the last vote, that is Clayton claiming some of his supporters who were also his tenants occupied more property than they really did in order to qualify them for a vote. As his "man of business" in Marlow William cannot of been unaware of what was happening in general and was openly accused of abetting voter fraud in the case of Zachariah Blick. Mr Blick was a Clayton supporter who wanted to register to vote in Marlow on the grounds of occupying sufficient property. The opposition objected saying Zachariah wasn't wealthy enough. He had even received poor relief (which would have debarred him from voting). William Tyler stood accused of tearing out a page in the local Union's record book that recorded this relief. He said he had not done so himself though a relieving officer had torn it out and given it to him in case he needed it for his own records. It isn't easy to say why William would ever need a record of someone else's poor relief. There was a feeling similar antics had occurred previously as regards another Clayton supporter William Plumridge. Had William Tyler grown weary of fighting for political integrity? Did it become a case of "If you can't beat them, join them"? It is important to say that many of the local papers reporting the case were strongly Conservative and biased against any Liberals in their reporting. 

William does not seem to have faced any charges in relation to the 1842 election. Indeed he was clearly still held in high esteem and trust in Marlow as when the role of Post Master for the town fell vacant in 1849 and there was no immediate applicant to take it on, William Tyler was nominated for it and accepted. This meant moving across West Street to new premises as in those days Post Masters lived in the Post Office. Mail came by waggon from Maidenhead twice a day, the first one arriving at ten past 5 in the morning. Letters were also sent to Maidenhead for onward distribution twice a day. Though William would have been very busy with the postal service he still acted as a property agent. His wife Ann worked as a milliner in the Post Office building, as did her mother Elizabeth Rose and sister Charlotte Rose who lived with the Tylers.

William continued to assist Liberal voters to register to vote in Marlow so he wasn't put off politics.

He was an early member of the town's Literary and Scientific Institute. He gave frequent lectures for the Institute on the subjects of art and history, illustrated by his own collection of antique prints, as well as on literature until poor health curtailed his appearances. His last known lecture was in the Sunday School building of William's church the Salem Chapel in Quoiting Square, which was where he himself worshipped. The lecture was on the theme "Knowledge Is Power" in 1856. The Windsor and Eton Express reporting the lecture said a large audience had been delighted by the talk and that William had spoken without notes for 90 minutes. It also called him a much respected Marlow resident. 

The theme of William's lecture was close to his heart. He was one of the biggest supporters of the town's British School which provided non-denominational education. Unusually for the time, music and recreation were seen as key to the children's development and a regime of kind encouragement for the mostly poor children to learn and truly understand their studied subjects was preferred over learning by rote.

William and his wife Ann may not have had any children of their own. She died in 1856 age 59 - see here grave here He seems to have died in the next few years himself.

Written and Researched by Charlotte Day. Additional research by Kathryn Day. 

Additional Notes and links:

William witnessed the will of Elizabeth Heine [could be Haine] of Great Marlow 1851.

 William was the brother of Clayton supporter  Joseph Tyler a linen draper and then publican at the Clayton Arms Quoiting Square. Joseph's wife Elizabeth features in another biography post on this blog. It is available here. More on Joseph in future. Biographies of other individuals are indexed here

More about the British Schools here

More posts about historic West Street (or any other street) residents can be found indexed here.

Another Shelley friend in Marlow. - the Maddocks see here

©Marlow Ancestors.

Sources:

Bucks Chronicle 1827 4th August. British Library Archives. 

Berkshire Chronicle 29th October and 19th November 1842. As above.

Bucks Advertiser. 2nd February 1856. As above.

Oxford Gazette June 10th 1843. As Above.

Windsor and Eton Express, November 13th 1824, February 2nd 1856. As above.

History Of Parliament Online. https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/constituencies/great-marlow

Slater, Isaac. Slater's, late Pigot & co., Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography of the counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire. United Kingdom, n.p, 1852.

Post office directory of Berkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, with Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Huntingdonshire.  United Kingdom, n.p, 1847.

Woodland Echoes - Tyler, William (Wetton of Fleet Street, 1824)

1841 and 51 census Great Marlow as transcribed from microfilm by Jane Pullinger.