Grave at All Saints parish church, Marlow.
More graves for Marlow, Little Marlow and Hurley indexed here.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this image or transcription for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.
See Part One for an introduction. Link down below.
This is Part Three - occupations Hairdressers to Sawyers.
Hairdressers
George Smith Pearce. Spittal Street. 1839 +. also gaiter maker. Later also bookseller. Moved eventually to the High Street. More here.
Richard Pewtener /Pewtner. Oxford Road. 1832.
Richard Smith. 1839.
Harness and Saddle makers (most will be both)
John Hackshaw. West Street. Also saddler. Post about him and his family here.
Marmaduke Hitchcox. Saddle maker. Spittal Street. Grave of him and his wife here.
William Humphreys. West Street. 1839.
Hurdle Makers
Henry Keep. West Street. Later in Dean Street.
Iron Founders
Henry John Franklyn. Also Beer seller (q.v). West Street.
Ironmongers
Thomas Burrell. West Street. Manufacturing rather than with a shop as such. Also blacksmith.
Lydia Lane. West Street. Pre 1830s to death 1844. More on her here.
Henry Salmon. High Street. Started shop 1839. Later moved to Wales but returned to Marlow in his final years.
Jewellers
Mr Greyson ) / Grayson whose West Street shop was robbed in 1837 The robbers cut their way in through his glass windows. Also Silversmith.
Lacemakers / merchants
Ann Clark. St Peter's Street. Employee.
Josiah Clark. Lace merchant. High Street. Also a grocer. More about his son here.
John Morris. Manufacturer of lace. Also draper. High Street. See Drapers in Part One for links to a post about him.
Francis Simpson. Manufacturer.
Liquor Merchant
David Davis / Davies 1832. Later of the Chequers.
Locksmiths
Charles Clark. High Street. 1839.
Lodging House Keepers (see also beer sellers, here we list those who solely kept lodgings houses and are not known to be at inns)
Mrs Fry. 1837. Near the Jolly Maltsters which was located near the start of Dean Street. Her premises were located therefore most likely in Dean Street, Gun Lane or Spittal Square. She may have been at the Cherry Tree lodging house which existed by 1830 and later became a pub too.
Masons (and see Builders in Part One)
George Biggs. 1835. Probably not on his own account.
Theophilus Clifford. High Street. From 1820s.
Plumridge and Reading Partnership dissolved 1835. See Bricklayers above.
William Rimmell. Probably an employee.
Mr Strange- setting up in 1838.
Millers/ Millwrights (and see Paper makers)
William Jacques (corn)
Joseph Frewin. 1835.
Milliners
Miss K Morgan. 1836. Also patent medicine seller.
Maria Moss. Also Dressmaker. High Street. 1839. Wife of John Moss draper.
William Smith. High Street. Also tailor.
Patience Ward. 1830-32. Quoiting Square / Hayes Place. More on her here
Paper Makers (manufacturers, individual mill hands not listed)
Francis Pepper. Died in his prime in 1831 leaving wife and children. "Lower Paper Mill". His mill and house sold 1832.
Joseph Wright junior. 1835.
William Wright. 1835.
Pawnbrokers
Charles Susan. Chapel Street. Moved High Street 1839. Also grocer, and man of Radical political leanings. See here
Thomas Wright. 1838+. West Street. But by 1842 moved to Oxford Lane. Also grocer. Wife Sophia also served in the shop. She gave evidence at the Old Bailey London in 1838 when a man was accused of stealing carpentry tools in Hillingdon and pawning them in Marlow at her shop. The pawn tickets were then sold by the accused at the Rose and Crown, Dean Street ran by beerseller come pipe maker Jeremiah Humphreys. Jeremiah bought one ticket on behalf of drinker and near neighbour George Clark whose initial offer for the item had been refused. Jeremiah and George were not accused of knowing the pawned items were stolen but got in serious trouble when directly accused of theft the next year. See here. The Wrights moved from Little Marlow and later relocated to High Wycombe where Thomas continued to be a grocer in Easton Street.
Pipe Makers
John Clements. 1837-39.
Jeremiah Humphreys. Dean Street. Also publican at Rose and Crown. See also link under pawnbrokers above.
Plumbers:
George William Goldsmith. Went bankrupt 1835. And glazier.
James Thomas Lovegrove. West Street.
Mr Phillips of Little Marlow. Also glazier.
George Rogers. 1832. Also glazier.
William Winter. 1838. Also glazier.
Portrait Painters
Giles Blake. Chapel Street. Later moved to London.
Poulterers
John Way. High Street. 1832+ His horse was stolen from the stable he kept it in in St Peter's Street in 1833. Later also a game dealer.
Rope Manufacturers
Richard Gibbons. Also Brewer. St Peter's Street.
Rolls and Son.
Sawyers
John Curtis Badger. 1837+
Thomas Hackshaw. Throughout period.
Richard Heath. Throughout period.
Joseph Rose. 1833.
Robert Rose. To 1830.
To be continued.
1830s trade directory part 2: here
1830s trade directory part 1 here
1830s trade directory part 4 here
Recreated 1600s trade directory Part One and Part_two
Recreated 1700s trade directory here
Recreated trade directory 1800-1819 Part One - here part two here
Recreated 1820s trade directory part 1 here Part 2 here
To find all mentions of an individual here, see the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. There are over 6,000 people listed there.
©Marlow Ancestors.
Below, on the right, see the premises as they appear today of George and Elizabeth Bateman's Victorian era shop.
George and Elizabeth moved here from Hambledon Buckinghamshire where George was farming on a modest scale. Even before the move he was a property owner in Marlow, sufficiently so to be eligible to vote back in 1831 and the couple had earlier used the parish church at Marlow for the baptism of their daughter Charlotte and her subsequent burial as a teenager.
Circa 1851 George began a tea dealership in these premises, taking over from grocer Joseph Cockman and his wife Sarah. George died not too long after the move to Marlow and Elizabeth continued the shop as a grocery business. George has owned the building and in his will left that and all the rest of his worldly goods to his wife for her life. In the will he still defined himself as a yeoman.
Elizabeth died in her 80s.
Prior to grocery shop use the site was the home of Thomas Bowen senior, retired landlord of the Red Lion. His will is transcribed on this blog here. More on the Red Lion and the Bowens here.
More posts about historic West Street businesses and people indexed here.
Marlow will transcription index here
Post by Charlotte.
©Marlow Ancestors.
Sources:
Will Of George Bateman 1851, National Archives, Kew. Transcribed by me Charlotte Day.
Post office directory of Berkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, with Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Huntingdonshire. United Kingdom, n.p, 1854. Via Google Books.
A poll of the freeholders of the county of Buckingham at the election of two knights of the shire to serve in the parliament... taken at Aylesbury... 1831. (1831). United Kingdom: (n.p.).
Slater, I. (1852). Slater's, late Pigot & co., royal national and commercial directory and topography of the counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire. United Kingdom: (n.p.).
1861 census Great Marlow, transcribed by Jane Pullinger from microfilm.
The Plumridges of Marlow would have been well known to our Great Marlow ancestors as builders, bricklayers, beer-sellers and brewers. But today's subjects are two of those comparatively rare few to have followed a different occupation, at least some of the time! Both had connections to the Post Office. First up is Daniel Plumridge who was a postman in Victorian Marlow.
There have been a large number of Plumridges in the Great Marlow Parish area from the Tudor era, if not long before. Daniel was one of those born just outside Marlow itself c1839, in Cadmore End. (Usually rendered as "Cadmer End" or "Cadmor End", Fingest Parish in the earlier days). His parents Thomas and Rebecca worked in what must be some of the most typical occupations in this area at the time. Thomas spent his working life largely as an agricultural labourer and chair maker, while mum Rebecca was a lacemaker. Cadmer End was the more populous part of Fingest Parish at this time, but it was and still is a beautiful rural area. It formerly had a number of brickworks ..bricks and Plumridges are never far apart! Daniel however began to work from a young man as a postman in Cadmer End. Despite all the travelling involved in a rural route, in the Victorian imagination the role of a rural postman stereotypically went to someone lame or not perhaps as mobile as they had once been who could not keep up as an agricultural labourer. How many of these limping postman were actually about is hard to say, but young Daniel certainly did not fit that image. Whether he filled that other stereotype of taking a good while to complete his round by stopping at each cottage door for a gossip we don't know. But as a letter was the primary means by which the inhabitants recieved personal news from afar, both good and bad, he must often have been a longed for sight hoving into view in his uniform. It was noted that into the 1890s few Marlow homes had letterboxes within their front doors, which greatly slowed down the delivery of letters, as the postman had to wait at each house for the door to be opened so he could hand over the mail. An appeal was made to install them, and not to delay the workers in their rounds too much with chit chat. But who knows if anyone took any notice!
Although postman were usually called letter-carriers in the early days in general, I have noticed that locally "post man" was in popular use much earlier. Postman was adopted nationally as it better reflected the work of the men when they began to carry packages too.
In 1864 Daniel married Elizabeth Hannah Davis. Elizabeth was the daughter of the Bovingdon Green beer sellers William and Hannah Davis of The Jolly Cricketers. The couple set up home in Queens Road and Cambridge Place, Marlow. Other Plumridges filled several of the homes in this area, and had indeed built some of them. The pub in the road, The Duke Of Cambridge, also had a Plumridge at the helm and indeed had been built by them. At this point Daniel was working as..a bricklayer. Was it for one of his Plumridge relatives? Very likely. Later, Daniel is referred to as chairmaker. In any case Daniel must have liked his work for the postal service as a few years later, he is back in the role of postman, this time in Marlow. Elizabeth's paid work was as a dressmaker, and the couple also took in lodgers.
Daniel remained a post man into the early years of the 20th century, living in and around Queens Rd for some 30 years. (At the time of his daughter Rosa's marriage in late 1901, he had moved a few minutes away to Quoiting Square.) It must have been interesting for him to see how the town expanded with new developments, especially at the hands of various Plumridge builders. Marlow's Victorian residents could enjoy more than one post delivery a day (3 in 1880) except Sundays when there was one. In the same way the boxes were emptied more than once. The exact schedule varied over time, except on Sundays. Usually the longer distance items came by train from Maidenhead and by mail cart before that. When Marlow got her own station, the post arrived in town sooner and so deliveries were moved back too. At the time that Daniel started his work in Marlow, the last letters left here on the 4.15pm train, but this was eventually moved back to just after 8pm. Deliveries were even made on Christmas Day itself (although just one usually).
In 1891, the Plumridge's 14 year old son George Henry was working for the Post Office, as a telegraph messenger. This role was usually given to younger men, but it was regarded as a responsible one and a good start. Messages received at the telegraph office naturally had to be taken to the recipient and this was the messengers responsibility.
The community had to rely on the honesty of their letter carriers, an issue in the public eye here in 1885 after Marlow man James Morgan spent a year in prison for stealing postal orders entrusted to him as a postman in Bedford. He was taking on a temporary cover role in that town - otherwise he was a chimney sweep. In total he stole 3 postal orders over two weeks. Nothing of a similar kind seems to have troubled those recieving mail within Marlow itself. Morgan received a reduced sentence because he was only a temporary relief postman so it was considered a less severe betrayal of trust. He had not lived in Marlow long before his apprehension.**
If the postal staff had opportunities for mischief so did members of the public. Daniel sometimes arrived at post box to find that a miscreant had broken off the enamel tablets fastened to the pillar boxes. These gave the details of the the collection times. An appeal was made by the postal authorities locally in 1891 to plead with people to leave this essential information alone!
Another annoyance for Daniel was the "cribbed, cabined and confined" conditions in the main post office in West Street, especially in terms of the space available for recieving packages. It had occupied two different sites there at various times but neither one had been designed to deal with the explosion in popularity of the post. In 1894 it was finally decided to go ahead with long debated plans to move the post office. Institute Road was the first considered site but the town was not happy with this. In the end the grand and attractive Cromwell House in the centre of the High Street was secured, although not until 1897, opening early the following year. It was converted from a house*. (Even this did not please some of the residents of West Street who lamented having a slightly longer journey to reach the main branch now it was no longer in their road. Plans were made for a sub post office there for their convenience! You could also find another sub post office within a couple of minutes of the High Street, in the grocers on the corner of Station Rd and Mill Lane as it was then. In 1897 Mr Yeoman was in charge there. See pic below.)
William Plumridge of Lane End
Our second Plumridge connected to the post service is non conformist William Plumridge, of Lane End, son of James and Esther. William worked as a chairmaker and later as a baker, grocer and sub post master at Lane End throughout the late Victorian period. He was assisted by wife Mary nee Ellis and sons Thomas and William at times. William junior's work delivering bread for the family business made him a witness in the Moor End Common murder case which you can read about here.
William senior was obviously a hardworking individual but on his death as an elderly man in 1904 he had a number of debts. His estate could not cover these, to the embarrassment of his family. There is nothing especially unusual about this but the unexpected resolution of the issue was. Three years after his death William made headlines around the country. An anonymous well wisher paid all of his debts off in full, long after his creditors had resigned themselves to writing them off. He or she did so as a "token of esteem" for William and his family. The identity of the benefactor(s) was not seemingly revealed, at least not publicly. Perhaps they had spent the years between the death and pay off saving the necessary funds (£167) or perhaps they had been away and unaware of the problem until 1907. Either way, it was a nice thing to do. William junior succeeded his father as sub post master and grocer, also acting as a house agent. Multi tasking obviously ran in the family! There were Plumridges fulfilling the roles of sub postmasters and bakers in Lane End for long after the period our blog covers.
Written and researched by Kathryn Day.
Further information:
*History of Cromwell House can be found here
**James Morgans wife applied for parish relief for herself and her 4 children while her husband was awaiting trial at the Bedford Assizes. The Board of Guardians rule was that no "outdoor" parish relief could be given to the family of those in prison, including those waiting trial. (That is no assistance other than a ticket for admission to the workhouse could be offered.) However Marlow's Walter Lovegrove, one of the Guardians spoke on the behalf of Mrs Morgan, and pleaded for compassion. He was seconded by Marlow's vicar and fellow board member Rev Arthur Fearon who reminded everyone the principal of innocent until proven guilty. In the end a vote to give the family 3s a week plus three loaves of bread was carried unanimously despite grumblings from 3 members about the rule bending. It was one of many examples of Walter Lovegrove speaking out firmly in the interests of Marlow's poor and unfortunate. The relief stopped when James was convicted.
To find every mention of an individual here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. There's over 6,000 people listed there. Great Marlow itself is the focus of this blog but for other posts relating to Lane End, Cadmore End and around that we do have, see the index here
If you are interested in some of the other families who quite literally built our town, see the Men Who Built Marlow posts Lovell here Bond here Corby here.
SOURCES:
Kelly's Directory for Buckinghamshire 1852, 1883, 1905, 1911,1920,1939. (Kelly's Directories Ltd)
Notice - Changes to Postal Delivery - 1874, 1875, 1877. Thanks to James Purdsey for a view of these.
Census, 1841-91 - Transcript from the microfilm made by Jane Pullinger.
Oxford Journal 29 May 1847.
South Bucks Free Press 5 May 1860
Chesham Examiner 21 January 1891.
Boston Guardian 7 December 1907, and South Bucks Standard August 1894 - these two copies via the BNA.
Slough, Windsor and Eton Express Oct 31 1885 - Slough Libraries.
© MarlowAncestors
Occupations D-G.
See part One for an introduction.
Drapers
Jane Glover. Spittal Street. 1839.
William Grant. West Street. There from at least 1830 to 1849 when sold business. More here
Solomon Green. 1837.
William and Mary Irving. Pre 1830s-33 at least. William also fire insurance agent. High Street. More here
John Meadows. 1829+ High Street. Linen draper. More on him here
John Morgan. More here
John Morris junior and senior. High Street. Biography here
John Moss. 1837. Husband of Maria Moss, milliner. High Street.
Joshua Rolls. High Street. With Thomas below. Joshua was also the local Inspector Of Weights And Measures.
Thomas Rolls Junior 1837 -39. High Street.
Joseph Tyler. Selling business in Quoiting Square 1830. Went to run Clayton Arms.
Dressmakers (on own account unless stated)
Mary Ann Green. 1839. Chapel Street.
Maria Moss. High Street. Also milliner. 1839. Wife of John Moss, draper.
Farmers
George Brangwin. Barmoor and Moor Farms.
James Bird Brooks Senior. Finnemoor Farm. See here. He was also a baker and corn dealer.
Richard Bye. Abbey Farm, Little Marlow. Left to Run Two Brewers pub. See under beersellers. More on Richard and his difficult marriage in this post. More on Abbey Farm here
E Collins? Abbey Farm. 1836. Could be same as below.
Edward or Edmund Collins. Homers. 1833. See here
Thomas Cook. Clay Lane, Limmers and Cutler's AKA Priests Farm.
John Fenner. Hooks Farm. See here
William Field. 1835.
James Franklin. Low Grounds Farm. Also at the Crown. See under beer sellers for link to more on him.
John Gibbons. Copy Farm. See here and also Widmere Farm see here. And Blounts Farm. See here
William Goldswain. Copy Charity Farm. See here.
Richard Lovegrove. Becking Farm to 1838. More here.
George Lunn. Becking Farm to 1830. See here. Also occupied Seymour Court Farm.
Henry Webb. Wymers. See here
James and David Webb. Burford Farm. 1838+. More here. Also Marlow Bottom Farm. See here
Richard Webb. Burford Farm. To 1832. See here. Also at Marlow Bottom Farm. See here.
Fire Insurance
Geoffrey Hickman. High Street.
William Irving. Also draper. High Street.
John Meadows. Also draper. High Street. See under drapers.
Fishermen (note these at Marlow mostly escorted leisure fishermen rather than fished commercially themselves)
George Creswell.
Fishmongers
Thomas Cox. High Street. 1837-9. In business by 1832 but seemingly not in the High Street, or perhaps not trading in his own right yet. Warning there was also a wheelright of this name in Marlow at the same time.
Charles Davis. 1832. Likely an assistant rather than trading in own right.
Flour Dealers
James Plucknett. West Street. 1839. Later also described as baker. His widow features in this post.
Fruiterers
Thomas Bowles. Dean Street. Landlord Cherry Tree pub too. See here.
Gaiter Makers
George Pearce. Also hairdresser.
Gardeners
Clark Chown. Elderly market gardener. 1 acre grounds. Lived and worked West Street (borderline Henley Road). Later killed himself by cutting his throat in 1843.
Thomas Gardener. Market gardener who lived in St Peter's Street and had a market garden there.
William Hawes. 1835.
Robert Hobbs. 1834-40 at least.
General Dealers / General Shopkeepers who have no listed speciality
Ann Wicks. Church Passage. 1833 to 1841 at least.
William Wiggington. Spittal Square.
Gentry
William James Atkinson. The Rookery. Chapel Street. Much more here
George Aveling. Chapel Street. 1833.
Sarah Aveling. (Unmarried). High Street. From at least 1833-1844.
Charles Bouverie. Oxford Road.
Elizabeth Cleobury. Chapel Street. 1833.
Anne Crosbie. Spinfield Lodge. See here
Alexander Higginson. Oxford Road.
Lady Morris. Thames Bank. 1833-34 at least.
Mortlock family, High Street. See here
Elizabeth and Nicholas Robinson of Seymour Court 1831 to post 1830s. Their son Benjamin died aged 24 in 1831. Their daughter = Hannah.
Angelica Rolfe. 1838. Unmarried.
Simpsons of Spinfield Lodge. See here
Katherine "Kitty" Sneath. High Street.
William Wright (of the Mills)
Wyndham family of Beech Lodge. Lots more here
Glaziers:
James Thomas Lovegrove. West Street.
Mr Phillips of Little Marlow. Also plumber.
John Wellicombe. Spittal Street.
William Winter. 1838. Also plumber.
Greengrocer
Henry Davis 1839
Grocers
James Bird. Chapel Street. Died 1840 aged about 81.
H. Bowdery. Little Marlow. 1839.
Thomas Butler. West Street. 1839.
Josiah Clark. High street.
Susannah Clark. Also stagecoach proprietor. High Street.
Joseph Eagle. Spittal Street. Biography here
East and Harreman/Harriman. Biography (tragic) here
John Gibbons. West Street. Also tallow chandlers. Biography here
Richard Haynes Grinstead. High Street from at least 1837 to 1839 when he sold premises to Charles Susan below. May be the man of same name who lived in West Street 1833. Wife Sarah who died when she was only in her 20s in 1837. Their son died as a baby in 1838. No wonder Richard wanted to start afresh.
Thomas Hickman. High Street. Also a timber dealer.
William Hobbs. High Street. 1838+. More here.
William Hughes. Specifically Sundries Dealer. High Street. 1832.
James Lee. 1835. See also timber dealers.
William and Ann Mathews. High Street. More here
Richard Oxlade. St Peters Street.. Also beer seller on the same premises and tailor too. Wife Mary likely ran the beerseller come grocers side. They moved to London after 1839 but by 1841.
Charles Susan 1835-39 Chapel Street. Also in 1839 pawnbroker. Moved to High Street that year. Biography here
Thomas Wright. West Street. 1839. Also pawnbroker.
To be continued.
Part one is here, part three here and part four here
Further information:
Recreated 1600s trade directory Part One and Part_two
Recreated 1700s trade directory here
Recreated trade directory 1800-1819 Part One - here part two here
Recreated 1820s trade directory part 1 here Part 2 here
All mentions of an individual can be found in the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. There are 6,000 people listed there.
©Marlow Ancestors
Arabella, beloved wife of C E Plumridge, died Jan 9 1918 age 54.
AND the above mentioned
Charles Edward Plumridge died February 22 1942 age 77
This grave is in Marlow Cemetery.
Above, Jenny, devoted wife of A T Plumridge died Jan 22 1928 age 45. Also Arthur Thomas Plumridge b 1882 d 1971. This Grave is in Marlow Cemetery.
Further Information:
Charles was a bricklayer and builder, one of a vast number of local Plumridge men to have that profession in the last few hundred years. For example his father James and grandfather William also had this role. William was also the landlord of the White Hart Inn in Chapel Street and man responsible for building the Wheatsheaf. Beer-selling was the second favourite historic Plumridge occupation! Charles married Wiltshire born Arabella in 1888. She had moved to Buckinghamshire to work as a housemaid. They lived at "New Road" in the spring of 1891 - a term that has applied to more than one Marlow road in the past but in their case very likely refers to what we now call Claremont Road. In December of that year, the couple's address is given as Lily Cottage, Glade Rd. Lily Cottage is later referred to as located within Claremont Rd - it was by no means unusual for homes in the Claremont area to be referred to as Glade Rd as Glade Rd was developed first and the other road names came with more development around it so the two addresses may in fact be the same. Lily Cottage was the setting for a frightening incident for Arabella in late 1891. She was home alone one evening, waiting up for husband Charles to come home, when she suddenly heard footsteps on the floor above. She had heard no one come in, and when the footsteps began to descend the stairs, she fled the house in panic. Arabella took refuge with a neighbour until Charles returned at 9.30pm. He lit a candle and made a search of the house only to discover a clock had been taken from a bedroom. The night was so dark and the area still mostly unlit, that despite a neighbour accidentally bumping into the intruder on his way out, and the neighbours daughter hearing him approach the house earlier, no one could positively identify the criminal. A Maidenhead man staying at a Dean Street lodging house was initially arrested as he matched the description of a suspicious character lurking around Glade Rd earlier. There was no actual evidence he was responsible though, and the case was dismissed. But the experience of Charles and Arabella caused the local magistrates to make an appeal for locals to lock their side doors as Arabella admitted both this and their front door were left unfastened. It also helped secure more public lighting for the area ..albeit a little slow in coming! Later the couple would move to no 6 Station Rise.
Charles was a member of the Marlow branch of the Bucks Rifle Volunteers and a keen footballer.
To find all mentions of an individual or family here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. There are more than 6,000 people listed there, with many more to come.
Other grave images can be found in index here
©MarlowAncestors.
