Caxton Villa, Mill Road

 Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

In the photo at the very bottom of this post is "Caxton" also previously known as "Caxton Villa" in Mill Road, Marlow. A sale catalogue in the 1950s describes the property as a four bedroom, two bathroom and three reception room home with a walled garden. It is likely that one or both of the bathrooms had started life as bedrooms.

The first known occupiers of the house were James Dyson Cannon and his wife Harriet nee Corby. They married in the Reading registration district in 1882 and lived at Caxton by early 1884. James was then in his early 30s but had already retired from business as a chemist and printer. The name of the villa is a clear nod to William Caxton, inventor of the printing press. The house was built by George Cannon, father of James, who was also a chemist and printer (plus a lot more! Full biography here), hence the name. 

George died in 1881. At this point James stepped aside from his role in the family shop in the High Street. You can see the premises as they are today in the biographical post about his father linked above. His sister with some assistance from her husband continued the business for a short while while James settled himself down at Caxton for a more leisurely life living on his own means with Harriet. Their daughter Florence was born in the house. 

Within a few years however there are a few signs that the family had some financial concerns. In 1892 James received a court summons because he had not paid his poor rates. On the 1891 census the family had two "lodgers" in their 70s- laundress Prudence Corby and "living on own means" Edward Hatton. Despite the impersonal designation "lodger" used on the census form both of these elderly people were actually relatives of the Cannons. Prudence was Harriet Cannon's mother, while Edward Hatton was Prudence's illegitimate half brother.

Prudence is listed as working as a laundress, a very low paid and low status occupation. Edward had once been a shoemaker on his own account but had gone bankrupt. It is unclear what his private means were in 1891 but it is unlikely to have amounted to anything substantial. He died in 1894. The family moved from Caxton Villa to South Place which was opposite it in the next few years. Some of the cottages there are also believed to have been built for George Cannon.

By 1896 Caxton Villa had become the second home of the Scott family whose main home was in Highgate. Robert Turnbull Scott and his wife Annette spent at least the summer at Marlow for the next several years. Initially they rented the property but  they bought the house and a neighbouring property at auction in 1898.  At this time Caxton was offered for sale along with the 5 neighbouring freehold properties in lots.  We are told the homes are all let to the "most respectable tenants." In 1899 permission was granted for the building of a boat house at the property. It's a few minutes walk to the Thames from Mill Road. This may have become the double garage listed as part of the property in the 1950s sale information. Certainly the boathouse was no longer mentioned in that sale.

If there was anything Robert knew about it was sailing vessels. He was one of the founders of London based Turnbull, Scott and Company ship brokers and insurance agency. His Turnbull relatives were major ship and tramp boat operators based in Whitby Yorkshire.

Robert grew up with his mother at the home of his Turnbull grandparents  after his father disappeared. Archibald Scott, a bank clerk, had become infected with gold fever during the gold rush of 1851 and sailed to Australia in a bid to increase the family wealth. He was never seen by his family again and despite extensive investigations by them no trace of his whereabouts could be found. Apart from his lack of contact with home, evidence in favour of his death in Australia believed by his family was the testimony of his sister who insisted she had seen his ghost! Incredibly this alleged visitation was used many years later by Robert's daughter as formal evidence in a court case brought by her to have her grandfather legally declared dead!

Robert was only a small boy when his father left and probably did not much recall him. 

Robert seems to have lead a quiet life at Marlow but he obviously did not ignore events in the outside world, as he wrote to the Globe newspaper in 1901 in response to a reported serious colliery accident to suggest that in future food should be stored at intervals in mines to  sustain those trapped and awaiting rescue.  

Robert died in 1903 but his wife Annette, their daughter Annette junior and her husband Charles Pownseby continued to live at Caxton Villa for a short period after his death.

Claude Pownceby (Pownseby) was a retired (but young) wine merchant whose family firm was based in Oxford Street London. He owned a strong of race horses which raced throughout England. Again you have to wonder if money became tight as references to the racehorses suddenly stop in the later 1900s and the couple and their daughters Nora Daphne and Lilian Daintry (born at Caxton) moved away from Marlow in 1904, selling not only the house but much of its contents. Claude had bought a plot of agricultural land off Henley Rd in 1903 and built a house there but seems to have left town before the place was absolutely complete. Although the house may have been finished, the laying out of the gardens proved to be a nightmare. Claude was sued for unpaid bills due to the landscape gardener responsible for this work. Claude was not happy with the results, but seems to have underestimated both the time and money needed to create an attractive garden and tennis court out of what was called a rough sloping meadow. The court found for the gardener so  Claude had a large bill left in his hands. Annette ended up in Devon but her husband went to be a miner at Waihi New Zealand. He set up no permanent home there, living in a hotel instead. This probably indicates his intention to make some money and either send for Annette and the children to establish a home together in NZ or to eventually return to them in England. 

In 1915 Claude volunteered for war service in the "Tunnelers" section of the New Zealand Engineers and set off for Europe to fight as part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Unfortunately he was listed first as missing and then as killed in action in France in 1916. He had £59 in the bank at the time but no other New Zealand property. Two years later no one had stepped forward to claim or administer his estate so the New Zealand authorities took on the job. Annette Pownceby may not have considered a trip to New Zealand financially worth her while to deal with matters herself. At the time of his death Claude held the rank of sergeant.

By the time of the 1911 census Caxton Villa had become the home of Florence and Fred Crispin who had private means and their young daughter Joyce. The following year another daughter Lydia was born at the house. The family had previously been living in Henley. At Caxton they kept two live in servants at the time of the census- 18 year old Mabel Taylor and 25 year old Alice Kate Townsend. 

I haven't looked for the 1920s residents of Caxton Villa or those of the later 1910s. When I do I will update this post!

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Further Information

For more posts about the historic people of Mill Road or any nearby streets in Great Marlow see our index here. Our A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu contains every mention of an individual on this blog - 7,500 individuals as of August 2023. 

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

Sources included:

https://shippingtandy.com/features/turnbull-scott-co-ltd/

"England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW9Q-W32 : 3 July 2019), Claude Searles Powneeby in household of Harold Fernie Lunn, Exeter, Devon, 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. Crown Copyright.

"New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9V-21SK : 9 March 2021), Claude Searle Pownceby, 1918; citing , Wellington Probate Files [First Sequence], 1843-1939, record number 22413, Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office; FamilySearch digital folder 100597571.

Roll of Honour, the Great War, 1914-1918. New Zealand, W.A.G. Skinner, Government printer, 1924.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19170509.2.6

https://special.library.unlv.edu/ark%3A/62930/d1bc3td1p

1891 census England and Wales. My transcription from microfilm. Crown Copyright.

South Bucks Standard 10th February 1899. Maidenhead Advertiser 30th March 1904 . The Globe 2nd September 1901. All British Library Archives via the BNA.

Kelly's Directory 1889 & 1911. 

Maidenhead Advertiser January 4th 1905.