If you had an ancestor living in Georgian and Regency era Marlow, and they were of a fashionable turn of mind (and reasonably deep pockets) there's a good chance they took the chance to attend one the Marlow Assembly or one of the town balls. An assembly was an occasion for dancing, listening to music, and general socialising.
The bigger fashionable towns had their dedicated assembly rooms. Marlow could not at first stretch to one of those, but by the early 1760s, they had an assembly nevertheless. I do not know where the first was held but it was probably in one or both of the joint venues that served as hosts from the 1780s - the Upper and Lower Crown inns respectively. They were the inns with the greatest capacity so the choice makes sense. I can find around equal references to the assemblies taking place at each inn, and in fact in at least one year they were alternating between the two each month. They were organised by a committee with a master of the ceremonies, a couple of stewards* and some honorary patrons in the form of various members of local gentry. The latters involvement wasn't probably too taxing but their "sponsorship" of the event made it a guarantee the event would be sufficiently "genteel" and respectable. Those keeping the inns did the donkey work and provided the required refreshments. The other requisite was a band, bought in from out of town and often a military one.
The assembly was always hosted on the night of a full moon, and this fact was pointed out when the dates were advertised. This was standard - it was a safety precaution for those travelling on unlit and sometimes less than perfect roads late at night, especially in the era of foot pads and highway men. Assemblies had their season - at first they ran monthly from October to April inclusive but later the season contracted to 4 months from November. Starting in the evening they continued late into the night.
There were door men and an entrance free was charged. In 1792 this was 3 shillings (rising to 3s 6d 2 years later) but subscribers could pay 10s 6d for admittance throughout the season. This fee obviously precluded the less well off from attending.
In the first years of the 19th century Marlow got a new Town Hall and the upper floor was designed as an assembly room with a gallery for an orchestra. This building was later incorporated into the adjacent original Upper Crown, and eventually became the Crown Hotel with the first Crown becoming shops. Around this time the Upper Crown/Town Hall took on a larger share of the assemblies but the Lower Crown was still used sometimes until at least 1830. A little after this the events seem to get less common no doubt due to changing fashions but there were still the balls.
There were three main public balls held in Marlow. The Annual Race Ball celebrated the end of the Marlow horse races and are covered in a post here. The second was the Tradesmans Christmas Ball which was revived to great success in 1844 and continued fitfully throughout the Victorian period, always in the Town Hall. Then there was the annual Christmas Ball, often actually held in the new year and more for the gentry. And there were also sporadic balls in the summer season throughout this and the Victorian period too, first at both the Crowns and then at the Town Hall. These later were aimed so they said at the nobility and gentry and those who were resident at the grander houses in the area do seem to generally attend. In 1827 tickets for an August ball cost 8s and could be purchased at the stationers in town. (10s 6d for ladies and 12s for gentleman in 1828.) It would start at 9pm (other stated start times range from 7pm to as late as 11) and dancing and merriment was continued until the early hours. The following year we are told that the balls have not been very well attended for some years but that this one was "enlivening" and "joyous" with all the first families of the neighborhood in attendance -250 people in all. The ladies were dressed in "a costly and elegant style" no less. At 4.30am the last weary guests trooped into their waiting carriages and headed home. A moonlit night had of course been chosen.
But there were others. Dancing Master Mr Hart had a dancing school in Marlow in the 1790s (as well as at a bewildering number of other places apparently under his personal supervision) and he also gave private lessons to those who could afford them. What better way to show off your students progress than to organise a ball for them and their guests? Mr Hart did just that at the Upper Crown in 1782 when it's described as an annual affair. Thirteen years later he had moved to High Wycombe and had just taken his son into partnership. The pair had schools both in Marlow and High Wycombe. Mr Hart junior was apparently a former apprentice of a Signor Sala, dancing master of London.
It was said that after Sir William Clayton of Harleyford failed to become MP for Great Marlow in both the 1842 and 1847 elections, he gave up supporting many public events in the town including the annual ball for the nobility. His party was always the biggest group attending so this was probably a blow to the events social credibility at least for a while.
However balls for all kinds of events were still popular in the 1850s and 60s including an annual agricultural ball initiated in 1856. But as time went on the primary event was the annual Christmas one at the Town Hall, organised by the Upper Crown who managed that venue. As mentioned above it was usually held a little after Christmas in fact. In 1865 the South Bucks Free Press thought that our town hall was "the handsomest ball room in the county". They noted that one "gallant officer" thought that the floor polished to perfection "equalled the deck of his ship." High praise indeed. In 1870 the carefully waxed and polished floor again raised comment, along with the beautifully decorated refreshment room tables loaded with every delicacy. Ten years later the assembly room was "brilliantly lighted and charmingly decorated with tastefully arranged floral and evergreen arrangements". And "sociability, courtesy and kindly feeling prevailed on all sides." Or so they said.
In 1887 the County Ball, a once popular annual event, was revived at the Town Hall in Marlow. It was now more fashionable to have lady patronesses to set the tone and there was a clutch of all those from the bigger houses in the neighborhood. Guests arrived at the front of the Hall to find a special decorated canopy had been erected at the entrance. Thought this, the route to the assembly room was carefully decorated. In the main venue, ivy and greenery was artistically and creatively festooned across the walls and ceilings, supplemented with flags and mottoes. The Slough and Windsor Observer tells us that this event was glittering in more ways than one as it was "the very first public introduction in this neighborhood of electric lighting, it's dazzling brilliancy agreeably tempered by coloured glass globes." Memorable in more ways than one.
The First World war put an end to mist of these balls as a regular occurrence although of course venues such as the Crown Hotel, George and Dragon, Court Garden and the Complete Angler saw many dances after that period.
The less well connected who were not invited to the farmers or tradesmans balls might have attended one of the slightly less prestigious but certainly very merry Christmas balls at the Greyhound Inn, or the occasional fund raising one for the Literary Institute. (The latter had a temporary canvas ballroom in the grounds with a board floor which doesn't sound the easiest sort to dance upon). The Edwardian period saw an annual fundraising ball for the Cottage Hospital, with the first two hours reserved for children to dance.
Of course the success of the various balls was down to the preparations made by many servants and staff. The up stairs servants of the private houses large enough to host their own balls (Bisham Abbey, Court Garden, Harleyford, Spinfield and Highfields were three popular venues) might have had chance to pause in the corridors and take in a little of the music. Let's hope so as a ball made a late finish for all concerned.
Written and researched by Kathryn Day.
More information:
Balls at the Greyhound: here
Other posts about general Marlow history: here
Sources include:
Berkshire Chronicle: 27 Jan 1844,15 Jan 1853
Oxford Journal 3 November 1764
Reading Mercury 22 April 1782, 17 November 1787, 13 Oct 1788, 1 Oct 1792, 11 Nov 1799, 16 December 1801
Slough, Eton and Windsor Express 3 Jan 1819, 14 April 1827.
Windsor and Eton Express 16 Aug 1828, 21 Aug 1841
South Bucks Standard - 21 Jan 1860, 8 Jan 1909, 18 January 1912.
South Bucks Free Press - 28 Jan 1859, 4 Feb 1860, 20th January 1865.
Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News - 19 Feb 1881
Slough, Eton and Windsor Observer Jan 29 1887.
*Known stewards include postmaster James Field and John Allnutt, as well as local gentry.
© MarlowAncestors
