Marlow's Victorian Fire Brigade

 Marlow's volunteer fire brigade was formed in 1874 but the town had a fire engine before that and therefore volunteer fireman to operate it. The very old fire tender, gifted to the town in 1731 by MP John Clavering still exists and will hopefully be out on public display in the future. Clavering was not a local man. He was elected in 1727, although an attempt was made to overturn that result. He ceased to be our M.P the year of the gift, when he was promoted to the role of Groom of the Chamber. Perhaps it was a parting present. At first, it was kept in the church porch, or just behind. A good central location but it probably got evicted when the new church was built in 1832. 

How long that engine was in use I don't know, but the engine generally referred to as the "old" one in Victorian times arrived here in early 1831 made by Tilley of London. Unfortunately the first time the volunteers came to fight a fire with it, they realised they did not actually know how to operate the thing. So they had to fetch the old one instead! This fire was in the High Street and it was caused by a candle setting light to the bed curtains in the house of Mr White. 

The 1830s was a busy time for the early fireman. It was a time for incendiaries, Swing riots and social unrest. You can read more about this in Marlow and nearby here And the fellows did not just fight fires in Marlow itself - they travelled to nearby villages and farms. I should also mention that the various fire insurance companies serving our local area maintained their own engines, for the use on properties covered by their policies. Whether any of these were actually based in Marlow itself, I'm not sure. For example the Sun Fire Office and Royal Exchange insurance companies both of which had Marlow agents, joined the Marlow brigade to fight an arson attack in Hutton's farm, Hambledon in 1839. Their combined efforts saved most of the farmhouse but all of the outbuildings such as the barns, granary and stabling were lost. The Hambledon Association for the Apprehension of Incendiaries offered a £20 reward for information as to the culprit. 

The engine was of course horse drawn, and a report in 1849 tells us it was drawn by 4 horses usually. These were hired.

It's possible that the breweries in the town and the Marlow mills had their own small engines at this point as they certainly did later. Most mills seem to have done at this period. There's no mention of specific apparatus used in reports of a severe fire, also believed to be arson, at the mill in 1826. The wealthy Williams family of Temple House had their own "engine" in the late 1850s if not before. It was said that it was made readily available to anyone with a fire in the neighborhood - for example it was used to fight a rickyard fire at a farm in Hurley in 1862. The Wethered brewery had an engine by the 1870s, which was also used on fires elsewhere on occasion. 

In 1868 it was decided the Marlow engine would be put under control of the parish overseers and that it's maintenance would be paid for out of the poor rates. 

The 1874 Volunteer Brigade

The idea of setting up a formal organised volunteer brigade was said to originate with architect and surveyor Charles Carter, who would be on the committee co opted to set it up. He would also act as their first superintendent. The idea was enthusiastically recieved. Col Williams of Temple promised £50 and lord of the manor  Sir William Clayton of Harleyford offered £20 and to pay for the helmets. The vestry voted to gift the existing 1831 engine to the volunteer brigade. It was recognised as needing some repairs and so the volunteers were told they could if they wish sell it and put the money towards a newer machine. This would not be cheap so it was decided to make good the existing one. So off it went to Messrs Shand and Mason for an overhaul. It arrived back after a month "thoroughly repaired and possessing every modern improvement".  

The general costs would be met by subscribers with a donation from the parish. The local fire insurance agents were also able to secure donations from their companies in several instances. The last item to be paid for were some uniforms made of "suitable waterproof material." It took until 1881 for the Volunteer Brigade to get their finances in the black after all this expenditure - donations not withstanding. If the Volunteer brigade did not adequately maintain the engine, it would revert to the parish control. 

The first members of the brigade were: 

Superintendent: Charles Carter

Foreman: Charles Miller Foottit* 

Engineer: William Batting*

Hon Surgeon: W J Shone 

Sub Engineer: John Langley *

Firemen: George Greenwood, R Wellicome, W Haynes, Walter Elgie, George Frith, George Barney 

Hon Secretary: Thomas H Wright

Other committee members: Owen Peel Wethered, John Tudor. 

To this list we should add the 5-6 members of the reserve brigade who often don't get named individually, and very many members of the public who acted as "pumpers" during a fire. At some places there was an organised list of reliable men who would be given preference should extra help be needed. Wycombe gave their pumpers a badge to wear to save confusion. I don't think anything of this type existed in Marlow. Pumpers were paid for their help, as other assistants sometimes were. A specific fund was available for the superintendent to use for this. It was customary for fire insurance companies to make a donation to the volunteer brigade if it worked on one of  their properties and the money sometimes depended on the amount of additional help that had been necessary to engage. The possibility of extra (if very hard) work is one of the reasons that when the fire bell went, it wasn't just the fireman that hastened to the scene of a fire. No fee was charged for calling the brigade out at first although it was customary for the better off to make a donation afterwards. After 1900 the property owners were charged for the brigades attendance including the use of the engine, and hire of the horse plus refreshments for the fireman or repair of damaged uniform etc as required. Water used as part of the clean up was free. 

The engine was housed in an arch of the Market House AKA the Market hall, and later part of the Crown Hotel. (The 1731 engine was also there.) A small token rent was paid for this. They also needed to pay to hire the horses to pull the engine. These were usually supplied by the Crown which has a long history as a posting house and place to hire a "fly" so it had plenty of steady horses at their disposal. These were grazed in the meadow behind the Crown. Once or twice a fire coincided with a time when all the suitable horses from the Crown were otherwise engaged and so they were hired from other establishments. One of the first major fires in the town they dealt with was actually in the Crown itself, when a chimney caught a flame. Getting to the source of the fire involved dismantling the brickwork. It was only put out after hours of "unceasing labour". 

Oxford Road A Flame 

Many of the fires covered by our brave volunteers have been covered elsewhere in the blog. I'll mention just a few more. The fire at the premises of coach builder and wheelwright George Cox in Oxford Rd 1877 involved 80 helpers. This was considered a serious risk to neighbouring properties which included thatched wooden barns behind them. George naturally had many highly flammable materials in his workshops such as varnish, paint and wood. A long chain of those bringing buckets of water to the fire, managed by publican John Langley* and aided by the Marlow and brewery engines, performed what was considered a miracle to prevent the fire spreading up Oxford Rd. George lost two carriages, his workshop and woodhouse, and most of his tools and materials. He was luckily insured. It seems a spark from a stove left on to dry a newly varnished carriage was to blame. The Temple House engine also came to help, but the fire was mostly over by the time it arrived. This engine was the source of envy by the Marlow brigade as it was steam powered and could draw up water where others couldn't. It was given to the Temple Volunteer Brigade when they formed, at the suggestion of Marlow's Charles Miller Foottit who was also responsible for drilling the new brigade. 

 Within a week, George's insurance claim was settled and the money with him, thanks to insurance agent William Crake*. 

The engine was regarded as heavy and sometimes awkward to manage. So two small "engines" were purchased in the 1881 to assist the fireman (after several years of fundraising.) And a carriage to transport them on was also necessary. 

Fun for the fireman

It wasn't just all work and no play for our firemen. Almost immediately they started playing as a football and cricket team for casual matches organised throughout the year. They put a crew to compete in many of the the regattas too. Then there were friendly drill competitions (and tug of wars!) with other fire brigades, usually involving a "capital dinner" afterwards. In 1877 fireman George Frith won a silver fireman's axe for performing best at his one man drill in a competition sponsored by a Maidenhead man. 

They had an annual dinner (often at The Greyhound)  and outing and on a few occasions a ball. 

The men were invited several times to form part of Lord Mayor of London's civic parades with a number of other fire brigades. And on any occasion there was a parade in Marlow, the fireman were at the fore, in uniform. In 1882, when the Prince of Wales arrived at Marlow station on route to a visit at Temple House the brigade were chosen to line the bridge as he passed. Then in 1891 their destination was the Crystal Palace where they took part in a review before the German Emperor. Dr Dickson, currently their commanding officer, was introduced to the emperor himself. 

The fire bell rings ...sometimes

The fireman had day jobs. When the fire bell rang (the rope hanging outside the front of the fire station at the town hall with the bell in the clocktower above) they had to stop what they were doing and rush to the station. The time it took for them to assemble from the time the bell first rang was carefully recorded, along with their arrival at the scene of the blaze. The bell caused frequent trouble. There were complaints about it almost immediately. In 1882 it was declared that the bell was finally in "good and effective working order". It's odd it seems to have needed more maintenance than the fire engine!  The rope broke often which perhaps is not surprising as those ringing it were supposed to do so vigorously for several minutes. On another occasion the bell itself was found to have split. 

How many fires?

To keep their place in the brigade, the fireman had to attend a certain number of drills (and perform them well). These were generally held once a month. Some years there were 5-6 fires, others none at all but the men had to be ready regardless. 

And some of them were injured in their volunteer work. To help this, the fireman were covered by accident and death in service insurance from 1885. The members were allowed to attend the local St John's Ambulance first aid training classes for free too.

It was generally considered the brigade did stirling work that saved many lives and even more livelihoods. Where they failed it was usually due to a lack of water, for example at the farms far from a hydrant. 

Playing with fire

You didn't have to go to the science of a blaze to see a fire fighting demo. If you went to the Music Room in 1883 (the masonic centre now) you could enjoy a lecture on fire fighting by Charles Miller Foottit who bought the two mini engines on to the stage. Two dolls were set alight to demonstrate the technique of putting out flames on clothing - a sadly all too frequent cause of death especially among little children. Charles also extolled the virtue of using asbestos paint as a flame retardant. 

They also sometimes performed a public drill, usually as part of a fundraising effort eg on the lawns of the Complete Angler. 

That old engine

In the 1880s the fireman were still using the 1831 engine, in addition to their mini ones. It had been modified in that time, most significantly by the addition of a brake. As Charles Carter said, without one, there was a serious risk of a nasty accident occuring. Thomas Corby the Marlow builder offered a prize to anyone who'd come up with a good workable brake for the engine and John Langley offered a second prize. I don't know who won though! (Thomas was visiting the brigade to thank them for putting out a fire on his premises). Running repairs were usually done by Marlow's Battings the ironmongers. 

In 1891 it was decided only so many more repairs could be made to the 60 year old engine. Fundraising would start for its replacement soon they hoped. However they considered trade was too bad in the town to make the timing right for an appeal. So Charles Miller Foottit  made an exhaustingly detailed report on modifications the old engine could undergo to give it a few more years of life. These suggestions were adopted. They did splash out on a new longer hose though. A fire escape to allow rescue from the upper storeys of taller buildings arrived in 1893. They wished to practice using this on buildings within the town, but recieved nothing but complaints from the occupiers. So a wooden tower was erected in Crown meadow (Riley Park) to use instead. This tower would appear several times, sometimes for public demos, other times a pretend house front did the job.  In 1907 John Langley was recruited to dress in a nightshirt and play the part of a feinting fire victim to be rescued from the heights! Fireman Harry Sawyer saw him safely to the ground, nightshirt and all.  In 1905 a wooden "house" was also erected in Shaw's boatyard  and set well alight to demonstrate the use of a hand fire extinguisher. Successfully - thankfully for Robert Shaw. 

By 1888 the engine house was described as possessing every requisite for modern fire fighting. 

A new engine at last

By 1894 the old engine was really creaking. Brigade Hon Secretary Walter Wethered wrote to the new Parish Council to say it was in a dilapidated and possibly dangerous condition. The following year reports that the most senior members of the brigade would resign unless a better engine was provided were addressed at the AGM. The rumour was denied but they described how the axles and bearings were so worn that they could not go very far without having to stop and oil them, and wait for them to cool down before proceeding. It was only a matter of time before the engine broke down completely on the way to a fire they said. It is decided to ask the newly formed parish council, who technically owned the old machine, for money towards a new engine. Although a steam powered engine was the dream, they decided to settle on a cheaper manual one that was expected to cost about £130-40. They also believed they wouldn't be expected to pay the full cost up front but would be given 4-5 years to settle the bill. 

The parish council agreed to pay £100 of the cost and to let the brigade keep the engine under their control provided them met the cost of ongoing repairs and maintenance. They would allow them to sell the 1830s engine and put the £20-30 they expected to get from that towards the cost of the new. The old engine's pumps were regarded as in good condition and it seems they expected it to be usable as parts - bearings and axle aside! Thomas Wright, the brigade treasurer leads a small party to London to view the premises of the two premier manufacturers of fire engines. They settle on a £140 manual machine from Messrs Shand & Mason which can take 22 men. This is the company that had done repair work on the old engine previously. It is delivered to Marlow on the first of August 1895, and immediately put  through it's paces by the firemen in the market square and by the Compleat Angler. They are satisfied that "it throws a great quantity of water at great force. "

After 1900

In 1902 the district council took over the brigade again financially speaking. They would meet running costs but the brigade would use their donations to pay for uniform as needed. (These had been replaced when 15 years old so I don't think any one can accuse the men of carelessness with them. The old ones were kept for drill use. They were supplied by local drapers, and the epaulettes by Batting while jeweller Frederick  Rowe re nickelled the helmets.) 

From 1910 they gained use of the second arch under the town hall, previously used by Battings for storage but enlargements were still ongoing in 1912 when our history stops. 

The sadness of George 

I've not covered the lives of many of the individual fireman here for space sake as many if not all deserve their own post. Names marked with an asterisk above have their own entry already, linked below. Charles Miller Foottit had a huge role in the development of fire brigades in general. But I feel I should mention longstanding fireman George Grace here as the poor man hung himself in the fire station in 1909 age 64. He had been out of work, except for the small amount of money he earned for looking after the engine and cleaning it. At the time of his death he was one of the reserve team after 27 years in the main brigade. He had spent some time in hospital two years before and had never recovered physically or mentally it was said. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

More information:

*Charles Miller Foottit biography here

John Langley here

Brigade surgeon etc Dr Dunbar Dickson here

The Battings here

To search for mentions of any others see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. There's several thousand people mentioned there - updated weekly. 

Fires fought:

Buckinghamshire Chair Co, Duchess Place : here

Explosion at Gas Works, Dean Street - here

At the Crown here

Death by fire here

At Marshalls Menagerie here

Other posts about general Marlow history here

© MarlowAncestors 

Young Grave Bisham

 

"In loving memory of Adeline Blanche wife of Thomas Young who died November 19th 1922 aged 52. Also of Thomas Young who died May 18th 1932 in his 70th year"

Photo and transcription by Charlotte Day 2021.

©Marlow Ancestors. Reproduction very welcome with credit to this blog.

Edwardian Pedlars In Marlow

 Here's a rundown of some of the items that could be bought on the door step or from wandering street sellers in Edwardian Great Marlow. To sell in this manner required a licence though plenty of pedlars did not have one. With the exception of fruit and veg sellers most would not have been Marlow residents but far ranging travellers who had a very hard life on the road. If caught trading without a license they were usually fined. This was often remitted if the pedlar agreed to leave the town immediately. Some "pedlars" were door to door beggars who carried a few items like pencils in their pocket for cover. These aren't included here. Unless otherwise stated all the sellers were males. 

Edwardian pedlars sold the following:

Pencils

Chalk

Confetti 

Paper and envelopes 

Brushes and combs

Books (probably secondhand ones)

Fruit and veg (often, cherries were a local gipsy speciality in particular. The cherries themselves  came from Flackwell Heath and Cookham Dean mostly)

Postcards 

Sheet music (one of the most popular things to buy from pedlars in Edwardian England)

Toy windmills

Packets of lavender

Linoleum (female seller)

Services offered:

Mending mats (female mender).

Mending pans (traditionally a gypsy speciality but I cannot prove any of the pan menders who visited Marlow were gypsies in this era)

Compiled by Charlotte Day from court cases, postcards etc.

Posts related to other occupations and general Great Marlow history can be found in the index here

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

Post Office Blues

 This is a brief run down of the post offices in the 1800s and early 1900s in Great Marlow. 

The Regency Post Service 

At the start of 1800 Marlow was looking forward to its first official "cross post" between Marlow and Maidenhead and certain other places in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. A cross post means letters between the two places didn't have to go up to London and then back down to the intended recipient but instead went direct which obviously saved a lot of time. I say the first official cross post because unofficially letters had been taken by carriers and coachman and other commercial travellers. It makes sense for these people to take post but it undercut the post service so was not officially allowed. After the cross post for Marlow actually started in 1801, adverts were placed in the newspapers threatening dire consequences to these unofficial letter carriers if they continued. They faced a £5 fine per letter carried and £100 for every week the practice continued. A very high price to pay. The official letters were left at the post masters who then saw them distributed to the actual recipient. 

From at least the 1820s the Post Master at Marlow was James Field of the High Street. With only one post delivery and dispatch to deal with, posting did not occupy all of James time. The family ran a school, and James also worked as a tailor and insurance agent. Latter people would remember the post office was almost an afterthought, a cramped room with the school room up a somewhat rickety staircase. (You can read more about the Fields school here  and read their wills here). James died in 1849 and it seems his widow continued to be in charge for a little while. 

Early and mid Victoria post office

A common complaint was Marlow didn't get frequent enough deliveries of mail. But in 1848 after much effort, the town secured a second post as the mail coach running between High Wycombe and Maidenhead would now stop at Marlow in both directions. John Moss the High Street iron monger, inventor and agricultural machinery manufacturer was credited for a relentless campaign to secure this benefit. He considered improved postal communication essential for a successful businessman like himself to operate - and compete with those in other better supplier towns. At this point the post office was in West Street with the Tyler family in charge. The premises tended to change when the postmaster did. 

In 1852 the post from Maidenhead arrived at the very precise time of 5.10 am and 2.15pm and left at 10.45am and 8pm. If you wanted to send a letter after that you had to go to a town with a later dispatch and people really did trouble to do so which shows how important the post service was. When I say the post arrived I mean it came by mail cart. Later the train would bring in much post, but it had yet to reach Marlow. Even then letters were still brought by mail cart from Wycombe. The post arrival times were subject to change over the years and so therefore was the time you might get your post delivered at home. 

In 1860 the mail cart contractor between Marlow and Maidenhead, Mr Hall suffered an accident near Pinkneys Green. His horse was startled by shooting in a farmers field, bolted and crashed. The cart was smashed to pieces, mail scattered  and Hall was much injured. In fact a cart wheel was supposed to have passed over his head which if true makes the prognosis that he'd be able to resume work  seems quite miraculous. They did not mention how long the poor man's recovery was expected to take. In 1875 it was announced that the midday mail to Marlow would now arrive by train from Maidenhead rather than cart. No mention is made of a change in transport method for the other delivery yet so either it was already bought by train or there was going to be two ways it came to town.

The next milestone was probably the opening up of telegraphic services at the Great Marlow Post Office from 1870. This meant recruiting more people to deliver the messages. And in 1877 Marlow got it's long awaited third post arrival and dispatch, thanks to the 4.15pm train to Maidenhead. 

In 1880 it was possible to officially use a rival parcel delivery option in Marlow. Sutton & Co promised a cheap service through local agents, and the Marlow one was Banbury's the chemist. The Victorian equivalent of an Evri parcel stop! In the following decade there were still three post deliveries a day to the town, and one on a Sunday. The post boxes were cleared in time to get the post to the station at the right hour. If you realised you'd left it too late to post your letter in the usual way, you could go to the West Street post office and pay an extra fee to have it placed directly in the mail bag, up to around 20 minutes after the official time the bags were made up. After that you'd have to wait until the next dispatch.  In this decade the mail cart contractor was John Creswell who employed others to actually drive it (I think they were mainly bringing post from High Wycombe). Time keeping was taken very seriously and this lead John getting into trouble in 1881. His horse fell and cut its knee. He tried to secure another one in time to take the mail out at the right hour but could not. So unfortunately he decided to allow his driver Charles Shephard to take out the injured horse. This was reported to the police, and so John was bought before the magistrates and given the maximum fine of £5 for cruelty to the horse. 

 Snow drifts and other difficulties 

Everyday difficulties in the town for our Victorian postman included vandalism of the post boxes (the enamel tablets giving the collection times were constantly removed), the occasional theft of mail bags and complaints at the posties spending too much time waiting at the door for someone to answer when not all had letter boxes. Then there was the possibility of the Wycombe mail cart getting stuck in a snow drift as happened in 1893 at Borroughs Grove. The dedicated driver abandoned the cart and bought what mail he could on horseback, but it arrived a day late. 

The 1890s

 At this time our main post office was still in West Street, and John C Butler was postmaster. It opened from 7am-8pm and on Sundays from 7am - 10am for letter or telegraph business. But if you wanted to take advantage of one of the other services offered over the counter, such as buying insurance or a money order, or a licence you had to wait until after 9am and couldn't buy these at all on a Sunday.  By now the post was dispatched from the town 4 times a day, while post arrived three times. The boxes were emptied either 4 or 5 times a day and actual household deliveries were usually twice daily. You could however call at the post office to collect a letter possibly waiting for you if you were really in a hurry to receive it. And it was still possible to pay extra and slip your last minute letter across the counter if you'd just missed the last posting time. The main boxes were described as positioned at Thames Lawn (not the house currently known as Thames Lawn, this one was adjacent to the lock and you will still see a little wall box there in Mill Road), near the parish church, (may be referring to the wall box currently at the church hall but photographs show one at this period in a wall opposite Station Rd on the other side of the High Street), in York Rd (gone), Station Road (gone), and in Chapel Street (gone). 

The distant outpost known as Institute Rd...

In the mid 1890s the increased trade at the Post Office made some in the town question whether we didn't need a bigger and more modern building to host it. It had been slightly enlarged in 1883 to accommodate an increased parcel traffic but this wasn't enough. This issue would rumble on a very very long time. The post authorities agreed the existing building was not only too small for current demand, but "unsanitary". They had secretly planned to find an alternative for several years they claimed. This claim would infuriate post master John Butler. He said he'd constantly complained in private letters to his bosses about how dire the conditions were in West Street. The health of his staff had suffered he said. But he'd been rebuffed as the Post Office said the income at Marlow didn't justify the expense of either finding a bigger premises or making good the old. After two years of threatening to resign as his health was worth more than any lost income, he did so in September 1897. He saw out his 3 months notice and wrote to remind the Post Office that the lease there expired in a few weeks, and he wondered what exactly they planned to do about that. This was all happening behind the scenes. 

 One proposal was to build a purpose built premises in Institute Rd where there were plenty of undeveloped plots available. The Post Office went as far as to draw up a plan of how the building might look but if they hoped the locals would be impressed they were wrong. They said Institute Rd was not central enough, despite running directly off the High Street. If the post office had to move, it should be in the High Street itself they said. A vote at a public meeting in 1894 condemned the Institute Rd site as unsuitable. They said the 30 or so commercial travellers who came to the town each week usually put up at The Crown at the other end of the High Street to Institute Rd and would be inconvenienced by having to walk to the new site. It's slightly baffling that a walk of probably 3 minutes would be considered something that would put off these commercial men from visiting Marlow but the residents of West Street were also unhappy that their convenient branch would be lost to the very slightly further away High Street let alone Institute Rd. (Three times as many people signed a petition for the office to stay in West Street as signed one to move it to the High Street.) One advantage of the new Institute Rd site was considered to be that it would be (slightly) nearer Shaw's boat house and that as a large number of letters and telegrams came their way relating to the hire of boats, it would save some delivery time. But the needs of the locals should come before tourists it was declared. 

There were more public meetings and an unofficial group of local citizens were tasked with finding a possible High Street site that would suit the Post Office but without initial success. Some locals were sceptical that the local committee would make  any progress anyway because they said the gentleman could shortlist any site they liked but it would be no good if the owner didn't wish to sell.  And knowing the town was desperate the owner would probably charge a high price for the building. A deputation even met the Post Master General. He agreed to stay the Institute Rd plan to give time for a more locally supported alternative to be found. The Post Office would be willing to rent somewhere they said, if the rent was reasonable. (They eventually said they'd only be willing to rent an existing building and would not fund a purchase or a new build after all.) An alternative plan to improve the existing West Street premises were considered but this was found to be too difficult and expensive. A proposal to raise a private subscription to pay for a new build in West Street never got off the ground. 

So what would the never to be built Institute Rd alterative have looked like? It would have had a resident for the Marlow post master next to and connected with the main post office building. You'd have entered through a spacious lobby in which all the post office notices would be displayed. Then proceeding through some swing doors, you'd enter the main room 22ft square with polished mahogany counters. Leading off this would be an office for the Marlow post master and a 40ft long 22ft wide sorting office fitted with "swing seats" for the postman. Then there were rooms for the telegraph staff and various other offices and a separate entrance for parcels. Sounds very efficient and much different to the "cribbed, cabined and confined" West Street premises. (Or as a letter writer to a local paper called it, "a miserable excuse for a post office".)

A home at last

The list of potential properties on West Street or the High Street considered as a potential site is indeed long. It included the old malt house and Langston's original boot stores, both in the High Street as well as numerous residential properties. Many of these look no more spacious than the existing post office, and the residents were not usually very receptive to the idea of being turfed out. Someone had the idea that the new stables of New Court that fronted the High Street (next to what's now W H Smith) should be demolished as an eye sore and affront to the town and the post office put up there. 

Finally, after three years of public meetings, protests and indignant letter writing, Cromwell House in the High Street became available, almost opposite old Mr Fields premises.  At first the fact the drawing room was on a different level to the front room was considered to scupper the plan to use this part as a sorting office. But after a little more investigation it was felt the levelling of the two would not cost as much as initially feared. Still it seems the Post Office originally rejected Cromwell House when it first became available. The reminder sent by retiring  Marlow post master John Charlton Butler that the lease on the West Street premises was due to run out in a matter of weeks seems to have panicked them into action. A deputation came to John and asked him if he'd allow the premises to be used for longer under a new post master but he utterly refused. It was against his conscience to allow what he considered a dangerously unhealthy place to continue in use. 

So alterations were made to Cromwell House and a nice new lamp was affixed outside.  John Charlton Butler later revealed that the move there from West Street was done at such speed that it was chaotic and a lot of property had been left behind with him. After a few weeks and more reminders a frustrated John said he'd begun using the left behind papers as fire lighters and would continue! He was very bitter at both his former bosses and members of the town council - "parasites" as he referred to them - who he said were taking credit for getting a new premises. The new post master was John William Langdon. 

Still the Post Office was satisfied. The residents of West Street were not, and successfully petitioned to get a sub post office in their Street which opened in June 1898. This was described as nearly opposite the old one, and in the premises of clothier A E Sutton. (Sutton occupied three different premises in West Street, the last was the former Sycamore House boarding house which he took over in 1901.) I should mention that there was also a sub post office at this time in Station Rd at the corner of Mill Rd in a grocers. It was proposed that if the authorities thought Marlow a little over supplied this could be closed in exchange for allowing the West Street sub to open but it survived. I expect the poor post master general had had more than enough of Great Marlow by then and had no appetite for an avalanche of letters from disgruntled Station Rd residents! 

Edwardian Era  and beyond 

So did the post office live happily ever after? Hmm, some people are never satisfied. A 1904 visitor to the town said Marlow couldn't count as a modern sort of place as its post office closed at 8pm on weekdays and  5pm on Sundays. In Maidenhead you could visit the post office at 9pm he said, and at Wycombe you could still post letters to London at 11.30pm. What they would have thought of our current arrangements? 

The mail cart was still running between Maidenhead and High Wycombe via Marlow to supplement the use of the train at the time of the first world war. In 1911 the cart was struck by lightning at Pinkneys Green. Both horse and man were rendered senseless but amazingly after 30 mins they were recovered enough to continue onwards. The driver did admit to feeling "a bit queer" for sometime afterwards as well he might. 

As for additional sub post offices, the residents of Marefield petitioned for one in their area for many years but it did not open there until June 1939. (In the Queen's Rd shop of Mr Porter). 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Related Posts: 

Victorian Postman Plumridge here (also covers workings of late Victorian post office here)

Will of postmaster James Field 1849 and his wife Sarah 1855 here

Life of the poetic postmaster, radical and friend of Shelley William Tyler -here

For biographies of other post office staff eg postmen/letter carriers see the General History index occupations section here

General posts about Marlow history here 

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. 

SOURCES INCLUDE: 

Kelly's Directory for Buckinghamshire 1852, 1854, 1883, 1889, 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. 

Marlow Guide 1903 & 1905

Census, 1841-91 - Transcript from the microfilm made by Jane Pullinger. 

 Berkshire Chronicle 29th April 1848, Gloucester Journal 30th March 1801, South Bucks Free Press 27th October 1860, Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 9th April 1870, Bucks Herald - 17th February 1877, 30th July 1881 & 3rd June 1911, and South Bucks Standard 24th April 1891, 18th & 25th May, 6th July & 31st August 1894, 15th Feb 1895, 6th August 1897, 12th Feb & 24th June 1898, 9th September 1904 - these copies via the BNA. 

Slough, Windsor and Eton Express Oct 31 1885 - Slough Libraries. 

Slater's Commercial Directory 1850

Maidenhead Advertiser 31st March 1880, 22nd November 1883 - Bayliss Media Archive. 

© MarlowAncestors