In what is now number 101 High Street Marlow (a restaurant) there was in late Victorian times a shop operated by the Benning family. A humble premises it was, with not much of a window to display goods, though a few items were hung around the door or propped amongst the outside wall to catch the eye of those hurrying around the corner to the railway station.
Joseph and Mary Ann Benning and their children arrived in Marlow from High Wycombe sometime between 1872 and 1875. Both were born in Princes Risborough. Mary's maiden name was Benning too so it is possible, though unproven, that they were paternal cousins.
Joseph as a young man worked in High Wycombe as a chair maker. He went on to form a partnership in that respect with George Rackstraw, John Plumridge and Charles Gill under the name Charles Gill and Co. For unknown reasons in 1855 it was decided to dissolve the partnership. Rackstraw, Plumridge and Joseph continued chair making separately thereafter.
In 1862 Joseph married his first wife Esther but she was to die just 5 years later. They had as far as I can determine one child, James. A year after Esther's death Joseph remarried in London to Mary Ann.
Between 1872 to and 1875 the family relocated from High Wycombe to Marlow as Joseph had been appointed foreman at the Buckinghamshire Chair Factory based there. The factory opened in 1872 so he may in fact have been there from the beginning. Initially Bennings lived in what was then called Platts Row, a string of cottages in Mill Road, a short walk from Joseph's place of work in St Peter's Street. At the time Buckinghamshire chair making was beginning to decline. Difficult industrial relations and rising costs put considerable pressure on makers. You can understand Joseph moving into a paid position from being an independent tradesman for the security of his family.
In 1883 he was hailed a hero for his efforts to save the factory and surrounding buildings following an outbreak of fire there. A spark, it was believed from the chimney of the nearby pub the Fishermen's Retreat, had set fire to a pile of wood shavings in the factory and began spreading. Joseph was just locking up when smoke was spotted. He remained for hours in a smoke filled workroom, getting soaked by the water of the fire brigade so he could be the eyes and ears of the firefighters directing their hose from outside to where any smouldering flames remained.
A very detailed post the history of the factory and life there for the workers is available on the blog here.
This fire was not the end of the factory (a later one did put pay to the premises!) though it must have disrupted production for a while. The enterprising Joseph had set up business as an ironmonger with his wife Mary running the shop on a day to day basis by 1883 so the family has a back up plan. It is not known where that shop was but by 1898 they operated from the premises which are now 101 High Street. They may well have been there from 1883 but shops moving about within Marlow was not uncommon so it can't be presumed that the Bennings were always in the same building. Joseph eventually retired from chair making to assist Mary in the ironmonger's while she also combined that business with a grocer's and fruiterer's shop initially on the same premises. An unusual combination of businesses you might think but in Victorian and Edwardian England all kinds of unpredictable hybrid businesses existed as families made ends meet any way they could. Mrs Benning was the named lessee of both the retail shop and ironmongery workshop that the family used.
In 1899 two young boys stole a can of preserved pineapple from the Bennings but were let off with a caution when their case got to court. Canned fruit seems to have been a particular favourite with little boys at the time and was not uncommon the focus of shoplifting by them - especially canned pineapple! Previously a Marlow man had been charged with obtaining 24 knives from the ironmongery side of the business by false pretences.
While the parents were busying about their shop, what of the junior Bennings?
Daughters Annie and Ellen ("Nellie") were active members of the Congregational Church in Quoiting Square / Oxford Road. Their parents may have been Congregational too though their older half brother James when grown up was a Wesleyan so family conformity of faith can't be presumed. Both sisters won local prizes aimed at young people for their display of Christian knowledge. The girls helped out in many church fundraisers, and Nellie was also the honorary secretary of the church's teetotal Band Of Hope in 1907 when she was in her late 20s. She is also listed as amongst those successfully completing a course on technical drawing at the Marlow Literary and Scientific Institute, so a clever young lady.
Meanwhile their brother Albert was running around for various Marlow youth football teams. He grew up to become a printer.
Big sister Lily worked as a dressmaker prior to her marriage.
A far sadder picture of Joseph's son James (from his first marriage) emerges. James became a soldier as a young man winning medals for his service in Egypt, was a skilled football, cricketer, and gunsman, was much liked by his army colleagues and had married and become the father of two children. His father and step mother must have thought all in his life was set up for his happiness but for unknown reasons James began running up debts which he kept hidden from his loved ones. As well as being the colour sergeant for his regiment he was the pay sergeant and began embezzling some of the money entrusted to him. He falsified his accounts to try to cover it up. That was never going to work long term and after a couple of months knowing that the game would shortly be up James at the age of 31 put the end of a rifle in his mouth, and pulled the trigger. His suicide occurred in a tent at a camp the soldiers were using near Reading Barracks whilst the barracks themselves were undergoing cleansing and repairs.
Joseph himself passed away in 1903, leaving a will with Mary as the main beneficiary. The family business had become focused on Mary's selling of groceries and green grocery by this time. She however had given up her shop by 1911 when Walter Haddock was running it as a greengrocer, followed by Thomas Wheeler by 1915.
Written and researched by Charlotte Day.
Note: Street numbers in the High Street officially changed twice in the 20th century and were also subject to minor alterations in between times so number 101 today was not numbered 101 in the Benning era.
I have a photo showing the Benning shop in their day. I am unsure as to the copyright of it so can't publish it here but if this is your family please get in touch and I can email you a copy for your personal viewing.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.
To find all mentions of any individual in this blog see the A-Z Person Index. More posts about people who lived in the High Street can be found on the Street Index. More biographies of Marlow families are listed here.
Sources included=
1907 Marlow Almanack and Directory, Marlow Printing Company.
1902/3, 1911 Kelly's Directories of Buckinghamshire etc by Kelly's Directories Limited.
Marlow Literary and Scientific Institute loose handwritten memoranda.
Censuses of England and Wales, 1841-1901. Transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte Day and Jane Pullinger.
Maidenhead Advertiser, 6th September 1893.
Berkshire chronicle 9th sept 1893 .
Bucks herald 10th April 1883. This edition from the British Newspaper Archive's collection of scanned newspapers from the British Library Archives.
The gazette. 1855.
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